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GOP Tries To Cut Billions in Health Benefits

Episode 397

May 15, 2025

GOP-controlled House committees approved parts of President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” this week, including more than $700 billion in cuts to health programs over the next decade — mostly from Medicaid, which covers people with low incomes or disabilities. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before Congress for the first time since taking office and told lawmakers that Americans shouldn’t take medical advice from him. Julie Appleby of KFF Health News, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

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A photo of a man in a suit walking outside a courthouse with another man following behind him.

Pain Clinic CEO Faced 20 Years for Making Patients ‘Human Pin Cushions.’ He Got 18 Months.

Michael Kestner, CEO of Pain MD, was convicted of 13 fraud felonies after his company gave patients hundreds of thousands of questionable injections at clinics in Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina.

By Brett Kelman

May 15, 2025

A photo of Gavin Newsom speaking before an audience.

Newsom’s Pitch as He Seeks To Pare Down Immigrant Health Care: ‘We Have To Adjust’

Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he’s proud his state expanded health care to all low-income residents regardless of immigration status but that tough budget times call for some adjustments. The Democrat’s new budget proposes scaling back benefits to adults living in the country illegally, as well as charging them a $100 monthly premium.

By Christine Mai-Duc and Vanessa G. Sánchez

May 15, 2025

A digital illustration of a mirroring array of smart phones facing each other. On the left side are therapists on a video call, on the right are their patients. Colorful speech bubbles swirl around the phones and connect the conversations between doctor and patient.

Picture of Health

Mental Health and Substance Misuse Treatment Is Increasingly a Video Chat or Phone Call Away

More Californians are getting mental health or substance use disorder treatment online or over the phone than in person, according to a KFF Health News analysis of UCLA’s latest California Health Interview Survey. But the telehealth experience isn’t always positive.

By Phillip Reese

May 15, 2025

A photo of an older woman seated outside, holding and looking down at a picture of her adult son.

Prisons Routinely Ignore Guidelines on Dying Inmates’ End-of-Life Choices

Correctional officers often dictate end-of-life care for incarcerated people who are terminally ill. Most states either don’t have a formal policy or are given leeway — a big concern for families and advocates, as the incarcerated population rapidly ages.

By Renuka Rayasam

May 15, 2025

A photo of RFK Jr. speaking at a table in a Senate hearing room.

RFK Jr.’s Hearing With Senate HELP Committee: A Live Discussion

KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner, Stephanie Armour, and Darius Tahir and KFF’s Jennifer Kates break down the biggest takeaways from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee as HHS secretary — and answer your questions.

May 14, 2025

A photo of Mike Johnson standing at a podium with two men behind him: Tom Emmer and Steve Scalise.

The GOP’s Trying Again To Cut Medicaid. It’s Only Gotten Harder Since 2017.

Donald Trump is back in the White House, the GOP controls Congress, and Republicans have dusted off their 2017 plans to reshape Medicaid, the government health program for those with low incomes or disabilities.

By Phil Galewitz

May 14, 2025

A photo of a crowd of protesters holding signs that read, "Protect Oak Flat."

Trump’s Fast-Tracked Deal for a Copper Mine Heightens Existential Fight for Apache

Apache tribal members are already feeling psychological and spiritual harm as the Trump administration moves to fast-track a deal to turn their sacred land of Oak Flat, Arizona, into a copper mine.

By Melissa Bailey

May 14, 2025

A woman wearing a black sweater poses for a portrait among tall trees

Dead Zone

Flawed Federal Programs Maroon Rural Americans in Telehealth Blackouts

Taxpayers — through federal infrastructure programs — have paid billions of dollars to internet companies to hook up rural Americans. Some communities have nothing to show for it, leaving medically vulnerable rural patients disconnected and without access to telehealth.

By Sarah Jane Tribble and Holly K. Hacker

May 14, 2025

A photo of Governor Gavin Newsom speaking at a podium with the governor's seal on it.

After Promising Universal Health Care, California Governor Must Reconsider Immigrant Coverage

Gov. Gavin Newsom was elected to office in 2019 on a promise of universal health care. He dramatically expanded coverage, but after six years, the Democrat is forced to contemplate deep cuts — including to the nation’s largest health care expansion to immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission.

By Angela Hart and Christine Mai-Duc

May 13, 2025

A young man wearing blue swim shorts, goggles, and a yellow swim cap does the backstroke in a pool

Listen: Black Swimmers Make Waves Overcoming Fear and Old Perceptions

Segregation and lack of access have kept many Black Americans from learning to swim, which raises their risk of drowning. Groups across the country are working to teach more Black kids and adults the skills to save their lives, or someone else’s.

By Cara Anthony

May 13, 2025

A photo of a hospital exterior with a neon green sign in front of it that reads, "Spencer Hospital, healthier together."

Medicaid Payments Barely Keep Hospital Mental Health Units Afloat. Federal Cuts Could Sink Them.

Patients seeking mental health care are more likely to be on Medicaid than patients in more profitable areas of care, such as cancer or cardiac treatment.

By Tony Leys

May 12, 2025

An Arm and a Leg

A Health Policy Veteran Puts 2025 in Perspective

Season 13, Episode 7

May 12, 2025

Two stories from Washington, D.C., give listeners a sense of what changes the Trump administration has been making to health policy, with KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner and Arthur Allen.

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Letters to the Editor

Readers Scrutinize Federal Cuts and Medical Debt

KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.

May 12, 2025

KFF Health News On Air

Journalists Zero In on Medicaid Threats and Social Security Hiccups

KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national or local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.

May 10, 2025

The Week in Brief

Trump Once Vowed To End HIV in America. His Funding Cuts Are Rolling Back Progress.

Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.

By Amy Maxmen

May 9, 2025

A photo of California state Senator Akilah Weber Pierson indoors. Behind her is a wall covered in colorful art prints.

A California Lawmaker Leans Into Her Medical Training in Fight for Health Safety Net

As California’s budget deadline looms, state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, a physician-turned-lawmaker, says state leaders may soon have to make some tough decisions on health care spending. With the state’s Medi-Cal program billions of dollars short, California’s health care safety net is at risk — even without federal cuts to Medicaid.

By Christine Mai-Duc

May 9, 2025

A photo illustration of a person's head with their brain drawn as tangled threads. Three hands work to unknot the threads.

Trump Team Faces Key Legal Decision That Could Put Mental Health Parity in Peril

The administration is facing a May 12 deadline to declare if it will defend Biden-era regulations that aim to enforce laws requiring parity in insurance coverage of mental and physical health care.

By Aneri Pattani

May 9, 2025

A photo of an elderly woman sitting with her walker in the common area of a nursing home.

The New Old Age

Honey, Sweetie, Dearie: The Perils of Elderspeak

A new training program teaches workers to stop the baby talk and address older people as adults.

By Paula Span

May 9, 2025

What the Health? From KFF Health News

Cutting Medicaid Is Hard — Even for the GOP

Episode 396

May 8, 2025

Republicans on Capitol Hill are struggling to reach consensus on cutting the Medicaid program as they search for nearly a trillion dollars in savings over the next decade — as many observers predicted. Meanwhile, turmoil continues at the Department of Health and Human Services, with more controversial cuts and personnel moves, including the sudden nomination of Casey Means, an ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s, to become surgeon general. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Lauren Sausser, who co-reported the latest “Bill of the Month” feature, about an unexpected bill for what seemed like preventive care.

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