Efforts To End School Vaccine Mandates Hit a Wall in Florida
The state’s campaign to end school vaccine requirements is dead for now. The reasons could offer insights into similar efforts’ chances in other states.
State Watch
A KFF Health News examination of how the Trump administration is reshaping health care in America.
1 - 20 of 71 Results
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Even in Blue States, Hospitals Have Continued To Drop Gender-Affirming Care for Youths
Massachusetts passed laws and joined lawsuits to protect access to gender-affirming care for minors. But faced with the Trump administration’s threats, some hospitals voluntarily stopped care. Families are outraged.
Medicaid Work Rules Surprise States
Episode 449Adult Medicaid enrollees with serious health conditions may not be automatically exempt from new work rules, according to a new regulation from the Trump administration. Meanwhile, the administration is also proposing to give political appointees even more power over who gets health and science grant funding. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Liz Essley Whyte of The Wall Street Journal join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Lauren Sausser, who wrote the latest “Bill of the Month.”
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Louisiana’s Reporting Law Chills Immigrant Medicaid Applications
A year after the measure’s passage, a state law is keeping immigrants and their children from accessing Medicaid even when they qualify.
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Michigan Found a Way To Reduce School Vaccine Waivers. Until It Backfired.
The state had high rates of parents not vaccinating their children, so it started making them attend vaccine education sessions to opt out their kids. It seemed to work. Then things got ugly.
By Kate Wells -
A Trump Stronghold Grapples With Health Risks of ICE Detention Sites
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.
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Montana Hurries To Adopt Trump’s Medicaid Work Rules Amid Budget Woes
The state is ramping up to implement the federal work requirements six months ahead of the deadline. But Montana is one of several states already struggling to pay for health services.
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Trump’s $50B Rural Health Bet Meets a Healthcare Desert in North Carolina
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.
By Sarah Jane Tribble and Amanda Seitz -
Efforts To Understand the Nation’s Drugged Driving Problem Stall Under Trump
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.
By Jace DiCola -
Trump Demands Medicaid Data for Deportation. Some States Go a Step Further.
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.
By Andrew Jones -
States Rush To Figure Out How To Enforce Trump’s Medicaid Work Requirements
A KFF survey of state Medicaid officials offers insight into lingering uncertainty and differing plans for work requirement implementation as the Jan. 1 deadline approaches.
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Trump’s Medicaid Work Mandate Debuting in Nebraska to Much Dismay
On May 1, the state will become the first to require people on the government health program to fulfill a work requirement or lose their coverage under a new rule that was a key part of congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
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California Lawmakers Seek Protections for Patients in ICE Custody
Moving through the California Senate are two bills, informed by KFF Health News reporting, that would strengthen protections for patients brought to health facilities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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Montana Moves Ahead With Doula Pay but Warns Medicaid Cuts Still May Come
Montana health officials say they’re seeking to add doula services to the state’s Medicaid program, reversing a previous statement that they would “not be moving forward” amid a budget shortfall.
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Real Estate Investors Profit From Long-Term Care While Residents Languish
Real estate investment trusts are landlords for thousands of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals. Some select the managers and keep close watch over their performance but deny responsibility for bad care.
By Jordan Rau -
In Connecticut, Doctors Now Sue Patients Most Over Medical Bills, Surpassing Hospitals
Physicians, dentists, and other nonhospital providers account for more than 80% of health care debt collection cases in Connecticut courts, a CT Mirror-KFF Health News investigation finds.
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States Update Guardianship Laws To Keep Children of Immigrants Out of Foster Care
Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.
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New Federal Medicaid Rules Require One Month of Work. Some States Demand More.
Starting next year, about 18.5 million adults will be subject to new Medicaid work rules in 42 states and Washington, D.C. Applicants must show they’ve been working for at least a month before receiving benefits. Some Republican-controlled states want to triple the required work period.
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Medi-Cal Immigrant Enrollment Is Dropping. Researchers Point to Trump’s Policies.
A KFF Health News analysis found Medi-Cal lost almost 100,000 immigrants without legal status in the second half of 2025. California officials say it’s not clear if immigrants are losing coverage faster than other populations, but researchers said the most obvious driver is fear of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
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Rural Nebraska Dialysis Unit Closes Despite the State’s $219M in Rural Health Funding
A rural Nebraska dialysis unit that was hemorrhaging money closed, upending patients’ lives. That’s despite a federal rural health program that granted the state more than $200 million this year to improve health care in rural communities.