Public health officials are watching with concern after a strain of bird flu has spread to dairy cows and at least one dairy worker in at least nine states. However, due to the coronavirus outbreak, many farmers are reluctant to request testing from health authorities.
Meanwhile, another major healthcare company, Catholic hospital chain Ascension, has also been targeted by a cyberattack, causing serious problems at some of its facilities.
This week's panelists are KFF Health News' Julie Rovner, Stat's Rachel Cohrs Zhang, Politico's Alice Miranda Ollstein, and CQ Roll Call's Sandhya Raman.
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?” She is a renowned expert on health policy issues. Julie is the author of her critically acclaimed reference book, Health Politics and Policy A to Z, now in its third edition.
panelists
Here are our takeaways from this week's episode.
The stumbling blocks in the initial response to bird flu are uncomfortably similar to the early days of COVID-19, including issues protecting workers who could be exposed to COVID-19. Notably, the Department of Agriculture benefited from a multi-million dollar coronavirus relief fund designed to strengthen disease surveillance. Congress is working to expand telehealth coverage. The question is how to pay for it. Lawmakers appear to have agreed to a two-year contract, but details such as the cost of the extension remain unclear. Speaking of telemedicine, a new report shows that approximately 20% of medical abortions are supervised through telemedicine. State-level regulations are forcing people in need of abortion care to turn to options far from home. A new report on Medicaid also reveals how many people are falling through the cracks in the government's health care system for low-income and disabled Americans. These include how insurance companies profit from individuals' confusion about whether they have Medicaid coverage in the first place.
Also this week, Rovner interviewed Atul Grover of the Association of American Medical Colleges about a recent analysis showing that graduating medical students are avoiding training in states with abortion bans or significant restrictions.
Plus, as an “additional credit,” our panelists will suggest health policy articles they read this week that they think you should read, too.
Julie Rovner: NPR's “Why Writing by Hand Is Better than Typing for Thinking and Learning,” by Jonathan Lambert.
Alice Miranda Olstein: “'I don't trust doctors anymore': Women say they've been forced to go on long-term birth control,” by Alana Semuels, Time Magazine.
Rachel Coles Chan: Stat's “After a decades-long battle with Big Tobacco, Cliff Douglas is leading a foundation funded by his former adversaries” (written by Nicholas Florko).
Sandhya Raman: “People with severe mental illness are locked up in prisons, and Montgomery County is the epicenter of the problem” in the Baltimore Banner, by Ben Konark.
Also mentioned in this week's podcast:
credit
Frances Ying Audio Producer Emmalie Hüttemann Editor
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This article is republished from khn.org. khn.org is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health issues and is one of KFF's core operating programs, providing independent information for health policy research, polling, and journalism. It is the source.
