KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Chaos continues in federal health system

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.

Confusion continues to reign at the Department of Health and Human Services, where policies seem to be changing at a breakneck pace even before a new secretary or other senior officials are confirmed by the Senate. Some federal grantees report payments are still paused, outside communications are still canceled, and many workers are being threatened with layoffs if they don't accept a buyout offer that some observers call legally dubious.

 Meanwhile, that new HHS secretary may soon arrive, given the Senate Finance Committee approved Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination this week on a party-line vote — including an "aye" vote from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a doctor who had strongly condemned Kennedy's anti-vaccine activism.

 This week's panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post.

Panelists

• Alice Miranda Ollstein Politico @AliceOllstein
• Lauren Weber The Washington Post @LaurenWeberHP

Among the takeaways from this week's episode:

• In Washington, the Trump administration's federal funding freeze, buyout offers to scores of federal workers, and disabling of federal agency websites have left more questions than answers. A tangle of legal issues and lack of communication have only served to sow confusion around the nation and globe for health providers, researchers, and foreign aid groups — to name a few.
• As the Trump administration runs through many of the disruptive policy changes prescribed last year in the Heritage Foundation's presidential transition playbook, Project 2025, some people are asking: Where are the Democrats? Lawmakers have taken up mostly individual efforts to question and protest the administration's changes, but, thus far, Democrats are still pulling together a unified approach in Washington to counter the Trump administration's break-it-to-change-it approach.
• Faced with threats to crucial federal funding, some in the health industry are falling in line with President Donald Trump's executive orders even as they're challenged in the courts. Notably, some hospitals have stopped providing treatment to transgender minors in Democratic-run states such as New York.
• Meanwhile, a doctor in New York is facing a criminal indictment over providing the abortion pill to a Louisiana patient. The doctor is protected by a state shield law, and the indictment escalates the interstate fight over abortion access. And a Trump order barring federal funding from being used to pay for or "promote" abortions is not only rolling back Joe Biden-era efforts to protect abortion rights, but also going further than any modern president to restrict abortion — after Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail that abortion policy would be left to the states.

Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News' Julie Appleby, who reported the latest "Bill of the Month" feature about a young woman, a grandfathered health plan, and a $14,000 IUD. If you have an outrageous or baffling medical bill you'd like to share with 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 York Times' "How R.F.K. Jr. and 'Medical Freedom' Rose to Power," on "The Daily" podcast. 

Lauren Weber: CNN's "Human Brain Samples Contain an Entire Spoon's Worth of Nanoplastics, Study Says," by Sandee LaMotte. 

Alice Miranda Ollstein: The Washington Post's "Did RFK Jr. or Michelle Obama Say It About Food? Take Our Quiz," by Lauren Weber. 

Also mentioned in this week's podcast:

• KFF Health News' "Trump's Already Gone Back on His Promise To Leave Abortion to States," by Julie Rovner.
• STAT's "Removal of DEI Content From a Microbiology Group's Website Shows Reach of Trump Executive Orders," by Usha Lee McFarling.

Credits

• Francis Ying Audio producer
• Emmarie Huetteman Editor