The Host
Mary Agnes Carey
KFF Health News
@maryagnescarey
Mary Agnes Carey, managing editor of KFF Health News. She was previously the director of news partnership, where she oversaw placement of KFF Health News in publications across the country. Mary Agnes was a senior reporter who covered federal health policy and health reform.
Donald Trump nominated this week a former deputy surgeon-general who has expressed support for vaccinations to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If confirmed by the Senate, Erica Schwartz, a more traditional candidate for the position, would be the fourth leader of the agency in about a year.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, appeared on Capitol Hill in the first hearing of several to discuss Trump’s budget request. The topics of discussion veered away from federal funding. Lawmakers raised issues such as Medicaid fraud, measles, the hepatitis-B vaccine, peptides and unaccompanied minors.
This week, the panelists include Mary Agnes Carey of KFF Health News and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News. Emmarie Huetteman of KFF Health News and Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Politico Magazine, and KFF Health News are also on the list.
Panelists
Anna Edney
Bloomberg News
@annaedney
@annaedney.bsky.social
Read Anna’s stories.
Emmarie Huetteman
KFF Health News
Joanne Kenen
Johns Hopkins University Politico
@JoanneKenen
@joannekenen.bsky.social
Read Joanne’s biography.
Takeaways from the episode this week include:
Trump named four officials as part of the CDC leadership team on Thursday. Schwartz, the director he chose, is a Navy officer and physician who served as deputy surgeon general under Trump’s first administration. She has expressed support for vaccines, and played a crucial role in the covid-19 response.
RFK Jr. appeared before three House of Representatives committees this week to discuss the president’s budget request. The hearings covered a wide range of topics. However, one notable moment was the slight softening in Kennedy’s stance regarding the measles vaccination, and his acknowledgement that being immunized was safer than getting measles. He also stood by his decision to remove the newborn dose recommendation for hepatitis B.
New studies on the effects of water-fluoridation and acetaminophen use during pregnancy refute Trump administration’s claims. A White House meeting between Trump, Kennedy and other leaders from the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement was intended to calm fears among supporters. However, there are reasons to believe that the overture will not completely mend fences with the MAHA constituency before the midterm elections.
Julie Rovner, KFF Health News, interviewed Michelle Canero, a medical immigration attorney, this week about the impact of the Trump administration’s policies on the medical workforce.
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Plus, as “extra credit”, the panelists suggest stories on health policy they read (or authored) this week and think you should also read:
Mary Agnes Carey : Alice Miranda Ollstein’s “A Crisis in the Making: Nebraska Races to Impose Work Requirements for Medicaid” from Politico.
Joanne Kenen, The New York Times: “He Warned about the Dangers A.I.” Teddy Rosenbluth’s “If Only His Father Had Listened”
Anna Edney: Bloomberg, “Hormone Drugs make $6.3 Billion Comeback after FDA Nixes Safety Warnings,” by Anna Edney.
Emmarie Huetteman, KFF Health News, “Your New Therapist: Chatty Leaky and Hardly Human,” Darius Tahir.
Also mentioned in the podcast this week:
JAMA Pediatrics “Acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy and the risk of autism in offspring,” by Kira Philipsen Prahm. Pingnan Chen. Line Rode.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “Municipal Water Fluoridation and Adolescent Intelligence: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study,” John Robert Warren Gina Rumore Kamil Sicinski and Michal Engleman.
Stephanie Armour and Mairselfeld’s “Pennsylvania Town Facing Fallout from Trump’s Environmental Rule Rollback” in KFF Health News.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “In Private Meeting Trump Soothes MAHA Leaders Disenchanted”, New York Times.
Wakely Consulting Group, “Who Paid and who stayed?” Early 2026 Enrollment trends in the Individual Market, by Michelle Anderson, Chia Ya Chin, Michael Cohen.
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Emmarie Huetteman
Editor
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