Latest KFF Health News Stories
‘I Can’t Tell You’: Attorneys, Relatives Struggle To Find Hospitalized ICE Detainees
Some hospitals are registering patients detained by federal immigration officers under pseudonyms and prohibiting staff from contacting family members. Attorneys and health care workers say the practices facilitate rights violations and create ethical concerns. Hospitals say they’re trying to protect patients.
Blurry Line Between Medical and Vision Insurance Leaves Patient With Unexpected Bill
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.
This Teen Never Got His Day in Vaccine Court. His Former Lawyer Now Advises RFK on Its Overhaul.
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.
Medicare Advantage Insurers Face New Curbs on Overcharges in Trump Plan That Reins in Payments
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.
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The “KFF Health News Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from our newsroom to the airwaves each week.
Trump Policies at Odds With Emerging Understanding of Covid’s Long-Term Harm
Studies increasingly offer insights into the health risks and burdens faced by people who have had covid infections. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has narrowed covid vaccine recommendations and cut research.
Doctors Increasingly See AI Scribes in a Positive Light. But Hiccups Persist.
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.
Watch: A Strange Checkup Bill Revealed a Firefighter’s Kids Were Mistakenly Uninsured
This installment of InvestigateTV and KFF Health News’ “Costly Care” series explores how administrative errors can leave patients on the hook for bills they shouldn’t owe — sometimes with few options to correct a problem they didn’t create.
Sick of Fighting Insurers, Hospitals Offer Their Own Medicare Advantage Plans
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.
An Arm and a Leg: Charity-Care Nonprofit Scales Up and Doubles Down
“An Arm and a Leg” host Dan Weissmann talks with the founder of the charity-care nonprofit Dollar For about how it helped eliminate $55 million in medical bills last year.
Why Medication Abortion Is the Top Target for Anti-Abortion Groups in 2026
With abortions still on the rise nationwide despite widespread bans, curtailing the use of pregnancy-terminating medication is a top priority for abortion opponents — and they’re frustrated that the Trump administration isn’t doing more to limit its use.
What the Health? From KFF Health News: Health Spending Is Moving in Congress
Lawmakers appear on the brink of passing a spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services and a bipartisan health policy bill delayed for over a year. But the outlook is bleaker for the health care outline released by President Trump last week. Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times, and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews oncologist and bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel to discuss his new book, “Eat Your Ice Cream.”
Farmers Now Owe a Lot More for Health Insurance
More than a quarter of the agricultural workforce purchases health insurance through the individual marketplace, a much larger share than the overall percentage of U.S. adults. After a tough year for farmers, the loss of enhanced ACA subsidies is putting health insurance out of reach for many.
As US Is Poised To Lose Measles-Free Status, RFK Jr.’s New CDC Deputy Downplays Its Significance
Measles is at a 30-year high in the U.S., but technicalities may stave off the loss of the nation’s measles elimination status.
Medicaid Tries New Approach With Sickle Cell: Companies Get Paid Only if Costly Gene Therapies Work
The government is using sickle cell treatments to test a new strategy: paying only if the therapies benefit patients. With more expensive treatments on the horizon, the program — created by the Biden administration and continued under President Trump — could help Medicaid save money and treat more patients.
GOP Promotes MAHA Agenda in Bid To Avert Midterm Losses. Dems Point to Contradictions.
As fractures emerge in the Make America Great Again movement, some Republicans see its health-focused “MAHA” counterpart as the party’s next big thing. But doubts abound.
Readers Balk at ‘Gold Standard’ of Autism Treatment
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
As Insurance Prices Rise, Families Puzzle Over Options
Millions of middle-class Americans who have Affordable Care Act marketplace plans are facing soaring premium payments in 2026. Some people are contemplating big life changes to deal with new rates that kicked in on Jan. 1.
What the Health? From KFF Health News: Culture Wars Take Center Stage
With lawmakers still mired over renewing enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act plans, much of Washington has turned to culture war issues. Meanwhile, “confusion” remains the watchword at HHS as personnel and funding decisions continue to be made and unmade with little notice. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Elisabeth Rosenthal, who wrote the latest “Bill of the Month” report.
Kaiser Permanente To Pay $556 Million in Record Medicare Advantage Fraud Settlement
Kaiser Permanente agrees to pay $556 million to settle allegations of billing the government for conditions patients didn’t have.
