President-elect Joe Biden announced his health care team this week. We’ll check out their credentials and ask if they’re up to the task of pushing back the pandemic and pushing forward health care in America.
Guests
Elisabeth Rosenthal, editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News. Former correspondent for the New York Times. Author of “An American Sickness.” (@RosenthalHealth)
Kathleen Sebelius, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary. Former governor of Kansas. (@Sebelius)
Dr. Rajesh Gandhi, director of HIV Clinical Services and Education at Massachusetts General Hospital. He also teaches medicine at Harvard Medical School. (@RMKGandhi)
Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)
From The Reading List
Kaiser Health News: “It’s Time to Scare People About COVID” — “I still remember exactly where I was sitting decades ago, during the short film shown in class: For a few painful minutes, we watched a woman talking mechanically, raspily through a hole in her throat, pausing occasionally to gasp for air.”
Associated Press: “Biden’s health team offers glimpse of his COVID-19 strategy” — “President-elect Joe Biden’s choices for his health care team point to a stronger federal role in the nation’s COVID-19 strategy, restoration of a guiding stress on science and an emphasis on equitable distribution of vaccines and treatments.”
Washington Post: “Biden lays out plan to combat covid in first 100 days, including requiring masks on interstate buses, trains” — “President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday laid out a three-point plan to begin defeating the coronavirus pandemic during his first 100 days in office, saying he will sign an executive order the day he is sworn in to require Americans to wear masks on buses and trains crossing state lines, as well as in federal buildings.”
Kaiser Health News: “Xavier Becerra in His Own Words: ‘Health Care Is a Right’” — “President-elect Joe Biden has tapped California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Becerra, who would be the nation’s first Latino HHS secretary, has taken some ground-breaking positions on health care, especially since he became attorney general in 2017.”
The Hill: “Democrats urge Biden to address ‘infodemic’ of COVID-19 disinformation, misinformation” — “Democratic lawmakers on Thursday urged President-elect Joe Biden to take immediate steps after taking office to combat the ‘infodemic’ of disinformation and misinformation surrounding COVID-19.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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