It has been nearly eight years since Sen. John McCain’s middle-of-the-night thumbs-down vote torpedoed Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and make drastic cuts to Medicaid. With Donald Trump back in the White House and the GOP back in control of Congress, Republicans again have their eyes on Medicaid, the government health program…
BRANCHLAND, W.Va. — Ada Carol Adkins lives with her two dogs in a trailer tucked into the timbers off Upper Mud River Road. “I’m comfortable here, but I’m having health issues,” said the 68-year-old, who retired from her job as a school cook several years ago after having a stroke. “Things are failing me.” Her…
OAK FLAT, Ariz. — Carrying eagle feathers and chanting prayers, Western Apache runners hit the road on a roughly 80-mile journey this month to try to save their sacred land from being fast-tracked by President Donald Trump into a copper mine. This nationally watched battle, which hinges on religious freedom, awaits the U.S. Supreme Court….
By AL LEWIS Last month Aon, the major benefits consulting firm, released a “study” claiming: A significant opportunity to reduce healthcare costs for employers and enhance overall workforce health through a comprehensive obesity management program that includes GLP-1 medications. This, of course, is the opposite of what most researchers have shown. And in the immortal…
Typically, cost effectiveness analyses assume a constant price between drug approvals and loss of exclusivity. It is not clear, however, to what extent that assumption is valid, particularly after taking into account drug price discounts and rebates. A paper by Lin et al. (2024) uses 2007-2023 data on drug prices from SSR Health to answer…
SACRAMENTO, California — El gobernador Gavin Newsom no esperaba enfrentarse a otra crisis sanitaria. En marzo, mientras el presidente Donald Trump y los republicanos del Congreso intensificaban el debate nacional sobre la posibilidad de recortar la atención médica para los estadounidenses pobres y con discapacidades, el gobernador demócrata tuvo que informar a los legisladores estatales…
LISTEN: KFF Health News correspondent Cara Anthony appeared on WAMU’s “Health Hub” segment on May 7 to share her reporting on community efforts to close a public health gap by teaching more Black Americans to swim. Generations of Black Americans have faced barriers to swimming. A history of systemic exclusion from pools is one factor…
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t expect to be reckoning with another health care crisis. In March, as President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans escalated a nationwide debate over whether to slash health care for poor and disabled Americans, the Democratic governor had to tell state lawmakers that California’s health care costs had spiraled…
By EMMANUEL ANIMASHAUN The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Star Ratings system represents a cornerstone of quality assessment in Medicare Advantage (MA), designed to empower consumers with transparent information while rewarding plans that deliver superior care. Yet recent developments, particularly the seismic downgrading of Humana’s ratings reveal an unintended consequence: a system created…
By LINDA RIDDELL & THOMAS WILSON Recent discussions over Medicaid budget cuts invite us to look more deeply into the house-of-cards that, when it collapses, will hit the states and low-income households hardest. But we will all be harmed. Some states get 80% of their Medicaid funding from the federal government, as a recent Wall…