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People on Medicaid deemed āmedically frailā wonāt need to meet new federal requirements that enrollees work 80 hours a month or perform another approved activity. But state officials are grappling with how to interpret who qualifies under the vague federal definition, which could affect millions.
About 1 in 4 American adults got a covid vaccine shot during the 2024-25 virus season, a fraction health care experts warn could be smaller this year as millions wrestle with conflicting advice from the government and trusted medical organizations about the value of a shot.
States, counties, and cities are receiving millions in opioid settlement money to address the addiction crisis. The ways they spent the dollars in 2024 sometimes drew criticism from advocates and at least one state official, who alleged misuse.
Local governments have received hundreds of millions of dollars from the opioid settlements to support addiction treatment, recovery, and prevention efforts. Their spending decisions in 2024 were sometimes surprising and even controversial. Our new database offers more than 10,500 examples.
KFF data shows that 2025 marked the first time in two decades that the annual cost of covering a family of four rose by 6% or more for three consecutive years.
Health care providers and debt collectors are biting from peopleās paychecks to cover old medical bills. A Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News investigation in Colorado shows that this aggressive collection practice is widespread even in a state considered to have strong consumer protections.
As a warming climate intensifies storms, Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News has identified more than 170 U.S. hospitals at risk of significant and potentially dangerous flooding. Climate experts warn that the Trump administrationās cuts leave the nation less prepared.
The health care sector has accounted for nearly half of this yearās U.S. job growth. But economists say immigration crackdowns and Medicaid cuts could create a drag on the sector just as more workers are needed to support a growing population of older Americans.
The Trump administration's cuts of public health funds to state and local health departments had vastly uneven effects depending on the political leanings of where someone lives, a new Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News analysis shows.
For-profit hospitals provide most inpatient physical therapy but tend to have worse readmission rates to general hospitals. Medicare doesnāt tell consumers about troubling inspections.
In recent years, locally acquired dengue cases have appeared in California, Florida, and Texas, parts of the U.S. where the disease isnāt endemic. Health and vector control officials worry that with climate change and the lack of a vaccine, dengue will take hold in a larger swath of North America.
The U.S. Department of Justice canceled $500 million in grants to public safety organizations nationwide, including some that address gun violence. A clinic in St. Louis lost a $2 million award to develop a mobile clinic, increase mental health services, and engage the community.
Taxpayers ā through federal infrastructure programs ā have paid billions of dollars to internet companies to hook up rural Americans. Some communities have nothing to show for it, leaving medically vulnerable rural patients disconnected and without access to telehealth.
The state has in recent years embraced several initiatives recommended in an influential health care workforce report, including alternative payment arrangements for primary care doctors to earn more. Despite increasing residency programs, student debt forgiveness, and tuition-free medical school, California is unlikely to meet patient demand, observers say.
Federal law requires states to offer health insurance to many people with low incomes or disabilities. But some states, including California, are far more generous than whatās required. Budget pressures may force lawmakers to cut benefits that have led to a historic low in the uninsured rate.
A Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News analysis underscores how the terminations have spared no part of the country, politically or geographically. Of the organizations that had grants cut in the first month, about 40% are in states President Donald Trump won in November.
Technological gaps handicap rural hospitals as billions in federal funding to modernize infrastructure lags. The reliance on outdated technology and piecemeal systems challenge staffs and erode patient care.
The GOP-controlled Congress is weighing cuts to Medicaid, the government health program that covers millions of Americans ā including nearly 40% of Louisianans represented in the House by Speaker Mike Johnson.
Families, nursing facilities, and home health agencies rely on foreign-born workers to fill health care jobs that are demanding and do not attract enough American citizens. The Trump administrationās anti-immigration policies threaten to cut a key source of labor for the industry, which was already predicting a surge in demand.
As House Republicans mull a massive $880 billion cut from federal programs likely including Medicaid, constituents, disability advocates, and health care providers are joining forces to lobby GOP members in California ā including those who represent rural, deeply conservative pockets that stand to lose the most.
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