President-elect Donald Trump is continuing to staff his incoming administration, and his picks so far for key health policy positions are particularly polarizing. He said he’ll nominate prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services and Mehmet Oz — a controversial heart surgeon, former Senate candidate, and TV host — to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees coverage for more than 160 million Americans.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the lame-duck Congress has just weeks to finish its work for the year, including health priorities such as pandemic preparedness, while the incoming Congress starts to lay out plans for changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat, Riley Griffin of Bloomberg News, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call.
Plus, for “extra credit” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too:
— Julie Rovner: ProPublica’s “How Lincare Became a Multibillion-Dollar Medicare Scofflaw,” by Peter Elkind.
— Sandhya Raman: ProPublica’s “How UnitedHealth’s Playbook for Limiting Mental Health Coverage Puts Countless Americans’ Treatment at Risk,” by Annie Waldman.
— Riley Griffin: The New York Times’ “A.I. Chatbots Defeated Doctors at Diagnosing Illness,” by Gina Kolata.
— Rachel Cohrs Zhang: CNBC’s “Dental Supply Stock Surges on RFK’s Anti-Fluoride Stance, Activist Involvement,” by Alex Harring.
Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
1:05 - Trump’s Administration Picks, RFK Jr., and Dr. Oz
14:56 - Health Policy Parade on Capitol Hill
19:27 - Lame Duck Congress
23:24 - Bird Flu
27:42 - Interview w/ Sarah Varney
36:17 - Extra Credits
