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.
All Coverage
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POSTCARD FROM GEORGIA
Public Health Improvements Stall Amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown
A year after the Environmental Protection Agency stripped grant money from dozens of communities nationwide during Trump’s DEI crackdown, a small Georgia city is struggling to address environmental health concerns.
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A Death Revives Concerns About Police Brutality Six Years After National Reckoning
In a church in rural Missouri, mourners lined up to say goodbye to Lloyd Gilmore, a 44-year-old Black father who died in police custody last month. His death sparked protests in a city with a long history of racial violence, even as the national conversation about police brutality has waned. Six years after worldwide calls for change, what’s happened to the movement?
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American Scientists See Prosecutions as Part of Federal Campaign Against Them
Federal officials charged two virologists they stopped en route from an African disease outbreak with violating import rules. But scientists tell KFF Health News the inactivated samples they carried posed no threat to the public, and they characterize the arrests as part of a government harassment campaign.
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Trump’s Personnel Agency Says It Will Remove Some Identifying Info as It Sweeps Up Medical Records
The Office of Personnel Management said it will “pseudonymize” medical records it collects on more than 8 million people — federal workers and retirees, and their family members. Democrats and employee unions say the agency’s move is an overreach.
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Leadership Vacuum: Agencies in New York and Beyond Pass the Buck on Opioid Cash Oversight
The opioid settlements are a multibillion-dollar windfall with only loose spending suggestions rather than strict requirements. Some people directly affected by the crisis want stronger guardrails. But New York state’s experience highlights the challenge in finding a fiscal watchdog.
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A Deloitte-Run System Denied Medicaid Benefits for Michigan’s Disabled. Now Trump’s Law Piles On.
Complex computer systems that decide whether people, including the disabled, get Medicaid benefits have a history of errors. Now changes to comply with Trump’s signature tax and domestic policy law are inundating those systems.
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Severely Ill Prisoners Granted Early Release Are Left Stuck Behind Bars
Prisoners with severe medical conditions can be granted compassionate release, but without a long-term care facility willing to accept them, many continue to wait in prison as their conditions worsen.
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Violence Repeatedly Erupts at Dementia Care Facilities Despite Warnings, Inspections Show
Nursing homes and assisted living facilities can be fertile ground for violence between residents with dementia, including fatal assaults. A KFF Health News examination of health reports and court records shows how warning signs are missed and safeguards fall short.
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Doctors ‘Cringe’ at Possibility of Documenting Which Medicaid Enrollees Too Sick To Work
Final regulations on Medicaid work requirements say enrollees must regularly obtain documentation — possibly from medical professionals — to prove that they’re too sick to work. Doctors say the rules put them in a tough spot.
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Pregnant Woman’s Roadside Death Triggers Push To Reopen Mississippi Delta Hospital
The deaths of Harmony Ball-Stribling and her unborn daughter five years ago have galvanized local leaders determined to reopen a Mississippi Delta hospital. But once a rural community loses a hospital, bringing it back can be nearly impossible.
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Journalists Dig Into HHS’ Covid Injury List, ACA Sign-Ups, and Telehealth
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national or local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
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Big Employers Increasingly in Hot Seat as Medicaid Work Requirements Loom
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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Watch: ‘Robust’ Primary Care, Transparency Top Employers’ Reform Wish List
KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner interviews Elizabeth Mitchell, the president and CEO of the Purchaser Business Group on Health, about systemic healthcare changes backed by large employers, which cover millions of Americans.
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Insurers Hedge on Trump-Backed Pledge To Improve Denials Process
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.
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Trump’s CDC Nominee Praises Vaccines, Without Vowing Independence From Kennedy
President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Erica Schwartz, expressed support for vaccines, including covid shots, in her confirmation hearing. That contrasts with the stance of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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States Start Their Medicaid Cuts
Most of the federal Medicaid cuts don’t take effect until 2027, but many states are already cutting budgets in anticipation of getting fewer health dollars from Washington. Meanwhile, Congress is back from break, but progress on legislative priorities remains slow. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sandhya Raman of Bloomberg Law join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. And as part of the “How Would You Fix It?” series, Rovner interviews Elizabeth Mitchell of the Purchaser Business Group on Health.
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A Sales Tax on Doctor Visits and Medicine? In Missouri, Some Worry
A ballot measure to eliminate Missouri’s income tax would give the state legislature broad authority to levy new sales taxes to replace the lost revenue. Critics say that could mean adding a sales tax on medical services or prescription medicines. Those types of taxes are unusual, but not unheard of, in the U.S.
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Readers Share Personal Insights on Deadly Denials and Pregnancy Centers
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
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Facing Funding Losses, States Call Out Big Businesses With Employees on Medicaid
With the federal Medicaid work requirements looming in January, Democrats are considering state legislation to call out big companies that employ workers enrolled in the safety net health program. Business giants such as Amazon and Walmart said the figures are misleading.
