The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
1 - 20 of 3,729 Results
A growing network of home-sharing programs is helping people find compatible housemates. And demand is rising, driven by housing shortages, rising rents, and sales prices that affect both the old and the young.
The Office of Personnel Management said it will 鈥減seudonymize鈥 medical records it collects on more than 8 million people 鈥 federal workers and retirees, and their family members. Democrats and employee unions say the agency鈥檚 move is an overreach.
Final regulations on Medicaid work requirements say enrollees must regularly obtain documentation 鈥 possibly from medical professionals 鈥 to prove that they鈥檙e too sick to work. Doctors say the rules put them in a tough spot.
Last year, the Trump administration announced a voluntary pledge by dozens of insurers to improve prior authorization, which often requires patients to seek approval before treatments. But prior authorization remains commonplace, and there's no evidence the government is trying to hold insurers to account.
With the federal Medicaid work requirements looming in January, Democrats are considering state legislation to call out big companies that employ workers enrolled in the safety net health program. Business giants such as Amazon and Walmart said the figures are misleading.
Washington state has launched the first program to help cover home care and other supports. Several other states are paying attention.
New Medicaid work requirements could make a complex system even harder for farmworkers to navigate.
Just a few months before the midterm elections, Democrats appear to be doubling down on healthcare as a campaign issue as costs rise and insurance coverage declines. Meanwhile, Congress is taking aim at nonprofit hospitals. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Victoria Knight of Bloomberg Government, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post join 吃瓜不打烊鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 吃瓜不打烊鈥 Samantha Liss, who wrote the latest 鈥淏ill of the Month.鈥
Over the past 70 years, the number of inpatient psychiatric beds has dropped dramatically, leaving many without critical care when they experience mental health crises. I was one of the lucky ones to get a bed 鈥 after 21 hours of waiting.
Insurers that sell plans in Obamacare marketplaces across 16 states and the District of Columbia have asked regulators to approve a 14% median premium increase for 2027, according to a new Peterson-KFF analysis.
Many Americans are shopping around for affordable options as the cost of health insurance soars. But some who hope to keep the same doctors and medications face a thicket of red tape and disruption after they switch plans.
Drugmakers provide financial assistance to help patients afford increasingly expensive medications. But some insurers do not count those payments toward a plan鈥檚 deductible or out-of-pocket maximum and make patients pay instead.
Thousands of people who had a Medicare drug plan with zero-dollar premiums last year got small premium increases this year 鈥 and didn鈥檛 know it. They were dropped from their coverage for failing to pay amounts as little as $8, and most can鈥檛 get it again until 2027.
A work requirement is coming to Medicaid. Sam Whitehead tells WAMU鈥檚 鈥淗ealth Hub鈥 how to keep your coverage 鈥 and who鈥檚 exempt from the new rule.
California鈥檚 next governor will face tough decisions on a highly controversial piece of healthcare policy: what to do about health coverage for the more than 1.4 million low-income residents without legal status. Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton present starkly different choices as public opinion wavers.
The Supreme Court handed down its last decisions of its 2025-26 term this week, including in an immigration case that could result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of workers in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Lizzy Lawrence of Stat, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Amanda Seitz of 吃瓜不打烊 join 吃瓜不打烊鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss this story and more.
The Trump administration鈥檚 cuts to Medicaid and SNAP may complicate Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo鈥檚 reelection chances.
Trinity Moravian Church, a politically diverse congregation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been raising money to retire medical debt in the surrounding community.
Margaret Hvatum ended up in the hospital after her insurer denied coverage of a medicine she relies on to boost her immune system. Hvatum got entangled in the preapproval process, which the insurance industry has vowed to improve.
Uninsured patients made up about 1 in 4 of the more than 20,000 gunshot wound inpatient hospitalizations in Florida from 2018 to 2024, an analysis of state data by 吃瓜不打烊 and The Trace found. They also had shorter hospital stays than those with any form of coverage.
漏 2026 KFF