A slot machine on the floor of the MGM Springfield casino, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Karen Brown/NEPM hide caption
Policy-ish : Shots - Health News Who gets what sort of care often boils down to big decisions about policy. Find the latest on the federal health overhaul, the intersection of government regulation and health, and the battle to contain costs.
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The CDC currently recommends that all newborns get their first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine before leaving the hospital. Pediatricians and infectious disease specialists are afraid that Health Secretary RFK Jr.'s appointees to a vaccine advisory panel will vote to change that, and recommend that the first shot is delayed until age 4.
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The Rio Grande Valley in South Texas has some of the highest uninsured rates in the U.S. The number of uninsured residents is expected to swell over the next decade. Sam Whitehead/KFF Health News hide caption
Millions of Americans expected to lose health coverage over the next decade
Legalistic battles over the network contracts between health insurers and medical care providers can leave patients in limbo. Renata Hamuda/iStockphoto/Getty Images hide caption
Ellen Allen, 63, needs health insurance to be able to keep paying for an expensive eye drop medicine that prevents blindness. Ellen Allen hide caption
Price increases loom for some people who pay for their own health insurance
The company Natera offers a blood test to pregnant women that checks for fetal abnormalities. Natera offers what it calls a "prompt-pay cash price" for these tests. Halfpoint Images/MomentRF/Getty Images hide caption
Offered a cash price for a prenatal genetic test? It may be your best bet
Roberta Rabinovitz, right, had cancer and had been living with her grandson, sleeping on his couch. With her is Rachel Nassif, day center director at the PACE Organization of Rhode Island in East Providence. Felice J. Freyer for KFF Health News hide caption
An attendee holds a "Stop The Health Care Cuts" sign on June 6 at a Democratic town hall in Lansing, Mich. In July, Congressional Democrats failed to stop Republicans from passing a tax-and-spending bill that requires 40 states and D.C. to institute Medicaid work requirements. Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
How the new work requirements for Medicaid could impact some states
The Tibor Rubin Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. Scott Varley/MediaNews Group/Torrance Daily Breeze/Getty Images hide caption
Transgender rights activists hold signs as they march through the University of Montana campus on May 03, 2023 in Missoula, Mont. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
State lawmakers are targeting food dyes and other additives in a slew of new bills. Inna Reznik/iStockphoto/Getty Images hide caption
Dozens of state laws take aim at food dyes amid a wave of support for MAHA
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, left, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, right, sign waivers allowing Georgia to institute work requirements for certain Medicaid recipients at the state Capitol in Atlanta, Oct. 15, 2020. Jeff Amy/AP hide caption
A look at how Georgia’s Medicaid work requirement has been going
Venus Williams returns a shot against Magdalena Frech on day 4 of the Mubadala Citi DC Open. Williams, 45, said she's been on COBRA health insurance. Scott Taetsch/Getty Images hide caption
President Trump pledged to "make America affordable again." But his health care moves mean more people will be pushed into medical debt. DNY59/iStockphoto/Getty Images hide caption
Xerius Jackson, age 7, gets an MMR vaccine at a clinic in Lubbock, Texas, on March 1, two months into a multistate outbreak of measles that began in January. During this time, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made changes to how the federal government assesses vaccine recommendations. Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images hide caption
In Montana, one man says Medicaid and the drug coverage he gets through it are what allow him to work. But a raise he has gotten could mean he loses Medicaid, so he says he decided to "fudge the numbers." Oona Zenda/KFF Health News hide caption
ACA health insurance will cost the average person 75% more next year, research shows
U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by Republican lawmakers, signs the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act into law on July 04, 2025 in Washington, DC. The law includes cuts to funding for Medicaid, food assistance and other social safety net programs. Samuel Corum/Getty Images hide caption
Consumers can still get hit with surprise bills from ground ambulance rides, as protection from such charges wasn't covered in the federal No Surprises act. PBNJ Productions/Tetra images RF/Getty Images hide caption
Federal health officials are investigating the University of Michigan Health system after a former employee claimed she was fired for seeking a religious exemption from providing gender-affirming care. SETH HERALD/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
The Center for Asbestos Related Disease, or CARD Clinic, in Libby, Montana, provides free lung screenings for breathing issues and cancers tied to asbestos exposure. CARD's doors were shuttered by a lawsuit brought by BNSF Railway on behalf of the federal government.
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Near old Montana mine, special clinic for asbestos-related illness fights to survive
Montana Public Radio
Lawsuit shuts down Montana clinic that helped people sickened by asbestos
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., (center) joined from left by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip, Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks after Senate passage of the President Trump's big tax bill. Millions are estimated to lose health care thanks to provisions in the bill. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption
California Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan introduced a bill in the current legislative session to mandate menopause education for doctors in the state. Rich Pedroncelli/AP hide caption
Alton Fry is trying to pay for prostate cancer treatment without health insurance. He's one of millions of Americans who lack coverage. The number of uninsured could swell as the Trump administration and Congress try to enact policies to roll back access to insurance. Lynsey Weatherspoon for KFF Health News hide caption