Designed by health insurance companies to prevent doctors from deploying expensive, ineffectual procedures, prior authorization — sometimes called preauthorization or pre-certification — has become a confusing maze that denies or delays care, burdens physicians with paperwork, and perpetuates racial disparities. Proposed federal rules may not be enough to solve the problems.

Your personal health information is easier to share than ever. That can help save lives when seconds count, but it also means more people can peek at your detail-rich medical records. KFF Health News investigates how the Trump administration, with the help of little-known private entities, has sought unprecedented access to Americans’ health data — an effort that is reshaping health information privacy and profitability.

Skyrocketing healthcare costs and insurance premiums combined with congressional inaction have forced a perilous decision upon many people: Pay higher prices for health insurance or go uncovered. KFF Health News is telling their stories.

Americans are split over many issues — immigration, guns, President Trump. But helping people with cancer and other serious illnesses retains broad bipartisan support, polls show.

This crowdsourced investigation by KFF Health News dissects and explains your medical bills every month in order to shed light on U.S. health care prices and to help patients learn how to be more active in managing costs.

Opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers are paying tens of billions of dollars in restitution to settle lawsuits about their role in the overdose epidemic, with little oversight on how the money is spent. We’re tracking how state and local governments use — or misuse — the cash.

Tracking the federal Rural Health Transformation Program granting $50 billion to states to expand access to health care.

Someone in America dies by suicide every 11 minutes. It’s a tragic and entrenched problem. A new approach to prevention shifts the focus from stopping harm in moments of crisis to upstream policies that give people reasons to live.

More than 100 million people in America are saddled with medical bills they cannot pay. Medical debt — rather than fighting disease — is now a defining feature of the nation’s healthcare system.