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Summon Your Spookiest Halloween Health Care Haikus

Summon Your Spookiest Halloween Health Care Haikus

By KFF Health News Staff Illustrations by Oona Zenda

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A drawing of a medical bill scaring a ghost and a ghoul. Text reads: Halloween Health Care Haiku! Enter now! 2025"
(Oona Zenda/KFF Health News)

Sharpen your quills, brave souls. The spirits of health care bills past, present, and future are calling … and they demand haikus.

Submissions are now open for KFF Health News’ seventh annual Halloween haiku competition. KFF Health News has been publishing reader-submitted health care haikus for years and is dying to read your frightful inspirations.

We want your eeriest health care or health policy haiku. Submissions will be judged by a body of experts from our newsroom.

We’ll share favorites on our social media channels, and our newsroom ghouls will pick the winners, announced on Friday, Oct. 31. So gather your courage (and your syllables) and haunt us with your best.

Rules:

  • Submit your haiku to https://kffhealthnews.org/contact-haiku/ with the link to the related KFF Health News article.
  • “Like” KFF Health News on Facebook, and follow @KFFHealthNews on X, @kffhealthnews.bsky.social on Bluesky, and @KFFHealthNews on Instagram.
  • (Optional) Include your X, Bluesky, or Instagram handle in the submission and let us know if it’s OK to give you a shoutout on social media.
  • Submit your haiku by the witching hour, 11:59 p.m. ET, on Sunday, Oct. 19.
  • To win, the haiku should meet the following criteria:
    • Follow the format of a haiku (a three-line poem with 17 syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count).
    • Contain information related to health care and/or health policy that follows the scary/Halloween theme.
    • Reference a KFF Health News story in the haiku — as a bonus.
    • No use of artificial intelligence is allowed. Entries created or modified by AI will not be considered.

Submissions may be lightly edited for style and clarity before publication.

Prizes:

The top three haikus will rise again with a custom comic illustration drawn by staff illustrator Oona Zenda. The grand-prize winner will have their haiku featured in the KFF Health News Morning Briefing on Oct. 31, and we will give you a shoutout ― or hair-raising scream ― on our social media pages, with the hashtag #HealthCareScare.

2024 Halloween Haiku Contest Winners

A black and white cartoon of a witch donating blood. The person taking her blood is Dr. Dracula. Above them is a banner that says: "Dr. Dracula's Blood Drive." Haiku text at the bottom of the image reads: "Vampires don’t scare me. Empty blood shelves, now that’s fear. Roll up, save a life. –Crystal Decker"
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Crystal Decker)
A black and white cartoon of a scary medical bill frightening a ghoul and a ghost. Below the image, haiku text reads: "What spooks me the most Is not a ghoul or a ghost But steep health care bills. –Sasha Zitter"
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Sasha Zitter)
A black and white cartoon of a business man, with a name tag that says, "PBM," showing a $1,000 price sheet for a prescription drug. The PBM man scares a thief carrying eyeballs. The haiku text reads: "No, not eye-gouging. My costume is scarier: Pharma price-gouging. –Siri Palreddy"
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Siri Palreddy)

2023 Halloween Haiku Contest Winners

A black and white cartoon ink drawing shows two young children standing in an abandoned school nurse's office. One child is dressed up as a witch. She is sick and coughing. The other girl is dressed up as her cat, and holds onto her friend with concerned expression. They face an empty chair. A ghost nurse floats behind it, unable to help them. Below the drawing, a haiku reads: "Costumed coughs in school! / Kids seek care but find instead / A ghostly nurse chair."
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Madeline Steward)
A black and white cartoon ink drawing shows visitors on a tour bus pointing and screaming at a hospital building that has come to life. It has money signs for eyes and is holding medical bills. Below the drawing, a haiku reads: "Other countries ask: / Medical debt, what is that? / Hospitals say, "Boo!""
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Tom Cook)
A black and white cartoon ink drawing shows a person that has fallen into a 'bobbing-for-apples' trough gasping for air. In the water, they are surrounded by apples and medical bills. Below the drawing, a haiku reads: "Bobbing for apples. / Drowning in medical debt. Either way, get wet."
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Brynne McBride)

2022 Halloween Haiku Contest Winners

A black and white cartoon drawing of a witch lying on her back looking at her phone with a frightened expression. A black cat stands on her stomach and paws at the window, where viruses and bacteria are floating menacingly outside. At the bottom of the drawing, a haiku reads: "Covid, Ebola, / Monkeypox, seasonal flu – / Who needs Halloween?"
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Paul Hughes-Cromwick)
A black and white cartoon ink drawing shows two skeletons in a mirrored position looking at each other. One is a real skeleton while the other is a human in a costume. They are thinking. A spider holding a face mask is hanging between them. Below the drawing, a haiku reads: "Ghastly, grotesque, sick! / You mask up to trick-or-treat, / But not for covid?"
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Micki Jackson)
A black and white cartoon drawing shoes a headless horseman holding surprise medical bills while yelling, "surpriiiiiise!" Below him, a haiku reads: "Surprise billing curbs, / Like the famed headless horseman, / Remain incomplete."
(Illustration: Oona Zenda/KFF Health News; Haiku: Michael L. Millenson)
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