Vox
Senior Editor and healthcare reporter at Vox; former health policy reporter for the Washington Post and its Wonk blog
PROFILE
Sarah Kliff
Guest
FROM Sarah Kliff
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Senate moves ahead on health care The Senate is busy trying to pass a health care bill. But there’s a lot of mystery surrounding it, including what’s in it and if it can pass.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Health care bill passes: What's in it, and will those who voted 'yes' risk losing their jobs? House Speaker Paul Ryan and Republican party leadership corralled just enough votes to pass the health care bill -- 217 to 213. All Democrats voted no, and 20 Republicans joined them. Some of California’s Republican delegation had been undecided until today, but in the end, all of them voted “yes.” The bill allows states to scrap a lot of the protections provided under Obamacare.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
What will the GOP health care plan mean for Californians? Republicans announced a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. It removes the requirement that you have to buy insurance – the individual mandate – and places restrictions on the number of people who can be covered by Medicaid. California has covered more people through the Affordable Care Act than any other state. What will the Republican plan mean for the five million Californians who get their coverage through the ACA?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
What might be in the GOP's Obamacare replacement? House Speaker Paul Ryan says Republicans are ready to introduce their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. It’ll come after President’s Day. What will the plan entail and how will it differ from the Affordable Care Act?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
What’s the GOP plan for replacing Obamacare? “Repeal and replace” has been the Republican party’s mantra when it comes to the Affordable Care Act. Republicans will have a chance to make good on that promise since it will control the White House and Congress.
To the Point
A Health Check for Obamacare When the US Supreme Court finally gave the Affordable Care Act the go-ahead last year, President Obama called it a victory. "In America, healthcare is not a privilege for a few, but a right for all." But there's still one system for the affluent and another for everyone else -- even though millions who were not insured can now buy policies. More and more often, doctors and hospitals tell them, "We don't take Obamacare here." Now, some insurance companies are opting out of the program. Healthcare's a major issue in yet another presidential campaign.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
When Doctors Make Fatal Mistakes In medical ethics the first guiding principle for doctors and nurses is do no harm, but accidental harm happens all the time. Medical errors occur every day, and sometimes those errors are deadly. Of course that’s devastating to the patient and the patient’s loved ones. But it’s also devastating to the doctor or nurse who made the mistake, and often those health care workers suffer in silence. How should hospital administrators respond when health care providers make terrible medical mistakes? Should they punish them or support them and learn from them ?
To the Point
Congress Calls for Probe of Planned Parenthood after Sting Video Research using fetal tissue has led to vaccines for polio and measles as well as other diseases. But legal and ethical issues remain — especially when the tissue comes from fetuses that have been aborted. The latest controversy involves Planned Parenthood. An anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress has released a selectively edited video featuring actors posing as buyers for a human biologics company. They went to lunch with Deborah Nucatola, senior director of medical services for Planned Parenthood and secretly recorded a conversation about the cost of fetal tissue for medical research. The video is heavily edited and the audio is hard to understand, but it has spurred an upcoming Congressional investigation. Sarah Kliff covers healthcare for the news site Vox .
Which Way, L.A.?
Showtime for Obamacare The New Year brought with it medical coverage for millions of Americans under the Affordable Care Act . Yesterday about two million people began to receive private health coverage through the state health exchanges or the federal website. With one of the nation's most sweeping changes to social policy in decades, no longer can insurers deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, or charge them more for their coverage than other customers. It's also the first time they can't legally charge women higher premiums for the same coverage as men, and the first time they can't set a specific limit on the amount they spend on "essential health benefits" for individual policyholders. But there are a lot of "if's" in the implementation of Obamacare. Will people be able to find a doctor who accepts their new plan? Are the nation's healthcare providers ready for the change in policy? And how will Obamacare shape the political climate this election year?
To the Point
Showtime for Obamacare The New Year brought with it medical coverage for millions of Americans under the Affordable Care Act . Yesterday about two million people began to receive private health coverage through the state health exchanges or the federal website. With one of the nation's most sweeping changes to social policy in decades, no longer can insurers deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, or charge them more for their coverage than other customers. It's also the first time they can't legally charge women higher premiums for the same coverage as men, and the first time they can't set a specific limit on the amount they spend on "essential health benefits" for individual policyholders. But there are a lot of "if's" in the implementation of Obamacare. Will people be able to find a doctor who accepts their new plan? Are the nation's healthcare providers ready for the change in policy? And how will Obamacare shape the political climate this election year?
To the Point
Can Campaign Pollsters Sell Obamacare to Young Adults? Strategists successfully used Big Data to micro-target the young people who helped elect and re-elect President Obama. Now those same strategists are using the same technology with a new goal: getting young people to buy heath insurance. President Obama today turned a news conference into a selling job with arguments designed to recruit young people to buy health insurance. We hear how they're doing it from Sara Kliff, health policy reporter for the Washington Post , and Jonathan Alter, news analyst for MSNBC and author of The Center Holds : Obama and his Enemies.
To the Point
Abortion: The Law Is Clear but the War Rages On Same-sex marriage may be off the front burner, but abortion is hotter than ever in many legislatures and on Capitol Hill. Roe v. Wade is "settled law" in the United States, and polls show widespread support for a woman's right to choose an abortion. But the anti-abortion movement is gaining momentum. Republicans in Congress have passed strict new limits. In Ohio, mandatory ultrasounds are part of the budget so they'll be harder to overturn. Despite the last-minute Democratic filibuster in Texas, Republicans are likely to get tough new measures as soon as next week. Democrats call it a "war against women," and predict a backlash. We look at the political fallout and the medical consequences for women and their doctors.
To the Point
Will Releasing Hospital Prices Solve the Mystery of Medical Costs? For the first time today, the federal Centers for Medicare released the price tags for common medical procedures. Depending on the hospital involved, it turns out they can differ by orders of magnitude. Sarah Kliff is health policy reporter for the Washington Post .
To the Point
North Dakota Bans Most Abortions When he signed the nation's three toughest abortion restrictions yesterday, North Dakota's Republican Governor Jack Dalrymple conceded they might be thrown out by federal courts but said he and the state legislature wanted "to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade." It's a strategy that has divided the so-called "pro-life" movement, say Sarah Kliff, health policy reporter for the Washington Post .
To the Point
Is the US Ready for Universal Coverage? America's shortage of doctors has been growing for years, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is going to make it much worse. Even supporters of "Obamacare" agree that, with 30 million new patients in 2014, there will be 62,000 fewer doctors than needed. That's just two years away, but it takes ten years to train a doctor, so there's a crisis just around the corner. Nurse practitioners and clinics in pharmacies can take up some of the slack, but can they really replace MD's? Will the gap in quality care between wealthy Americans and the poor grow bigger than ever?
Which Way, L.A.?
Susan G. Komen Decision on Planned Parenthood Sparks Backlash Since 1982, the Susan G. Komen Foundation has helped bring down breast cancer rates, in part with support for mammograms conducted by Planned Parenthood . Now, Komen has cut that funding , saying that it has done so because that group is " under investigation ." The decision has sparked a backlash and, in reaction, Planned Parenthood received $650,000 from other donors in just 24 hours.
Recommended
To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
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.
To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?