The Public Backs Medicare Rx Price Negotiation Even After Hearing Both Sides’ Views
By Amanda Michelle Gomez
October 12, 2021
KFF Health News Original
But Americans generally have little confidence that the White House or Congress will recommend the right thing, a new poll shows.
The Drug Company That Prospered Without Creating Any Drugs
By Arthur Allen
April 13, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Horizon Therapeutics, which Amgen is acquiring for about $28 billion, grew large by snapping up cheap drugs from other companies, marketing them to perfection, and jacking up prices.
Pharma Campaign Cash Delivered to Key Lawmakers With Surgical Precision
By Victoria Knight and Rachana Pradhan and Elizabeth Lucas
October 27, 2021
KFF Health News Original
With an eye to shutting down Medicare drug price negotiations, drug companies and their lobbying groups gave roughly $1.6 million in the first six months of 2021, with Democrats edging closer than they have in a decade to Republicans’ total haul.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: News You Might Have Missed
April 14, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Congress is in recess, so the slower-than-average news week gives us a chance to catch up on underreported topics, like Medicare’s coverage decision for the controversial Alzheimer’s disease drug Aduhelm and ominous new statistics on drug overdose deaths and sexually transmitted diseases. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Despite Pharma Claims, Illicit Drug Shipments to US Aren’t Full of Opioids. It’s Generic Viagra.
By Phil Galewitz
March 6, 2023
KFF Health News Original
The FDA has long blocked the importation of cheap medicine, agreeing with pharmaceutical manufacturers that it opens the door to opioids. The agency’s own data shows that rarely happens.
What Happens to Health Programs if the Federal Government Shuts Down?
By Julie Rovner
September 27, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Medicare and Medicaid shouldn’t be affected, but confusion can be expected.
A Bitter Battle Over the ‘Orphan Drug’ Program Leaves Patients’ Pocketbooks at Risk
By Sarah Jane Tribble
February 22, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Patients who depend upon special drugs to treat rare diseases are caught in the crossfire as drugmakers and the FDA battle over regulations that reward companies for developing treatments for relatively small pools of patients.
Watch: Going Beyond the Script of ‘The G Word’ and How Government Responds to Disease (Or Not)
May 20, 2022
KFF Health News Original
KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal joins comedian Adam Conover to discuss his new Netflix series, “The G Word,” which examines the federal government’s role in Americans’ lives, and how it plays out in the covid era.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: A Big Week for Biden
August 11, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Congress is leaving for its annual summer break having accomplished far more than many expected, including, barring unforeseen snags, a bill to address the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries and extend the enhanced subsidies for insurance premiums under the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, the abortion issue continues to roil the nation as Indiana becomes the first state to ban the procedure in almost all cases since the Supreme Court overruled the constitutional right to abortion in June. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Debt Deal Leaves Health Programs (Mostly) Intact
June 7, 2023
Podcast
The bipartisan deal to extend the U.S. government’s borrowing authority includes future cuts to federal health agencies, but they are smaller than many expected and do not touch Medicare and Medicaid. Meanwhile, Merck & Co. becomes the first drugmaker to sue Medicare officials over the federal health insurance program’s new authority to negotiate drug prices. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, and Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News senior correspondent Sarah Jane Tribble, who reported the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature, about the perils of visiting the U.S. with European health insurance.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Confusing Fate of the Abortion Pill
April 13, 2023
Podcast
The legality and availability of the abortion pill mifepristone is in question after a federal judge in Texas canceled the FDA’s approval of the first drug used in the two-drug medication abortion regimen. A 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel overruled that decision in part, saying the pill should remain available, but only under the onerous restrictions in place before 2016. Meanwhile, another federal judge in Washington state issued a ruling in a separate case that conflicts with the Texas decision, ordering the FDA not to roll back any of its restrictions on the drug. Victoria Knight of Axios, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Welcome Back, Congress. Now Get to Work.
September 7, 2023
Podcast
Congress returns from its summer recess with a long list of tasks and only a few work days to get them done. On top of the annual spending bills needed to keep the government operating, on the list are bills to renew the global HIV/AIDS program, PEPFAR, and the community health centers program. Meanwhile, over the recess, the Biden administration released the names of the first 10 drugs selected for the Medicare price negotiation program.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Abortion Access Changing Again in Florida and Arizona
May 2, 2024
Podcast
A six-week abortion ban took effect in Florida this week, dramatically restricting access to the procedure not just in the nation’s third-most-populous state but across the South. Patients from states with even more restrictive bans had been flooding in since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Meanwhile, the CEO of the health behemoth UnitedHealth Group appeared before committees in both the House and Senate, where lawmakers grilled him about the February cyberattack on subsidiary Change Healthcare and how its ramifications are being felt months later. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Rachana Pradhan of KFF Health News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
Biden’s July Executive Order Includes Drug Pricing Provisions. But Will They Do Enough?
By Victoria Knight
July 19, 2021
KFF Health News Original
The July 9 directive addresses the importation of prescription drugs and broader efforts to reduce the high cost of medicines.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: On Government Spending, Congress Decides Not to Decide
September 29, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Congress has once again decided not to decide how to fund the federal government in time for the start of the fiscal year, racing toward a midnight Sept. 30 deadline to pass a stopgap bill that would keep the lights on for two more months. However, it does appear the FDA’s program that gets drugmakers to help fund some of the agency’s review staff will be renewed in time to stop pink slips from being sent. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews filmmaker Cynthia Lowen, whose new documentary, “Battleground,” explores how anti-abortion forces played the long game to overturn Roe v. Wade.
2+2=? Senate Uses Murky Math as It Shelves Drug Pricing Rule to Fund Infrastructure
By Michael McAuliff
August 5, 2021
KFF Health News Original
The Medicare rule, designed by the Trump administration to take money away from drug industry brokers and provide refunds to patients, has not been implemented. But budget analysts say if it were, it would cost the government money. So senators are pushing the rule aside and claiming to save billions of dollars, which they want to use instead on new projects.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Judging the Abortion Pill
March 16, 2023
Podcast
Any day now a conservative federal judge in Texas could upend the national abortion debate by requiring the FDA to rescind its approval of mifepristone, a drug approved in the U.S. more than 20 years ago that is now used in more than half of abortions nationwide. Meanwhile, a controversial study on masks gets a clarification, although it may be too late to change the public impression of what it found. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
New CDC Opioid Guidelines: Too Little, Too Late for Chronic Pain Patients?
By Sam Whitehead and Andy Miller
March 15, 2023
KFF Health News Original
In November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for prescribing opioids for pain, allowing physicians more flexibility. But doctors, patients, and advocates wonder if the updated standards will be too little, too late to help chronic pain patients in a country still focused on fighting the ongoing opioid crisis.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Drug Price Effort Hits a Snag
May 13, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Democratic leaders in Congress have vowed to pass legislation to address high prescription drug prices this year, but some moderates in their own party appear to be balking. Meanwhile, younger teens are now eligible for a covid-19 vaccine and the Biden administration reinstated anti-discrimination policy for LGBTQ people in health care. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': A Health-Heavy State of the Union
February 9, 2023
Podcast
President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address leaned heavily on health care issues. Biden took a victory lap for recent accomplishments like capping prescription drug costs for seniors on Medicare. He also urged Congress to make permanent the boosted premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, and he sparred with Republicans on threats to cut Social Security and Medicare. Also this week, both sides in the abortion debate are bracing for a court decision out of Texas that could, at least temporarily, make the abortion pill mifepristone illegal nationwide. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Kate Baicker of the University of Chicago about a possible middle ground in the effort to get universal health insurance coverage.