Latest Morning Briefing Stories

How Potential Medicaid Cuts Could Play Out in California

KFF Health News Original

As Donald Trump prepares to reenter the White House with a Republican-controlled Congress, health officials and community advocates in California worry that large-scale Medicaid cuts could be enacted as soon as next year. More than 60% of California’s $161 billion Medi-Cal budget comes from Washington.

9 States Poised To End Coverage for Millions if Trump Cuts Medicaid Funding

KFF Health News Original

About 3.7 million people are at immediate risk of losing health coverage should the federal government cut funding for Medicaid expansions, as some allies of President-elect Donald Trump have proposed. Coverage could be at risk in the 40 states that have expanded Medicaid.

Who Gets Obesity Drugs Covered by Insurance? In North Carolina, It Helps If You’re on Medicaid

KFF Health News Original

GLP-1 agonist medications such as Ozempic accounted for 10% of the North Carolina state employee health plan’s prescription drug spending, so the state is no longer covering them for weight loss alone. Still, it did decide to cover them for Medicaid patients’ weight loss. A look inside the state’s coverage calculus.

Georgians With Disabilities Are Still Being Institutionalized, Despite Federal Oversight

KFF Health News Original

For nearly 15 years, the feds have had oversight of Georgia’s treatment of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities. Observers say the state still jeopardizes some of its most marginalized residents by not meeting the terms of its settlement with the Justice Department.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Trump’s Nontraditional Health Picks

Podcast

Not only has President-elect Donald Trump chosen prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Trump also has said he will nominate controversial TV host Mehmet Oz to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees coverage for nearly half of Americans. Meanwhile, the lame-duck Congress is back in Washington with just a few weeks to figure out how to wrap up work for the year. Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Riley Ray Griffin of Bloomberg News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Sarah Varney, who has been covering a trial in Idaho challenging the lack of medical exceptions in that state’s abortion ban.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Trump 2.0

Podcast

As Donald Trump readies for his return to the White House — with the backing of a GOP majority in the Senate and, possibly, the House — the entire health care industry is waiting to see what happens next. Clearly on the agenda: the future of abortion and reproductive rights, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and public health’s infrastructure. Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Jackie Fortiér, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-Washington Post “Bill of the Month” feature, about a 2-year-old who had a very expensive run-in with a rattlesnake.

California Expanded Medi-Cal to Unauthorized Residents. The Results Are Mixed.

KFF Health News Original

California this year completed its Medi-Cal expansion to include income-eligible residents regardless of their immigration status. This final installment of the “Faces of Medi-Cal” series profiles three of those newly eligible patients and how coverage has affected their health.

El regreso de Trump a la Casa Blanca pondría en peligro la red de seguridad de atención médica

KFF Health News Original

El triunfo electoral del ex presidente Donald Trump y su regreso a la Casa Blanca probablemente traerán cambios que reducirían los programas nacionales de salud públicos, aumentando la tasa de personas sin seguro e imponiendo nuevas barreras al aborto y otros servicios de salud reproductiva.

In Vermont, Where Almost Everyone Has Insurance, Many Can’t Find or Afford Care

KFF Health News Original

Vermont has one of the lowest uninsured rates in the U.S., even though its residents pay some of the highest health insurance costs. Still, most of its hospitals are losing money and patients often face long waits for care.

What’s at Stake: A Pivotal Election for Six Big Health Issues

KFF Health News Original

Health care has ebbed and surged as an election issue throughout the presidential campaign. Here are the ways some of the most consequential changes in health policies could hinge on whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump wins.

For People With Opioid Addiction, Medicaid ‘Unwinding’ Raises the Stakes

KFF Health News Original

Medications such as methadone can cut the risk of a fatal opioid overdose in half. Medicaid covers the medication. But as state Medicaid programs reevaluated coverage of each enrollee following a pause in disenrollments during the covid-19 pandemic, some patients lost a crucial pillar of their sobriety.

Vance Wrongly Blames Rural Hospital Closures on Immigrants in the Country Illegally

KFF Health News Original

Experts disputed the claim by Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, noting that a range of other issues — from low reimbursement rates to declining patient use — combine to cause these facilities to shutter.