The Week in Brief: Friday, Oct. 31, 2025
Happy Open Enrollment Eve!
A standoff in Congress is keeping much of the government shut down as open enrollment begins in most states for Affordable Care Act plans. Democrats are demanding Republicans agree to extend ACA tax credits, but there has been little negotiating — even as customers are learning what they’ll pay for coverage next year. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is telling states they can’t pass their own laws to keep medical debt off consumers’ credit reports. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more.
Refugees Will Be Among the First To Lose Food Stamps Under Federal Changes
Renuka Rayasam
Under the budget law that Republicans call the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, food assistance for refugees will be sliced. The change is sowing fear, uncertainty, and a struggle for survival — a sign of what’s to come for millions of Americans.
Doctor Tripped Up by $64K Bill for Ankle Surgery and Hospital Stay
Julie Appleby
A doctor in Colorado became the patient after an accident totaled her car and sent her to the operating room. The hospital kept her overnight, but her insurer stopped paying after she left the emergency room.
So Your Insurance Dropped Your Doctor. Now What?
Bram Sable-Smith and Oona Zenda
Patients sometimes find themselves scrambling for affordable care when a contract dispute causes a hospital — and most of the doctors and other clinicians who work there — to be dropped from an insurance network. Here are six things to know if that happens to you.
A Bite, a Bill, and a Bureaucratic Chill in Winning Halloween Haikus
KFF Health News Staff and Oona Zenda
This year’s most spirited Halloween haikus were inspired by tick migration, Medicaid work requirements, and rising copays.
Doctors Muffled as Florida Moves To End Decades of Childhood Vaccination Mandates
Arthur Allen
Florida has announced plans to end mandatory vaccination. Now scientists are assessing which of several diseases deadly to children — whooping cough, measles, polio, rubella, mumps, diphtheria, and tetanus — are likely to make a resurgence and when.
At The Hollow in Florida, the ‘Medical Freedom’ Movement Finds Its Base Camp
Arthur Allen
Florida’s surgeon general, spiritual healers, and Trump allies push their cures in a swampy outpost of anti-government absolutism and mystical belief.
The Quiet Collapse of America’s Reproductive Health Safety Net
Céline Gounder
The HHS office that administers the Title X family planning program has been effectively shut down. And with cuts to federal funding for other family health programs, expected Medicaid cuts, and the potential lapse of ACA subsidies, health leaders fear they are seeing the biggest setback to U.S. reproductive care in half a century.
Many Fear Federal Loan Caps Will Deter Aspiring Doctors and Worsen MD Shortage
Bernard J. Wolfson
Health care professionals fear that new caps on federal student lending, set to start in July, will put medical school out of reach for many who want to become doctors and exacerbate physician shortages. Others say unlimited federal lending has fed a rise in academic costs, saddling families and, ultimately, taxpayers with debt.
Trump Team Takes Aim at State Laws Shielding Consumers’ Credit Scores From Medical Debt
Noam N. Levey
Reversing guidance from the Biden administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau concludes that states cannot bar medical debt from their residents’ credit reports.
A Listener’s DIY Project Helps Others Deal With High Medical Bills
Dan Weissmann
A medical student’s DIY project brings “An Arm and a Leg” listeners together with new tools to fight medical debt.
Better Treatments Buoy Multiple-Myeloma Patients, Bound by Research Cuts and Racial Disparities
Melba Newsome
Although racial disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple myeloma remain, Black survivors of multiple myeloma say the latest developments in treatment give them hope even as federal research cuts create a grim forecast for cancer research.
California Faces Limits as It Directs Health Facilities To Push Back on Immigration Raids
Claudia Boyd-Barrett
California now has a law requiring hospitals and clinics to improve patient privacy and have clear protocols for handling requests by immigration agents. Legal experts say the state can’t fully protect immigrant patients, because federal authorities are allowed in public places, including hospital lobbies, general waiting areas, and parking lots.
As Sports Betting Explodes, States Try To Set Limits To Stop Gambling Addiction
Karen Brown, New England Public Media
Some advocates and lawmakers want to impose national regulations on the gambling industry but would settle for reining in excessive betting at the state level.
Listen to the Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’
The "KFF Health News Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from our newsroom to the airwaves each week.
Reporters Cover the Shutdown and the Use of AI in Health Care
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national or local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.