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Latest KFF Health News Stories

Opioid Settlement Windfall: Where the Billions Are Going

KFF Health News Original

Opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers have been paying billions of dollars to settle lawsuits over their role in the overdose epidemic. How to spend the money remains an open question.

Feds Chop Enforcement Staff and Halt Rules Meant To Curb Black Lung in Coal Miners

KFF Health News Original

The Trump administration has paused implementation of a rule limiting miners’ exposure to airborne silica dust days after a federal court agreed to put it on hold to hear an industry challenge. The protections are meant to head off a surge in cases of black lung disease. Meanwhile, any enforcement of new standards might be meager due to workforce cuts.

Language Service Cutbacks Raise Fear of Medical Errors, Misdiagnoses, Deaths

KFF Health News Original

Federal cuts are hurting community organizations in California that provide language assistance services to people who speak limited English. Despite President Trump’s executive order declaring English the national language, millions in the U.S. need help navigating the health system.

In Arizona County That Backed Trump, Conflicted Feelings About Cutting Medicaid

KFF Health News Original

Medicaid plays a vital role in many rural communities that favored President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. But residents still seem open to Republican proposals to cut perceived waste in the program.

Federal Cuts Ripple Through a Bioscience Hub in Rural Montana

KFF Health News Original

The National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, is one of only a few dozen research facilities of its type. The threat of staffing and grant cuts has town leaders worried and has added to long-standing tension around the lab’s presence in this politically conservative region.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Bill With Billions in Health Program Cuts Passes House

Podcast

The House narrowly passed a budget reconciliation bill, including billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy along with billions of dollars in cuts to health program spending. But the Senate is expected to make major changes to the measure before it can go to President Donald Trump for his signature. This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.

Trump’s Team Cited Safety in Limiting Covid Shots. Patients, Health Advocates See More Risk.

KFF Health News Original

The FDA will encourage new clinical trials on the widely used vaccines before approving them for children and healthy adults. The requirements could cost drugmakers tens of millions of dollars and are likely to leave boosters largely out of reach for hundreds of millions of Americans this fall.