USA Today
Health policy reporter for USA Today and author of They Fought for Each Other: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Hardest Hit Unit in Iraq
PROFILE
Kelly Kennedy
Guest
FROM Kelly Kennedy
To the Point
CVS to Stop Selling Tobacco Products CVS/Caremark announced today it will no longer sell cigarettes or related tobacco products in 7600 pharmacies. The drug store giant accounts for about 2% of all tobacco sales nationwide — with its sales amounting to $2 billion. Kelly Kennedy is health policy reporter for USA Today .
To the Point
Healthcare Hearing Gets Heated On Capitol Hill today, Republicans zeroed in on the Obama Administration and contractors who built the troubled website for Affordable Care Act. Fred Upton of Michigan, Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, faulted top administration officials and contractors for failing to disclose problems with the online site, while New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone accused Republicans of "trying to scare everybody." Kelly Kennedy covers healthcare policy for USA Today .
To the Point
Calculating the Financial Costs of Gun Shootings A new report puts a price tag on gun violence: $12 billion a year, including $1.4 billion to US taxpayers -- for Medicare and Medicaid payments to treat victims in emergency rooms. The Senate Judiciary Committee today began debate on gun safety proposals in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre. Chairman Patrick Leahy , Democrat of Vermont, held up a piece from yesterday's USA Today on how gunshot wounds are driving up the cost of health care. We hear from Kelly Kennedy, who wrote the story, and from RAND analyst and former emergency room physician Art Kellermann.
Recommended
To the Point
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.