Latest News On Children’s Health

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Immigrant Kids Detained in ‘Unsafe and Unsanitary’ Sites as Trump Team Seeks To End Protections

KFF Health News Original

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department seeks to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, which since 1997 has required U.S. immigration officials to hold migrant children in facilities that are safe and sanitary, among other protections. Even with the consent decree in place, court records show unsafe conditions for immigrant kids.

Niños inmigrantes están detenidos en sitios “inseguros e insalubres”. El gobierno busca eliminar derechos

KFF Health News Original

Entre marzo y junio, abogados de menores inmigrantes recopilaron estos testimonios, y otros de jóvenes y familias detenidas, en lo que describen entornos “con apariencia carcelaria” en distintos puntos de Estados Unidos.

Fearing Medicaid Coverage Loss, Some Parents Rush To Vaccinate Their Kids

KFF Health News Original

Worried parents are hurrying to get their children vaccinated, fearing future federal policy changes will limit access to free immunizations. Pediatricians worry that any changes to the childhood vaccine schedule will leave families without affordable options for essential shots.

What the Health? From KFF Health News: Here Come the ACA Premium Hikes

Podcast

Medicaid may have monopolized Washington’s attention lately, but big changes are coming to the Affordable Care Act as well. Meanwhile, Americans are learning more about what’s in Trump’s big budget law, and polls suggest many don’t like what they see. Julie Appleby of KFF Health News, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews historian Jonathan Oberlander to mark Medicare’s 60th anniversary.

Tribal Health Officials Work To Fill Vaccination Gaps as Measles Outbreak Spreads

KFF Health News Original

Native American tribes and health organizations are hosting clinics and calling patients to counteract low measles vaccination rates and limited access to health care as the disease spreads across the country.

The Foster Care System Has a Suicide Problem. Federal Cuts Threaten To Slow Fixes.

KFF Health News Original

Children and young adults in the U.S. foster care system suffer from mental health disorders and die by suicide at far higher rates than the general population, yet the system doesn’t uniformly screen and treat children who are at risk.

A Texas Boy Needed Protection From Measles. The Vaccine Cost $1,400.

KFF Health News Original

A family living in Galveston was surprised to be charged thousands of dollars for immunizations for their children. Their insurance plan didn’t cover the shots, and the cost of the measles vaccine in particular was more than five times what health officials say it goes for in the private sector.

At Some Federal Beaches, Surf’s Up but the Lifeguard Chair’s Empty

KFF Health News Original

Some of the nation’s most well-known beaches are managed by the National Park Service, which saw about 1,000 employees laid off in February by the quasi-agency Department of Government Efficiency, then led by Elon Musk. The void has become a serious public health and safety concern.

What the Health? From KFF Health News: Supreme Court Upholds Bans on Gender-Affirming Care

Podcast

The Supreme Court this week said Tennessee may continue to enforce its law banning most types of gender-affirming care for minors. The ruling is likely to greenlight similar laws in two dozen states. And the Senate is preparing to vote on a budget reconciliation bill that includes even deeper Medicaid cuts than the House version. Victoria Knight of Axios, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

In a Dusty Corner of California, Trump’s Threatened Cuts to Asthma Care Raise Fears

KFF Health News Original

The Trump administration wants to shutter the CDC’s National Asthma Control Program, which provides millions in funding to state-administered initiatives aimed at fighting the disease. The program’s closure, combined with massive cuts to environmental programs, could put the 28 million Americans with asthma at increased risk.

What the Health? From KFF Health News: Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Lands in Senate. Our 400th Episode!

Podcast

The House’s gigantic tax-and-spending budget reconciliation bill has landed with a thud in the Senate, where lawmakers are divided in their criticism over whether it increases the deficit too much or cuts Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act too deeply. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that the bill, if enacted, could increase the ranks of the uninsured by nearly 11 million people over a decade won’t make it an easy sell. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Arielle Zionts, who reported and wrote the latest “Bill of the Month” feature, about a Medicaid patient who had an out-of-state emergency.

RFK Jr. Says Healthy Pregnant Women Don’t Need Covid Boosters. What the Science Says.

KFF Health News Original

Despite opposition by the leader of the Department of Health and Human Services, existing evidence on the safety and efficacy of getting a covid vaccine during pregnancy all points the same way: The shots are important for maternal and fetal health.