KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': A colorful cast could lead key health agencies

The host

Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner

Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News' weekly health policy news podcast, "What the Health?" A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book "Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z," now in its third edition.

President-elect Donald Trump has continued naming out-of-the-box choices to lead key federal health agencies. Three of those picks — Marty Makary, who would lead the FDA; Jay Bhattacharya, who would head the National Institutes of Health; and Dave Weldon, chosen to administer the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — have something notable in common: All have proposed major changes to the organizations they would oversee.

 Meanwhile, the Supreme Court heard a case challenging Tennessee's ban on transgender health care for minors, with the conservative justices seeming likely to support the state's law.

This week's panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins University’s schools of public health and nursing and Politico, and Shefali Luthra of The 19th.

Panelists

• Sarah Karlin-Smith Pink Sheet @SarahKarlin
• Joanne Kenen Johns Hopkins University and Politico @JoanneKenen
• Shefali Luthra The 19th @shefalil

Among the takeaways from this week's episode:

• In recent weeks, Trump has named his picks to lead key federal health agencies, including the FDA, NIH, and CDC. His selections suggest big changes could be in store. For instance, Weldon — a former congressman and a practicing physician — has often advocated against scientific consensus, including on vaccines.
• The Supreme Court this week heard arguments on Tennessee's law barring transitional care for transgender minors, and from listening to the conservative majority's remarks, it seems likely they will uphold the law — with implications for those living in the more than 20 states with similar measures on the books. Plus, in a separate case on vaping, the court sounded sympathetic to the FDA's decisions to reject applications for flavored e-cigarettes that could put children at risk of addiction.
• Meanwhile, the incoming Trump administration is poised to take custody of some health-related lawsuits it could very well drop, as well as some big policies it could end — but it remains to be seen what actions it chooses to take. Medicare drug negotiations, for example, are a Biden administration policy, though Trump and his pick for Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have also advocated for cracking down on the drug industry.
• In abortion news, a federal appeals court has cleared the way for Idaho to begin to enforce parts of its law making it a crime to help a minor obtain an abortion in another state. And officials in Texas and Georgia throttled state commissions studying maternal mortality after cases showed the states' abortion bans were responsible for at least some women's deaths.

Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News' Bram Sable-Smith, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-Washington Post Well+Being "Bill of the Month" feature, about an emergency room bill for a visit that didn't make it past the waiting room. If you have an outrageous or inscrutable medical bill you'd like to send us, you can do that here.

Plus, for "extra credit," the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too: 

Julie Rovner: The New Yorker's "The Texas OB-GYN Exodus," by Stephania Taladrid. 

Shefali Luthra: The Washington Post's "Post Reports" podcast's "A Trans Teen Takes Her Case to the Supreme Court," by Casey Parks, Emma Talkoff, Ariel Plotnick, and Bishop Sand. 

Joanne Kenen: ProPublica's "For Decades, Calls for Reform to Idaho's Troubled Coroner System Have Gone Unanswered," by Audrey Dutton. 

Sarah Karlin-Smith: Stat's "What YouTube Health Is Doing To Combat Misinformation and Promote Evidence-Based Content," by Nicholas St. Fleur. 

Also mentioned in this week's podcast:

• KFF Health News' "What the Health?": Tennessee Seeks Medicaid Changes," by Julie Rovner (featuring Marty Makary).
• ProPublica's "A Third Women Died Under Texas' Abortion Ban. Doctors Are Avoiding D&Cs and Reaching for Riskier Miscarriage Treatments," by Lizzie Presser and Kavitha Surana.
• ProPublica's "Georgia Dismissed All Members of Maternal Mortality Committee After ProPublica Obtained Internal Details of Two Deaths," by Amy Yurkanin.
• KXAN's "Texas Maternal Mortality Committee To Skip Over Full Reviews in Years After Abortion Ban," by Jala Washington.
• The American Diabetes Association's "Statement on Compounded Incretin Products."

Credits

• Lonnie Ro Audio producer
• Taylor Cook Audio producer
• Emmarie Huetteman Editor