The Host
Julie Rovner
KFF Well being Information
Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Well being Information’ weekly well being coverage information podcast, “What the Well being?” A famous professional on well being coverage points, Julie is the writer of the critically praised reference e book “Well being Care Politics and Coverage A to Z,” now in its third version.
The Meals and Drug Administration is again within the headlines, with a political appointee overruling company scientists to reject an utility from the drugmaker Moderna for a brand new flu vaccine, and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary persevering with to take criticism from anti-abortion Republicans within the Senate for alleged delays reviewing the protection of the abortion capsule mifepristone.
In the meantime, in a impossible pairing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat, and Sen. Josh Hawley, the conservative Republican from Missouri, are co-sponsoring laws aimed toward breaking apart the “vertical integration” of well being care — when a single firm owns well being insurers, drug middlemen, and clinician practices.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Jackie Fortiér of KFF Well being Information, Lizzy Lawrence of Stat, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.
Panelists
Jackie Fortiér
KFF Well being Information
Lizzy Lawrence
STAT Information
Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
- A prime FDA official overruled company workers in refusing to contemplate Moderna’s utility for a brand new flu vaccine. The rejection, which Moderna is difficult, comes after the corporate consulted with the company below President Joe Biden on easy methods to develop the medical trial for the vaccine after which spent appreciable money and time. Clear, constant federal steering is vital to sustaining the drug improvement ecosystem, and the choice stands as a warning to different firms growing new remedies.
- With measles instances rising and belief in federal vaccine suggestions falling, the Vaccine Integrity Challenge, based mostly on the College of Minnesota’s Middle for Infectious Illness Analysis & Coverage, and the American Medical Affiliation are launching their very own vaccine evaluate course of — a parallel vaccine advice challenge providing an alternative choice to what are seen as ideologically pushed federal suggestions.
- President Donald Trump unveiled the brand new TrumpRx web site, billed as serving to folks get monetary savings on pharmaceuticals. However the website’s choices are restricted and supply restricted advantages: It serves solely these making an attempt to purchase medication with out insurance coverage protection, and among the largest financial savings are on in style weight problems medication quite than different generally wanted remedies. Nonetheless, it gives Trump an opportunity to stamp his identify on an effort to decrease drug costs.
- And extra reporting is illuminating the health-related unwanted side effects of Trump’s immigration crackdown, together with infectious illness outbreaks at detention facilities. Whereas at the very least among the issues will not be new to immigration enforcement, the massive numbers of individuals being detained are intensifying the issues.
Plus, for “further credit score” the panelists recommend well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose you must learn, too:
Julie Rovner: ProPublica’s “The Kids of Dilley,” by Mica Rosenberg.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: Politico’s “Why Washington’s All-In on Good Rings,” by Amanda Chu.
Lizzy Lawrence: KFF Well being Information’ “US Most cancers Institute Finding out Ivermectin’s ‘Means To Kill Most cancers Cells,’” by Rachana Pradhan.
Jackie Fortiér: Stat’s “The New Childhood Vaccine Tips Have a Paid Depart Downside,” by Ariana Hendrix.
Additionally talked about on this week’s episode:
Click on to open the transcript
Transcript: New Flu Vax? FDA Says No Thanks
[Editor’s note: This transcript was generated using both transcription software and a human’s light touch. It has been edited for style and clarity.]
Julie Rovner: Howdy from KFF Well being Information and WAMU public radio in Washington, D.C. Welcome to What the Well being? I’m Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for KFF Well being Information, and I’m joined by a few of one of the best and smartest well being reporters overlaying Washington. We’re taping this week on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 10 a.m. As at all times, information occurs quick, and issues might need modified by the point you hear this. So, right here we go.
Right this moment, we are joined through videoconference by Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: Howdy.
Rovner: Lizzy Lawrence of Stat Information.
Lizzy Lawrence: Hello.
Rovner: And up early to hitch us from California, my KFF Well being Information colleague Jackie Fortiér. Welcome, Jackie.
Jackie Fortiér: Hey, everybody.
Rovner: No interview this week, however loads of information. So let’s leap proper in. We’ll begin this week on the Meals and Drug Administration, the place issues are — why don’t we name it — newsmaking. The largest FDA story that broke this week was controversial vaccine chief Vinay Prasad outright rejecting an utility for a brand new flu vaccine from Moderna, maker of the mRNA covid vaccine that so many anti-vaxxers have criticized. Lizzy, you broke this story. Congratulations. What occurred precisely? And why is that this such a giant deal past the flu vaccine?
Lawrence: This is a giant deal as a result of to refuse to file is a fairly uncommon prevalence basically, as a result of basically the FDA and business prefer to have agreed-upon requirements for medical trials earlier than firms embark on them and pour hundreds of thousands of {dollars} into them. In order that was stunning. After which—
Rovner: And refuse to file signifies that they stated that they’ve obtained the applying and stated: Yeah, we’re not accepting that. We’re not going to evaluate this. Proper?
Lawrence: Sure, sure. And Prasad wrote that the grounds for this was that it wasn’t an satisfactory, managed trial. Nicely, Moderna is saying that really the FDA greenlit this trial again below the Biden administration in 2024. They acknowledged that there was principally a management vaccine that the FDA say they would like that Moderna use for the older inhabitants. However they stated, nonetheless, it’s acceptable in case you don’t try this.
Rovner: And I wish to be sure I perceive this. The complication right here is that that is presupposed to be a greater vaccine for older folks, however proper now there’s vaccines for older those who begin at age 65 and it is a vaccine that’s supposed to start out at age 50, proper? So it was unclear who they had been going to take a look at it towards, whether or not it was going to be the 50-to-64s or the 65s and older. As a result of there isn’t a vaccine proper now that’s authorized for 50 and up, proper?
Lawrence: Precisely, precisely. So it was there’s the high-dose vaccine, which is really useful for the above-65s, however that is just not really useful for the 50-to-64, which is a part of why Moderna didn’t use that high-dose vaccine, as a result of the inhabitants that they had been learning was broader than this over-65s. So anyway, so yeah, so refusing to file is already uncommon, after which for there to be an overriding refuse to file, the place the, I was informed, principally, whereas there might have been people who agreed with Dr. Prasad’s evaluation, the evaluate workforce, each self-discipline, thought that it was reviewable. And the pinnacle of vaccines wrote a memo explaining why he thought it was viable, in order that the profession workers form of documented their ideas right here. It’s not clear whether or not it will be made public ever, however one would hope, with radical transparency, however we’ll see. Regardless of that, Dr. Prasad nonetheless refused to evaluate Moderna’s utility.
Rovner: So clearly it’s a giant deal for the flu vaccine, however it’s a giant deal past this. Moderna’s CEO was on cable information this morning, stated that, as you stated, after consulting with the FDA officers concerning the trial, they spent a billion {dollars} on this trial. How will we anticipate firms to put money into new medicines like this if the FDA is principally appearing on vibes?
Lawrence: I don’t know. Yeah. And it’s attention-grabbing. It doesn’t appear to be there’s a ton of sympathy from this administration. Even again final 12 months, [FDA] Commissioner [Marty] Makary tweeted one thing — this was once they had been limiting, needed to require extra information for covid vaccines for the under-65 crowd. And I believe he stated one thing like: Our objective is to not save firms cash. That’s not one thing we — which of course that isn’t. The FDA’s objective is to advertise public well being. However it’s positively a change in tune. I believe that previously, the FDA has understood that you just’re actually solely going to get innovation when you have clear, constant steering and that it’s a actually worst-case situation for a corporation to spend a billion {dollars} on a medical trial after which there’s nothing to indicate for it and nothing for it to learn sufferers, both. So.
Rovner: Is that this over? What occurs now?
Lawrence: So now Moderna has requested a gathering to problem this resolution, and now there begins a form of negotiation. It is likely to be potential that the FDA would, actually, would evaluate at least the 50-to-64 cohort, as a result of they don’t have any objections there, seemingly. However we’ll need to see. On a name yesterday, a senior FDA official talked about Moderna form of coming to the company with humility and acknowledging that the FDA had really useful this high-dose vaccine. And so I don’t know. I believe firms are positively — it’s a lesson that they’re, particularly if you’re within the vaccine area, you need to tread very rigorously.
Rovner: Yeah. And I’d suppose others within the drug area, too. It’s not simply — that’s the purpose of this — it’s not simply vaccines. Alice, you needed to say one thing.
Ollstein: Oh, yeah. Not solely the financial funding, which we’ve touched on a bunch, however firms spend years. So it’s the time funding as effectively. And why would you dedicate years of effort to one thing that you’re unsure if a political appointee goes to swoop in and override profession scientific officers’ evaluation, if you can’t belief the regulatory system to work as it’s at all times labored. There actually is simply lots of threat there, and also you would possibly see folks not making these submissions on all types of fronts. After all, that is coming as we’ve had a actually dangerous flu season. I’ve had folks in my life get actually sick and say it’s been actually, actually dangerous. So the prospect of getting one thing that works higher to stop, and even simply make it milder, not coming to fruition is tough.
Rovner: Yeah. And this 12 months, as we all know, this 12 months’s flu vaccine was not very effectively matched to the strains that ended up circulating. And that’s form of the level of this Moderna vaccine, this mRNA vaccine, is that they are saying it could be a lot quicker for them to match strains to what’s going round. If it really works because the medical trials recommend it could really be a greater flu vaccine than now we have now.
Nicely, in the meantime, instances of measles are additionally persevering with to multiply, as they do when folks aren’t vaccinated, and never simply within the locations we’ve talked about, like Texas and South Carolina, but in addition throughout us right here within the nation’s capital, apparently, on account of folks touring right here for the anti-abortion March for Life in January. There have been greater than 730 confirmed instances of measles within the U.S. already this 12 months. That’s 4 instances greater than have been typical for a full 12 months, and it’s not but the center of February. But that doesn’t appear to be deterring the administration from its anti-vaccine actions. So now, the American Medical Affiliation and the College of Minnesota Vaccine Integrity Challenge have introduced they’ll convene a parallel group of specialists to make vaccine suggestions, principally saying they are executed following the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. This has been brewing for some time. Proper, Lizzy?
Lawrence: Sure. As quickly because the secretary fired all of the specialists who served on the advisory panel to the CDC on vaccines, I believe there’s been unease. And now, as you stated, there’s an energetic parallel public well being institution that’s making an attempt to unfold credible data and supply another useful resource, as a result of it’s clear that HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] has turn out to be compromised with regards to vaccine suggestions. And but, you’re seeing the unfold of infectious ailments proper now.
Fortiér: Having form of this rival court docket is no surprise, as a result of they’ve refused to take part in any of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices conferences for months and months. I do marvel if it will possibly change a few of the tone. We do have an upcoming ACIP assembly in February. Usually we’d have a agenda out by now. Earlier than Secretary [Robert F.] Kennedy [Jr.] we’d have them weeks upfront, and we haven’t seen one but, so we’re actually not completely positive what they’re going to be speaking about. However Dr. [Mehmet] Oz did say this week that he lastly suggested folks — he’s the CMS [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] director— to take the vaccine. And there’s been over 933 instances in simply South Carolina throughout this outbreak that began final October. And so once I discuss to folks on the bottom who’re treating people in South Carolina and have been treating them for months, they usually’ve been doing vaccine clinics and issues like that, they had been simply so fed up with Dr. Oz and the administration, as a result of they partially blame them for these numerous outbreaks. And I had one in every of them inform me, like, effectively, it’s like a band-aid on a bullet gap. Like, now they’re lastly encouraging folks to get vaccinated after we might have had this months in the past.
Rovner: And, after all, the CDC doesn’t have a director in the intervening time, as a result of the Senate-approved director was summarily fired and/or stop, not clear which, after refusing to principally rubber-stamp the immunization panel’s suggestions that had not been made on the time. So the American Academy of Pediatrics is suing to cease this February ACIP assembly. I didn’t hear what the final resolution was on that, however I do know that there’s nonetheless lots of motion round right here. I suppose the large fear is: Who ought to the general public belief now? Is it going to be this form of grouping of medical societies led by the AMA, or the CDC, which individuals and docs are used to following the recommendation of?
Ollstein: And there’s all these state alliances forming to do the identical factor. And so I believe, yeah, the extra competing suggestions the typical individual hears, the extra they simply form of throw their palms up and say: I don’t even know who to belief anymore. I’m not listening to any of those folks. And the belief that’s eroded within the federal authorities, that’s going to be actually arduous to recuperate sooner or later. You can’t simply flip a change and say: OK, it’s a distinct authorities. We belief them once more. As soon as these seeds of doubt are planted in folks’s minds, it’s actually arduous to unearth. And so, if not everlasting injury, all of that is doing at the very least very long-term injury to the concept of experience and authoritative data.
Rovner: And science, which this administration insists it desires to comply with. Nicely, turning to FDA-related “MAHA” [“Make America Healthy Again”] information, the company stated final week it could chill out enforcement of its meals additive laws to make it simpler for producers to say they’re not utilizing synthetic dyes. Now this was an enormous deal when the company introduced the phaseout of synthetic coloring. Taking a look at you, fancy-colored Froot Loops. Now the administration says it’s going to permit foodmakers to say they’re not utilizing synthetic colours so long as they’re not utilizing petroleum-based dyes. Apparently, pure dyes are OK. However even that’s controversial, and it seems that this complete effort actually depends on producers’ willingness to conform quite than, you realize, precise regulation, which is form of what the FDA does for a dwelling. It’s a regulatory company.
Ollstein: Nicely, each time the phrase “pure” comes up, I at all times giggle as a result of there isn’t a definition of that. And there are loads of issues which can be pure that might kill you or harm you very badly. And there are loads of issues that are synthetically manufactured which can be useful and fantastic for you. And so it has this veneer of security, veneer of well being with no precise substance. So my crimson flags go up each time I hear that phrase, and I believe everybody ought to be skeptical.
Rovner: But it surely goes with RFK Jr.’s quest now that you must, quote, “eat actual meals.”
Lawrence: Proper. Yeah. I used to be going to say identical with “chemical.” I really feel like, “chemical” abortion drug, “chemical.” And it’s like, lots of issues are chemical substances. That’s not—
Ollstein: Yeah, like in your personal physique, naturally.
Lawrence: Yeah.
Ollstein: You have got chemical substances.
Lawrence: We’re chemical substances.
Ollstein: We’re chemical substances.
Rovner: You guys are all too younger to recollect the Dow Chemical promoting line “Higher Residing Via Chemistry,” which on the time, within the ’60s and ’70s, was true. There was, there — we’ve had a lot of higher dwelling by way of chemistry. And a few of it has turned out to be possibly not so good for us, however lots of it has turned out to be fairly darn good for us.
Nicely, lastly, in FDA land, Commissioner Marty Makary this week met with anti-abortion senators about that ongoing evaluate of the abortion capsule mifepristone, which senators need the FDA to take away from the market. Alice, how’d that assembly go?
Ollstein: Not nice for the FDA, from what I was informed. I obtained on the telephone with Sen. Josh Hawley after it, and he was extraordinarily pissed off. He stated he didn’t get solutions to any of the questions he’s been sending in public letters to the FDA for months and now asking on this briefing behind closed doorways that they held on Capitol Hill this week. He stated he didn’t get solutions about what the timeline is for this evaluate of the abortion capsule mifepristone, what the evaluate consists of, whether or not it’s even begun, actually, whether or not it’s even underway. And so he’s form of concluding that this isn’t going wherever, and he desires Congress to step in and take motion. Now, Congress has tried to step in and take motion earlier than. They’ve tried to place restrictions on mifepristone within the FDA funding invoice. That didn’t move. So I don’t know if that is even believable on this setting the place Congress can’t actually move a lot of something anymore.
However Hawley is not simply one other Republican senator. He’s very intertwined with the anti-abortion motion. His spouse is an extraordinarily outstanding anti-abortion lawyer who’s led lots of the most important instances making an attempt to limit or ban mifepristone. They based their very own anti-abortion advocacy group. And so it actually exhibits that the tensions, clashes, no matter we wish to name them, between the anti-abortion motion and the Trump administration, so after backing the Trump administration for years and years, they’re actually getting fed up. And they’re fed up that even after they achieved their grand objective of overturning Roe v. Wade, there are really extra abortions occurring now than earlier than, and that’s largely by way of these drugs and folks’s capacity to get them. And so they’re getting more and more impatient with the Trump administration, who has been form of stringing them alongside and saying: Yeah, we’re engaged on it. We’re engaged on it. However they wish to see outcomes. Now, after all, if there have been some form of restrictions imposed, that might have a giant political impact. And so lots of Republicans are very torn about that. However not Sen. Hawley. Sen. Hawley desires to see it.
Rovner: That’s proper. Nicely, shifting to what I name FDA-adjacent information, one of many many thorny points that FDA has been coping with is the compounding of these very fashionable and really expensive weight problems medication. When the medication had been in scarcity, it was authorized for compounders to make their very own copies. However now the scarcity for each of the main drugs — semaglutide, made by Novo Nordisk, and tirzepatide, made by Eli Lilly — is over, and people cheaper copycats had been presupposed to be pulled from the market. So it was a little bit of a shock when the corporate Hims, a type of direct-to-consumer drug websites, introduced the disclosing of a semaglutide pill simply weeks after the primary such drug was authorized by the FDA, by Novo Nordisk. The FDA promptly referred the corporate to the Justice Division for potential violation of federal drug legal guidelines, after which Hims stated, Oh, possibly we received’t begin promoting the drug in spite of everything. Oh, and Novo is suing for patent infringement. However I’d suppose that the struggle over the “fats” medication, as President [Donald] Trump likes to name them, is more likely to decrease costs simply as successfully as authorities regulation would possibly. Or am I misreading that? Lizzy, this has been fairly the sideshow, if you’ll.
Lawrence: Yeah. It’d. I believe that the compounding, the FDA’s crackdown on Hims was very attention-grabbing to me as a result of I believe earlier than the commissioner had come into his position, there was some hypothesis. He had labored for a telehealth firm that prescribed compounded medication. And there’s additionally, I believe compounders have tried to faucet into somewhat little bit of the MAHA medical freedom facet. However clearly that’s not been the case, at least on the FDA. They’re clearly very upset about this and imply enterprise, and I believe it’s tying into their crackdown on direct-to-consumer drug promoting as effectively. However so far as worth, yeah. I believe the offers that Trump has managed to strike with the businesses might really be decreasing worth for sufferers. I believe we’ll need to see. I do know there’s clearly drug pricing packages as effectively that they might pursue. So, yeah, we’ll need to see.
Rovner: All proper. Nicely, we’re going to take a fast break. We can be proper again.
OK. We’re again. And talking of President Trump, there’s additionally drug information this week that’s not instantly associated to the FDA. That’s the official unveiling of TrumpRx, the web site the president says will decrease drug costs like nobody’s “ever seen earlier than.” That’s a direct quote, by the best way. Besides it seems that’s not fairly the case. First, these reductions are just for people who find themselves paying out-of-pocket, not these with insurance coverage, which makes them worthwhile principally for individuals who don’t have any protection or individuals who take medication that insurance coverage usually doesn’t cowl, like these for weight problems or infertility. But of the 43 medication to this point that are promoted on the TrumpRx web site, about half have already got cheaper generic copies accessible by way of websites like GoodRx and Mark Cuban’s Price Plus Medicine. And actually, the web site simply factors folks to already current producer web sites that had been already providing these decrease costs. So what’s the level of TrumpRx?
Lawrence: Nice query. Yeah. This administration has been very centered on, clearly, media and wins and attaching President Trump’s identify to issues. So it accomplishes that objective. Perhaps it does increase consciousness for these different websites that exist already. However that’s a theme of lots of the motion on well being care to this point, has been — there’s been lots of chaos, after which there’s additionally typically issues that they announce as like a grand, brand-new, no-one’s-ever-thought-of-it-before coverage, however then there are already, after all, current packages or avenues for that.
Rovner: And to be truthful, Trump has jawboned down some costs, together with some costs for the weight problems medication, by principally dragging within the CEOs of those firms and saying, You will decrease costs.
Lawrence: Yeah, yeah. The dealmaking has been efficient. And I believe the query is: Will this final past his administration? Will there be a legacy there?
Ollstein: I believe there’s additionally some hazard in overpromising, as a result of he’s on the market saying issues that don’t comport with how math works. He’s principally suggesting costs will come down so many percents that we’ll be getting paid to take medication, as a result of that’s what greater than 100% is. And people who find themselves listening to that, voters who’re listening to that, in the event that they aren’t seeing that present up of their payments, in the event that they’re not really seeing these drastic, drastic drops that they’re being promised by the president, are they going to get upset? And is that going to influence how they vote? So sure, there was some, on the margins, enhancements, however when you’re on the market promising 600% reductions and never delivering, there’s a threat to that.
Rovner: Jackie, you needed so as to add one thing.
Fortiér: Nicely, I used to be going to say, I believe it’s additionally complicated for lots of people, from a client perspective, as a result of you go online and I believe folks, they hear these big guarantees, like Alice is speaking about, after which they suppose that they’ll, essentially, purchase the medication by way of there and instantly get them shipped, what these third events like Hims and Weight Watchers are doing lots of with the GLP-1s. And that’s not how this works. You continue to have one other step of getting a prescription after which going to the pharmacy and utilizing these to probably get reductions and decrease costs, in the identical method that these have been accessible from pharmaceutical producers and different issues like GoodRx for years. But it surely’s that disconnect between, even when you may get a reduction, really getting the low cost and crediting the Trump administration for that that I believe goes to be actually troublesome for lots of voters to make that connection in the best way that the administration desires them to.
Rovner: And this was ever the case with rebates — for different client merchandise, not simply speaking about medication. We’ll provide you with a $15 rebate, however you need to fill out 87 varieties and ship it to this place and get it precisely proper, do it earlier than the tip date, and we’ll ship you again $15. As a result of they depend on most individuals not having the ability or prepared to comply with all of the varied steps. So as an alternative of giving everyone the discounted worth, they make you actually principally work in your low cost, which is a client factor, however it’s fairly in style in the drug area as effectively. Somewhat than simply reducing costs, they’re going to say, We will provide you with a reduction, however you’re going to have to do that, that, and the opposite factor with a view to get it.
Fortiér: Proper. However when you’re president and also you need credit score for it, it’s going to be somewhat extra — it’s tougher with a view to make that connection. Sorry.
Rovner: Sure, that’s true. That may be a good level. All proper, shifting on. We’ve talked so much about consolidation within the well being care business, notably firms like UnitedHealthcare, which was once simply an insurer, now owns its personal PBM [pharmacy benefit manager], its personal claims processing firm, and 1000’s of medical practices across the nation. Nicely, now an especially unlikely pair within the Senate, Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren and Missouri Republican Josh Hawley, have joined to introduce one thing known as the Break Up Massive Medication Act, which might principally outlaw so-called vertical integration, like that of United and, to a considerably lesser extent, Cigna and CVS Well being, which owns Aetna, the insurer. Some are referring to this because the well being model of the 1932 Glass-Steagall Act, which separated industrial from funding banking — and, facet notice, whose repeal in 1999 is taken into account a significant factor setting off the monetary disaster of 2008. However that was a threat factor. It was executed to stop one other inventory market crash just like the one in 1929. This can be a price factor. That is to go after excessive well being care prices. May it work? May it move? And is that this the start of the following huge factor in well being reform?
Lawrence: Maybe. Yeah. Final 12 months, I labored with my colleagues on a sequence form of inspecting UnitedHealth Group and the results of consolidation on docs and sufferers. And on the time, I believe, there have been some vocal lawmakers on both facet of the aisle who had been criticizing this, particularly within the wake of the homicide of the UnitedHealth CEO, and which had a stunning — the general public form of had this response and to—
Rovner: Not in United’s favor.
Lawrence: Not in United’s favor. And so I believe that there is, it is a political situation that impacts everybody, Republican and Democrat, the, effectively, price basically, however I believe there’s lots of resentment and anger, and it looks as if that’s bringing collectively these unlikely and fairly highly effective senators. I’m not an professional on the Hill. I don’t know if this has an opportunity. Particularly, it’s concentrating on huge, highly effective firms with palms in each a part of the well being care system. So it’s one thing that you’d think about the whole well being care business would struggle towards. However, yeah, I don’t know.
Rovner: And I’ll level out that Sen. Josh Hawley, along with all his anti-abortion actions, final 12 months, when Congress was debating the Medicaid cuts, stored vowing to not vote for these Medicaid cuts. So he’s — which, after all, in the long run, he did — however he’s been form of on the buyer facet of well being look after some time now. It’s simply this isn’t model new to him.
Lawrence: Proper. And I’m unsure how many different Republican senators would comply with him down this path. But it surely’s positively a noteworthy improvement, and curious to see the place it goes.
Rovner: Yeah, I’m curious to see form of if the populist a part of well being care prices form of rises to the fore. We’ll need to, we can have to observe that area. Nicely, lastly this week, extra on the influence of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns and well being. My KFF Well being Information colleague Amy Maxmen has a narrative about well being professionals within the U.S. Public Well being Service Commissioned Corps really resigning quite than accepting postings to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the place some immigrants are being detained in prisons that used to carry al-Qaida suspects. One other KFF Well being Information story by Claudia Boyd-Barrett describes how when folks detained by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] find yourself within the hospital, usually their rapid households and their attorneys aren’t even allowed to know the place. And bear in mind, final week we talked about instances of measles in some immigration detention amenities. Nicely, now there are two confirmed instances of tuberculosis on the ICE facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. I’m considering possibly the well being a part of that is beginning to form of get to folks as a lot as the entire depriving-civil-liberties half.
Fortiér: Yeah, and there’s additionally been instances of covid-19, which is smart. You’re going to have respiratory viruses as you get lots of of individuals grouped collectively. That is smart. A decide in California a pair days in the past ordered that there needed to be satisfactory well being offered to detainees in a single particular California — it was a jail and now it’s an ICE detainee facility. That’s particular to there, however it’s — increasingly senators, I believe, are additionally this and declaring that they’re simply not offering the well being amenities that individuals want. And particularly ongoing care — a lot of people want diabetes remedy, and that remedy simply isn’t actually occurring in many instances.
Rovner: Yeah, we’ve talked about this at some size, over many weeks, that individuals in detention will not be getting well being care, regardless that it is required, that we maintain listening to tales about folks not getting wanted well being care. I didn’t know till I learn this story that individuals who really finish up being hospitalized, that their relations will not be allowed to know. That’s allegedly, effectively, it’s due to safety, as a result of the concept is that if any individual who’s in detention is in a hospital, you don’t essentially need dangerous folks understanding that and with the ability to come to the hospital. However these are folks usually who’re, as now we have documented at size, do not need legal data, and it’s arduous to seek out out the place they’re. Alice, you needed so as to add one thing.
Ollstein: Yeah. So there was a current GAO [Government Accountability Office] report about this, and it discovered that folks weren’t getting evaluated once they entered a facility to see in the event that they had been medically weak and liable to having a extremely dangerous episode or emergency, and that even kids, pregnant ladies, weak populations weren’t getting that preliminary analysis, which then led to issues down the highway. And it additionally stated that individuals upon their launch — both deportation or launch inside america if that’s what a court docket ordered — they weren’t being given their medical data, their prescriptions. And so the continuity of care was disrupted. And it’s vital to notice that that GAO report was about just a few years in the past below the Biden administration. So this isn’t new. These issues aren’t new, however they’re getting a lot worse, as a result of the variety of folks detained is at document ranges and so every little thing’s simply getting multiplied.
Rovner: Yeah, it’s. Nicely, we are going to maintain watching that area. OK, that’s this week’s information. Earlier than we get to our further credit, I’m happy to current the winner of our annual KFF Well being Information Well being Coverage Valentine contest. It’s from [Andrew Carleen] of Massachusetts, based mostly on a narrative about Medicare Benefit overpayments. And it goes like this: “I assumed it was love. My coronary heart felt spring-loaded. Seems our relationship was considerably upcoded.” Congratulations, and comfortable Valentine’s Day to all.
OK, now it’s time for our extra-credit section. That’s the place we every acknowledge a story we learn this week we predict you must learn, too. Don’t fear in case you miss it. We’ll publish the hyperlinks in our present notes in your telephone or different cellular machine. Alice, why don’t you begin us off this week?
Ollstein: Certain. So I’ve a form of enjoyable story [“Why Washington’s All-In on Smart Rings”] from my co-worker Amanda Chu about how the Oura ring has taken over D.C. They’ve been closely lobbying the Trump administration and Congress to stop powerful laws. Principally, there’s a debate about whether or not it ought to be regulated as a medical machine or not.
Rovner: Inform us once more what it does.
Ollstein: It’s a hoop you put on in your finger that displays totally different well being metrics. And so the Trump administration MAHA motion has gone all in on this. They find it irresistible. The Pentagon has an enormous contract with them. Different authorities businesses are it, too. I believe it’s attention-grabbing as a result of it’s this very form of conservative mindset of particular person duty in well being care and, oh, in case you might simply monitor your personal metrics and do the precise issues. That’s an strategy that’s form of counter to the concept of public well being and authorities defending your well being by way of coverage.
Rovner: And we all know HHS Secretary Kennedy is a giant fan of wearables.
Ollstein: Precisely, and this is among the hottest ones proper now. And so this story does job digging into all of the lobbying and likewise into issues about information privateness and declaring that these applied sciences are shifting a lot quicker than authorities can regulate them. And that’s leaving some lawmakers actually involved about who might have entry to this information.
Rovner: Jackie.
Fortiér: Mine is by Ariana Hendrix. She’s a author based mostly in Norway. It’s entitled “The New Childhood Vaccine Tips Have a Paid Depart Downside.” It was printed in Stat. And he or she writes eloquently about being a mum or dad in Norway and understanding that her kids wouldn’t go to day care till they had been about 16 months outdated, as a result of Norway has paid parental go away. And he or she factors out, past the vaccine debate there’s a much bigger situation, that the U.S. lacks common well being care and federal paid parental go away. So adjustments in toddler vaccines within the U.S. have a big impact, as a result of infants within the U.S. usually go to day care, when they’re round lots of different children when they’re simply just a few weeks outdated. So she factors to the, in January, the toddler RSV [respiratory syncytial virus] vaccine was moved to the high-risk class of photographs, so now it isn’t routinely really useful for all infants within the U.S. And RSV, after all, is the commonest reason for hospitalizations for infants, and that’s as a consequence of the truth that they’re uncovered to the virus in day care so much sooner than different kids in different nations like Norway and Denmark whose vaccine schedules U.S. officers at the moment are form of making an attempt to emulate. So she does a extremely nice job of laying out how households face better well being and monetary dangers within the U.S. with out the identical security web that different nations have.
Rovner: Or simply the identical social insurance policies that different nations have.
Fortiér: Yeah, it reminded me—
Rovner: It’s arduous to, proper, it’s arduous to import one other nation’s — a part of one other nation’s — insurance policies with out importing all of them. It’s actually good story. Lizzy.
Lawrence: Yeah. So my piece is by Rachana Pradhan and KFF Well being Information, and it’s concerning the “US Most cancers Institute Finding out Ivermectin’s ‘Means To Kill Most cancers Cells.’” And I assumed this piece was very attention-grabbing, simply because basically I’ve been fascinated by — politicization of medication isn’t new — however similar to right-wing-coded merchandise and left-wing-coded merchandise. And on this piece, Rachana talks about NIH [National Institutes of Health] Director Jay Bhattacharya form of speaking about how, It’s the folks’s NIH and if lots of individuals are utilizing it, effectively, we wish to examine it. So she simply, she does a extremely good job of form of unpacking why that is problematic, that they’re form of simply selecting a random treatment and there’s not likely any scientific purpose to be investing in it as a lot as they’re. And he or she obtained a response from NIH after the actual fact as effectively, form of the place they had been making an attempt to defend this resolution to pour this a lot funding. And so, yeah, I believe it’s simply a extremely attention-grabbing improvement in NIH land.
Rovner: It’s. My further credit score this week is from ProPublica, by Mica Rosenberg, and it’s known as “The Kids of Dilley.” It’s about what immigration detention seems like from the viewpoint of kids being held at a household facility in Dilley, Texas. That’s the one the place the 2 instances of measles had been recognized earlier this winter. The story contains some fairly wrenching letters and video calls from children who had been dwelling elsewhere within the U.S., whereas their mother and father had been principally working throughout the immigration system. And these children had been ripped from their each day lives, their different mother and father and siblings in some instances, their colleges and their classmates, and in many instances, from hope itself. Wrote one 14-year-old from Hicksville, New York, quote: “Since I obtained to this Middle all you’ll really feel is disappointment and principally melancholy.” It actually is a must-read story.
OK. That’s this week’s present. As at all times, because of our editor, Emmarie Huetteman, and our producer-engineer, Francis Ying. A reminder: What the Well being? is now accessible on WAMU platforms, the NPR app, and wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to, after all, kffhealthnews.org. Additionally, as at all times, you’ll be able to e mail us your feedback or questions. We’re at [email protected]. Or you will discover me on X, @jrovner, or on Bluesky, @julierovner. The place are you people hanging as of late? Jackie.
Fortiér: Bluesky primarily, @jackie-fortier.
Rovner: Alice.
Ollstein: Primarily on Bluesky, @alicemiranda, and nonetheless on X, @AliceOllstein.
Rovner: Lizzy.
Lawrence: On X, @LizzyLaw_. On Bluesky, @lizzylawrence.
Rovner: We’ll be again in your feed subsequent week. Till then, be wholesome.
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