By KIM BELLARD A New York Times interview with Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D – Mass) by Bret Stephens caught my attention. I am somewhat familiar with Mr. Stephens from his various pieces in NYT; he is definitely a conservative, but in the old, pre-MAGA sense where it meant you worried about spending but you didn’t…
This is one of those “Coming Soon” announcements. I spent the weekend with the wonderful gang from what I affectionately call Camp Claudia Cult, a group of mostly Californian policy wonks led by Claudia Williams, who these days is at the UC Berkeley School of public health. As you may have noticed I’ve been spending…
If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.” As a teenager, Rei Scott spent several weeks living out of a car with four family members and their dog. Each day, Scott worried about where they would spend the…
From Charlie Bilello: Healthcare and Social Assistance have added nearly 1.8 million private-sector jobs in the US since the end of 2023 while all of other industries combined have lost 127,800 jobs.
Health insurance in the U.S. is notoriously confusing. So we’re covering the basics to make navigating your plan a little easier. We explain the difference between a deductible and an out-of-pocket limit, define copay and coinsurance, and point out where surprise bills can get you in trouble, from out-of-network providers to prior authorizations. Read more…
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Cori Roberts was living in a rented basement four years ago when she was diagnosed with early-stage cervical cancer. Recently divorced, the former stay-at-home mother had started working again in her mid-40s, taking a human resources job that paid $41,000 a year. Then, despite having insurance, she was hit with more…
Céline Gounder, KFF Health News’ editor-at-large for public health, discussed the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak on PBS NewsHour, Fox’s LiveNow From Fox, and CBS News’ CBS Mornings on May 5. She also discussed the hantavirus outbreak on NPR’s Morning Edition on May 6. Click here to watch Gounder on PBS NewsHour. Click here to watch Gounder…
From a Topaz et al. (2026) paper in The Lancet reviewing citations across 2.5 peer-reviewed papers in PubMed: Among 97·1 million verified references, we identified 4046 fabricated references across 2810 papers (illustrative examples are shown in the appendix p 5–6). In 2023, approximately one in 2828 papers contained at least one fabricated reference. By 2025,…
Hospital food rarely draws rave reviews. But efforts by the Trump administration to get hospitals to ditch unhealthy fare are facing criticism for going too far. The Department of Health and Human Services sent notices to hospitals asking them to align their food purchases with the administration’s 2025-30 dietary guidelines to ensure continued eligibility for…
Privacy between doctors and patients is protected by law. But the Trump administration is, in effect, trying to peek into the exam room. The Office of Personnel Management is seeking unredacted federal worker health data from insurers. The unusual request, which would give the government detailed personal and health information, alarmed health policy and legal…