The Week in Brief: Friday, May 22, 2026
Trump’s $50B Rural Health Bet Meets a Healthcare Desert in North Carolina
By Sarah Jane Tribble and Amanda Seitz
Republicans promise that $50 billion in new health funding will help rural America. But it’s not expected to aid the years-long effort in North Carolina’s Martin County to reopen its only hospital.
3 Medical Routines That Older People May Not Need
By Paula Span
Some screenings and treatments no longer make sense for patients as they age. Researchers have just added a few more to the list.
Kids Keep Getting Stuck in Hospitals, Even After Being Cleared for Discharge
By Cara Anthony
Some children are healthy enough to leave the hospital after a medical stay but have no place to go. Across the country, the practice of allowing children to remain hospitalized “beyond medical necessity” has become a costly problem, and states have struggled to address the issue.
ICE Arrests Are Separating Families. Here’s How To Plan Ahead.
By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez
As immigration authorities carry out President Donald Trump’s promise to conduct what’s billed as the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, several states are passing laws to protect the children of detained immigrants. Guardianship can become complicated when no family or friends are available to take temporary custody.
Colorado Charts Its Own Course on Vaccines Amid Federal Pullback
By John Daley, Colorado Public Radio
Doctors, lawmakers, and other advocates are joining forces to promote recommended childhood vaccines.
Efforts To Understand the Nation’s Drugged Driving Problem Stall Under Trump
By Jace DiCola
The data behind alcohol-related traffic deaths is well studied. Less understood is the toll of vehicle deaths involving drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol. Attempts to fix that have been stymied by federal budget and staffing cuts.
A Danish Couple’s Maverick African Research Finds Its Moment in RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Policy
By Arthur Allen
The work of Peter Aaby and Christine Stabell Benn has long been controversial. Until Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became the U.S. health policy chief, most vaccine scientists tended to ignore it. That has changed.
Eroding ACA Enrollment Portends Higher Insurance Rates
By Julie Appleby
An uptick in people skipping Obamacare premium payments in many states suggests the Affordable Care Act’s rising costs — driven partly by lower subsidies to help people buy plans — are hitting home for 2026 enrollees. The trend adds to voter concerns about affordability ahead of the midterm elections.
Religious Anti-Abortion Center Finds Opportunity in Town Without OB-GYNs
By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez
A crisis pregnancy center in Sandpoint, Idaho, wants to expand women’s healthcare three years after the labor and delivery unit at the town’s hospital closed and its OB-GYNs moved out of state.
Sen. Cassidy Unleashed
In the days after losing his reelection bid in Louisiana, Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy is already signaling that his loyalty to President Trump has waned. But how much Cassidy will try to accomplish toward his health agenda in his last months in office remains to be seen. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss this story and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews health policy professor Miranda Yaver, the author of a new book about health insurance denials.
Watch: The Tug-of-War Over Taxpayer Dollars
By Julie Rovner and Hannah Norman
Podcast host Julie Rovner chats with Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a top Democrat on health issues, about President Donald Trump’s stewardship of federal spending and the effectiveness of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Journalists Unpack Latest on Vaccines, Vaping, and TrumpRx
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.