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Starting in July, the government will cap what graduate students may borrow in federal loans, forcing many toward private lenders with higher interest rates. The borrowing limits will affect students pursuing healthcare degrees, and some clinicians and student loan experts worry they may impede efforts to diversify the healthcare workforce.
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.
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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Immigrant detainees have told courts across the nation that detention officials have failed to treat or stabilize their conditions, from pregnancy to prostate cancer, suggesting that systemic lapses in care extend well beyond record deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
Several rural communities were thrust into a charged national debate over the Trump administration’s mass deportation strategy when federal officials sought to place new detention centers in them. In Social Circle, Georgia, locals fear the effort will overburden its modest healthcare infrastructure.
Several states have required their health agencies to take on another job: verifying immigration status among Medicaid recipients and reporting them to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. North Carolina is the latest to pass such a law, and experts expect more to follow.
Some states bar professional midwives from attending home births if they don’t have a nursing license. Their advocates say laws to allow midwife licensing would make home birth safer and more accessible, plus help address a maternity care shortage.
The White House’s strategy for tackling the drug and addiction crisis, released this week, sets lofty public health goals but highlights deep inconsistencies with the administration’s own funding cuts and other policies.
Hundreds of hospitals nationwide are bracing for Medicaid cuts as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Some state lawmakers are eyeing loans and other forms of financial aid to distressed hospitals in rural and urban areas, as healthcare providers warn of cuts to critical services and scramble for funding.
Moving through the California Senate are two bills, informed by KFF Health News reporting, that would strengthen protections for patients brought to health facilities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Rosa María Carranza has worked and paid taxes for more than two decades, but a provision in the GOP's One Big Beautiful Bill Act will make her and an estimated 100,000 other lawfully present immigrant seniors ineligible for Medicare. Now Carranza’s once secure retirement is in question.
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis forced families into hiding and catalyzed informal medical networks to deliver critical health care services.
Tribal insurance programs give Native Americans access to affordable health care when the Indian Health Service falls short. Those plans are threatened by the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Meth is a problem most everywhere, but particularly in Indian Country. On the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana, new buildings serve as symbols of a town trying to rebuild after being devastated by addiction.
The experiences of one doctor in Louisiana reveal the tensions around trying to get people to engage in addiction treatment, even if they’re not ready to stop using drugs.
A spike in shootings during the covid pandemic propelled community violence intervention, a field that aims to stop gun deaths at the root. Baltimore used federal funds to launch a violence prevention office. But President Donald Trump has throttled such funds and instead is sending troops into cities.
There has been a steep rise in the share of people with severe mental illnesses being sent to state psychiatric hospitals on court orders after being accused of serious crimes. The shift has all but halted patients’ ability to get care before they have a catastrophic crisis.
During the covid pandemic, gun marketers told many Americans they needed firearms to defend against criminals and protesters. Then firearm deaths mounted rapidly in racially segregated and low-income neighborhoods, according to federal data.
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