New Disease Threats Follow Trump Administration’s Health Program Cuts
From screwworm to flesh-eating bacteria, mounting public health risks are emerging in the wake of deep cuts to federal health agencies and programs.
Public Health
61-80 of 3,731 results
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Supreme Court Makes Health Policy
Episode 453The Supreme Court handed down its last decisions of its 2025-26 term this week, including in an immigration case that could result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of workers in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Lizzy Lawrence of Stat, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Amanda Seitz of KFF Health News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss this story and more.
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Would Hunters Take a Lyme Disease Vaccine? We Asked
American hunters skew conservative, rural, and male — all associated with increased hesitancy about or resistance to vaccines. At the same time, hunters spend more time than most people outdoors and potentially exposed to Lyme disease. So how do they feel about a potential new vaccine against the tick-borne illness?
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Florida Hospitals Act Fast To Discharge Gun Victims — Especially if They’re Not Insured
Uninsured patients made up about 1 in 4 of the more than 20,000 gunshot wound inpatient hospitalizations in Florida from 2018 to 2024, an analysis of state data by KFF Health News and The Trace found. They also had shorter hospital stays than those with any form of coverage.
Democrats Keep Healthcare at the Fore
Episode 451Senate Democrats hope to highlight health costs by forcing a vote on the Trump administration’s changes to the Affordable Care Act before the midterm elections. Meanwhile, Alabama is the latest state to try to cut off access to medication abortion via telehealth. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also, Rovner interviews Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute and Liz Fowler of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to discuss the employer health insurance tax exclusion.
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Growing Up Scared
Arrests of Immigrant Parents Create Mental Health Crisis for Children
An estimated hundreds of thousands of children, many of them U.S. citizens, have been separated from a parent in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Their distress manifests in physical and mental health symptoms including developmental regression, stomachaches, sleep problems, and falling grades. Research points to long-term health consequences.
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Tennessee Pharmacies Sell Potent Ivermectin, Led by Anti-Vaccine Doctor Who’s Taken ‘Bucketloads’
Four years after the Volunteer State enacted the nation’s first law allowing drugstores to sell ivermectin without patient-specific prescriptions, dozens of pharmacies dispense the drug in highly concentrated pills — many with the help of one anti-vaccine physician.
By Brett Kelman and Rachana Pradhan -
Journalists Highlight Medical Neglect in ICE Detention, RFK Jr. Antidepressant Comments
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
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Final Rules for Medicaid Work Requirements Are Out. Here’s What You Need To Know.
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.
The Drip, Drip, Drip of Declining Coverage
Episode 450As 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.
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Trump Bought Tobacco Stocks and Raked In Industry Donations as FDA Eased Standards
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.
By Darius Tahir -
FDA’s Greenlight of Old Chemical Offers Chance To Restore Faith in Sunscreen
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.
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Anguished Parents. Doctors in Tears. Utah’s Long Measles Outbreak Takes a Toll.
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.
By Amy Maxmen -
Trivia Nights, Valentine’s Cards: Overlooked Social Connections Can Prevent Suicide
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.
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Gounder Fills In Details Behind Ebola, GLP-1, and Trump Headlines
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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‘We Live With Fear’: In Congo, Doctors Face Ebola With Little Protection
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.
By Amy Maxmen Medicaid Work Rules Surprise States
Episode 449Adult 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.”
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Louisiana’s Reporting Law Chills Immigrant Medicaid Applications
A year after the measure’s passage, a state law is keeping immigrants and their children from accessing Medicaid even when they qualify.
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RFK Jr. Seeks To Peek at Americans’ Medical Records for Clues on Autism and Vaccines
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.
By Amanda Seitz and Darius Tahir -
Michigan Found a Way To Reduce School Vaccine Waivers. Until It Backfired.
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.
By Kate Wells