Julie Rovner

Joe Biden’s Skittish Support for Abortion Rights

KFF Health News Original

President Biden spent much of his State of the Union speech last week talking about two subjects central to his reelection campaign while seemingly trying not to name them. One was Donald Trump, or as Biden called him, “my predecessor.” The other was abortion. It’s hardly news that Biden, an 81-year-old devout Catholic, is uncomfortable […]

Nikki Haley Wants ‘Consensus’ on Contraception. It’s Not That Easy.

KFF Health News Original

Nikki Haley, the last candidate standing between Donald Trump and the GOP presidential nomination, insists that being “unapologetically pro-life” doesn’t make her anti-birth control. “Let’s find consensus,” she urged at a GOP presidential debate in November. “Let’s make sure we make contraception accessible.”  If only consensus were that easy. In some conservative circles, contraception is […]

A Legal Battle Over Herring Fishing Has Big Implications for Health Care

KFF Health News Original

What do herring fishing and health policy have in common? Quite a bit, it turns out, owing to a case now before the Supreme Court. If the justices rule as expected, based on this month’s oral arguments, they could dramatically change the way federal health agencies operate. “The upheaval caused … would be immense,” argues […]

What Would a Second Trump Presidency Look Like for Health Care?

KFF Health News Original

Health policy during Donald Trump’s tenure was dominated by covid-19 and a failed effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. His appointments to the Supreme Court led to the end of national abortion rights, and he took steps to increase hospital price transparency and improve care for veterans.

The AMA Wants a Medicare Cut Reversed – And Lawmakers To Stay Out of Care

KFF Health News Original

Congress is back this week and feverishly working on a bipartisan agreement to fund the government for the rest of the 2024 fiscal year. Ahead of a potential vote, I spoke with Jesse Ehrenfeld, the president of the American Medical Association, the nation’s largest lobby group for doctors, about his organization’s priorities in Washington.  Some […]

Republicans Once Championed Public Health. What Happened?

KFF Health News Original

It wasn’t that long ago that Republicans were all-in on boosting public health spending. “The highest investment priority in Washington should be to double the federal budget for scientific research,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) wrote in a 1999 op-ed in The Washington Post. Big spending increases for the National Institutes of Health soon […]

Abortion “Until the Day of Birth” Is Almost Never a Thing

KFF Health News Original

It’s one of the most frequent claims made by antiabortion lawmakers: That abortion rights supporters favor allowing abortions literally until the end of pregnancy. “Frankly I think it’s unethical and immoral to allow for abortions up until the day of birth,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said at last week’s GOP presidential primary debate. At that […]

The AMA May Reconsider Single-Payer Health Care

KFF Health News Original

Is the American Medical Association going soft on single-payer health care? We’re about to find out. For more than a century, the most influential U.S. physician group has stridently opposed what could generally be described as “national health insurance.” It famously helped defeat health reform efforts in the 1930s and 1940s, delayed the establishment of […]

Why Do Politicians Weaponize Medicare? Because It Works

KFF Health News Original

Politicians are again pointing fingers over who wants to cut Medicare. As past Washington brawls show, the party accused of threatening popular entitlements tends to lose elections — although it’s the beneficiaries relying on lawmakers to fund it who stand to lose the most.

Ask Voters Directly, and Abortion Rights Wins Most Ballot Fights

KFF Health News Original

Anti-abortion candidates have fared well in recent elections. But decades of ballot initiatives — including a half-dozen measures considered after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June — show that when voters are asked directly, they usually side with preserving abortion rights.

Abortion Issue Helps Limit Democrats’ Losses in Midterms

KFF Health News Original

Although control of Congress was still undecided Wednesday, Republicans seemed poised to take power in the House, while the fate of the Senate remained too close to call. Economic issues were at the top of voters’ minds, but abortion access also played a large role in their decisions.