Journalists Draw Link Between Internet Dead Zones, Threatened Medicaid Cuts, and Health
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national or local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
All Coverage
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At Trump’s FDA, Anti-Regulatory Approach and Cost-Cutting Put Food Safety System at Risk
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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American Doctors Are Moving to Canada To Escape the Trump Administration
Canada has seen a surge of American doctors seeking to move north in the months since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
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Opioid Settlement Windfall: Where the Billions Are Going
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.
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Feds Chop Enforcement Staff and Halt Rules Meant To Curb Black Lung in Coal Miners
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.
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Language Service Cutbacks Raise Fear of Medical Errors, Misdiagnoses, Deaths
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.
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A Medicaid Patient Had a Heart Attack While Traveling. He Owed Almost $78,000.
Federal law says Medicaid must cover out-of-state emergency care. But a Florida man got a five-figure bill after a South Dakota hospital declined to charge his state’s Medicaid program.
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Silence on E. Coli Outbreak Highlights How Trump Team’s Changes Undermine Food Safety
Food safety inspections are being scaled back and the public was not notified after an investigation into E. coli contamination.
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In Arizona County That Backed Trump, Conflicted Feelings About Cutting Medicaid
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.
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A Ministroke Can Have Major Consequences
What are known as transient ischemic attacks can eventually lead to cognitive declines as steep as those following a full-on stroke, new research finds.
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Federal Cuts Ripple Through a Bioscience Hub in Rural Montana
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.
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Journalists Talk Medicaid Cuts and New Limitations on Weight Loss Drugs and Covid Shots
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
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Trump’s DOJ Accuses Medicare Advantage Insurers of Paying ‘Kickbacks’ to Brokers
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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Bill With Billions in Health Program Cuts Passes House
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.
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Republicans Aim To Punish States That Insure Unauthorized Immigrants
A GOP tax-and-spending bill the House approved Thursday would slash federal Medicaid reimbursement for states that offer health coverage to immigrants without legal status.
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Trump’s Team Cited Safety in Limiting Covid Shots. Patients, Health Advocates See More Risk.
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.
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Volunteers Help Tornado-Hit St. Louis Amid Wait for Federal Aid
As St. Louis deals with more than $1.6 billion in estimated property damage from the May 16 tornado, locals are pouring in to help the hard-hit area of North St. Louis. It’s unclear if residents can count on federal support as they rebuild.
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Call Centers Replaced Many Doctors’ Receptionists. Now, AI Is Coming for Call Centers.
Artificial intelligence products with lifelike voices are being marketed to schedule or cancel medical visits, refill prescriptions, and help triage patients. Soon, many patients might initiate contact with the health system by speaking not with a human but with AI.
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Trump Won’t Force Medicaid To Cover GLP-1s for Obesity. A Few States Are Doing It Anyway.
Late last year, South Carolina Medicaid approved a class of medications known as GLP-1s to treat obesity, placing it among the few state programs covering these effective but expensive drugs. But access remains limited, even for patients covered by Medicaid, because of stringent prerequisites that must be satisfied before starting the drug.
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3 Things To Watch on Mental Health in Trump’s Early Budget Proposals
President Donald Trump’s budget office says he’ll continue to fund the new 988 suicide prevention hotline, but documents sent to Congress offer clues — amid some mixed messages — about the administration’s approach to two pressing public health issues: mental health and addiction.
