Latest Morning Briefing Stories

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.

Paid Sick Leave Is Up for a Vote in Three States

KFF Health News Original

The coronavirus pandemic underscored the importance of paid sick leave, a benefit to help workers and their families when they fall ill. Now voters in Missouri, Nebraska, and Alaska are deciding whether employers must provide it.

Can a $10 Billion Climate Bond Address California’s Water Contamination Problem?

KFF Health News Original

California voters will decide in November whether to approve a $10 billion climate bond that supporters say is needed to jump-start water system repairs for residents without safe drinking water. Opponents say those repairs should be prioritized in the state budget, not put on a credit card.

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.

How a Proposed Federal Heat Rule Might Have Saved These Workers’ Lives

KFF Health News Original

Laborers have suffered in extreme heat triggered by climate change. Deaths aren’t inevitable, researchers say: Employers can save lives by providing ample water and breaks.

Exclusive: Emails Reveal How Health Departments Struggle To Track Human Cases of Bird Flu

KFF Health News Original

Emails show how health officials struggle to track the bird flu, partly in deference to the agricultural industry. As a result, researchers don’t know how often farmworkers are being infected — and could miss alarming signals.

Crackdown on Homeless Encampments Raises Public Health Questions

KFF Health News Original

As states turn to the health-care system to help address homelessness, experiments with housing and other social services aimed at getting people healthier and off the streets are running up against new, aggressive crackdowns — with some cities ratcheting up enforcement of existing anticamping laws and others passing new restrictions. From Florida to California, elected […]

Watch: ‘Silence in Sikeston & The Effects of Racial Violence’

KFF Health News Original

KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony talks about how racism affects health on Nine PBS’ “Listen, St. Louis with Carol Daniel,” stemming from her reporting for the “Silence in Sikeston” multimedia project, on the impact of a 1942 lynching and a 2020 police killing on a rural Missouri community.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': LIVE From KFF: Health Care and the 2024 Election

Podcast

The Affordable Care Act has not been a major issue in the 2024 campaign, but abortion and reproductive rights have been front and center. Those are just two of the dozens of health issues that could be profoundly affected by who is elected president and which party controls Congress in 2025. In this special live episode, Tamara Keith of NPR, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Cynthia Cox and Ashley Kirzinger of KFF join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss how health policy has affected the campaign and how the election results might affect health policy. Plus, the panel answers questions from the live audience.

Super Bowl Rally Shooting Victims Pick Up Pieces, but Gun Violence Haunts Their Lives

KFF Health News Original

Eight months after the Feb. 14 shooting, people wounded at the Kansas City Chiefs parade are wary of more gun violence. In this installment of “The Injured,” survivors of the shooting say they feel gun violence is inescapable and are desperately seeking a sense of safety.

Public Health Departments Face a Post-Covid Funding Crash

KFF Health News Original

During the coronavirus pandemic, states received a rush of funding from the federal government to bolster their fight against the disease. In many cases, that cash flowed into state and local health departments, fueling a staffing surge to handle, among other things, contact tracing and vaccination efforts. But public health leaders quickly identified a familiar […]

Extended-Stay Hotels, a Growing Option for Poor Families, Can Lead to Health Problems for Kids

KFF Health News Original

Extended-stay hotels are often a last resort for low-income families trying to avoid homelessness. But hotel living can lead to — or exacerbate — various physical and mental health issues for children, say advocates for families and researchers who study homelessness.

Happening in Springfield: New Immigrants Offer Economic Promise, Health System Challenges

KFF Health News Original

Donald Trump put Springfield, Ohio, in a harsh spotlight by spreading misinformation about its legal Haitian population. But what is really happening in this small city is a microcosm of the health care challenges immigration hot spots throughout the country are facing.