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2026 has been a challenging year to buy health insurance. Contributing factors include changes to the Medicaid program and hikes to the cost of Obamacare plans. But doctors and researchers say there are ways people without insurance can find affordable care.
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis forced families into hiding and catalyzed informal medical networks to deliver critical health care services.
Mobile crisis units are trained to respond to emergency calls when people are experiencing delusions or hallucinations. But unlike police departments, which are generally funded by local taxpayers, mobile crisis teams don’t have a single, reliable funding source. As a result, some are closing down, despite successful operations and local support.
A Massachusetts woman knew the medicine her doctor prescribed required preauthorization, but she didn’t realize the approval had an expiration date. It took nearly three weeks of phone calls and paperwork to get her prescription refilled.
Health care got barely a mention in President Trump’s State of the Union address. Ahead of the midterms, the Trump administration has presented few concrete plans to address what Americans say is the biggest problem with health care: its skyrocketing costs. Meanwhile, Trump’s pick for surgeon general, Casey Means, got her long-delayed nomination hearing in the Senate, where she faced skeptical questions from Democrats and Republicans alike. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more.
Louisiana is one of the worst-performing states when it comes to health outcomes of mothers and infants. New Orleans is trying to catch health issues early and get families off to an easier start by adding health visits during the crucial first months of life.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has criticized the broadening use of anxiety medications, claiming they’re harmful. Doctors and researchers say the MAHA movement is misrepresenting drugs that have been proved to safely treat chronic anxiety and point to broader social changes to explain their increased use.
The twists and turns continue at the nation’s health agency, where this week’s announcements included notice that the FDA will review Moderna’s new flu vaccine after all and that a handful of top agency officials are getting new jobs. Those developments and others can be traced to a White House looking to shake things up before the midterms — and win over voters on health care. Tami Luhby of CNN, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Mary Agnes Carey to discuss these stories and more.
Ron Lieber, the “Your Money” columnist for The New York Times, shares ideas about how insurance companies, doctors, and patients can better handle prior authorization denials.
When the doctor says you need a prescription or treatment, sometimes you need approval from your health insurance first. Without it, they won’t pay. Health reporter Sarah Boden joins “Life Kit” host Marielle Segarra to discuss prior authorization.
It’s been a busy week at the FDA, with a political appointee overruling agency scientists to reject an application for a new flu vaccine. Meanwhile, anti-abortion Republicans on Capitol Hill complain the agency is dragging its feet on reviewing the abortion pill mifepristone. Jackie Fortiér of KFF Health News, Lizzy Lawrence of Stat, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
With fractures emerging in the Make America Great Again movement, some Republicans are looking to capitalize on its “MAHA” counterpart ahead of the midterms.
PrEP has been available for more than a decade, but billing mistakes, lack of awareness, and lingering stigma keep many people from getting the lifesaving HIV prevention medication.
Congress has passed — and President Trump has signed — the annual spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services. But it’s unclear whether the administration will spend the money as Congress directed. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss that story and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Renuka Rayasam about a new reporting project, “Priced Out.”
Verite News’ reporters tested soil in more than 80 playgrounds for lead contamination. Even in trace amounts, lead exposure in children can result in lower IQs, learning challenges, and behavioral issues.
Sweeps of encampments scatter homeless people, as medications are tossed and street medicine providers scramble to reconnect with their patients. KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart discusses the aftermath on the Jan. 28 edition of WAMU’s “Health Hub.”
The Trump administration has made the future of federal funding for cancer research uncertain. At one groundbreaking breast cancer research lab, work that could save lives has slowed significantly.
Prenatal care can make a huge difference to the long-term health of both the parent and baby. Every state offers health coverage to lower-income pregnant women who might otherwise go uninsured.
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is not just roiling politics but also directly affecting the provision of health care, medical groups say. Meanwhile, in Washington, federal spending bills have been stalled by the fight over immigration enforcement funding after the shooting death of a second person in Minneapolis this month. Maya Goldman of Axios, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more.
The federal government’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was supposed to help patients with their medical bills while protecting vaccine supply. But allies of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are routinely transferring cases from that program to launch lawsuits against drugmakers.
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