On Monday, President Donald Trump stood beside the “Make America Healthy Again” team for a “historic” announcement on autism. Back in April, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had promised to reveal what was causing “the autism epidemic” by September. At the start of this month, people close to the MAHA movement…
That is the title of a recent paper by Gao, Kim, and Sevilir (2025). The authors examine 1218 hospital merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in the hospital industry between 2001 and 2008. The authors focus solely on M&A deals with for-profit entities as they argue that they want to examine whether private equity (PE) specifically…
LISTEN: Obamacare. COBRA. Deductibles. Coinsurance. There’s a lot to figure out when you’re on your own looking for health insurance for the first time. KFF Health News senior contributing editor Elisabeth Rosenthal appeared on WAMU’s “Health Hub” series on Sept. 24 to help young adults find a plan that meets their needs. Many young adults…
Caroline Connor’s concerns about her son’s development began around his 1st birthday, when she noticed he wasn’t talking or using any words. Their pediatrician didn’t seem worried, but the speech delay persisted. At 2½, Mason was diagnosed with autism. The Connors went on a mission, searching for anything that would help. “We just started researching…
In late August 2020, Ashlee Guidry and her staff kept a wary eye on guidance from local officials as Hurricane Laura passed over Cuba en route to southwestern Louisiana. Guidry was responsible for the safety of dozens of people living at Stonebridge Place, an assisted living and memory care facility in Sulphur. For days, Laura…
By DAVID INTROCASO After having worked in DC for sixteen years, in 2013 I created The Healthcare Policy Podcast. The title was in part intended to be sarcastic because healthcare policymaking in DC is very narrowly drawn. Consequently, healthcare delivery is excessively commodified, reductionistic and financialized or in sum anachronistic and ironically lacking purchase. If the…
By DAVID INTROCASO After having worked in DC for sixteen years, in 2013 I created The Healthcare Policy Podcast. The title was in part intended to be sarcastic because healthcare policymaking in DC is very narrowly drawn. Consequently, healthcare delivery is excessively commodified, reductionistic and financialized or in sum anachronistic and ironically lacking purchase. If the…
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and most private payers in the U.S. have accepted the NCCN guidelines as a mandated reference to determine payment for “off‐label” use of anticancer drugs that are not approved for the specific indication by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Thus, a key question is what types of…
By MICHAEL MILLENSON It was a small anecdote, buried in a lengthy profile in The New Yorker of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, “Donald Trump’s Tariff Dealmaker-in-Chief.” But as a patient safety activist, the stark depiction of the effect of medical error felt like a sudden shock. Lutnick, the article related, knew tragedy early in life: “his mother died…
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…