Julie Rovner

Julie Rovner is a health policy correspondent for NPR specializing in the politics of health care.

Reporting on all aspects of health policy and politics, Rovner covers the White House, Capitol Hill, the Department of Health and Human Services in addition to issues around the country. She served as NPR's lead correspondent covering the passage and implementation of the 2010 health overhaul bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

A noted expert on health policy issues, Rovner is the author of a critically-praised reference book Health Care Politics and Policy A-Z. Rovner is also co-author of the book Managed Care Strategies 1997, and has contributed to several other books, including two chapters in Intensive Care: How Congress Shapes Health Policy, edited by political scientists Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann.

In 2005, Rovner was awarded the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for distinguished reporting of Congress for her coverage of the passage of the Medicare prescription drug law and its aftermath.

Rovner has appeared on television on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, C-Span, MSNBC, and NOW with Bill Moyers. Her articles have appeared in dozens of national newspapers and magazines, including The Washington Post, USA Today, Modern Maturity, and The Saturday Evening Post.

Prior to NPR, Rovner covered health and human services for the Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, specializing in health care financing, abortion, welfare, and disability issues. Later she covered health reform for the Medical News Network, an interactive daily television news service for physicians, and provided analysis and commentary on the health reform debates in Congress for NPR. She has been a regular contributor to the British medical journal The Lancet. Her columns on patients' rights for the magazine Business and Health won her a share of the 1999 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award.

An honors graduate, Rovner has a degree in political science from University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

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1:29am

Thu April 25, 2013
Shots - Health News

Family Doctors Consider Dropping Birth Control Training Rule

Originally published on Fri April 26, 2013 12:46 am

Credit iStockphoto.com

One of the more popular provisions of the federal health law requires that women be given much freer access to prescription methods of birth control. That includes not only the pill, but implants and IUDs as well.

But what happens if there are not enough doctors to prescribe those contraceptives?

That's exactly what worries some reproductive health advocates, as efforts are underway to rewrite rules governing the training of the nation's family doctors.

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1:43pm

Wed April 24, 2013
Shots - Health News

Philadelphia Case Exposes Deep Rift In Abortion Debate

Originally published on Fri April 26, 2013 10:15 am

Credit AP

This is the sixth week of the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the physician charged with five counts of murder in the deaths of a woman and infants at the Philadelphia abortion clinic he owned and operated.

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8:06am

Thu April 11, 2013
Shots - Health News

Why Obama's Budget Could Make Health Waves

Originally published on Thu April 11, 2013 1:16 pm

Credit Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

OK, the conventional wisdom about the budget President Obama sent to Congress yesterday is that's irrelevant.

It's two months late, after all, and the House and Senate have already approved their own spending blueprints for fiscal 2014.

But here's why it matters when it comes to health.

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12:58am

Tue April 9, 2013
Shots - Health News

The 'Hard-To-Change' Legacy Of Medicare Payments

Originally published on Tue April 9, 2013 7:14 am

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP

The budget President Obama will send to Congress Wednesday is expected to include some $400 billion in reductions to Medicare and other health programs.

And if the word around Washington is correct, it may also include a proposal aimed at winning some bipartisan backing — by changing the way Medicare patients pay for their care.

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10:17am

Sat April 6, 2013
Shots - Health News

With Plan B Ruling, Judge Signs Off On Years Of Advocacy

Originally published on Sun April 7, 2013 9:08 am

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images

A federal judge ordered Friday what women's groups have failed to accomplish politically for a dozen years. He ruled that Plan B, the most commonly used morning-after birth control pill, be sold without a prescription or other restrictions to women of all ages.

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10:26am

Wed April 3, 2013
Shots - Health News

Administration Hits Pause On Health Exchanges For Small Businesses

Originally published on Fri April 5, 2013 12:58 pm

Credit iStockphoto.com

The Obama administration is delaying the start of a key piece of the Affordable Care Act. Workers in small businesses will have to wait an additional year to be able to choose from more than one plan in the marketplaces that start next January.

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6:19am

Wed April 3, 2013
Health Care

White House Delays Part Of Health Care Law

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The Obama administration is delaying the start of a key piece of the Affordable Care Act - the national healthcare law. Workers in small businesses will have to wait an additional year to be able to choose from more than one plan in the new online marketplace that start next January. NPR's Julie Rovner reports that the change might dampen enthusiasm, at least at the start. But not everyone thinks that's a bad thing.

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1:27am

Tue March 26, 2013
Shots - Health News

Arkansas Medicaid Expansion Attracts Other States' Interest

Originally published on Tue March 26, 2013 7:57 am

Credit Danny Johnston / AP

Since the Supreme Court made the Medicaid expansion under the federal health law optional last year, states' decisions have largely split along party lines. States run by Democrats have been opting in; states run by Republicans have mostly been saying no or holding back.

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4:18am

Sat March 23, 2013
Shots - Health News

At Age 3, Affordable Care Act Is No Less Controversial

Originally published on Sat March 23, 2013 10:33 am

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

The Affordable Care Act turns 3 on Saturday, and it seems just as divisive as the day President Obama signed it.

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11:50am

Wed March 20, 2013
Shots - Health News

As Health Law Turns Three, Public Is As Confused As Ever

Originally published on Fri March 22, 2013 6:07 am

Credit Ruth Black / iStockphoto.com

As the Affordable Care Act nears its third birthday this Saturday, a poll finds the public actually knows less about the law now than when it passed in 2010. Oh, and a lot of what people think they know just isn't so.

Those are the central findings of this month's tracking poll just released by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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