Health Insurance News

It was supposed to be easier than this. When the Affordable Care Act was passed in March 2010, the goal was to help more Americans get health insurance. And, indeed, the establishment of online marketplaces and a broadening of the…

Amid the challenges of adulthood, one rite of passage is unique to the United States: the need to find your own health insurance by the time you turn 26. That is the age at which the Affordable Care Act declares…

Despite recent efforts to bolster California’s behavioral health workforce, the state is operating with only about two-thirds of the psychiatrists and therapists it needs. The problem is so severe it’s making it hard to backfill retiring practitioners, particularly in the…

Francoise Cham of Miami has health insurance coverage for herself and her daughter through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, also known as Obamacare. The budget law signed by President Donald Trump on July 4 creates new rules for verifying eligibility…

Cuando el presidente Donald Trump firmó una ley que agrega requisitos laborales para algunos beneficiarios de Medicaid, es posible que haya perjudicado a legisladores de al menos 14 estados que estaban diseñando sus propios planes, según observadores del sector de…

When President Donald Trump signed a law adding work requirements for some Medicaid recipients, he may have undercut lawmakers in at least 14 states who were designing their own plans, according to health industry observers. Georgia is the only state…

Si quieres vacunarte contra covid-19 este otoño, ¿lo cubrirá el seguro médico de tu empleador? No hay una respuesta clara. El secretario de Salud y Servicios Humanos, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., un veterano activista antivacunas, ha modificado radicalmente la forma…

If you want a covid-19 shot this fall, will your employer’s health insurance plan pay for it? There’s no clear answer. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has upended the way covid vaccines…

If you want a Covid shot this fall, will your employer’s health insurance plan pay for it? There’s no clear answer. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has upended the way Covid vaccines are approved and for whom they’re recommended, creating uncertainty where coverage was routine. Agencies within

Can’t see the audio player? Listen on: The Host In his ongoing effort to reshape health policy, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly plans to overhaul two more government entities: the U.S. Preventive Services Task…

Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. Sounding the Alarm for Ambulances Thank you for shedding much-needed light on the exorbitant costs and…

In retrospect, Erica Kahn realizes she made two big mistakes. The first was choosing to temporarily forgo health insurance when she was laid off from her job. The second was screaming when a wild bat later landed on her face….

In Covered California, 112,600 immigrants, or nearly 6% of total enrollees, stand to lose their federal tax subsidies when a provision of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law takes effect in 2027, according to data provided by the exchange….

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Durante dos décadas, la pediatra Lanre Falusi, de Washington D.C., ha asesorado a los padres sobre el calendario de vacunas que deben recibir sus hijos, la seguridad de la vacunación y sus efectos secundarios. Pero dijo que este año las…

President Donald Trump rode to reelection last fall on voter concerns about prices. But as his administration pares back federal rules and programs designed to protect patients from the high cost of health care, Trump risks pushing more Americans into…

For two decades, Washington, D.C., pediatrician Lanre Falusi has counseled parents about vaccine safety, side effects, and timing. But this year, she said, the conversations have changed. “For the first time, I’m having parents of newborns ask me if their…

Can’t see the audio player? Listen on: The Host Much of the hubbub in health care this year has been focused on Medicaid, which faces dramatically reduced federal funding as the result of the huge budget bill signed by President…

President Donald Trump signed legislation that mandates some Medicaid recipients prove they’re working, volunteering, or completing other qualifying activities at least 80 hours a month to maintain coverage. This applies to 40 states (plus Washington, D.C.) that have expanded Medicaid…

MISSOULA, Mont. — As congressional Republicans finalized Medicaid work requirements in President Donald Trump’s budget bill, one man who relies on that government-subsidized health coverage was trying to coax his old car to start after an eight-hour shift making sandwiches….

“Almost 5 million able-bodied Medicaid recipients ‘simply choose not to work’ and ‘spend six hours a day socializing and watching television.’” Scott Jennings on “CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip” on July 1 Republicans defended the GOP megabill’s Medicaid changes as…

When Lawrence and Penny Higgins of Fairfield, Maine, first learned in 2020 that high levels of toxic chemicals called PFAS taint their home’s well water, they wondered how their health might suffer. They had consumed the water for decades, given…

Every time Ashton Alexander sees an ad for Georgia Pathways to Coverage, it feels like a “kick in the face.” Alexander tried signing up for Pathways, the state’s limited Medicaid expansion, multiple times and got denied each time, he said,…

Federal health officials do not inform consumers about severe safety violations in hospitals that specialize in physical rehabilitation. Nor does Medicare impose fines as it does for nursing homes, or provide easy-to-understand five-star ratings as it does for general hospitals,…

Most of the 24 million people in Affordable Care Act health plans face a potential one-two punch next year — double-digit premium increases along with a sharp drop in the federal subsidies that most consumers depend on to buy the…

Last year in Massachusetts, after finding lumps in her breast, Jessica Chen went to Lowell General Hospital-Saints Campus, part of Tufts Medicine, for a mammogram and sonogram. Before the screenings, she asked the hospital for the estimated patient responsibility for…

Can’t see the audio player? Listen on: The Host The Senate has passed — and sent back to the House — a bill that would allow the Trump administration to claw back some $9 billion in previously approved funding for…

La terapia de rehabilitación puede ser una bendición después de una hospitalización por un derrame cerebral, una caída, un accidente, un reemplazo de articulación, una quemadura grave o una lesión de la médula espinal, entre otras afecciones. La fisioterapia, la…

Rehabilitation therapy can be a godsend after hospitalization for a stroke, a fall, an accident, a joint replacement, a severe burn, or a spinal cord injury, among other conditions. Physical, occupational, and speech therapy are offered in a variety of…

Rehab hospitals that help people recover from major surgeries and injuries have become a highly lucrative slice of the health care business. But federal data and inspection reports show that some run by the dominant company, Encompass Health Corp., and…

Doctors, hospitals, and health insurers for weeks issued dire warnings to Republican lawmakers that millions of people would lose health coverage and hospitals would close if they cut Medicaid funding to help pay for President Donald Trump’s big tax and…

Can’t see the audio player? Listen on: The Host As he had wanted, President Donald Trump signed his big budget bill into a big budget law in a White House ceremony on July 4, cementing, among other things, billions of…

As a postpartum doula, Dawn Oliver does her best work in the middle of the night. During a typical shift, she shows up at her clients’ home at 10 p.m. She answers questions they may have about basic infant care…

Note: “An Arm and a Leg” uses speech-recognition software to generate transcripts, which may contain errors. Please use the transcript as a tool but check the corresponding audio before quoting the podcast. Dan: Hey there. Let’s meet Jeanne Chamberlin from…

Nicole Silva’s 4-year-old daughter was headed to a relative’s house near the southern Colorado town of La Jara when a vehicle T-boned the car she was riding in. A cascade of ambulance rides ensued — a ground ambulance to a…

Shorter enrollment periods. More paperwork. Higher premiums. The sweeping tax and spending bill pushed by President Donald Trump includes provisions that would not only reshape people’s experience with the Affordable Care Act but, according to some policy analysts, also sharply…

Can’t see the audio player? Listen on: The Host Early Thursday afternoon, the House approved a budget reconciliation bill that not only would make permanent many of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, but also impose deep cuts to Medicaid,…

The last time a Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump moved to slash Medicaid spending, in 2017, a key political force stood in their way: GOP governors. Now, as Congress steamrolls toward passing historic Medicaid cuts of about $1 trillion…

Four years before Kimberly Gallagher enrolled in Medicaid herself, the public health insurance program’s rules prompted her to make an excruciating choice — to give up guardianship of her son so she could work as his caregiver. Now, another proposed…

The last time a Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump moved to slash Medicaid spending, in 2017, a key political force stood in their way: GOP governors. Now, as Congress steamrolls toward passing historic Medicaid cuts of about $1 trillion…

El “One Big Beautiful Bill” del presidente Donald Trump recorta el gasto federal en los mercados de Medicaid y la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo precio (ACA) en aproximadamente $1.000 millones a lo largo de una década, según…

President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful” budget reconciliation bill would make some of the most sweeping changes in health policy in years, largely affecting Medicaid and Affordable Care Act plans — with reverberations felt throughout the health care system. With…

President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” cuts federal spending on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplaces by about $1 trillion over a decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, threatening the physical and financial health of tens of…

Durante meses, María, de 55 años, cuidadora de adultos mayores en el condado de Orange, se ha esforzado por no sonreír. Le preocupa que si abre demasiado la boca, la gente vea sus dientes astillados y cubiertos de placa. Inmigrante…

For months, Maria, 55, a caregiver to older adults in California’s Orange County, has been trying not to smile. If she opens her mouth too wide, she worries, people will see her chipped, plaque-covered front teeth. An immigrant without legal…

CLARKESVILLE, Ga. — Last September, Alton Fry went to the doctor concerned he had high blood pressure. The trip would result in a prostate cancer diagnosis. So began the stress of trying to pay for tens of thousands of dollars…

Stephanie Ivory counts on Medicaid to get treated for gastrointestinal conditions and a bulging disc that makes standing or sitting for long periods painful. Her disabilities keep her from working, she said. Ivory, 58, of Columbus, Ohio, believes she would…

“A lot of times, health care comes with a job.” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), in an interview with KOTA on May 30, 2025 Millions of people are expected to lose access to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance…

Can’t see the audio player? Listen on: The Host It’s not exactly news that our nation’s health care system is only a “system” in the most generous sense of the word and that no one entity is really in charge…

California lawmakers are poised to delay the state’s much-ballyhooed new law mandating in vitro fertilization insurance coverage for millions, set to take effect July 1. Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked lawmakers to push the implementation date to January 2026, leaving…

Nearly seven months after the fatal shooting of an insurance CEO in New York drew widespread attention to health insurers’ practice of denying or delaying doctor-ordered care, the largest U.S. insurers agreed Monday to streamline their often cumbersome preapproval system….

GREENVILLE, Miss. — Cedric Sturdevant woke up with “a bit of depression” but made it to church, as he does every Sunday. In a few days, he would drive from Mississippi to Washington, D.C., to join HIV advocates at an…

Republican efforts to restrict taxes on hospitals, health plans, and other providers that states use to help fund their Medicaid programs could strip them of tens of billions of dollars. The move could shrink access to health care for some…

(Moment/Getty Images) Millions of Americans lack health insurance, and health policy researchers expect many more will lose coverage due to policies pushed by the Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress. KFF Health News is documenting this moment, the first explicit rollback of health coverage since the advent of the modern U.S. health system in the early

While the Senate budget bill released this week proposes deep funding cuts and work requirements for Medicaid — proposals likely to increase the number of people without health insurance — another big health care issue looms that could affect millions…

Can’t see the audio player? Listen on: The Host The Supreme Court this week ruled in favor of Tennessee’s law banning most gender-affirming care for minors — a law similar to those in two dozen other states. Meanwhile, the Senate…

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When Alyne Diamond fell off a horse in August 2023 and broke her back, her employer-based health plan through UnitedHealthcare covered her emergency care in Aspen, Colorado. It also covered related pain management and physical therapy after she returned home…

MIAMI, Florida. — Josefina Muralles trabaja a tiempo parcial de noche como recepcionista en un condominio de Miami Beach. Así, puede cuidar durante el día de sus tres hijos, su madre mayor y su hermano, que está paralítico. También ayuda…

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (center) with fellow Republican Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. As the Senate moves to a possible vote on President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” before Independence Day,…

MIAMI — Josefina Muralles works a part-time overnight shift as a receptionist at a Miami Beach condominium so that during the day she can care for her three kids, her aging mother, and her brother, who is paralyzed. She helps…

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — By the time Eric Tennant was diagnosed in 2023 with a rare cancer of the bile ducts, the disease had spread to his bones. He weighed 97 pounds and wasn’t expected to survive a year with stage…

The Host After explicitly promising senators during his confirmation hearing that he would not interfere in scientific policy over which Americans should receive which vaccines, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week fired every member of…

Cuts to Medicaid and other federal health programs proposed in President Donald Trump’s budget plan would rapidly push more than 300 financially struggling rural hospitals toward a fiscal cliff, according to researchers who track the facilities’ finances. The hospitals would…

Major changes could be in store for the more than 24 million people with health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, including how and when they can enroll, the paperwork required, and, crucially, the premiums they pay. A driver behind…

“One out of every $5 or $6 in Medicaid [payments] is improper.” Russell Vought stated on June 1, 2025, in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Responding to charges that President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill would…

The Host After narrowly passing in the House in May, President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” has now arrived in the Senate, where Republicans are struggling to decide whether to pass it, change it, or — as Elon Musk,…

Millions would lose Medicaid coverage. Millions would be left without health insurance. Signing up for health plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces would be harder and more expensive. President Donald Trump’s domestic policy legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill…

ST. PAUL, Minn. — High school senior Joshua Yang understands sacrifice. When he was midway through 10th grade, his mom survived a terrible car crash. But her body developed tremors, and she lost mobility. After countless appointments, doctors diagnosed her…

On Christmas Day at the WaTiki indoor water park, Hans Wirt was getting winded from following his son up the stairs to the waterslides. Wirt’s breathing became more labored once they returned to the nearby hotel where they and Wirt’s…

GLOBE, Ariz. — Like many residents of this copper-mining town in the mountains east of Phoenix, Debbie Cox knows plenty of people on Medicaid. Cox, who is a property manager at a real estate company in Globe, has tenants who…

A blockbuster lawsuit from the federal Department of Justice alleges that insurers Aetna, Elevance Health (formerly Anthem), and Humana paid “hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks” to large insurance brokerages eHealth, GoHealth, and SelectQuote. The payments, made from 2016…

Can’t see the audio player? Listen on: The Host With only a single vote to spare, the House passed a controversial budget bill that includes billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy, along with billions of dollars of…

La emblemática legislación del presupuesto del presidente Donald Trump castigaría a 14 estados que ofrecen cobertura de salud a personas que viven en el país sin papeles. Estos estados, la mayoría liderados por demócratas, dan seguro médico a algunos inmigrantes…

President Donald Trump’s signature budget legislation would punish 14 states that offer health coverage to people in the U.S. without authorization. The states, most of them Democratic-led, provide insurance to some low-income immigrants — often children — regardless of their…

CHARLESTON, S.C. — When Page Campbell’s doctor recommended she try an injectable prescription drug called Wegovy to lose weight before scheduling bariatric surgery, she readily agreed. “I’ve struggled with my weight for so long,” said Campbell, 40, a single mother…

President Donald Trump, flanked by, from left, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, reacts to a question from a reporter during an executive…

President Donald Trump, flanked by, from left, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, reacts to a question from a reporter during an executive…

When people call large insurance brokerages seeking free assistance in choosing Medicare Advantage plans, they’re often offered assurances such as this one from eHealth: “Your benefit advisors will find plans that match your needs — no matter the carrier.” About…

Can’t see the audio player? Listen on: The Host After all-night markups, two key House committees approved GOP budget legislation that would cut hundreds of billions of dollars from federal health programs over the next decade, mostly from the Medicaid…

[Editor’s note: This transcript was generated using both transcription software and a human’s light touch. It has been edited for style and clarity.]  Julie Rovner: Hello and welcome back to “What the Health?” I’m Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for…

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday proposed that California roll back health care for immigrants without legal status, saying the state needed to cut benefits for some to maintain core services across the board. It’s a striking reversal for…

It has been nearly eight years since Sen. John McCain’s middle-of-the-night thumbs-down vote torpedoed Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and make drastic cuts to Medicaid. With Donald Trump back in the White House and the GOP back…