News
Collaborating with KFF Health News with focus on Medicaid, Medicare, Rural & Public Health
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‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Continues Assault on Affordable Care Act
Posted on June 03, 2025
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.
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Watch: In a ‘Dead Zone,’ Doctors Don’t Practice and Telehealth Doesn’t Reach
Posted on June 03, 2025
There’s a fight in the nation’s capital that could affect health care for millions of Americans. At stake is a $42 billion infrastructure program and whether it should continue as planned. The money is for states to build high-speed internet — particularly in rural areas where telehealth currently doesn’t always work.
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Role Reversal: Millions of Kids Are Caregivers for Elders. Why Their Numbers Might Grow.
Posted on June 02, 2025
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 with Parkinson’s disease, saying it was likely triggered by brain injuries sustained in the wreck.
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Journalists Draw Link Between Internet Dead Zones, Threatened Medicaid Cuts, and Health
Posted on May 31, 2025
Céline Gounder, KFF Health News’ editor-at-large for public health, discussed covid-19 vaccines and prostate cancer on WAMU’s “1A” on May 27.
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A Medicaid Patient Had a Heart Attack While Traveling. He Owed Almost $78,000.
Posted on May 29, 2025
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 girlfriend were staying while visiting family in Rapid City, South Dakota.
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In Arizona County That Backed Trump, Conflicted Feelings About Cutting Medicaid
Posted on May 28, 2025
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 rely on the safety-net program. And at the domestic violence shelter where she volunteers as president of the board, Cox said, staff always look to enroll women and their children if they can.
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Federal Cuts Ripple Through a Bioscience Hub in Rural Montana
Posted on May 27, 2025
HAMILTON, Mont. — Scientists are often careful to take off their work badges when they leave the campus of one of the nation’s top research facilities, here in southwestern Montana’s Bitterroot Valley.
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Journalists Talk Medicaid Cuts and New Limitations on Weight Loss Drugs and Covid Shots
Posted on May 24, 2025
KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed Medicaid cuts in the House budget bill on CBS News on May 22.
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Trump’s DOJ Accuses Medicare Advantage Insurers of Paying ‘Kickbacks’ to Brokers
Posted on May 23, 2025
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.
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Tracking the Medicaid Provisions in the 2025 Reconciliation Bill
Posted on May 22, 2025
On May 22, the House passed a budget reconciliation bill that includes significant changes to the Medicaid program and the Affordable Care Act, as well as additional provisions related to Medicare and Health Savings Accounts. This resource summarizes the relevant sections of the House-passed bill and compares the changes to current law. It reflects the final changes to the House Rules Committee Print released on May 19 version.