Health Insurance News

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

“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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

“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…

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…

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…

SACRAMENTO, California — El gobernador Gavin Newsom no esperaba enfrentarse a otra crisis sanitaria. En marzo, mientras el presidente Donald Trump y los republicanos del Congreso intensificaban el debate nacional sobre la posibilidad de recortar la atención médica para los…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t expect to be reckoning with another health care crisis. In March, as President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans escalated a nationwide debate over whether to slash health care for poor and disabled Americans,…

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–  2025 has been a LOT…

The Trump administration must soon make a decision that will affect millions of Americans’ ability to access and afford mental health and addiction care. The administration is facing a May 12 deadline to declare if it will defend Biden-era regulations…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson anticipates that California’s sprawling Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, may need to be dialed back after Gov. Gavin Newsom releases his latest budget, which could reflect a multibillion-dollar deficit. Even so, the…

The Host After narrowly passing a budget resolution this spring foreshadowing major Medicaid cuts, Republicans in Congress are having trouble agreeing on specific ways to save billions of dollars from a pool of funding that pays for the program without…

On the eastern plains of Colorado, in a county of less than 6,000 people, Lincoln Health runs the only hospital within a 75-minute drive. The facility struggles financially, given its small size and the area’s tiny population. But for over…

Sandra Smith and her daughter, Sarah Smith, rely on Medicaid to pay for a nurse to come to their home in Crestwood, Missouri, 13 hours a day because Sarah needs round-the-clock care. (Bram Sable-Smith/KFF Health News) CRESTWOOD, Mo. — The…

In his March address to Congress, President Donald Trump honored a Texas boy diagnosed with brain cancer. Amid bipartisan applause, he vowed to drive down childhood cancer rates through his “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. A few days later, the…

Rennie Glasgow, who has served 15 years at the Social Security Administration, is seeing something new on the job: dead people. They’re not really dead, of course. In four instances over the past few weeks, he told KFF Health News,…

Este otoño, la Oficina de Responsabilidad del Gobierno de los EE. UU. espera publicar un informe sobre cuánto cuesta administrar Georgia Pathways to Coverage, el único programa activo de requisitos de trabajo de Medicaid del país, mientras otros estados y…

Republicans have long pushed to force working-age adults enrolled in Medicaid to show they are, in fact, working.  Party members argue Medicaid, a taxpayer-funded program for people with low incomes and disabilities, shouldn’t cover Americans who aren’t actively trying to…

This fall, the U.S. Government Accountability Office expects to release a report on how much it costs to run Georgia Pathways to Coverage — the country’s only active Medicaid work requirement program — as other states and Congress consider similar…

Faced with potential federal spending cuts that threaten health coverage and falling childhood vaccination rates, Monica Soni, the chief medical officer of Covered California, has a lot on her plate — and on her mind. California’s Affordable Care Act health…

Este otoño, la Oficina de Responsabilidad del Gobierno de los EE. UU. espera publicar un informe sobre cuánto cuesta administrar Georgia Pathways to Coverage, el único programa activo de requisitos de trabajo de Medicaid del país, mientras otros estados y…

Carmen Aiken of Chicago made an appointment for an annual physical exam in July 2023, planning to get checked out and complete some blood work. The appointment was at a family medicine practice run by University of Illinois Health. Aiken…

For several years, Fred Neary had been seeing five doctors at the Baylor Scott & White Health system, whose 52 hospitals serve central and northern Texas, including Neary’s home in Dallas. But in October, his Humana Medicare Advantage plan —…

Some federal employees who were fired, reinstated, and fired again by the Trump administration are now learning their health coverage lapsed despite being told otherwise. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Some fired federal employees have received even more unwelcome news in recent days. It involves their government health insurance. They thought they still had a couple of

Hospitals have spent years amassing political influence at the federal and state levels. According to the nonprofit OpenSecrets, hospitals and nursing homes’ federal lobbying spending rose from $35 million in 2000 to more than $133 million last year, a 280%…

For nearly three agonizing years, Mariah Freschi and her husband have been trying to have a second baby. The California mother recently underwent surgery to remove her blocked fallopian tubes, leaving in vitro fertilization as her only option to get…

HELENA, Mont. — As Republican legislative leaders in Montana girded for this year’s battle over whether to extend Medicaid expansion in the state, they took aim at one of the program’s biggest backers: hospitals. If Montana’s hospitals wanted to extend…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Medi-Cal, California’s complex, $174.6 billion Medicaid program, provides health insurance for nearly 15 million residents with low incomes and disabilities. The state enrolls twice as many people as New York and more than three times as many…

They’re the fixers, the ones who step in when Affordable Care Act enrollees have a problem with their coverage, like a newborn incorrectly left off a policy or discovering that a rogue broker had signed them up or switched their…

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PBS News Weekend’s Ali Rogin spoke with KFF Health News contributor Michelle Andrews about what some people with missing limbs consider a disparity in health insurance coverage: Though a knee replacement likely would be covered, a prosthetic knee isn’t always. A prosthetic device can be subject to cost caps and an amputee may be required

PBS News Weekend’s Ali Rogin spoke with KFF Health News contributor Michelle Andrews about what some people with missing limbs consider a disparity in health insurance coverage: Though a knee replacement likely would be covered, a prosthetic knee isn’t always….

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Back to all blog list Published on April 17, 2025 All Marketplace plans have free preventive benefits to help keep you healthy and avoid more serious illnesses. Talk with your doctor to figure out which services are right for you. Remember,…

For many years, Eric Wunderlin’s health issues made it hard to find stable employment. Struggling to manage depression and diabetes, Wunderlin worked part-time, minimum-wage retail jobs around Dayton, Ohio, making so little he said he sometimes had to choose between…