The Week in Brief: Friday, Feb. 6, 2026
When Health Insurance Costs More Than the Mortgage
Renuka Rayasam
As health care costs skyrocket and federal lawmakers pull back help on insurance premiums, more middle-income families are facing tough choices on health care.
It’s 2026 and You’re Uninsured. Now What?
Renuka Rayasam
Many Americans are expected to lose ACA or Medicaid coverage in coming months and years as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the expiration of enhanced pandemic-era subsidies that helped people afford Obamacare plans. Doctors and researchers say there are still ways to find affordable care.
With ICE Using Medicaid Data, Hospitals and States Are in a Bind Over Warning Immigrant Patients
Phil Galewitz and Amanda Seitz
The Trump administration’s move to give deportation officials access to Medicaid data is forcing hospitals and states to consider alerting immigrant patients that information from emergency medical coverage applications could be used in efforts to remove them from the country.
NIH Grant Disruptions Slow Down Breast Cancer Research
Martha Bebinger, WBUR
The Trump administration has made the future of federal funding for cancer research uncertain. At one groundbreaking breast cancer research lab, work that could save lives has slowed significantly.
HHS Gets Funding, But How Will Trump Spend It?
Congress has passed — and President Trump has signed — the annual spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services. But it’s unclear whether the administration will spend the money as Congress directed. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss that story and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Renuka Rayasam about a new reporting project, “Priced Out.”
If You’re Pregnant and Uninsured, Medicaid Might Be Your Answer
Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio and Cara Anthony and Emily Siner, Nashville Public Radio
Prenatal care can make a huge difference to the long-term health of both the parent and baby. Every state offers health coverage to lower-income pregnant women who might otherwise go uninsured.
When the Doctor Needs a Checkup
Paula Span
The physician workforce is aging fast, and some hospitals now require that older clinicians undergo testing for cognitive decline. Many have resisted.
Poison at Play: Unsafe Levels of Lead Found in Half of New Orleans Playgrounds
Tristan Baurick, Verite News and Halle Parker, Verite News
Verite News’ reporters tested soil in more than 80 playgrounds for lead contamination. Even in trace amounts, lead exposure in children can result in lower IQs, learning challenges, and behavioral issues.
Effective but Underprescribed: HIV Prevention Meds Aren’t Reaching Enough People
Zach Dyer
PrEP has been available for more than a decade, but billing mistakes, lack of awareness, and lingering stigma keep many people from getting the lifesaving HIV prevention medication.
Listen: Many Tents Are Gone, but Washington’s Homeless — And Their Health Problems — Aren’t
Angela Hart
Sweeps of encampments scatter homeless people, as medications are tossed and street medicine providers scramble to reconnect with their patients. KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart discusses the aftermath on the Jan. 28 edition of WAMU’s “Health Hub.”
Your Next Primary Care Doctor Could Be Online Only, Accessed Through an AI Tool
Martha Bebinger, WBUR
The largest hospital chain in Massachusetts is offering a new AI-assisted telehealth tool to patients who need primary care. Mass General Brigham says this and other AI tools can help relieve staff burnout and worker shortages, but some primary care physicians in the MGB system see it as a way to avoid fixing structural problems.
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