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The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
The “KFF Health News Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from our newsroom to the airwaves each week.
A year after the measure’s passage, a state law is keeping immigrants and their children from accessing Medicaid even when they qualify.
To collect and scrutinize millions of Americans’ health data, U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. aims to work with state organizations that help health systems share medical records. In Nebraska, millions in federal dollars has flowed into one nonprofit cooperating with Kennedy’s project.
Health experts and advocates for low-income people say federal rules implementing President Donald Trump’s new Medicaid work requirements upend months of work by state governments to prepare the computer systems that determine who’s eligible for benefits.
The state had high rates of parents not vaccinating their children, so it started making them attend vaccine education sessions to opt out their kids. It seemed to work. Then things got ugly.
Sentri7, drug diversion software powered by artificial intelligence and used at hundreds of U.S. hospitals, did not catch a months-long string of fentanyl thefts in Tennessee in 2025, according to a state document.
Immigrant detainees have told courts across the nation that detention officials have failed to treat or stabilize their conditions, from pregnancy to prostate cancer, suggesting that systemic lapses in care extend well beyond record deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for caregiving. But the federal policy has noteworthy limitations. The HealthQ team explains.
Many telehealth companies have emerged in recent years offering easy access to GLP-1 weight loss drugs as demand has exploded. Meanwhile, researchers and doctors are concerned that some of these online companies aren’t properly screening or monitoring patients. “It gives a black eye to telemedicine,” one researcher said.
Infectious disease specialists say the viruses are unlikely to become pandemics, but some are still raising concerns about the federal health response and what it portends should a pandemic similar to or worse than covid occur.
Patients’ experiences encapsulate breakdowns in a healthcare system that traps patients in debt. The industry’s key players blame one another.
KFF Health News’ editor-at-large for public health discussed peptides, colorectal cancer screening, and Ebola in TV appearances this week.
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Last spring, a woman started exhibiting unusual memory problems after a hike in Arizona. It turns out she was experiencing a disorder called transient global amnesia. She has fully recovered, but a dispute over nearly $60,000 in hospital charges has been a source of stress for over a year.
Several rural communities were thrust into a charged national debate over the Trump administration’s mass deportation strategy when federal officials sought to place new detention centers in them. In Social Circle, Georgia, locals fear the effort will overburden its modest healthcare infrastructure.
When Republicans passed their big budget bill in 2025, they thought the effects of cuts to health programs wouldn’t show up until after the 2026 midterms. They were wrong. Meanwhile, the party is trumpeting its efforts to lower drug prices. Maya Goldman of Axios, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner discusses Ebola with KFF Health News’ Céline Gounder.
Conservative Shasta County stopped a measles outbreak from spreading, enlisting teachers, church leaders, and other trusted community members to get the public on board with health guidelines. Infectious disease specialists say the successful effort could be a guide for other communities struggling to contain the highly contagious virus.
RaDonda Vaught was convicted of negligent homicide for accidentally dispensing a deadly drug to a patient. She now gives speeches about hospital safety in an era of automation and artificial intelligence.
The state is ramping up to implement the federal work requirements six months ahead of the deadline. But Montana is one of several states already struggling to pay for health services.
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
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