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As the crowdsourced investigative series from ýҕl Health News approaches its eighth anniversary, “Bill of the Month” offers its top takeaways of 2025 to help patients manage, decipher, and even fight their medical bills.
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.
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.
ýҕl Health News journalists made the rounds on regional media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
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.
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.
On “What the Health? From ýҕl Health News,” distributed by WAMU, chief Washington correspondent and podcast host Julie Rovner sat down with Avik Roy, a GOP health policy adviser, to talk about how health care has evolved as a Republican Party issue.
Scientists are conducting genetic analyses to see if the measles outbreak that started in Texas is still spreading from state to state. It’s a contentious question, because the findings may determine whether America loses its measles-free status.
Senate Democrats were promised a vote by mid-December on extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, but Republicans still can’t decide whether they want to put forward their own alternative or what that might include. Meanwhile, the CDC and FDA are roiled by debates over vaccines. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post join ýҕl Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also, Rovner interviews ýҕl Health News’ Aneri Pattani about her project tracking opioid settlement payments.
The Trump administration has championed its Rural Health Transformation Program as an investment in American families who have been left behind. But Native American tribes, whose communities have a significant presence in rural America and have some of the greatest health needs, are ineligible to apply directly for funding.
The administration’s embrace of the pronatalist movement often doesn’t include support for programs traditionally associated with the health and well-being of women, children, and families.
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.
People on Medicaid deemed “medically frail” won’t need to meet new federal requirements that enrollees work 80 hours a month or perform another approved activity. But state officials are grappling with how to interpret who qualifies under the vague federal definition, which could affect millions.
Demand for home health care, including at-home hospice care, has skyrocketed since the onset of the covid pandemic. A New Orleans nonprofit is teaching people how to provide end-of-life care for relatives and community members.
Republicans are solidifying their opposition to extending pandemic-era subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans and seem to be coalescing around giving money directly to consumers to spend on health care. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to leave his mark on the agency, with the CDC altering its website to suggest childhood vaccines could play a role in causing autism. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join ýҕl Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Avik Roy.
The record-long federal shutdown is over after a small group of Democrats agreed to a deal with most Republicans that funds the government through January — but, notably, does not extend more generous Affordable Care Act tax credits. Plus, new details are emerging about how the Trump administration is using the Medicaid program to advance its policy goals. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join ýҕl Health News’ Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, ýҕl Health News’ Julie Rovner interviews ýҕl Health News’ Julie Appleby, who wrote the latest “Bill of the Month” feature.
ýҕl Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
During a California gubernatorial debate, candidates promised to protect people’s access to health care and fight back against Trump administration cuts. With the contest a year away, polling shows voters want the next governor to minimize out-of-pocket health care costs, increase mental health care, and expand caregiving services.
As voters feel financial pressure from runaway health care costs and crave innovations that would provide relief, the standoff in Congress has been firmly rooted in the status quo — keeping an existing provision of the Affordable Care Act alive.
ýҕl Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
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