With Trump on the Way, Advocates Look to States To Pick Up Medical Debt Fight
Patient and consumer advocates fear a new Trump administration will scale back federal efforts to expand financial protections for patients and shield them from debt.
The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
61 - 80 of 152 Results
Patient and consumer advocates fear a new Trump administration will scale back federal efforts to expand financial protections for patients and shield them from debt.
The United States has made almost no progress in closing racial health disparities despite promises, research shows. The government, some critics argue, is often the underlying culprit.
Older men who find themselves living alone tend to have fewer close personal relationships than older women. They’re vulnerable, physically and emotionally, but often reluctant to ask for help.
A famed breast cancer surgeon has created a California alternative to a major Texas event. Yet many doctors believe boycotting medical conferences in states that criminalize abortion accomplishes nothing and can be harmful.
UC-San Francisco is pausing its long-running master’s program in nurse-midwifery and plans to shift to a lengthier, costlier doctoral program. Midwives criticized the move and questioned the university’s motivations at a time of serious shortages of maternal care workers.
Congress and state legislatures are considering age bans and other limits for Instagram and TikTok out of concern that they harm kids’ mental health. But some researchers and pediatricians question whether there’s enough data to support that conclusion.
Louisiana lawmakers have added two drugs commonly used in pregnancy and reproductive health care to the state’s list of controlled dangerous substances, a move that has alarmed doctors in the state.
A medical residency program designed to train future primary care physicians in outpatient rather than hospital settings has proved an effective means to bring doctors to rural and underserved areas. But it hinges on unpredictable congressional funding.
Mounting evidence suggests psychoactive drugs including LSD, ketamine, mushrooms, and MDMA can be powerful treatments for severe depression and PTSD. But not everyone is convinced. And even if such drugs gain FDA approval, safety protocols could render them extremely expensive.
A single Central Florida county reported 13% of all U.S. leprosy cases in 2020. Researchers have teamed up to investigate whether armadillos are passing the bacteria that cause the disease to humans — which is especially concerning as the animals expand their range farther north.
Florida has served as a haven for Southern pregnant women with little or no access to abortions. But the Florida Supreme Court upheld a six-week abortion restriction that begins in May — so now women across much of the South seeking abortions will have to look farther afield.
Disputes between hospitals and Medicare Advantage plans are leading to entire hospital systems suddenly leaving insurance networks. Patients are left stuck in the middle, choosing between their doctors and their insurance plan. There’s a way out.
New federal funds aim to address an array of problems created by highway construction in minority neighborhoods. These are economic, social, and, perhaps above all, public health problems. In New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood, competing plans for how to deal with harm done by the Claiborne Expressway reveal the challenge of how to mitigate them meaningfully.
A recently unsealed lawsuit alleges Aledade Inc. developed billing software that boosted revenues by making patients appear sicker than they were.
The presidential election is likely to turn on the simple question of whether Americans want Donald Trump back in the White House. But health care tops the list of household financial worries for adults from both parties.
State laws requiring doctor training on how bias affects treatment violate teachers’ right to free speech, opponents say.
South Dakota allows doctors to terminate a pregnancy only if a patient’s life is in jeopardy. Lawmakers say a government-created video would clarify what that exception actually means.
A lack of oversight and standards for pregnancy care in jails is becoming more problematic as the number of incarcerated women rises and abortion restrictions put medical care further out of reach.
More than a quarter century after an inmate helped start a hospice program in one of the nation’s most notorious prisons, he is trying to spread the idea.
After a decade of work, a Kentucky program launched to diagnose lung cancer earlier is beginning to change the prognosis for residents by catching tumors when they’re more treatable.
© 2026 KFF