POLITICO's Pulse Check

John Marty ran for state Senate in Minnesota in the 1980s because he wanted to achieve social change. More than 30 years later, single-payer health care has become his defining mission — and Marty says that his local battle has been supercharged by Bernie Sanders and the national Medicare for All movement.

POLITICO's Dan Diamond looked at the political dynamics around Medicare for All and then sat down with Sen. Marty to discuss his policy, strategy and the difficult trade-offs behind single-payer.

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Marty has spent years pushing for what he calls the Minnesota Health Plan.

MinnPost wrote about Marty's "lonely quest" to achieve single-payer health care — a decade ago.

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan advocacy organization, has thrown its support behind Medicare for All. 

The Minnesota Nurses Association has pushed for single-payer health care and specifically backed Marty's bill.

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President Donald Trump has repeatedly relied on HHS to help carry out his sweeping immigration agenda, and a new order that would limit visas to people who aren't "health care burdens" could be the latest dramatic change.

Mark Greenberg, who served as the acting assistant secretary for children and families during the Obama administration, sits down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss HHS' role in immigration and why he's so worried about Trump's recent order (starts at the 6:00 mark).

Then Scott Lloyd, the Trump appointee who led the HHS refugee office, joins Dan to discuss his experience after the administration began separating migrant families and thousands of children ended up in his office's custody (starts at the 25:45 mark).

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The Migration Policy Institute predicted that Trump's recent proclamation linking health care and insurance could block as many as two-thirds of green card applicants.

Career health officials have raised concerns that Trump's latest order on immigration and health care could be illegal.

Watchdogs like GAO and the HHS inspector general have found that family separations began months before the Trump administration officially announced the policy.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar emerged as the face of the family-separation crisis last summer, even though HHS didn't lead the policy.

House Democrats and watchdog groups have pressed Lloyd over his decisions and testimony.

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Adam Boehler took the reins of the powerful CMS Innovation Center in early 2018, pledging to help shift the U.S. health care system away from fee-for-service. Eighteen months later, he's leaving the agency, having launched a series of payment pilots that Boehler vows will lead to dramatic changes.

Boehler sat down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss why he originally took the job, how he evaluated possible payment reforms and why he thinks the Trump administration didn't fear "sacred cows" in health care.

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Boehler founded multiple companies before joining the government, including Landmark Health, which focused on serving the sickest patients.

Boehler helped steer major payment pilots at the innovation center, including an effort to reshape kidney care.

The CMS Innovation Center could be eliminated if the Affordable Care Act is struck down in court.

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"Block grants for Medicaid" have been a conservative pipe dream and a progressive bogeyman for decades. Now Tennessee's GOP governor is moving forward with a plan to turn block-grant dreams into reality — if Trump officials and other lawmakers give permission.

First, Joan Alker of Georgetown's Center for Children and Families reviews how Trump officials and GOP leaders have changed the Medicaid program, why she blames the Trump administration for a recent spike in uninsured kids and why she's so worried about the Tennessee proposal. (Starts at the 1:55 mark.)

Then POLITICO's Rachana Pradhan joins Dan to review the policy and politics of block grants and how the Trump administration is sending mixed-messages to Republican states. (Starts at the 30:00 mark.)

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Joan first appeared on "PULSE CHECK" in February 2017, to preview Seema Verma's possible tenure at CMS.

Children's uninsurance rose in 2018, the first uptick in years and a concerning change that Joan and colleagues predicted.

Current and former Trump administration officials — like Brian Blase and CMS Administrator Seema Verma — have argued that ineligible Americans are wrongly enrolling in Medicaid.

The Trump administration has steadily pursued a plan to allow states to seek block grants for Medicaid.

Tennessee had wanted to be the first state to win approval for a Medicaid block grant. Its GOP leaders rolled out their plan this week.

Law professor Nick Bagley argues that Tennessee's plan wouldn't be legal.

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Washington is coming back to life after the summer, and POLITICO's Adam Cancryn and Sarah Owermohle join Dan Diamond to give their predictions on suprise billing legislation, new curbs on vaping, drug pricing reforms, the Trump administration's health plan and other hot-button issues and people to watch. (Starts at the 14:30 mark)

But first, Paul Demko — longtime health reporter and new editor of POLITICO's cannabis team — joins Dan to explain why POLITICO is launching the new team and how he sees the opportunity. (Starts at the 1:20 mark.)

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POLITICO is launching a free newsletter covering the cannabis industry.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is driving new tobacco legislation.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged to introduce a health care plan before the elections.

Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal is facing a primary challenge amid progressive pressure on his health care positions.

Activist Ady Barkan has launched a new video series of interviews with presidential candidates.

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There are millions of legal immigrants who depend on programs like Medicaid — and now, after the Trump administration revamped a nearly 140-year-old immigration rule, there's growing concern that many will drop out.

First, Ted Hesson joins POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss how the new "public charge" rule would work (starts at the 2:00-minute mark), White House official Stephen Miller's role in driving the plan (8:05) and the broader immigration changes underway (12:00).

Then, Dr. Omolara Uwemedimo of Northwell Health explains her background as the daughter of immigrants and her work as a pediatrician (starts at the 17:05-minute mark), how she sees immigrant patients being affected by the new rule (20:45) and her broader observations on how immigration and health care collide (26:00).

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Immigration official Ken Cuccinelli appeared on NPR last week to defend the public charge rule — and twist the inscription on the Statue of Liberty.

The Urban Institute reviewed how the public charge rule could affect immigrants' use of government programs like Medicaid.

The Kaiser Family Foundation also prepared a fact sheet on the rule's impact.

Ted's story about Stephen Miller's close involvement in the public charge rule, complete with Miller's emails.

Ted also broke news about how the State Department's public charge denials have already skyrocketed, a possible precursor to national implementation of the new rule.

Dr. Uwemedimo's op-ed in Newsweek about her family's immigration story and why she's worried about the public charge rule's impact.

Michael Dowling, the CEO of Northwell Health — the largest health care provider in New York — is himself an immigrant from Ireland.

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A pair of mass shootings have renewed the spotlight on the nation's high rate of gun deaths. POLITICO's Dan Diamond reviews why health care groups say that gun violence deaths represent a "public health crisis" — and how GOP congressmen and the current Surgeon General avoid using that term.

Then Dan talks with Amy Barnhorst, a UC Davis psychiatrist who specializes in gun violence research, about her work and legislation intended to reduce deaths (starts at the 3:15 mark), what she makes of recent comments by President Donald Trump and Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden about the role of mental illness and video games (15:45), and how physicians were mobilized by the NRA's "stay in their lane" tweet and what she would advise politicians to do (21:30).

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Dr. Barnhorst's February 2018 New York Times op-ed on why the mental health system shouldn't be responsible for stopping mass shooters.

A Sactown Magazine article looks closer at UC Davis' work on gun violence research.

California's implemented a gun violence restraining order law, devised in part by Dr. Barnhorst.

The president linked gun violence with mental health in a speech on Monday. Biden also decried violent video games as a possible factor.

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"You're wrong" about Medicare-for-all, Sen. Bernie Sanders told former Rep. John Delaney as this week's Democratic debates kicked off — an exchange that set the tone for the first night.

Pulse Check host Dan Diamond joined Scott Bland, host of POLITICO's Nerdcast, to discuss the exchange (and Sen. Elizabeth Warren's comments too) for a bonus crossover episode.

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Delaney's "BetterCare" plan, which goes further than some other Democrats' proposals toward ensuring universal coverage.

Warren's rebuke that Democrats need to stop using Republican talking points on health care.

POLITICO's Nerdcast, Pulse Check's sister podcast, looks closer at the political landscape every week.

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Neera Tanden is one of the most prominent voices in the Democratic party — and her organization, the Center for American Progress, has been pumping out policy ideas ahead of the 2020 election, helping shape the Democratic primary.

Neera sits down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss CAP's signature Medicare Extra proposal and Democrats' debate over Medicare for All (starts at the 1:00 mark), what she makes of the Democratic primary (15:30), President Donald Trump's influence on politics and why Neera blames Trump for the "warfare" gripping America (22:45), and if the Democratic party has a leadership gap (28:30).

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Neera first appeared on PULSE CHECK in June 2017, as Republicans pushed to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

CAP commissioned an independent analysis from Avalere on its Medicare Extra plan.

Vox's Ezra Klein praised many elements of CAP's Medicare Extra proposal.

Progressives have urged Democrats to commit to Medicare for All, saying that opting for a public option instead would still leave millions at risk.

A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that 70 percent of respondents favor "Medicare for All" when they have a choice between a government plan and private insurance, but just 41 percent favor a mandatory Medicare for All plan.

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Artificial intelligence is poised to transform the world, including the world of health care. In this bonus episode of Pulse Check, we present POLITICO's newest show, Global Translations, which features the White House point person on AI, Lynne Parker, reflecting on the promise of AI in the health field.

Global Translations examines big problems that don't respect political boundaries. The first season of the show is tackling trade, technological disruption, and climate change. If you like the show, subscribe for free wherever you listen to podcasts.

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