POLITICO's Pulse Check

President Joe Biden is giving states a year to check whether millions of low-income Americans are still eligible to receive health insurance through their government’s Medicaid program. Arkansas plans to do it in half that time. Megan Messerly talks with host Alice Miranda Ollstein about what could be in store for Medicaid in Arkansas and other states.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ve likely heard the term social determinants of health used to describe how nonmedical factors like education, socioeconomic status or zip code can improve or worsen health. Erin Schumaker talks with host Katherine Ellen Foley about research presented at a recent panel at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health on the science of sleep, and how the social determinants of sleep cut along racial and socioeconomic lines.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his second go as Surgeon General of the United States, Vivek Murthy is focused on the nation’s mental health and in particular how to help kids with this struggle. Ruth Reader talks to Murthy about his office’s guidelines for how to support youth mental health and testified before Congress on the matter.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The drumbeat of calls to enact reforms to pharmaceutical middlemen is growing louder after years of largely unsuccessful attempts by lawmakers to make sweeping changes to how the industry operates — and reform advocates hope that conditions are ripe this year for action. Megan R. Wilson talks with host Ruth Reader about the bills that have been introduced and how PBMs are fighting back.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CDC epidemiologists and environmental health scientists are in Ohio this week, helping assess the potential health risks to residents after a 150-car train carrying dangerous chemicals derailed in the small town of East Palestine earlier this month. Krista Mahr discusses her reporting about the CDC’s response with host Megan Messerly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America’s nursing homes have been at the epicenter of the Covid pandemic since its earliest days. Today, nursing home residents remain the most vulnerable group in the country when it comes to Covid, with hundreds of people still dying each week. Krista Mahr talks with host Katherine Ellen Foley about why ensuring residents and staff have the best protection out there from the unpredictable virus hasn’t been easy.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Wednesday, expert advisers to the FDA voted 19 to 0 that the agency should approve a non-prescription version of naloxone, an opioid overdose antidote, meaning it eventually could be sold in gas stations, grocery stores and convenience shops. Katherine Ellen Foley talks with host Carmen Paun about its potential impact.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erin Schumaker talks with host Ruth Reader about the prospect of developing next-generation non-hallucinogenic versions of drugs such as psilocybin to treat brain disorders like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction, and the regulatory barriers that researchers who want to study psychedelics are up against.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration is proposing new rules that would require more transparency about the owners, managers and contractors at nursing homes, in part to better understand private equity's impact on the industry. Daniel Payne talks with host Ruth Reader about the proposal, which could take effect this summer.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services celebrated another step in helping patients get easier access to their own health data. Ruth Reader talks with host Ben Leonard about the new pilot program.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices