News
Collaborating with KFF Health News with focus on Medicaid, Medicare, Rural & Public Health
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Medical Rehab Hospital Inspections Go Unpublicized by Federal Officials
Posted on July 18, 2025
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, according to an investigation by KFF Health News and The New York Times.
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How To Find the Right Medical Rehab Services
Posted on July 15, 2025
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 settings, including at hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and at home. It’s crucial to identify a high-quality, safe option with professionals experienced in treating your condition.
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Doulas, Once a Luxury, Are Increasingly Covered by Medicaid — Even in GOP States
Posted on July 10, 2025
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 and keeps an eye out for signs of postpartum depression.
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Insurers Fight State Laws Restricting Surprise Ambulance Bills
Posted on July 09, 2025
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 local hospital, an air ambulance to Denver, and another ground ambulance to Children’s Hospital Colorado.
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Republican Megabill Will Mean Higher Health Costs for Many Americans
Posted on July 03, 2025
The tax and spending legislation the House voted to send to President Donald Trump’s desk on Thursday, enacting much of his domestic agenda, cuts federal health spending by about $1 trillion over a decade in ways that will jeopardize the physical and financial health of tens of millions of Americans.
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GOP Governors Mum as Congress Moves To Slash Medicaid Spending for Their States
Posted on July 03, 2025
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.
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To Keep Medicaid, Mom Caring for Disabled Adult Son Faces Prospect of Proving She Works
Posted on July 03, 2025
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.
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Too Sick To Work, Some Americans Worry New Bill Will Strip Their Health Insurance
Posted on June 27, 2025
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.
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Thune Says Health Care Often ‘Comes With a Job.’ The Reality’s Not Simple or Straightforward.
Posted on June 27, 2025
“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 plans if federal lawmakers approve the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, President Donald Trump’s domestic policy package, which is now moving through the Senate.
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Live From Aspen — Governors and an HHS Secretary Sound Off
Posted on June 26, 2025
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 of it.