Author

Julie Rovner

Julie Rovner is Chief Washington Correspondent joining Kaiser Health News (KHN), a nonprofit news service, after 16 years as health policy correspondent for NPR, where she helped lead the network’s coverage of the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book Health Care Politics and Policy A-Z, now in its third edition.

Health

Biden Moves to Overturn Trump Birth Control Rules

Julie Rovner Apr 15, 2021

The Women's March protest people and signs, hands off my birth control. Seattle, Washington January 19th 2019. File photo credit: SeaRick1, Shutterstock.com, licensed. WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Biden administration Wednesday formally…

Health

Biden’s First Order of Business May Be to Undo Trump’s Policies, But It Won’t Be Easy

Julie Rovner Jan 9, 2021

To execute his health care agenda, President-elect Biden first must deal with the substantial changes to the nation’s health care system that his predecessor made using executive branch authority. Reversing policies Democrats oppose would…

Health

What to Know as ACA Heads to Supreme Court — Again

Julie Rovner Nov 9, 2020

The justices could declare the entire law unconstitutional — which is what a federal district judge in Texas ruled in December 2018. But legal experts say that’s not the most likely outcome of this case. File photo: ShutterStock.com,…

Health

Coming Abortion Fight Could Threaten Birth Control, Too

Julie Rovner Nov 6, 2020

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett being sworn in by Justice Clarence Thomas during a ceremonial swearing-in event on the South Lawn of the White House on Oct. 26. Photo credit: C-SPAN. WASHINGTON, D.C. - Abortion opponents were…

Health

No Winner for President Yet, and Health Care Hangs in the Balance

Julie Rovner Nov 4, 2020

If former Vice President Joe Biden wins and Democrats gain a Senate majority, it would represent the first time the party has controlled the White House and both houses of Congress since 2010 — the year the ACA was passed. Photo credit…

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Health

Biden’s Big Health Agenda Won’t Be Easy to Achieve; Much Like Barack Obama, Biden Could Find Health…

Julie Rovner Oct 22, 2020

Democratic nominee Joe Biden made an abbreviated campaign visit to Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Friday, hours after he tested negative for the coronavirus in two separate tests. September 21,2020. Editorial credit: Alex Gakos /…

Health

Outnumbered on High Court Nomination, Democrats Campaign for a Different Vote

Julie Rovner Oct 15, 2020

Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett testifies on Wednesday, the third day of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Photo credit: C-SPAN. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Democrats on the Senate Judiciary…

Health

Without Ginsburg, Judicial Threats to the Affordable Care Act, Reproductive Rights Heighten

Julie Rovner Sep 22, 2020

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, right, receives the LBJ Liberty & Justice for All Award from Lynda Johnson Robb, left, and Luci Baines Johnson at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2020. Photo…

Education

Med Students ‘Feel Very Behind’ Because of COVID-Induced Disruptions in Training

Julie Rovner Aug 31, 2020

Megan Messinger spends most of her days studying at her apartment in Los Angeles. She is in her fourth year at the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, and calculates she has lost about 400 hours of patient time due…

Health

High Court Allows Employers With Religious or Moral Objection To Opt Out Of Affordable Care Act’s…

Julie Rovner Jul 8, 2020

In a 7-2 ruling in a case involving the Little Sisters of the Poor, the court said employers with a “religious or moral objection” to contraceptives should not be forced to insure women for those services. Editorial credit: Michkasova…

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Health

Among Those Disrupted By COVID-19: The Nation’s Newest Doctors

Julie Rovner Jul 1, 2020

From medical school to residency training sites, what has traditionally been a big day in medical education for newly minted doctors starting their residency, with the coronavirus, this year is very different. Photo credit Shutterstock…

Health

Supreme Court, Rejecting Restrictive Louisiana Law, Refuses To Roll Back Abortion Rights

Julie Rovner Jun 29, 2020

A pro-choice activist holds a Planned Parenthood sign while awaiting the Supreme Courtâ??s ruling on abortion access in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on June 27, 2016. File photo. Editorial credit: Rena Schild /…

Health

Always The Bridesmaid, Public Health Rarely Spotlighted Until It’s Too Late

Julie Rovner May 4, 2020

If you’re not a health professional of some stripe, you might not realize that the nation’s public health system operates in large part separately from the system that provides most people’s medical care. File photo. WASHINGTON, D.C. -…

Health

Supreme Court Revisits Abortion Law Akin To One Struck Down In 2016

Julie Rovner Feb 28, 2020

At the heart of the current case is a Louisiana law passed in 2014 that requires doctors who perform abortions in the state to have “admitting privileges” at a hospital no more than 30 miles from the clinic where the abortion is…

Health

A Guide To Following The Health Debate In The 2020 Elections

Julie Rovner Jan 30, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Health has been a top issue in the presidential campaign during the past year: Not only do the Democratic candidates disagree with President Donald Trump, but they also disagree among themselves. Voters have…

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Health

Roe v. Wade: This Could Be The Year When Everything Changes; 200 Republicans File Brief Urging…

Julie Rovner Jan 18, 2020

After 47 years of furious debate on both sides, this could be the year when everything changes. On Jan. 2, more than 200 Republican members of the House and Senate filed a brief in the Gee case urging the justices to use it to overturn …

Health

Another Blow Dealt to Obamacare As Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Portion Requiring People to…

Julie Rovner Dec 19, 2019

LOUISIANA - A federal appeals court panel in New Orleans dealt another blow to the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, agreeing with a lower-court judge that the portion of the health law requiring most people to have coverage is…

Health

What Would Happen If “Obamacare” Just Went Away?

Julie Rovner Dec 17, 2019

A Press conference where President Obama discussed the quality of health plans due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, nick-named ‘Obamacare, and the insurance on the marketplace. File photo: Pixabay. WASHINGTON, D.C. -…

Business

Federal Appeal of AFA Has Potential to Shake Nation’s Health Care System to Its Core; Upholding…

Julie Rovner Jul 9, 2019

According to a court brief filed by a bipartisan group of economists and other health policy experts billions of dollars of private and public investment — impacting every corner of the American health system — have been made based on the…