The Week in Brief: Friday, Aug. 22, 2025
Try This When Your Doctor Says ‘Yes’ to a Preventive Test but Insurance Says ‘No’
By Jackie Fortiér and Oona Zenda
A joint project of NPR and KFF Health News, Health Care Helpline helps you navigate the health system hurdles between you and good care. Send us your tricky questions, and we may tap a policy sleuth to puzzle them out. Here is what to do if your preventive care gets denied.
Guns, Race, and Profit: The Pain of America’s Other Epidemic
By Fred Clasen-Kelly and Renuka Rayasam
Firearm violence is killing Americans at the scale of a public health epidemic. The suffering is concentrated in Black neighborhoods damaged by segregation, disinvestment, hate crimes, and other forms of racial discrimination.
Optum Rx Invokes Open Meetings Law To Fight Kentucky Counties on Opioid Suits
By Aneri Pattani
In a Goliath-versus-David fight, UnitedHealth Group’s pharmacy benefit manager, Optum Rx, has filed lawsuits in five counties to stop them from including the company in national opioid litigation.
How Older People Are Reaping Brain Benefits From New Tech
By Paula Span
Overuse of digital gadgets harms teenagers, research suggests. But ubiquitous technology may be helping older Americans stay sharp.
Happy 60th, Medicare and Medicaid!
This summer marks the 60th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, the twin government programs that have shaped the health care system into what it is today. In this special episode, KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner interviews two experts on the history, significance, and future of these programs: Medicare historian and University of North Carolina professor Jonathan Oberlander and George Washington University professor emerita Sara Rosenbaum, who has studied Medicaid since nearly its beginning and has helped shape Medicaid policy over the past four decades.
Native Americans Want To Avoid Past Medicaid Enrollment Snafus as Work Requirements Loom
By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez
As states prepare to implement changes to Medicaid required by President Donald Trump’s recent tax-and-spending law, tribal leaders say they are concerned Native American enrollees could lose their coverage, despite exemptions made by Congress.
The Price Increases That Should Cause Americans More Alarm
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
The cost of health insurance is rising faster than the price of eggs or gasoline.
Planned Parenthood Bets on Redistricting To Push Back Against GOP Funding Cuts
By Christine Mai-Duc
Alarmed at Republicans’ deep cuts to health care and restrictions on reproductive rights, advocates are supporting California’s effort to counter a mid-decade gerrymander by the Texas GOP to pad their party’s fragile U.S. House majority.
The National Suicide Hotline For LGBTQ+ Youth Shut Down. States Are Scrambling To Help.
By Annie Sciacca
LGBTQ+ youth lost dedicated support on the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in July at a critical time. Advocates say mental health issues are rising in that population amid hostility from the Trump administration.
Health Care Groups Aim To Counter Growing ‘National Scandal’ of Elder Homelessness
By Felice J. Freyer
The housing crisis is requiring creative scrambling and new partnerships from health care organizations to keep older patients out of expensive nursing homes as homelessness grows.
CDC Staff Tell Journalist They Felt Targeted Even Before Atlanta Campus Shooting
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.