It happened more than a decade ago, but the moment remains with her. Sara Stewart was talking at the dining room table with her mother, Barbara Cole, 86 at the time, in Bar Harbor, Maine. Stewart, then 59, a lawyer, was making one of her extended visits from out of state. Two or three years…
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attracted notice — and in some quarters, outrage — for remarks about autism, a topic he’s clashed with scientists about for years. Kennedy held an April 16 press conference pegged to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that found the prevalence of autism rising to 1 in 31 among 8-year-olds, the…
For several years, Fred Neary had been seeing five doctors at the Baylor Scott & White Health system, whose 52 hospitals serve central and northern Texas, including Neary’s home in Dallas. But in October, his Humana Medicare Advantage plan — an alternative to government-run Medicare — warned that Baylor and the insurer were fighting over…
Hospitals have spent years amassing political influence at the federal and state levels. According to the nonprofit OpenSecrets, hospitals and nursing homes’ federal lobbying spending rose from $35 million in 2000 to more than $133 million last year, a 280% increase. They recently had a unique opportunity to flex some of that political muscle in…
When the Trump administration cut more than $11 billion in covid-era funds to states in late March, addiction recovery programs suffered swift losses. An Indiana organization that employs people in recovery to help peers with substance use disorders and mental illness was forced to lay off three workers. A Texas digital support service for people…
For nearly three agonizing years, Mariah Freschi and her husband have been trying to have a second baby. The California mother recently underwent surgery to remove her blocked fallopian tubes, leaving in vitro fertilization as her only option to get pregnant. But the cost quoted by her Sacramento-area clinic was $25,000 — out of reach…
By MIKE MAGEE The Pope’s passing interrupted an epic battle between Trump and the rest of the civilized world over whether America remains a society “under the law.” Critical to the rule of law is the principle of “Due Process,” as described in not one, but two Amendments to our Constitution. The Fifth Amendment states…
Perhaps this is what President Trump is exploring. Reuters reports: Drugmakers have been warned that the Trump Administration is considering linking U.S. medicine prices to lower amounts paid by other developed countries, according to two company sources who called the option the pharmaceutical industry’s top concern.Both sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said…
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…