POLITICO's Pulse Check

Scott Gottlieb was nominated to run the FDA in March 2017. Two years — and nearly 500 press announcements — later, the productive and high-profile commissioner is preparing to step down in early April 2019. Gottlieb joined POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss why he's leaving FDA (starts at 1:30), his regulatory and communications strategy (4:40), his work on medical device safety (10:30), digital he...

He's tried to cut global HIV funds. He's made moves to roll back LGBTQ protections. He reportedly confused "HIV" and "HPV." Can we really trust President Donald Trump when he promises to end the HIV epidemic in a decade? Jen Kates of the Kaiser Family Foundation joins POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss the president's pledge, his latest funding moves and the state of the global fight against HIV. M...

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb's leaving the Trump administration, and POLITICO reporters react to the monumental news. In the first panel (starts at the 1:30 mark), Sarah Karlin-Smith and Adam Cancryn join Dan Diamond to react to Gottlieb's resignation and discuss the political implications. In the second panel (starts at the 21:00 mark), Sarah Owermohle and Helena Bottemiller Evich join Dan to...

More than 100 House Democrats on Wednesday, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, unveiled their sweeping Medicare for All legislation. So what comes next — and why is the health care industry so opposed to it? First, POLITICO's Alice Miranda Ollstein joins Dan Diamond (starts at the 1:05 mark) on Capitol Hill to explain the state of play. Then Lauren Crawford Shaver, head of the Partnership for America's...

With Congress on recess, POLITICO's reporters (and a bonus guest) take stock of three big stories in a grab-bag episode. First, Rachana Pradhan leads a conversation on Utah's controversial changes to voter-approved Medicaid expansion (starts at the 1:20 mark). Next, Paul Demko offers an update on lawsuits over President Donald Trump's cancellation of ACA payments to insurers (starts at the 12:40 m...

"In our view, our jurisdiction is the world... Every time you watch the nightly news, [I] come up with at least three new ideas for hearings." Rep. Diana DeGette, the Colorado Democrat leading oversight for the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, joins POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss why she prioritized hearings on family separations, vow an investigation of high insulin prices, reflect on h...

"We are at a time when everything is at stake… If we don’t fight and we don’t lead the charge… then who is going to?” The Trump administration has made no secret of its plans to roll back access to abortion. One of the key figures attempting to stop them: Leana Wen, a physician tapped to be Planned Parenthood's new leader last fall. Wen joined POLITICO's Dan Diamond to rebut President Trump's late...

Sen. Chuck Grassley says it's time for the secrecy in the pharma industry to end. "The lack of transparency... is something that allows the shenanigans that we read about every day," the Senate Finance Committee chairman said, on the eve of his committee's first drug pricing hearing. Grassley sat down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to review his drug pricing plans, explain his approach to government...

Ashish Jha has spent years sounding the alarm about the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program — an Obamacare policy intended to encourage hospitals to provide better care. But Jha argues the program instead put patients at risk, and new data suggests he might be right. Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, joins POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss the readmissions policy and th...

Why spend more than a year investigating hospital bills? Vox's Sarah Kliff says it all started with a $629 band-aid; now she's probing a hospital named after Facebook's founder. Sarah — a senior policy correspondent, host of "The Impact" podcast and a former POLITICO reporter — sits down with Dan Diamond to discuss her billing series and the reaction, what she's learned about health care prices an...

Thousands of migrant families were separated at the border by the Trump administration last year. One of the HHS officials involved in putting them back together: Chris Meekins — a Trump appointee who normally helped oversee emergency preparedness, but was tapped as part of HHS' broader response. Meekins, who left HHS last week, sat down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to defend the HHS family reunifi...

It's a new year, and PULSE CHECK returns to look at what's ahead. POLITICO's Adam Cancryn and Rachana Pradhan join Dan Diamond to discuss if the partial government shutdown will end soon (starts at the 1:45 mark), what's on Congress' to-do list (4:00) and how the Trump administration is putting its stamp on the states (16:45) — with a bonus conversation about the most influential Trump appointees...

In an episode of POLITICO's "Nerdcast," guest host Dan Diamond joins congressional reporters Rachael Bade and Burgess Everett to review the partial government shutdown, how it's affecting the agencies and the possible path toward a deal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may have heard about Texas' lawsuit over Obamacare, and a judge's recent decision that the ACA is unconstitutional. But have you heard about Maryland's counter-attack? Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh is locked in a legal battle with the Trump administration, and he joined POLITICO's Dan Diamond to explain his fight to get the ACA declared as the law of the land. (Starts at the 1:20 mark....

"I don't want anyone to think I'm against the harm-reduction potential of these devices for adults. But 3 percent of adults are using these devices — [and] 20 percent of high schoolers are using these devices." Surgeon General Jerome Adams sits down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to explain why he's issuing an advisory on the risks of e-cigarettes for youth — just the second surgeon general advisory...

Policy wonks are increasingly pessimistic about Affordable Care Act open enrollment this year, as sign-ups fall further behind last year's pace. What's next for health coverage — in 2018 and beyond? First, Noah Lang of Stride Health joins POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss Stride's new partnership with CMS to help workers for Uber, Etsy and other gig economy companies get covered. Then, POLITICO's...

Health care helped Democrats capture the House of Representatives. Now comes the hard part: Figuring out a path forward, with some progressives embracing proposals like Medicare for All — and centrists worried that the plan isn't feasible and a political loser. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who leads the House's Medicare for All Caucus, joined POLITICO's Dan Diamond to defend the idea amid Republican atta...

POLITICO's Paul Demko, who's in for host Dan Diamond, speaks with reporters Alice Ollstein and Sarah Karlin-Smith about what to expect on the health care front from the lame-duck session of Congress (spoiler: not much). Plus, just as only Nixon could go to China, perhaps only Republicans can limit drug coverage in Medicare Part D -- a discussion of proposed changes from CMS and the seeming lack of...

Dan Barber is a chef known for his radical take on food. He's appeared on the popular Netflix show Chef's Table and is the owner of Blue Hill Restaurant. He joins host Dan Diamond to talk about the future of food and nutrition, and why he thinks we should be using more of the foods we throw away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"All the great gains that we've made in this country, reducing smoking rates ... all of that will be reversed or lost if we can't address the youth use of e-cigarettes." FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is planning a crackdown on sales of e-cigarettes — a story that broke on Thursday — and he sat down exclusively with POLITICO to talk about why the agency is making such a dramatic move. Gottlieb jo...

From Medicaid expansion to ACA repeal, health care was on the ballot on Tuesday night. POLITICO's Rachel Roubein, Paul Demko and Adam Cancryn join Dan Diamond to discuss the key winners — and notable losers — and explain what to watch in Congress and the states in the coming months. READING MATERIAL Adam and Alice Miranda Ollstein looked at how Tuesday's results served as redemption for the Afford...

Need a guide to Election Day — and all of the health care storylines? POLITICO's health team has you covered this week, with a roundtable episode that explains what we're watching around the nation. First, Victoria Colliver joins from California to discuss the record spending on the state's measure to cap dialysis clinic profits. (Starts at the 1:15 mark.) Then Adam Cancryn and Paul Demko sit down...

Nora Volkow has run the National Institute on Drug Abuse for 15 years — long enough to serve three presidents, to see the science of addiction evolve and to witness the rise of the opioid crisis (and try to fight it). Nora sat down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss her unusual background — a Mexican who ended up leading the U.S. agency that investigates drug abuse and addiction — as well as t...

"What we were trying to do at the time was change the mindset of the executives running these large organizations. And I, for one, think we succeeded far beyond my wildest imagination, in putting enough things into the Affordable Care Act that the people out in the field said, 'Whoa, the world is changing and we’ve got to respond to it.'" Peter Orszag is one of the intellectual godfathers of the A...

It’s no secret that health care has been a key election issue — Democrats are promising to defend the Affordable Care Act and expand coverage, while Republicans are warning that Medicare for All puts seniors at risk. So where do we stand a month away from the midterms? First, POLITICO's Adam Cancryn joins Dan Diamond to break down the latest campaign messaging on health care and several key battle...