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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.
States, counties, and cities are receiving millions in opioid settlement money to address the addiction crisis. The ways they spent the dollars in 2024 sometimes drew criticism from advocates and at least one state official, who alleged misuse.
This years most spirited Halloween haikus were inspired by tick migration, Medicaid work requirements, and rising copays.
A standoff in Congress is keeping much of the government shut down as open enrollment begins in most states for Affordable Care Act plans. Democrats are demanding Republicans agree to extend ACA tax credits, but there has been little negotiating even as customers are learning what theyll pay for coverage next year. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is telling states they cant pass their own laws to keep medical debt off consumers credit reports. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join 窪蹋勛圖厙 News Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more.
Patients sometimes find themselves scrambling for affordable care when a contract dispute causes a hospital and most of the doctors and other clinicians who work there to be dropped from an insurance network. Here are six things to know if that happens to you.
A medical students DIY project brings An Arm and a Leg listeners together with new tools to fight medical debt.
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.
窪蹋勛圖厙 News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner appeared on WAMUs Health Hub to discuss how the government shutdown is affecting food benefits and the help many Americans get to offset their health insurance premiums.
Two major nutrition programs SNAP and WIC are likely to exhaust their funding in November, and the furloughs and firings at the CDC have left the agency unable to perform some of its major functions. Meanwhile, President Donald Trumps new IVF policy is being met with dissatisfaction from both sides. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post join 窪蹋勛圖厙 News Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 窪蹋勛圖厙 News Katheryn Houghton, who wrote the latest Bill of the Month feature.
KFF data shows that 2025 marked the first time in two decades that the annual cost of covering a family of four rose by 6% or more for three consecutive years.
Despite a poisonous political climate, hundreds of volunteer advocates put partisan differences aside and pressed Congress to help people with cancer.
Democrats and Republicans remain stalled over funding the federal government as Republicans launch a new attack on the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is taking advantage of the shutdown to lay off workers from programs supported mostly by Democrats. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine join 窪蹋勛圖厙 News Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews health insurance analyst Louise Norris about Medicare open enrollment.
The government shutdown continues with no end in sight, and while it theoretically should not affect entitlement programs, the lapse of some related authorizations like for Medicare telehealth programs is leaving some doctors and patients high and dry. Meanwhile, the FDA quietly approved a new generic abortion pill. Sarah Karlin-Smith of Pink Sheet, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join 窪蹋勛圖厙 News Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also, Rovner interviews Sarah Grusin of the National Health Law Program.
On the "Today, Explained" podcast, 窪蹋勛圖厙 News' Julie Rovner recaps the TrumpRx announcement and why the direct-to-consumer initiative may not save you money on prescription drugs if you have insurance through your employer or the government.
The foreshadowed federal shutdown came after Congress failed to pass required spending bills, with Democrats demanding Republicans renew the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies in exchange for their votes. While a shutdown does not affect Medicare and Medicaid, it could eventually hinder activities from every corner of the Department of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, as Democrats and Republicans point fingers, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pursues policies and personnel that would undermine vaccines. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Bloomberg News join 窪蹋勛圖厙 News Julie Rovner to discuss the news. Also this week, Rovner interviews 窪蹋勛圖厙 News Cara Anthony, who wrote a recent Bill of the Month feature about an out-of-network eye surgery that left one kindergartners family with a big bill.
Health care providers and debt collectors are biting from peoples paychecks to cover old medical bills. A 窪蹋勛圖厙 News investigation in Colorado shows that this aggressive collection practice is widespread even in a state considered to have strong consumer protections.
As a warming climate intensifies storms, 窪蹋勛圖厙 News has identified more than 170 U.S. hospitals at risk of significant and potentially dangerous flooding. Climate experts warn that the Trump administrations cuts leave the nation less prepared.
The senior producer of An Arm and a Leg starts planning for health insurance in 2026, and like millions of others signing up during this years open enrollment faces a steep price increase.
The health care sector has accounted for nearly half of this years U.S. job growth. But economists say immigration crackdowns and Medicaid cuts could create a drag on the sector just as more workers are needed to support a growing population of older Americans.
Under a new law, many Americans will have to meet a work requirement to obtain and keep their Medicaid coverage. But due to an exemption, millions living in areas of high unemployment could be spared.
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