Latest Morning Briefing Stories
An Arm and a Leg: How Do You Deal With Wild Drug Prices?
“An Arm and a Leg” is collecting stories for a new series about how Americans get the medicine they need when faced with sticker shock.
Se busca médico: estrategias de un pueblito de Florida para atraer a un doctor generalista
Se espera que la escasez de médicos en Florida aumente en la próxima década, y un estudio prevé una necesidad de 18.000 médicos en todo el estado.
Un año después del tiroteo del 14 de febrero que mató a una persona e hirió al menos a 24, los sobrevivientes y sus familias todavía tratan de rehacer sus vidas.
A Year After Super Bowl Parade Shooting, Trauma Freeze Gives Way to Turmoil for Survivors
Survivors and witnesses of gun violence often freeze emotionally at first, as a coping mechanism. As the one-year mark since the parade shooting nears, the last installment in our series “The Injured” looks at how some survivors talk about resilience, while others are desperately trying to hang on.
Blood Transfusions at the Scene Save Lives. But Ambulances Are Rarely Equipped To Do Them.
More than 60,000 people bleed to death every year in the United States. Many of those deaths occur before the patient reaches a trauma center where blood transfusions can be given.
Officials Seek To Dismantle Appeals Board for Montanans Denied Public Assistance
The Montana health department says the Board of Public Assistance is redundant and a bureaucratic hurdle that helps few people. Current and former board representatives say the rare cases in which the panel helps people are important.
Wash, Dry, Enroll: Finding Medicaid Help at the Laundromat
State Medicaid and Affordable Care Act programs have long struggled to connect with lower-income Americans to help them access care. Now some are trying an alternative approach: meeting them at the laundromat.
Indiana Governor Appoints Business Leader To Shake Up Health Care
Gloria Sachdev, a pharmacist by training, has spent years taking on the health care establishment in Indiana, working to pull down high hospital prices and make information public to patients. Now, in a newly created position in the governor’s Cabinet, she’s no longer fighting from the outside.
Across the South, Rural Health Care Has Become ‘Trendy.’ Medicaid Expansion Has Not.
State legislatures nationwide, including several in the South, are spending millions to improve rural health outcomes and access. For years, though, most Southern states have refused billions of federal dollars to provide public health insurance to more low-income adults. That isn’t likely to change with Trump back in office.
Journalists Analyze Issues of the Day: RFK Jr., Bird Flu, L.A. Fires
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Most Insurance Covers IUDs. Hers Cost More Than $14,000.
The Affordable Care Act requires most insurance plans to cover preventive care, including many forms of contraception, without cost to patients — but not if they’re “grandfathered” plans, which predate the law.
Telehealth Companies Boost Ad Spending While Taking on More Complex Medicine
Telehealth startups including Ro and Nurx are spending millions to promote themselves as easy dispensers of medicines. Some companies offer care for birth control, sexual dysfunction, and more complex conditions, including behavioral health disorders and obesity.
Trump’s Funding ‘Pause’ Throws States, Health Industry Into Chaos
A sweeping Trump administration order threw the nation’s health system into disarray Tuesday, as states and the health industry tried to make sense of what looked like a freeze on federal Medicaid funding.
An Arm and a Leg: The ‘Shkreli Awards’ — For Dysfunction and Profiteering in Health Care
The Lown Institute, a health care think tank, holds a contest every year for the most outrageous stories of greed in health care.
A Program To Close Insurance Gaps for Native Americans Has Gone Largely Unused
Health leaders say a tool to boost medical coverage for Native Americans, a population that has long faced worse health outcomes than the rest of the nation, has been underused by many states and tribes since it was written into the Affordable Care Act more than a decade ago.
Covered California Hits Record Enrollment, but Key Subsidies in Jeopardy
Enhanced federal subsidies and more state aid for out-of-pocket costs have made health insurance purchased through California’s marketplace more affordable. It’s unclear if the incoming Republican Congress will extend the enhanced subsidies beyond 2025.
Covered California alcanza récord de inscripciones, pero peligran subsidios clave
La principal preocupación de los funcionarios de Covered California es la inminente expiración de los subsidios federales adicionales para pagar las primas de los seguros.
New California Laws Target Medical Debt, AI Care Decisions, Detention Centers
California has a few major changes coming to its health policy landscape in 2025. New laws that took effect Jan. 1 ban medical debt from credit reports, allow public health inspections of private immigration detention centers, and ban toxic chemicals in makeup.
Journalists Address HHS Under Trump, Rural PFAS Contamination, and Bird Flu
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': New Year, New Congress, New Health Agenda
Health is unlikely to be a top priority for the new GOP-led 119th Congress and President-elect Donald Trump. But it’s likely to play a key supporting role, with an abortion bill already scheduled for debate in the Senate. Meanwhile, it’s unclear when and how the new Congress will deal with the bipartisan bills jettisoned from the previous Congress’ year-end omnibus measure — including a major deal to rein in the power of pharmacy benefit managers. In this “catch up on all the news you missed” episode, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
