Chronically Ill? In Kennedy’s View, It Might Be Your Own Fault
In their zeal to “Make America Healthy Again,” top Trump administration officials depict patients and the doctors who treat them as partly responsible for whatever ails them.
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In their zeal to “Make America Healthy Again,” top Trump administration officials depict patients and the doctors who treat them as partly responsible for whatever ails them.
As Montana’s population ages, providers serving low-income seniors say more people aren’t getting the care they need as they wait to get on Medicaid. Montana lawmakers are considering creating a shortcut to that care.
People on Medicaid deemed “medically frail” won’t need to meet new federal requirements that enrollees work 80 hours a month or perform another approved activity. But state officials are grappling with how to interpret who qualifies under the vague federal definition, which could affect millions.
State officials threatened to withhold public money from hospitals, pioneering a strategy that could become a national model.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to fire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez is more than an administrative shake-up. It marks a major offensive by Kennedy to seize control of the agency and impose an anti-science agenda, public health leaders say.
A New York City woman, worried that her sore throat might be strep, got swabbed at her doctor’s office. The sample was sent to an out-of-network lab for sophisticated DNA tests ― with a price tag similar to a new SUV.
Scientists are cheering California Gov. Gavin Newsom as he builds a public health bulwark against health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine stance and President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization. Still, federal cuts have sapped morale and left local health departments less prepared for outbreaks.
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.
A decades-old manufacturing company opened a clinic and made primary care and prescriptions free for employees and their families.
From screwworm to flesh-eating bacteria, mounting public health risks are emerging in the wake of deep cuts to federal health agencies and programs.
Many Catholic health systems, which are tax-exempt, pay their executives millions and can charge some of the highest prices around — while critics say they scrimp on commitments to their communities.
A doctor doing environmental health research in rural Maine is working to establish the best practices to treat patients exposed to “forever chemicals,” potentially leading the way for practitioners across the nation.
Dec. 15 is the deadline to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans that begin Jan. 1, and Congress remains at odds over letting expanded tax credits for the plans’ premiums expire and increasing the cost of insurance for millions of Americans. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to remake vaccine policy to reflect ideology rather than science. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Georgetown professor Linda Blumberg about the GOP’s health plans.
Independent and rural hospitals are collaborating with their neighbors to shore up their finances instead of joining larger health systems to stay afloat.
A legislative effort to expand access to prenatal care in rural Oregon with mobile clinics was scuttled because those clinics would have provided abortions in rural areas. Opposition to the proposal shows that, even in states that ensure access to abortions, that care isn’t universally available or accepted.
A private 2014 decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services faces new scrutiny in a multibillion-dollar Justice Department fraud case against UnitedHealth Group.
Enrollment of underrepresented groups at medical schools fell precipitously this academic year after the Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on affirmative action. Education and health experts worry the Trump administration’s anti-DEI measures will only worsen the situation, even in states like California that have navigated bans on race-conscious admissions for years.
With less than three weeks before the deadline to pass legislation to keep the federal government running, lawmakers are still far apart on a strategy. Democrats hope Republicans will agree to extend expanded tax credits for the Affordable Care Act as part of a compromise, but so far Republicans are not negotiating. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released his long-awaited “Make America Healthy Again” report, with few specific action items. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
States are battling for their piece of $50 billion in federal rural health funding, but it’s not just hospitals vying for the money. Tech startups and policy demands are raising the stakes as Medicaid cuts loom.
An analysis of hospital claims data in Florida found that firearm injuries of children disproportionately hit families in a handful of ZIP codes, almost all of them in Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, or Tampa Bay.
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