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All Coverage

What the Health? From 51��Ƶ Health News

Health Funding in Question in a Speaker-Less Congress

Episode 318

Oct. 12, 2023

A bitterly divided Congress managed to keep the federal government running for several more weeks, while House Republicans struggle — again — to choose a leader. Meanwhile, many people removed from state Medicaid rolls are not finding their way to Affordable Care Act insurance, and a major investigation by The Washington Post attributes the decline in U.S. life expectancy to more than covid-19 and opioids. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Victoria Knight of Axios, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join 51��Ƶ Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews physician-author-playwright Samuel Shem about “Our Hospital,” his new novel about the health workforce in the age of covid.
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PrEP, a Key HIV Prevention Tool, Isn’t Reaching Black Women

New HIV infections occur disproportionately among Black women, but exclusionary marketing, fewer treatment options, and provider wariness have limited uptake of preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, drugs, which reduce the risk of contracting the virus.

By Sam Whitehead

Oct. 12, 2023
California Bans Controversial ‘Excited Delirium’ Diagnosis

California is the first state to ban the controversial diagnosis known as “excited delirium,” which has been used increasingly to justify excessive force by law enforcement. A human rights advocate described the law, signed this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom, as a “watershed moment” in criminal justice.

By Samantha Young

Oct. 12, 2023
51��Ƶ Health News / CMG TV Stations Investigation

House Panel to Hold Hearing on Erroneous Social Security Payments

Congress is beginning to take action on the Social Security Administration’s clawbacks of payments it mistakenly made to poor, retired, and disabled Americans.

By David Hilzenrath and Jodie Fleischer, Cox Media Group

Oct. 11, 2023
An Arm and a Leg

John Green vs. Johnson & Johnson (Part 1)

Season 10, Episode 2

Oct. 11, 2023

Pharmaceutical patents can drive up the costs of lifesaving medications. Hear what author and YouTube star John Green is doing to make tuberculosis drugs more accessible to the people who need them most.
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Feds Hope to Cut Sepsis Deaths by Hitching Medicare Payments to Treatment Stats

A new rule sets specific treatment metrics for suspected sepsis cases in an effort to reduce deaths, but some experts say the measures could add to antibiotic overuse and need to be more flexible.

By Julie Appleby

Oct. 11, 2023
Narcan, Now Available Without a Prescription, Can Still Be Hard to Get

Narcan is available without a prescription. Addiction treatment experts hope this move will increase access to the medication, which can reverse opioid overdoses. But hurdles remain: cost and stigma.

By Jackie Fortiér, LAist and Nicole Leonard, WHYY

Oct. 11, 2023
Epidemic

Bodies Remember What Was Done to Them

Season 2, Episode 6

Oct. 10, 2023

Trust is hard to build and easy to break. In Episode 6 of the “Eradicating Smallpox” podcast, meet Chandrakant Pandav, a health worker who used laughter and song to try to rebuild trust with communities harmed by India’s sometimes violent and coercive family planning campaign.
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When Medical Devices Malfunction

Thousands Got Exactech Knee or Hip Replacements. Then, Patients Say, the Parts Began to Fail.

In a torrent of lawsuits, patients accuse Florida device maker Exactech of hiding knee and hip implant defects for years. The company denies the allegations.

By Fred Schulte

Oct. 10, 2023
‘I’m So Burned Out’: Fighting to See a Specialist Amplified Pain for Riverside County Woman

Teresa Johnson has been in extreme pain for more than a year after what she believes was a severe allergic reaction to iodine. Her Medi-Cal plan approved her referral to a specialist, but it took her numerous phone calls, multiple complaints, and several months to book an appointment.

By Molly Castle Work

Oct. 10, 2023
Mothers of Color Can’t See if Providers Have a History of Mistreatment. Why Not?

Many women, especially Black women, have reported discrimination in maternity care, but expectant mothers lack tools to see where this happens. Funding and regulations to measure disparities have been slow in arriving, but some innovators are trying to fill the void.

By Sarah Kwon

Oct. 6, 2023
51��Ƶ Health News & PolitiFact HealthCheck

Trump Misplaced Blame When He Said Drug Shortages Were Biden’s Fault

Former President Donald Trump, who’s running for another term in the White House, recently blamed drug shortages on his successor, President Joe Biden. Our findings don’t align with Trump’s claims; by some measures, drug shortages increased more on Trump’s watch than on Biden’s.

By Michelle Andrews

Oct. 6, 2023
What the Health? From 51��Ƶ Health News

An Encore: 3 HHS Secretaries Reveal What the Job Is Really Like

Episode 317

Oct. 5, 2023

In this special encore episode, 51��Ƶ Health News’ “What the Health?” asks three people who have served as the nation’s top health official: What does a day in the life of the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services look like? And how much of their agenda is set by the White House? Taped in June before a live audience at Aspen Ideas: Health, part of the Aspen Ideas Festival, in Aspen, Colorado, host and chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner leads a rare conversation with the current and two former HHS secretaries. Secretary Xavier Becerra and former secretaries Kathleen Sebelius and Alex Azar talk candidly about what it takes to run a department with more than 80,000 employees and a budget larger than those of many countries.
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Feds Rein In Use of Predictive Software That Limits Care for Medicare Advantage Patients

Software sifts through millions of medical records to match patients with similar diagnoses and characteristics and then predicts what kind of care an individual will need and for how long. New federal rules will ensure human experts are part of the process.

By Susan Jaffe

Oct. 5, 2023
51��Ƶ Health News / CMG TV Stations Investigation

Social Security Chief Orders Broad Review of Benefit Overpayments

In the wake of an investigation by 51��Ƶ Health News and Cox Media Group, the SSA acting commissioner said a special team will review “overpayment policies and procedures” and report directly back to her.

By David Hilzenrath and Jodie Fleischer, Cox Media Group

Oct. 4, 2023
Primary Care Disrupted

What Mobile Clinics in Dollar General Parking Lots Say About Health Care in Rural America

Dollar General’s pilot mobile clinic program has been touted by company officials, rural health experts, and analysts as a model that could help solve rural America’s primary care shortage. But its Tennessee launch has been met with local skepticism.

By Sarah Jane Tribble

Oct. 4, 2023
More Schools Stock Overdose Reversal Meds, but Others Worry About Stigma

Colorado is among several states that ensure schools have access to the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone for free or at reduced cost. But most districts hadn’t signed up by the start of the school year for a state distribution program amid stigma around the lifesaving treatment.

By Rae Ellen Bichell and Virginia Garcia Pivik

Oct. 3, 2023
Police Blame Some Deaths on ‘Excited Delirium.’ ER Docs Consider Pulling the Plug on the Term.

The American College of Emergency Physicians will vote in early October on whether to disavow its 2009 research paper on excited delirium, which has been cited as a cause of death and used as a legal defense by police officers in several high-profile cases.

By Markian Hawryluk and Renuka Rayasam

Oct. 2, 2023
Facing Criticism, Feds Award First Maternal Health Grant to a Predominantly Black Rural Area

Mississippi has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. Now, it also has a federal grant to help in rural areas. The award could signal more flexibility from federal officials.

By Sarah Jane Tribble

Oct. 2, 2023
51��Ƶ Health News On Air

Journalists Track Opioid Settlement Cash and New Fees for Emailing Your Doctor

51��Ƶ Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.

Sept. 30, 2023

Morning Briefing

Friday, Oct. 2, 2026 • 9:10 a.m. ET

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Noticias en español

EE.UU. se prepara para expulsar de Medicaid a inmigrantes con estatus legal, incluidos refugiados y víctimas de trata sexual

By Phil Galewitz, Andrew Jones, and Claudia Boyd-Barrett

Sept. 30, 2026
Esperó horas en una sala de emergencias y se fue sin que la atendieran. Aun así, le cobraron

By Michelle Andrews

Sept. 29, 2026
La seguridad alimentaria se gana su lugar en la batalla electoral

By Stephanie Armour

Sept. 28, 2026
El aborto vuelve a las urnas mientras cambian políticas después de la era Roe vs. Wade

By Bram Sable-Smith and Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez

Sept. 28, 2026
Incertidumbre política y recortes amenazan entrega de comidas de Medicaid que ayudan con la salud y el presupuesto

By Priyanka Dayal McCluskey, WBUR

Sept. 22, 2026