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It’s February, so open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act is over. We’re getting the first glimpses of how sign-ups are shaking out after the expiration of enhanced subsidies that helped most people with their premium costs.  While more Americans enrolled than some policy analysts had expected, the number was still 1.2 million below what it was at the same time last year. And experts say it will be months until the numbers are final. The timing will depend on how many of those people who…

CELO COMMUNITY, N.C. — On a 15-degree morning in January, a clinic in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina began to fill up with patients. An older couple in flannel pajamas sat together in the waiting room. A toddler waved as Patricia Hall walked past him, a stethoscope draped over her neck. The family physician…

One year after taking charge of the nation’s health department, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hasn’t held true to many of the promises he made while appealing to U.S. senators concerned about the longtime anti-vaccine activist’s plans for the nation’s care. Kennedy squeaked through a narrow Senate vote to be confirmed…

The Trump administration has unveiled a sweeping set of regulatory proposals that would substantially change health plan offerings on the Affordable Care Act marketplace next year, aiming, it says, to provide more choice and lower premiums. But it also proposes sharply raising some annual out-of-pocket costs — to more than $27,600 for one type of…

Health policy has never looked so flirtatious. Every year, our readers send us valentines that make us swoon, laugh, and occasionally clutch our insurance cards. And in 2026, you did not hold back. You wrote about overcharging, rising insurance, AI in health care, and more. Here are some of our favorites, starting with the poem that stole…

By MIKE MAGEE Last month, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, did it again – scaring the bejesus out of societal leaders worldwide with warnings that their grip on security and governance of human populations is dangerously close to AI extinction. Amodei’s opening paragraph in his article titled “The Adolescence of Technology” wastes no time getting the reader’s…

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…