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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5:19pm

Tue May 22, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Woman Charged In Death Of Fetus Is Out Of Jail

Credit Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Dept. / AP

Bei Bei Shuai is out of jail for the first time since March 2011.

Shuai, a Chinese immigrant who lives in Indiana, is still facing charges of murder and feticide following a failed suicide attempt in December 2010, when she was 33 weeks pregnant.

She was released today after posting a $5,000 bond.

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4:21pm

Mon May 21, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Catholic Groups Sue Obama Administration Over Birth Control Rule

Credit iStockphoto.com

So much for compromise.

A total of 43 Catholic educational, charitable and other entities filed a dozen lawsuits in federal court around the nation Monday, charging that the Obama Administration's rule requiring coverage of birth control in most health insurance plans violates their religious freedom.

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1:20pm

Mon May 21, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Health Think Tank Crunches Health Prices For The Masses

Originally published on Tue May 22, 2012 9:06 am

It turns out we may not know nearly as much about all the money spent on health care in the U.S. as we thought we did.

But there's a new group that wants to, well, remedy that.

The problem, Martin Gaynor, chairman of the Health Care Cost Institute, told Shots, is that "two-thirds of the population has private [health] insurance, but most of the information comes from Medicare."

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4:16pm

Fri May 18, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Bail Granted For Indiana Woman Charged In Attempted Feticide

Originally published on Mon May 21, 2012 1:21 pm

Credit Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Dept. / AP

Bei Bei Shuai is a step closer to leaving jail for the first time since March 2011, when she was arrested for the murder of her 3-day-old daughter Angel.

The girl, who was delivered by cesarean section, died after Shuai's unsuccessful suicide attempt in December 2010, while she was pregnant.

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10:47am

Thu May 17, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Embattled Hospital Debt Collector Taps Politicians For Defense

So what do you do when you're accused of hitting up sick patients in the hospital to pay their bills — sometimes even before they get treatment?

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4:24pm

Wed May 9, 2012
The Salt

Hospital Food So Fresh, Even The Healthy Come To Dine

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 10:48 am

Twice a week, local seniors in Warrenton, Virginia, flock to a hip new dinner spot called the Bistro on the Hill for good food, a great view, and musical accompaniment by a retired piano player from a nearby Nordstrom's.

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1:40pm

Tue May 8, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

When Religious Rules And Women's Health Collide

Originally published on Tue May 8, 2012 4:18 pm

Credit iStockphoto.com

When you go to the hospital these days, chances are good that it will be affiliated with a religious organization. And while that may might just mean the chaplain will be of a specific denomination or some foods will be off limits, there may also be rules about the kind of care allowed.

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3:56pm

Tue May 1, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Are Democrats Reaching On Latest 'War On Women' Claim?

Credit Jacquelyn Martin / AP

The latest skirmish in the so-called war on women has to do with, of all things, interest rates on student loans. More specifically, the effort by House Republicans to offset the cost of a federal student loan bill by cutting funding from a $15 billion preventive health fund included in the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

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3:51pm

Thu April 26, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Health Insurers Set To Pay $1.3 Billion In Rebates

Credit JS Callahan/tropicalpix / iStockphoto.com

If you buy your own health insurance, there's nearly a 1 in 3 chance that come this summer you'll get a nice little surprise in the mail: money back from your health insurance company.

At least that's the prediction from an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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3:32am

Tue April 24, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

If The Health Care Overhaul Goes Down, Could Medicare Follow?

Originally published on Tue April 24, 2012 5:18 am

A growing number of health experts are warning of potential collateral damage if the Supreme Court strikes down the entire 2010 Affordable Care Act: potential chaos in the Medicare program.

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