The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
1 - 20 of 24 Results
Some states already donāt have enough staff to quickly process Medicaid applications and answer enrolleesā phone calls. Researchers say they may not be prepared to handle new Medicaid work rules, predicting people will lose coverage as a result.
Trump administration officials say the state allows rampant fraud and have promised to investigate, blaming the āRussian, Armenian mafiaā in the hospice and home health care industry. But data shows hotbeds of health care fraud throughout the country, with California outperforming most other states in recovering fraud dollars.
Every state will receive at least $100 million annually from the federal Rural Health Transformation fund, but some scored millions more based on how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services judged the āqualityā of their plans and willingness to pass policies embracing "Make America Healthy Again" initiatives.
In some studies, half of patients stopped taking GLP-1s within a year despite the benefits, citing the expense and side effects.
During the covid pandemic, gun marketers told many Americans they needed firearms to defend against criminals and protesters. Then firearm deaths mounted rapidly in racially segregated and low-income neighborhoods, according to federal data.
Local governments have received hundreds of millions of dollars from the opioid settlements to support addiction treatment, recovery, and prevention efforts. Their spending decisions in 2024 were sometimes surprising and even controversial. Our new database offers more than 10,500 examples.
The Trump administration has pushed a significant amount of health costs to states, whose budgets may already be strained by declining state tax revenues, a slowdown in pandemic spending, and economic uncertainty. State and local governments now face difficult decisions.
A Trump administration reworking of a $42 billion broadband expansion program will trigger delays as millions of rural Americans wait for promised connections and the telehealth services they bring.
Breakups between health providers and Advantage plans are increasingly common. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has allowed whole groups of patients to leave their plans.
The migration of fentanyl into illicit stimulants such as cocaine is especially dangerous for people who are not regular opioid users. Thatās because they have a low tolerance for opioids, putting them at greater risk of an overdose. They also often donāt take precautions ā such as not using alone and carrying the opioid reversal medication naloxone ā so theyāre unprepared if they overdose.
The state Office of Health Care Affordability has set a goal for insurers to direct 15% of their spending to primary care by 2034, part of a push to expand preventive care services. Health plans say itās unclear how the policy will mesh with the stateās overarching goal to slow spending growth.
Victims of the opioid crisis, health advocates, and public policy experts have repeatedly called on state and local governments to transparently report how theyāre using the funds they are receiving from settlements with opioid makers and distributors.
Medical aid in death is legal in 10 states and the District of Columbia. But only Oregon and Vermont explicitly allow out-of-state people who are terminally ill to die with assistance there. So far, at least 49 people have made the trek while state legislation stalls elsewhere.
Hospitals in several states are partnering with a private equity-backed company to offer combined emergency and urgent care in a single building. But patients may not realize prices vary between the two services ā often by a lot.
A recently unsealed lawsuit alleges Aledade Inc. developed billing software that boosted revenues by making patients appear sicker than they were.
The private insurance market has proved wildly inadequate in providing financial security for millions of older Americans, in part by underestimating how many policyholders would use their coverage.
Narcan is available without a prescription. Addiction treatment experts hope this move will increase access to the medication, which can reverse opioid overdoses. But hurdles remain: cost and stigma.
Decades-long systemic shortcomings have left suicide among children ages 5 to 11 poorly tracked and addressed. Now, as rates appear to be rising, advocates are strengthening efforts to screen for problems and prevent deaths in younger children.
Kaiser Permanente, the California-based health care giant, is looking to dramatically expand its national presence. Itās committed $5 billion to a new unit called Risant Health and has agreed to acquire Pennsylvania-based Geisinger, but skeptics wonder how it will export its unique model to other states.
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, a national hotline, reached its first-year milestone this month.
Ā© 2026 KFF