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Hospitals can prevent medical debt by offering financial help before sending big bills. A Tradeoffs investigation found that nearly half of nonprofit facilities in Texas say they will bill patients before screening them for aid. And most will not offer refunds to patients who pay and are later found to qualify for free care.
Research shows natural gas pipelines — and the public health risks they carry — are concentrated in low-income and minority areas where people suffer higher rates of poverty and physical disabilities and have fewer means to respond to crises.
Getting financial assistance from hospitals often involves filling out cumbersome forms. Some states now require hospitals to identify and automatically enroll patients eligible for charity care.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated 100,000 more immigrants will be uninsured by 2034 because of Medicaid eligibility changes under President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that take effect Oct. 1. A KFF Health News survey of nine states found many more are at imminent risk of losing health coverage.
Rural voters rank the cost of living and cost of healthcare as top issues they want to hear about from midterm candidates as they face a tightening pocketbook pinch.
An experiment to provide meals to some Medicaid recipients shows food can be cost-effective medicine. But even as federal officials tout the power of nutrition, Medicaid budget cuts could lead states to think twice about covering healthy food for sick residents. One has already reconsidered.
Patients and researchers point to evidence that many cancer drug dosages are excessive, and that reducing the amount and frequency could save billions of dollars and prevent some of the worst side effects.
North Carolina and other states have embraced “I Gave Birth” wristbands as a way to encourage women to seek help when they have postpartum complications. They’re gaining steam as the Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid threaten postpartum care.
A federal disclosure rule is offering new insight on the effect of healthcare monopolies on pricing, following a wave of U.S. mergers.
The city wants to stop health crises before they happen and is creating a new service to do that when people call 911.
North Carolina's Robeson County, where most of the tribe’s citizens live, ranks as one of the worst counties in the U.S. for health disparities. After securing federal recognition, Lumbee tribal leaders will have to decide how to address them.
KFF Health News is working to collect and post approved plans as more states respond to emails and public records requests for their documents.
Last year, the Trump administration announced a voluntary pledge by dozens of insurers to improve prior authorization, which often requires patients to seek approval before treatments. But prior authorization remains commonplace, and there's no evidence the government is trying to hold insurers to account.
California’s laws still leave extradition decisions related to reproductive rights and gender-affirming care to its governor. But as states with abortion bans target California physicians who prescribe abortion pills across state lines, Democrats want to lock in protections for doctors, no matter who the next governor is.
Republicans say California’s use of Medicaid money for social services amounts to waste, fraud, and abuse. But even as Gov. Gavin Newsom voices concern about losing funding, he says he’s proud of the state’s holistic approach to caring for its sickest and most expensive patients.
New Medicaid work requirements could make a complex system even harder for farmworkers to navigate.
Thousands of people who had a Medicare drug plan with zero-dollar premiums last year got small premium increases this year — and didn’t know it. They were dropped from their coverage for failing to pay amounts as little as $8, and most can’t get it again until 2027.
Trinity Moravian Church, a politically diverse congregation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been raising money to retire medical debt in the surrounding community.
After congressional Republicans let expanded subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans expire at the end of last year, some families have decided the price is too great of a financial burden and canceled their coverage.
The research is clear: Among the various complex issues that contribute to suicide, loneliness is a big one. Now, there’s a growing push to address loneliness not just through personal choices but also through public policy.
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