Trump Doesn’t Need Congress To Make Abortion Effectively Unavailable
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump tried mightily to reassure abortion rights supporters, vowing he would not sign into law a nationwide abortion ban even if Congress sent him one. But once he returns to the White House in January, Trump can make abortions difficult — or illegal —across the United States without Congress taking…
Your Next Hospital Stay Could Involve Fewer IV Fluid Bags. Here’s Why.
When Hurricane Helene struck in late September, it flooded the largest IV fluid factory in the United States. The Baxter International facility in western North Carolina had been producing 1.5 million IV bags a day, sent ripples through the health-care industry. IV saline and fluids with carbohydrates are used regularly in hospitals and other clinical…
KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: Public Health and the Dairy Cow in the Room
The Host Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner Read Julie’s stories. Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book “Health Care Politics and Policy A to…
Dicen que los esfuerzos contra el fraude en ACA han dado resultados. Pero hay que estar alerta
Los cambios no autorizados en los planes médicos de la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio (ACA) parecen haberse reducido en las últimas semanas: reguladores federales informaron que hay menos quejas de los consumidores. Los Centros de Servicios de Medicare y Medicaid (CMS), que supervisan ACA, atribuyen esta reducción a las medidas adoptadas…
Georgians With Disabilities Are Still Being Institutionalized, Despite Federal Oversight
ATLANTA — Lloyd Mills was tired of being stuck in a small, drab hospital room. On a rainy mid-September morning, a small TV attached to a mostly blank white wall played silently. There was nothing in the space to cheer it up — no cards, no flowers. In February, the 32-year-old with autism, cerebral palsy,…
Journalists Reflect on Trump Picks, Racism and Public Health, and Unnecessary Dental Implants
KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he will nominate former TV host Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on WBUR’s “Here & Now” on Nov. 20. Rovner also discussed what it could mean for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department…
Federal Watchdog Urges Crackdown on Medicare Advantage Home Visits
Medicare officials are pushing back against a federal watchdog’s call to crack down on home visits by Medicare Advantage health plans — a practice the watchdog says may waste billions of tax dollars every year. In late October, a Health and Human Services inspector general audit found that the insurers pocketed $7.5 billion in 2023 from diagnosing health conditions that…
KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: Trump’s Nontraditional Health Picks
The Host Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner Read Julie’s stories. Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book “Health Care Politics and Policy A to…
Nearly All Vermonters Have Health Insurance, but Care Is Tough To Find
Almost all people have health insurance in Vermont, a state famed for its maple syrup and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, yet residents pay the nation’s highest insurance premiums for individual coverage and endure months-long waits for care — and most hospitals here are losing money, according to state reports and interviews with residents and…
FTC, Indiana Residents Pressure State To Block Hospital Merger
Indiana residents and federal officials are urging state health regulators to stop two rival hospitals in Terre Haute from merging. The deal, if approved, would leave residents with a hospital monopoly. Union Health, a nonprofit whose main hospital is licensed as a 341-bed facility, would buy the county’s only other acute care hospital, the 278-bed…