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Breakups between insurers and health systems, on top of plan cuts, left more than 3.7 million Medicare Advantage enrollees facing a tough choice last year: find new insurance or new doctors. But hospital systems say their Advantage plans can avert such upheaval, giving patients peace of mind.
Paid home care is buckling under the surging demands of an aging population. But there are alternatives that could upgrade jobs and improve patient care.
The federal budget bill President Donald Trump signed into law in July is creating uncertainty for states trying to rein in health care spending. In California, a lawsuit by the hospital industry challenging state spending caps cites the law, which will slash Medicaid spending, as one of many financial pressures.
With subsidies that give consumers extra help paying their health insurance premiums set to expire, lawmakers are again debating the Affordable Care Act. The difference this time: Itās happening in the middle of ACA open enrollment.
Few nursing homes are set up to care for people needing help breathing with a ventilator because of ALS or other infirmities. Insurers often resist paying for ventilators at home, and innovative programs are now endangered by Medicaid cuts.
About 1 in 4 American adults got a covid vaccine shot during the 2024-25 virus season, a fraction health care experts warn could be smaller this year as millions wrestle with conflicting advice from the government and trusted medical organizations about the value of a shot.
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 federal government is making sweeping changes to SNAP, the program that helped feed about 42 million people in the U.S. last year. Hereās a breakdown of the changes to come and potential impacts.
Some advocates and lawmakers want to impose national regulations on the gambling industry but would settle for reining in excessive betting at the state level.
As families fracture, people are living longer and are more likely to find themselves without close relatives or friends at the end of their lives.
Community health centers are key to delivering care in underserved communities around the country, but their services could be disrupted or scaled back after governments did not renew their funding.
Some injured patients say they wish they had tried harder to check the backgrounds of doctors and clinics they trusted, but those records are hard to find.
Even if people qualify for financial help with their hospital bills, the care they receive may not be covered.
The decisions by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices matter, because insurers and federal programs rely on them, but they are not binding. States can follow the recommendations, or not.
A lack of faith in the soundness of the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionās new direction has led states to explore enacting their own vaccine policies. A patchwork of divergent recommendations and requirements could result.
Public health officials see lice as a nuisance, not a health threat, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended for years that students with live lice be allowed to remain in class. But as āno-nitā policies have been dropped in favor of ānonexclusionā rules, some school districts have seen parents and teachers push back.
In a survey by the National Funeral Directors Association, more than 60% of respondents said they would be interested in exploring green and natural burial alternatives.
The Trump administration's cuts of public health funds to state and local health departments had vastly uneven effects depending on the political leanings of where someone lives, a new Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News analysis shows.
Health insurance generally doesnāt cover treatment for injuries sustained shortly before a customer buys a policy. A Massachusetts woman found that out the hard way.
The GOPās tax and spending law and a new rule by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will make it harder to enroll in Affordable Care Act health plans, will raise consumersā out-of-pocket costs, and could prompt younger, healthier people, including lawfully present immigrants who will lose financial aid, to drop coverage.
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