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Politicians have pushed for price transparency in health care. But instead of patients shopping for services, it’s mostly health systems and insurers that are using the information, as fodder for negotiations over pay.
KFF Health News shares our favorite reader-submitted health policy valentines. One struck us in the heart and inspired an original cartoon.
Before being confirmed to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told U.S. senators he would not cut funding for vaccine research or change the nation’s official vaccine recommendations. He did both.
A planned 10-year federal program called Making Care Primary was supposed to help primary care doctors by easing administrative burdens, allowing them to focus on improving patients’ health. A year after the Trump administration eliminated the program, federal officials created an alternative plan that favors companies.
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.
At a January event organized by allies of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., National Cancer Institute Director Anthony Letai said results may be released “in a few months.” Ivermectin, used to deworm horses and other animals, has become a symbol of resistance against the medical establishment among supporters of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda and many conservatives.
Ballad Health, the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly, plans to rebuild Unicoi County Hospital on land that two climate modeling companies say is at risk of flooding.
The Trump administration’s move to give deportation officials access to Medicaid data is forcing hospitals and states to consider alerting immigrant patients that information from emergency medical coverage applications could be used in efforts to remove them from the country.
The physician workforce is aging fast, and some hospitals now require that older clinicians undergo testing for cognitive decline. Many have resisted.
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.
Many Americans are expected to lose ACA or Medicaid coverage in coming months and years as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the expiration of enhanced pandemic-era subsidies that helped people afford Obamacare plans. Doctors and researchers say there are still ways to find affordable care.
As health care costs skyrocket and federal lawmakers pull back help on insurance premiums, more middle-income families are facing tough choices on health care.
A Wisconsin retiree with glaucoma needed her eyes examined. Her Medicare Advantage plan from UnitedHealthcare listed her optometrist’s clinic as in-network, but she learned the hard way that a clinic can be in-network and out-of-network at the same time.
Proposed Trump administration changes to federal Medicare Advantage payments would stop health insurers from mining patient data for extra medical diagnoses that generate more bills to taxpayers even without treatment.
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.
Patients say they find AI summaries of doctor visits user-friendly, but it’s not clear if their appointments are improving. In any case, doctors appear to be embracing the high-tech innovation.
Breakups between insurers and health systems, on top of plan cuts, left more than 3.7 million Medicare Advantage enrollees facing a tough choice last year: find new insurance or new doctors. But hospital systems say their Advantage plans can avert such upheaval, giving patients peace of mind.
Two Trump administration regulatory rollbacks affect nursing home staffing and home care workers, and a new AI experiment in Medicare has alarmed eldercare advocates and congressional Democrats.
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