Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss the new “Medicare-for-all” bill introduced by House Democrats, the grilling of pharmaceutical company CEOs by a Senate committee and new Trump administration rules that take aim at Planned Parenthood. Plus, Rovner interviews KHN’s Julie Appleby about the latest “Bill of the Month” installment.
The Senate Finance Committee grilled executives from seven major drugmakers on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s Senate hearing with pharma CEOs will tackle the same issues as the famous Kefauver hearings in 1960.
Confrontational hearings 60 years ago sparked remarkably similar quotes about drug prices and health care policy.
Alice Ollstein of Politico, Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss the latest national health spending estimates, another FDA crackdown on dietary supplements and lawsuits between insurers and the federal government that could result in a windfall for consumers.
Medicare and many private insurers view prescribing drugs to improve sexual function as a lifestyle issue that’s not medically necessary to pay for.
Unwilling to wait for federal action, California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he has a plan that could extract discounts from drugmakers and save the state money — one he hopes other states can join.
Health was a featured player in President Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address. The president set goals to bring down prescription drug prices, end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. and cure childhood cancer, among other things. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Alice Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and, for “extra credit,” provide their favorite health policy stories of the week. Rovner also interviews KHN senior correspondent Phil Galewitz about the current “Bill of the Month” feature.
The president laid out a series of goals, including lowering prescription prices, pursuing an end to the HIV epidemic and boosting funding for childhood cancers.
The White House and HHS want to eliminate a “shadowy system of kickbacks” in the drug industry pipeline.
