The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
KFF Health News’ coverage of women’s reproductive health care issues is supported in part by Arnold Ventures.
1 - 20 of 292 Results
Several rural communities were thrust into a charged national debate over the Trump administration’s mass deportation strategy when federal officials sought to place new detention centers in them. In Social Circle, Georgia, locals fear the effort will overburden its modest healthcare infrastructure.
When Republicans passed their big budget bill in 2025, they thought the effects of cuts to health programs wouldn’t show up until after the 2026 midterms. They were wrong. Meanwhile, the party is trumpeting its efforts to lower drug prices. Maya Goldman of Axios, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner discusses Ebola with KFF Health News’ Céline Gounder.
Congress' decision not to extend enhanced marketplace tax credits has boosted the appeal of alternative health coverage with lower monthly premiums. Consumer advocates dismiss the plans as "junk insurance,” while proponents say patients need alternatives to pricey marketplace options.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is trying to address the interests of his MAHA supporters, who view him as their hope for the future, while being a good soldier in the eyes of the Trump White House, which has been stepping back from some of the movement’s core priorities.
A third of patients in a clinical trial had tumors shrink while taking a genetically engineered treatment known as RP1.
As widely expected, Marty Makary stepped down as head of the FDA this week. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court weighs blocking telehealth prescriptions for the abortion pill mifepristone. Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Bloomberg News, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
Some states bar professional midwives from attending home births if they don’t have a nursing license. Their advocates say laws to allow midwife licensing would make home birth safer and more accessible, plus help address a maternity care shortage.
Several states have required their health agencies to take on another job: verifying immigration status among Medicaid recipients and reporting them to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. North Carolina is the latest to pass such a law, and experts expect more to follow.
For years, the Department of Health and Human Services built standards to make sure electronic health records were user-friendly and offered transparent advice to doctors. Now they’re relaxing those standards, and doctors and critics in the hospital industry are worried.
He tested robotic hands on a heart surgery patient and chewed on microgreens in Ohio, but Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. couldn’t dodge questions about the Trump administration’s more controversial policies.
Decades of research indicate that interventions that bring down people’s cost of living, such as ensuring they have access to stable housing and food, are linked to lower suicide rates.
The Trump administration is seeking unprecedented access to medical records of federal workers and retirees, and their families. The data could be used to implement cost-saving measures, but it would also give the administration access to reams of personal information. Legal experts and insurers say the pursuit is overbroad.
A federal court’s decision to restrict availability of the abortion pill mifepristone has launched abortion back into the national spotlight. It’s also raised new questions about the job security of FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. Sandhya Raman of Bloomberg Law, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Andrew Jones, who wrote the latest “Bill of the Month."
The new TrumpRx program relies partly on connecting consumers with discount coupons offered by drugmakers. For insured patients, though, using a coupon can prove dicey.
For all of President Donald Trump’s showmanship, the share of Americans his policies will likely help remains slim, even if some patients do come out ahead.
© 2026 KFF