The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
The Trump administration has laid out what millions of Americans on Medicaid must do to prove they’re working or completing other activities. Health policy researchers and consumer advocates say there are some important takeaways.
As predicted, the expiration of enhanced tax subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans is causing many people to lose coverage for failing to make premium payments. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded angrily to a New York Times article suggesting he’s not actively engaged in the work of his sprawling department. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Lizzy Lawrence of Stat, and Sandhya Raman of Bloomberg Law join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF’s Tricia Neuman, who is retiring this month as a senior vice president and the executive director of the Program on Medicare Policy.
The Trump administration has pursued an extensive pro-tobacco agenda as the president and his political movement have been buoyed by a flood of tobacco industry money, federal records show.
The FDA has approved the sunscreen chemical bemotrizinol, a UV light filter that has been available in Europe, Asia, and Australia for more than 20 years. Health advocates and skin care industry groups alike are hopeful it can restore faith in sunscreen.
One of California’s largest healthcare unions is sponsoring two initiatives that would regulate community clinics and cap executive and managerial pay at hospitals and physician groups. In the most recent eruption of a long-standing feud, the measures have drawn fierce opposition from a wide swath of the medical industry.
Measles has been spreading in Utah for nearly a year, straining hospitals, schools, and parents. The state’s outbreak provides a glimpse into a new era in America’s health, in which vaccine-preventable diseases become common again.
The research is clear: Among the various complex issues that contribute to suicide, loneliness is a big one. Now, there’s a growing push to address loneliness not just through personal choices but also through public policy.
Anxious kids can benefit from counseling, but therapy demands a commitment of money and time. Therapists recommend using three criteria to help determine when challenging behavior rises to the level of needing professional help.
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new autism panel is championing a controversial communication method popular among parents of severely autistic people. Critics warn of abuse — and fake “telepathy.”
Despite widespread support in polls for legalizing aid in dying, the number of people who go through with the practice remains very small.
KFF Health News’ editor-at-large for public health discussed Ebola, GLP-1 drugs, ultraprocessed food, and more in TV appearances this week.
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Big cuts to healthcare programs in the 2025 GOP budget law are creating an affordability crunch for many Americans: Higher health insurance premiums. Confusion about who Medicaid will cover under the new rules. KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner explains how the changes could leave nearly 2 million children uninsured.
Come January, pregnancy care physician billing codes will change from a bundled system to an à la carte one. Many obstetricians say this approach will better reflect the amount and type of care they provide. But it could incentivize providers to pile on visits and services.
Travel bans and conflict have disrupted supply chains in the Democratic Republic of Congo, leaving health workers without Ebola tests and protective gear needed to contain the outbreak.
Adult Medicaid enrollees with serious health conditions may not be automatically exempt from new work rules, according to a new regulation from the Trump administration. Meanwhile, the administration is also proposing to give political appointees even more power over who gets health and science grant funding. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Liz Essley Whyte of The Wall Street Journal join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Lauren Sausser, who wrote the latest “Bill of the Month.”
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.
