KFF Health News' 'What the Health?' Starting To Feel the Shutdown’s Bite
Oct 9, 2025
Join Politico reporter Alice Miranda Ollstein, Pink Sheet's Sarah Karlin-Smith, and civil rights attorney Sarah Grusin as they dive into the effects of the ongoing government shutdown on health programs like Medicare. They discuss the unsettling impacts on telehealth services and the FDA's recent approval of a generic abortion pill, igniting fierce political debate. Grusin clarifies misconceptions about health care for undocumented immigrants, and the panel shares eye-opening articles on health systems, underscoring pressing issues in current policy.
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Shutdown Turns Into A Health Fight
- The shutdown sharpens into a political health debate because enhanced ACA subsidies are about to lapse and raise premiums for many.
- Public polling blaming Republicans and visible GOP figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene pressuring colleagues widens pressure to resolve it.
Shutdown's Early Health Pinch
- The shutdown is beginning to cause real program disruptions, notably potential WIC funding shortfalls and lapses in Medicare telehealth authorizations.
- Some cuts arise from budget timing and state actions, not just the appropriations lapse, increasing downstream pressure on care access.
WIC Moms Stretching Food Supplies
- Moms worried about WIC described stretching milk and food as funding ran low.
- The administration pledged to use tariff money, but experts questioned legal authority to reprogram those funds.