Baltimore Is Rethinking What It Means To Call 911 — And Who Responds
The city wants to stop health crises before they happen and is creating a new service to do that when people call 911.
All Coverage
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Pediatricians and Health Departments Sidestep Trump’s CDC on Vaccine Guidance
When the Trump administration upended years of vaccine advice, it left pediatricians in a quandary. Many say they can no longer direct families to the CDC as a trusted source of information. So some are creating their own.
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AI Is Being Used to Boost Medicaid Enrollment, but Not Without Concerns
Ahead of Medicaid work requirements, a health plan in California hopes to stanch the number of people losing coverage by using an AI program to schedule appointments and remind enrollees to fill out paperwork. The plan says it can do the work of 40 employees at a fraction of the cost.
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Nurses Chase Cyclospora, Aided by Interviews, Fast-Food Receipts — And the Messy Details
Yes, they’ve heard all the poop jokes. Public health staffers are painstakingly tracing the sources of this massive outbreak, combing through fast-food orders and lettuce purchases as they listen to people’s lengthy, messy stories about their illness.
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Earlier Lifeline for Rural Hospitals Faces Test Under ‘Big Beautiful’ Law
A century-old rural Michigan hospital converted to a stripped-down model Congress created to help keep small facilities afloat, then it closed. The emergency hospital model, created a few years ago, is stabilizing some hospitals, arrived too late for others, and now faces major challenges under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
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Priced Out
Kennedy, Oz Contend Fraud Crackdown, Not Skyrocketing Prices, Led Millions To Leave Obamacare
Rising premiums forced many people in Affordable Care Act plans to give up their coverage. But the Trump administration claims a huge drop in enrollment is almost entirely due to its fraud crackdown.
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People With Disabilities Fear Service Cuts as Trump’s DOJ Questions Legal Protections
The Department of Justice in June issued a legal opinion saying states aren’t required to provide services that help people with disabilities remain in their homes. The new position has added momentum to states’ existing legal challenges to the requirement and triggered worries among people who rely on these services.
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Journalists Catch You Up on Fauci Hearing, Peptides, and Kids’ Caffeine Consumption
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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Under Trump, Federal Agencies Are Collecting Massive Sets of Medical Records
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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The Newest Federally Recognized Tribe Wants Better Healthcare. It May Be On Its Own.
North Carolina’s Robeson County, where most of the tribe’s citizens live, ranks as one of the worst counties in the U.S. for health disparities. After securing federal recognition, Lumbee tribal leaders will have to decide how to address them.
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They Worked To Protect Public Health. Now They Want the Public’s Votes.
They’re known for touting pandemic precautions, Affordable Care Act plans, and testing for lead in schools. This year, some former public health officials are touting themselves — for governor or senator.
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The Politics of Grant Cuts
The revelation in court documents that the Trump administration used politics alone to decide which grants to fund and which to cancel has provoked surprisingly little outcry from Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, Republicans renewed their campaign against Anthony Fauci’s handling of covid. Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Bloomberg News, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Liz Essley Whyte of The Wall Street Journal join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
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Abortion Drug Law in Louisiana Heightens Hemorrhage Risk for Pregnant Patients
A 2024 state law reclassified misoprostol and mifepristone as controlled substances. That affects how hospitals can access the drugs in non-abortion emergencies, and other states appear to be taking note.
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Medicaid Insurers’ Contracts on the Line in Tight Governor’s Race
The Democratic candidate for governor says he would make Iowa the second state to drop private Medicaid management companies, which he calls “a disaster.”
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Hospice’s Bad Reputation Amid Fraud Crisis Will Hurt Patients, Industry Experts Warn
While acknowledging that changes must be made to the hospice industry, health policy researchers and providers worry that negative attention and the potential for overly punitive regulations could put patients at risk.
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Trump Has Quietly Throttled an Agency Devoted to the Safety of American Healthcare
Congress appropriated $345 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for the 2026 fiscal year, but the agency has spent less than $15 million on grants. AHRQ hasn’t issued a new one in over a year.
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Uninsured but Undaunted, a Surgical Patient Searched the Globe for a Deal
When surgery became unavoidable, a man with no insurance shopped around for the best price for a hernia repair — and saved thousands by traveling out of state.
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Newsom Reverses on Long-Sought Paid Leave Benefit for Teachers in California
California lawmakers gave public school teachers 14 weeks of paid leave in the state’s new budget, a long-sought benefit for the largely female workforce. Gov. Gavin Newsom previously opposed similar measures.
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Federal Loan Caps Add Barriers — And Likely Debt — for Healthcare Students
The government will cap how much graduate students may borrow in federal loans. The new policy could leave many at the mercy of private lenders with higher interest rates. The borrowing limits will affect students pursuing expensive healthcare careers, and some worry they may impede efforts to diversify the healthcare workforce.
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Cyclospora Boosts Fears That Worse Foodborne Outbreaks Are Ahead
The recent outbreak of a foodborne parasite sickened thousands and hospitalized hundreds across the U.S. before federal investigators identified the suspected source. Food safety experts say cuts to the public health system hobbled the response — and that the next outbreak could be much worse.
Morning Briefing
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Trump Bucks Scientific Protocol, Calls For Further Splitting Up Childhood Vaccines
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White House Wants A Say On Who Wins NIH Biomedical Research Grants, Administration Officials Disclose
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Medical Debt Is Widespread Even Among Adults With Private Insurance: Study
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