The Host Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner @julierovner.bsky.social 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…
Government documents viewed by KFF Health News show a drop in patients receiving care this year at the National Institutes of Health’s renowned research hospital, a 200-bed facility at NIH headquarters in Maryland. We previously reported a decrease in the number of patients being treated at the NIH Clinical Center from February through April. Since then,…
HELENA, Mont. — In 2023, a group of 16 young Montanans won a much-heralded climate change case that said the state had deprived them of a “clean and healthful environment,” a right enshrined in Montana’s constitution. Their victory in Held v. Montana, later upheld by the state Supreme Court, resounded across the country, showing that…
Critics of affirmative action have launched a long-shot appeal aimed at stopping California from requiring training on unconscious bias in every continuing medical education class. A July ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California’s right to mandate that every course doctors take to remain licensed must address…
By AMI PAREKH A little-noticed telehealth safe harbor provision tucked inside the One Big Beautiful Bill was a significant milestone in virtual care. Though it specifically addresses pre-deductible telehealth services in high-deductible health plans, the legislation has far wider implications for both care delivery and insurance design, especially in the commercial insurance market. In fact…
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) created the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program (DPNP). The aim of the program is to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals for Medicare. A key question is how are investors viewing this policy and how is it impacting their investment decisions. A paper by Canestaro, Patterson and Campbell (2025) aimed to…
“Everybody can get” the covid-19 vaccine. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sept. 4 in a Senate Finance Committee hearing When health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 4, several senators criticized him for restricting the covid-19 shots after promising in November he wouldn’t “take away anybody’s vaccines.” “Did…
Republicans insist that President Donald Trump’s cuts to Medicaid were aimed at reducing fraud and getting more of its adult beneficiaries into jobs. But the side effects may include less care for sick kids. Some children’s hospitals collectively stand to lose billions of dollars in revenue once Trump’s wide-ranging tax and spending law, which Republicans…
Any evidence of lice was once a reason for immediate dismissal from school, not to return until the student’s head was lice-free. But what are known as “no-nit” policies have been dropped in favor of “nonexclusion” rules, prioritizing class time over any nuisance caused by parasites the size of sesame seeds. That leniency, of late,…
By MATTHEW HOLT I have been on a quest to try to understand why I am being charged $34.95 by Labcorp for some lab tests that I think should be free under the ACA preventative care statutes, and for which my insurer Blue Shield of Californian has issued me an EOB with a $0 co-pay….