News
Collaborating with KFF Health News with focus on Medicaid, Medicare, Rural & Public Health
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Survey: Adults With Multiple or Complex Health Conditions Face Significant Challenges with Health Costs and Commonly Struggle to Access Care
Posted on September 15, 2026
Adults with multiple or complex health conditions, who already face unique physical and mental challenges, commonly struggle to pay their medical bills and access needed care and medication—challenges that fall hardest on uninsured adults, according to a new KFF survey of more than 25 thousand adults. A companion Beyond the Data column by KFF Founding President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman explores the survey’s findings about uninsured adults with greater health needs and considers why the national discussion of the affordability crisis has largely ignored this group.
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The Group that Struggles the Most in American Health Care
Posted on September 14, 2026
There are more than enough needs to go around in American health care, but if I had to pick the one group that struggles the most with costs and access, it would be people with chronic illnesses who are also uninsured. These are people with cancer or heart disease or diabetes or mental health conditions, or multiple chronic health problems, who also don’t have insurance coverage.
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Readers Wrestle With Healthcare Inequalities and Want a Word With Congress
Posted on September 11, 2026
Why can members of Congress remain on full taxpayer-funded salaries during prolonged medical absences while millions of working Americans cannot afford to get sick? (Kennedy, Oz Contend Fraud Crackdown, Not Skyrocketing Prices, Led Millions To Leave Obamacare, Aug. 3.) Sen. Mitch McConnell’s current extended medical absence brings that disparity into sharp focus. He has missed dozens of Senate votes while continuing to receive his $174,000 taxpayer-funded salary.
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Indigenous Groups Are Exempt From Medicaid Work Rules, but Native Hawaiians Aren’t
Posted on September 11, 2026
WAIANAE, Hawai‘i — Native Hawaiians will need to comply with new work requirements to qualify for Medicaid after being excluded from exemptions carved out for other Indigenous groups, an omission that clinicians fear will exacerbate the challenges the marginalized population already faces in getting healthcare.
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Rural Americans Wait After Judge Delivers Mixed Ruling on Digital Equity Dollars
Posted on September 10, 2026
A federal judge in July gave digital equity advocates a partial victory against President Donald Trump, stopping his attempt to unilaterally kill a multibillion-dollar grant program Congress created.
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$50B Rural Health Transformation Program Needs More Transparency, Groups Say
Posted on September 10, 2026
One year into its creation, a $50 billion federal program aimed at improving rural healthcare lacks transparency, which could make it difficult to protect against fraud, identify successful projects, and ensure the program delivers on its promise to transform the system.
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A NY Hospital Tried To Close Its Birthing Center. This City United To Fight Back.
Posted on September 09, 2026
TROY, N.Y. — Like many residents of this aging industrial city on the Hudson River, Starletta Washington was stunned when she heard Troy’s last remaining hospital planned to close its birthing center.
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Nonprofits Are Helping Musicians Pay for Insurance in Austin, Texas, and Beyond
Posted on September 09, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — Musician Zack Morgan jokes that when he lost his corporate job in 2015, it was like being pushed off a cliff. For years, he said, he’d been playing both sides of the Austin coin: tech worker by day, funk keyboardist by night.
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AI’s Role in Health Care: What Keeps You Up at Night?
Posted on September 08, 2026
Episode 14, AI Series: At the close of every episode, Chip asks his guests the same question: ‘What keeps you up at night?’ In this highlights episode, we share intriguing responses on AI’s role in health care. From deepfakes and misinformation to bias and the risk of losing the human connection at the heart of care, these highlights capture some of the top issues today.
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Admin and Kennedy’s Health Industry Deals Haven’t Been Enforced and Are at Risk of Vanishing
Posted on August 28, 2026
In the thick of his competitive reelection race in Michigan, Republican Rep. Tom Barrett joined Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a sprawling 400-acre apple orchard, farm, and winery. They touted Trump administration efforts to improve the American diet, including the removal of some artificial dyes from processed foods.