The disaster is formally ending, however covid confusion lives on

the host

Julie Rovner KFF Well being Information @jrovner

Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Well being Information’ weekly well being coverage information podcast, “What the Well being?” A famous skilled on well being coverage points, Julie is the creator of the critically praised reference e book “Well being Care Politics and Coverage A to Z,” now in its third version.

The formal finish of Could 11 of the nationwide public well being emergency for covid-19 will usher in plenty of modifications in the way in which Individuals get vaccines, remedy, and testing for the coronavirus. It is going to additionally change the way in which some individuals get their medical insurance, with tens of millions prone to lose protection altogether.

In the meantime, two FDA advisory committees voted unanimously this week to permit the over-the-counter sale of a particular contraception tablet. Advocates of constructing the tablet simpler to get say it might take away important boundaries to using efficient contraception and forestall hundreds of unplanned pregnancies yearly. The FDA, nonetheless, should nonetheless formally approve the change, and a few of its employees scientists have expressed considerations about whether or not youngsters and low-literacy adults will be capable to comply with the instructions with out the direct involvement of a medical skilled.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Faculty of Public Well being and Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Occasions.

panelists

• Joanne Kenen Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Faculty of Public Well being and Politico @JoanneKenen
• Tami Luhby CNN @luhby
• Margot Sanger-Katz The New York Occasions @sangerkatz

Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:

• The formal public well being emergency could also be over, however covid positively will not be. Greater than 1,000 individuals in the US died of the virus between April 19 and April 26, based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Whereas most Individuals have put covid of their rearview mirrors, it stays a danger across the nation.
• The Senate Finance Committee held a listening to on “ghost networks,” lists of well being professionals distributed by insurance coverage corporations who usually are not taking new sufferers or usually are not really within the insurance coverage firm’s community. Ghost networks are a selected downside in psychological well being care, the place few suppliers take medical insurance in any respect.
• One other pattern within the enterprise of well being care is major care practices being purchased by hospitals, insurance coverage corporations, and even Amazon. This technique was in style within the Nineteen Nineties, as well being programs sought to “vertically combine.” However now the bigger entities could produce other causes for having their very own networks of medical doctors, together with utilizing their sufferers to create income streams.
• Courtroom battles proceed over the destiny of the abortion tablet mifepristone, as a federal appeals court docket in New Orleans prepares to listen to arguments a couple of lower-court choose’s ruling that may successfully cancel the drug’s approval by the FDA. In West Virginia, the maker of the generic model of the drug is difficult the fitting of the state to ban medicine permitted by federal officers. On the identical time, a bunch of unbiased abortion clinics from varied states is suing the FDA to drop restrictions on how mifepristone could be prescribed, becoming a member of principally Democratic-led states searching for to make sure entry to the drug.

Plus for “additional credit score” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose you must learn, too:

Julie Rovner: Slate’s “Not Each Man Will Be as Dumb as Marcus Silva,” by Moira Donegan and Mark Joseph Stern.

Joanna Kenen: The Baltimore Banner’s “Baltimore Is not Accessible for Folks With Disabilities. Fixing It Would Price Over $650 Million,” by Hallie Miller and Adam Willis.

Tami Luhby: CNN’s “Due to Florida Abortion Legal guidelines, She Carried Her Child to Time period Figuring out He Would Die,” by Elizabeth Cohen, Carma Hassan, and Amanda Musa.

Margot Sanger-Katz: The New Yorker’s “The Drawback With Deliberate Parenthood,” by Eyal Press.

Additionally talked about on this week’s episode:

credit

Francis Ying Audio producer Stephanie Stapleton Editor