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Latest KFF Health News Stories

Disability Rights Lawyers Threatened With Budget Cuts, Reassignments

KFF Health News Original

The Trump administration wants deep funding cuts for state-based legal services for disabled people, as rights advocates say the Justice Department pushed out many of its lawyers who worked on such issues.

One Big Beautiful Bill Act Complicates State Health Care Affordability Efforts

KFF Health News Original

The federal budget bill President Donald Trump signed into law in July is creating uncertainty for states trying to rein in health care spending. In California, a lawsuit by the hospital industry challenging state spending caps cites the law, which will slash Medicaid spending, as one of many financial pressures.

FDA Panelists Questioned Antidepressants in Pregnancy. But Doctors Call Them a Lifeline.

KFF Health News Original

Participants in an FDA panel discussion warned the public about risks from using antidepressants in pregnancy. But mental health issues, including suicide and overdoses, are the leading cause of maternal death in the United States. Antidepressants are a safe, well-studied way to help prevent those deaths, medical experts say.

Seguros con deducibles altos ponen en aprietos a pacientes con afecciones crónicas

KFF Health News Original

os planes con deducibles altos —es decir, la cantidad que los pacientes deben abonar por la mayoría de los servicios médicos antes que el seguro se haga cargo— se han vuelto cada vez más comunes.

Sticker Shock: Obamacare Customers Confront Premium Spikes as Congress Dithers

KFF Health News Original

With subsidies that give consumers extra help paying their health insurance premiums set to expire, lawmakers are again debating the Affordable Care Act. The difference this time: It’s happening in the middle of ACA open enrollment.

What the Health? From KFF Health News: Crunch Time for ACA Tax Credits

Podcast

Dec. 15 is the deadline to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans that begin Jan. 1, and Congress remains at odds over letting expanded tax credits for the plans’ premiums expire and increasing the cost of insurance for millions of Americans. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to remake vaccine policy to reflect ideology rather than science. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Georgetown professor Linda Blumberg about the GOP’s health plans.

Health Care Consolidation and Rising Costs Happen, but Obamacare Is Not the Key Culprit

KFF Health News Original

The debate over expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits has given Republicans room to resurface old criticisms — such as blaming the ACA for mergers and consolidation within the health care industry.

This HIV Expert Refused To Censor Data, Then Quit the CDC

KFF Health News Original

HIV physician John Weiser talks about why complying with President Donald Trump’s orders to erase transgender people is bad for science and society. And he notes that acquiescing didn’t spare the CDC from further harm.

Plan-Switching, Sign-Up Impersonations: Obamacare Enrollment Fraud Persists

KFF Health News Original

Investigators from the Government Accountability Office were able to register nearly 20 fake ACA enrollments in a probe of healthcare.gov. The federal government paid subsidies to insurers for some of the fake customers.

How Delays and Bankruptcy Let a Nursing Home Chain Avoid Paying Settlements for Injuries and Deaths

KFF Health News Original

Genesis HealthCare’s bankruptcy case in Dallas will allow the nursing home chain to avoid paying millions of dollars it promised for residents who were injured or died while in its care. Families say bankruptcy nullifies one of the main ways to hold nursing home owners accountable for poor care.