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Latest KFF Health News Stories

Q&A: What Does the Budget Bill Mean for Your Health? 

KFF Health News Original

KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner answers listeners’ questions about how the “One Big Beautiful Bill” could affect health care in Washington, D.C., and beyond.

Trump Team’s Reworking Delays Billions in Broadband Build-Out

KFF Health News Original

A Trump administration reworking of a $42 billion broadband expansion program will trigger delays as millions of rural Americans wait for promised connections and the telehealth services they bring.

Have Job-Based Health Coverage at 65? You May Still Want To Sign Up for Medicare

KFF Health News Original

Patient advocates say they frequently hear from people who thought they didn’t need to sign up for Medicare when they turned 65 because they had group health coverage. That delay sometimes forces people to cover medical expenses themselves.

The Price You Pay for an Obamacare Plan Could Surge Next Year

KFF Health News Original

An estimated 4 million Americans will lose health insurance over the next decade if Congress doesn’t extend enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage, which expire at the end of the year. Florida and Texas would see the biggest losses, in part because they have not expanded Medicaid eligibility.

‘MAGA’ Backers Like Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ — Until They Learn of Health Consequences

KFF Health News Original

A new poll finds that most adults oppose the GOP bill that would extend many of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts while reducing spending on domestic programs including Medicaid. Most Trump backers support the plan until they learn that millions would lose health coverage and local hospitals would lose funding.

‘Not Accountable to Anyone’: As Insurers Issue Denials, Some Patients Run Out of Options

KFF Health News Original

Health insurers issue millions of prior authorization denials every year, leaving many patients stuck in a convoluted appeals process, with little hope of meaningful policy change ahead. For doctors, these denials are frustrating and time-consuming. For patients, they can be devastating.

A Revolutionary Drug for Extreme Hunger Offers Clues to Obesity’s Complexity

KFF Health News Original

A new drug is helping families who’ve spent years padlocking fridges, chaining garbage cans, and hiding food as their children with Prader-Willi syndrome deal with unrelenting hunger. But additional progress — and a broader understanding of obesity — is now under threat as the government dismantles the pipeline for promising new research.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': RFK Jr. Upends Vaccine Policy, After Promising He Wouldn’t

Podcast

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week did something he had promised not to do: He fired every member of the scientific advisory committee that recommends which vaccines should be given to whom. And he replaced them, in some cases, with vaccine skeptics. Meanwhile, hundreds of employees of the National Institutes of Health sent an open letter to the agency’s director, accusing the Trump administration of policies that “undermine the NIH mission.” Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Would Batter Rural Hospital Finances, Researchers Say

KFF Health News Original

Rural hospitals would take an outsize hit from Republicans’ proposed cuts to Medicaid and other federal health programs. Researchers say the financial erosion would trigger hospital closures and service cuts, especially in communities where large shares of patients are enrolled in Medicaid.