All Coverage - KFF Health News

All Coverage

What the Health? From KFF Health News

The Health Risks of AI

Episode 463

Sept. 17, 2026

Reports from a top AI company that it found and stopped attempted uses of its product to manufacture a potential bioweapon caught the attention of lawmakers in Washington this week. Meanwhile, President Trump wants to send $500 checks to about a million Obamacare enrollees. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Sabrina Corlette of the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms.
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Listen to the Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’

The “KFF Health News Minute” brings original healthcare and health policy reporting from our newsroom to the airwaves each week.

Sept. 17, 2026
The New Old Age

3 Common Drugs Older Adults Might Be Overusing

Not all older people need benzodiazepines, antibiotics, or daily aspirin — and taking them can carry increased risks.

By Paula Span

Sept. 17, 2026
California Eyes Prison Heat Protections That Fall Short of Workplace Standards

California is crafting weaker heat protections for prisons than other workplaces, citing billions in costs to cool aging institutions as climate and health risks increase. It’s a second-class standard, health and safety advocates say, and would leave correctional workers more susceptible to heat illness.

By Erin Rode, Capital & Main

Sept. 17, 2026
Rural Health Payout

States Bet Big on Rural Health Startups, With a Silicon Valley Twist

States are spending rural health dollars on tech startups, betting that untested companies will succeed where doctors have vanished and hospitals have collapsed. Louisiana’s call for innovative technology drew more than 200 pitches, seeking from $250,000 to $3 million in seed money.

By Sarah Jane Tribble

Sept. 16, 2026
Outcome of Suit Against Department of Labor Could Boost Skimpy Employer Health Plans

The case was brought by a marketing company that wants to define as employees people who download an app and agree to have their internet activity tracked so they can buy into its employee health plan. Such plans are generally exempt from some state and Affordable Care Act rules.

By Julie Appleby

Sept. 16, 2026
Priced Out

Rising Healthcare Costs Have Hit Georgia’s Most Conservative District. But Its Politics Are Unlikely To Change.

With the expiration of enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, thousands of Georgians are paying more for coverage or going uninsured. In one of the state’s reddest districts, the economic impact is growing faster than the political fallout.

By Briah Lumpkins

Sept. 15, 2026
A Cancer Survivor Hoped To Work — Then She Lost Her Medicaid Disability Coverage

As state governments grapple with how to determine who’s sick enough to be excused from new Medicaid work requirements, some families are already struggling with what illnesses guarantee health coverage because of a disability.

By Katheryn Houghton

Sept. 15, 2026
An Arm and a Leg

The Meltdown in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance

Season 16, Episode 1

Sept. 14, 2026

Stat reporter Bob Herman joins “An Arm and a Leg” to discuss the impact of surging health insurance costs on businesses and their workers.
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Growing Up Scared

A Generation of Kids Suffer as Trump Destabilizes Immigrant Families

Children in immigrant families are facing health threats from President Donald Trump’s policies: separation from parents detained or deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, economic and housing instability, withdrawal from health and nutrition programs, and an overarching environment of fear.

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett

Sept. 14, 2026
KFF Health News On Air

Journalists Detail Data on Suicide, Primary Care Shortages, and Gun Violence

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

Sept. 12, 2026
The Week in Brief

Trump Forced To Reinstate Digital Equity Grant Program, Minus Race Criteria He Decried

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

By Sarah Jane Tribble

Sept. 11, 2026
Indigenous Groups Are Exempt From Medicaid Work Rules, but Native Hawaiians Aren’t

Native Hawaiians will have to comply with the new work requirements in President Donald Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act, despite facing significant obstacles to employment and healthcare.

By Ashley Mizuo

Sept. 11, 2026
Letters to the Editor

Readers Wrestle With Healthcare Inequalities and Want a Word With Congress

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

Sept. 11, 2026
What the Health? From KFF Health News

Anger Over Health Costs Clouds Midterms

Episode 462

Sept. 10, 2026

Amid a campaign already focusing on affordability, anxious voters are unlikely to be assuaged by headlines about healthcare costs rising even more next year. And a lawsuit that could cut off access nationwide to the abortion pill mifepristone gets a hearing in federal court. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, Sandhya Raman of Bloomberg Law, and Amanda Seitz of KFF Health News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Rovner also interviews Lauren Sausser, who wrote the latest KFF Health News “Bill of the Month.”
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Dead Zone

Rural Americans Wait After Judge Delivers Mixed Ruling on Digital Equity Dollars

A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump can’t unilaterally kill the $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act, but he also sided with the administration by saying using race as a factor in awarding the grants is unconstitutional. The split decision has halted digital-skills programs for ethnic and racial minorities.

By Sarah Jane Tribble

Sept. 10, 2026
The New Old Age

When a Friend Becomes a Caregiver

People outside the family frequently step into helping roles when older adults need assistance.

By Paula Span

Sept. 10, 2026
Nonprofits Are Helping Musicians Pay for Insurance in Austin, Texas, and Beyond

A nonprofit and a local public health agency are subsidizing marketplace health insurance for Austin music artists, even as shifting marketplace conditions make the program a more expensive proposition. It’s becoming a model for other cities and sectors.

By Olivia Aldridge, KUT

Sept. 9, 2026
Common Ground

A NY Hospital Tried To Close Its Birthing Center. This City United To Fight Back.

Democrats and Republicans in Troy, New York, joined together to challenge a national Catholic health system determined to close the last birthing center in the county.

By Noam N. Levey

Sept. 9, 2026
Data Grab

Democrats Demand Trump Administration Halt Collection of Patients’ ER Records

Senate and House Democrats say the Trump administration’s plan to collect patients’ medical data violates privacy and will discourage people from seeking medical care.

By Amanda Seitz, Maia Rosenfeld, and Darius Tahir

Sept. 8, 2026

Morning Briefing

Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026 • 9:08 a.m. ET

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Noticias en español

Sobreviviente de cáncer esperaba trabajar, pero le sacaron su cobertura de Medicaid por discapacidad

By Katheryn Houghton

Sept. 15, 2026
Una generación de niños sufre mientras Trump desestabiliza a familias inmigrantes

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett

Sept. 14, 2026
Cuando un amigo se convierte en cuidador

By Paula Span

Sept. 13, 2026
El próximo gobernador de California enfrentará un aumento catastrófico de personas sin seguro de salud

By Christine Mai-Duc

Sept. 8, 2026
Por los altos costos, cada vez más estadounidenses realizan tratamientos de fertilidad en el extranjero

By LJ Dawson

Sept. 7, 2026