The Host
Julie Rovner
KFF Health News
@jrovner
@julierovner.bsky.social
Read Julie’s stories.
Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book “Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z,” now in its third edition.
Just days after Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is also a doctor, was ousted in a primary election, he has already begun to separate himself from the agenda of President Donald Trump, who endorsed one of his opponents. Cassidy has half a year left in office and could, in that time, reshape health policy in an administration from which he’s now effectively freed.
Meanwhile, a potentially serious Ebola outbreak in central Africa has experts worried that the U.S.’ dismantling of much of the nation’s public health infrastructure leaves it more vulnerable than in earlier outbreaks.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.
Panelists
Joanne Kenen
Johns Hopkins University and Politico
@JoanneKenen
@joannekenen.bsky.social
Read Joanne’s bio.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg
The New York Times
@SherylNYT
Read Sheryl’s stories.
Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico
@AliceOllstein
@alicemiranda.bsky.social
Read Alice’s stories.
Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
Cassidy, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, is still in charge of nominations for some major vacancies at the Department of Health and Human Services, including commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and surgeon general. Now that he’s no longer tied to pleasing Trump or HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cassidy will have more independence when it comes to who could get confirmed to fill some of these key health posts.
Kyle Diamantas, the acting head of the FDA, is trying to mend fences with anti-abortion activists concerned because he represented Planned Parenthood in his private law practice. Meanwhile, the promised safety study looking at the abortion pill mifepristone has apparently not yet begun — not because the FDA was delaying it but because officials have been unable to get ac