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As fractures emerge in the Make America Great Again movement, some Republicans see its health-focused "MAHA" counterpart as the partyās next big thing. But doubts abound.
With lawmakers still mired over renewing enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act plans, much of Washington has turned to culture war issues. Meanwhile, āconfusionā remains the watchword at HHS as personnel and funding decisions continue to be made and unmade with little notice. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health Newsā Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health Newsā Elisabeth Rosenthal, who wrote the latest āBill of the Monthā report.
Kaiser Permanente agrees to pay $556 million to settle allegations of billing the government for conditions patients didnāt have.
Martha Santana-Chin, a daughter of Mexican immigrants, last year took the helm of L.A. Care, the nationās largest publicly operated health plan. She warns that looming federal cuts will push up to 650,000 people off L.A. Careās Medicaid rolls by the end of 2028.
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.
āMake America Healthy Againā policies driven by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have made major strides in state legislatures, with food additives among the most common targets. The trend is expected to continue this year.
Low-income Californians who use Wegovy and similar medications for weight loss lost their coverage at the start of the new year, with officials advising diet and exercise instead. California and other states say the drugs are too costly, even as the Trump administration announces plans to lower prices.
Congress returned from its break facing a familiar question: whether to extend the expanded subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans that expired at the end of 2025. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. broke a promise to Bill Cassidy, the chairman of Senate health committee, by overhauling the federal governmentās childhood vaccine schedule to reduce the number of diseases for which vaccines will be recommended. Sarah Karlin-Smith of Pink Sheet, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health Newsā Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more.
The CDC is recommending fewer childhood vaccines, although the ones it has jettisoned from the recommended schedule have successfully battled serious illness for years. Experts warn that if vaccine uptake falls, millions could be hospitalized ā or worse ā as a result of preventable diseases.
States facing yawning budget shortfalls have begun cutting Medicaid reimbursements for a wide variety of services. In some states, dramatic cuts are targeting therapies that many families of autistic people say are essential to caring for their loved ones.
There has been a steep rise in the share of people with severe mental illnesses being sent to state psychiatric hospitals on court orders after being accused of serious crimes. The shift has all but halted patientsā ability to get care before they have a catastrophic crisis.
A spike in shootings during the covid pandemic propelled community violence intervention, a field that aims to stop gun deaths at the root. Baltimore used federal funds to launch a violence prevention office. But President Donald Trump has throttled such funds and instead is sending troops into cities.
Even as President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers say the One Big Beautiful Bill Act targets waste, fraud, and abuse, Medicaid health plans are hosting events across the U.S. to prevent low-income families from losing health insurance and food benefits next year.
Federal officials reversed their stance on medical debt credit reporting, then came a lawsuit in Colorado. As lawmakers in other states forge ahead with attempts to protect consumers from medical debt, some are reconsidering how they go about it.
The White House says encampment sweeps have enhanced the capital, but city leaders estimate nearly 700 homeless people roam by day and bed down outdoors by night. Some have scattered to the suburbs while others avoid detection, making it hard for medical providers to care for them.
Columbia Memorial Hospital near Oregonās coastline planned to add a tsunami shelter, counting on a FEMA grant. After the Trump administration cut the funding, hospital officials are building anyway, saying waiting is too risky. A judge ruled Dec. 11 that the administration unlawfully ended the program without congressional approval.
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.
Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
The Trump administration wants deep funding cuts for state-based legal services for disabled people, as rights advocates say the Justice Department pushed out many of its lawyers who worked on such issues.
Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Hereās a collection of their appearances.
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