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Government watchdog expects Medicaid work requirement analysis by fall

The country's top nonpartisan government watchdog has confirmed it is examining the costs of running the nation's only active Medicaid work requirement program, as Republican state and federal lawmakers consider similar requirements.

2 May 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': 100 days of health policy upheaval

Members of Congress are back in Washington this week, and Republicans are facing hard decisions on how to reduce Medicaid spending, even as new polling shows that would be unpopular among their voters.

1 May 2025

Health care providers working together as ACOs save Medicare billions over long term

Teams of health care providers called Accountable Care Organizations participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program have saved Medicare between $4.1 billion and $8.1 billion from 2012 through 2019, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

28 Apr 2025

CommunityRx program reduces ER visits for food insecure children

In a new clinical study published in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine found that a low-intensity program that "prescribes" community resources to every parent or other primary caregiver of a hospitalized child reduced the use of acute care for children of food-insecure families in the following year, saving potentially thousands of dollars in healthcare expenditures while demanding little more than minutes of staff time per family.

28 Apr 2025

Medicare changes set to lower out-of-pocket costs for cancer medications

Even for patients covered by Medicare, annual out-of-pocket costs for lifesaving cancer treatments taken in pill form have often exceeded $10,000-until recently.

28 Apr 2025

New Medicare changes ease cost burden for cancer drugs

Even for patients covered by Medicare, annual out-of-pocket costs for lifesaving cancer treatments taken in pill form have often exceeded $10,000-until recently.

25 Apr 2025

New insights into the complex health economics of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Value in Health, the official journal of ISPOR-The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research, announced today the publication of a special themed section of research papers that provide crucial insights into the complex health economics of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), offering a roadmap for future research and policy as the aging population grows and novel treatments emerge.

24 Apr 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Can Congress reconcile Trump’s wishes with Medicaid’s needs?

Congress returns from spring break next week and will get to work crafting a bill that would cut taxes and boost immigration enforcement — but that also could cut at least $880 billion over the next decade from a pool of funding that includes Medicaid.

24 Apr 2025

Dementia costs in the United States reach record high in 2025

The total economic burden of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in the United States will reach $781 billion this year, according to new USC-led research.

23 Apr 2025

Hospitals’ lobbying frustrates Montana lawmakers who sought to boost oversight

As Republican legislative leaders in Montana girded for this year's battle over whether to extend Medicaid expansion in the state, they took aim at one of the program's biggest backers: hospitals.

23 Apr 2025

Medi-Cal under threat: Who’s covered and what could be cut?

Medi-Cal, California's complex, $174.6 billion Medicaid program, provides health insurance for nearly 15 million residents with low incomes and disabilities.

23 Apr 2025

The ranks of Obamacare ‘fixers’ axed in Trump’s reduction of health agency workforce

They're the fixers, the ones who step in when Affordable Care Act enrollees have a problem with their coverage, like a newborn incorrectly left off a policy or discovering that a rogue broker had signed them up or switched their plan without consent.

22 Apr 2025

Fate of Black maternal health programs is unclear amid federal cuts

Eboni Tomasek expected to take home her newborn the day after he was born in a San Jose hospital. But, without explanation, hospital staff said they needed to stay a second night. Then a third. A nurse said her son had jaundice.

22 Apr 2025

U of M dental students bring smiles to underserved communities

Becky Klein needed a dentist for herself and her two teenage sons when she returned to Atlanta in northern Michigan after years living down state.

21 Apr 2025

Hospitals can play key role in treating alcohol use disorder

Nearly 30 million adults in the United States experience alcohol use disorder (AUD), but the vast majority of people with this condition do not receive treatment.

21 Apr 2025

Medicare claims for genetic cancer tests face growing rejection rates

Both the use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) testing for cancer and the rate of claim denials for such testing increased between 2016 and 2021, despite implementation of a recent Medicare national coverage determination that established coverage standards for NGS testing.

18 Apr 2025

Study links insomnia and sleep medication to increased disability risk in older adults

Insomnia is a significant health and quality of life concern for older adults, with up to half of all adults over the age of 65 experiencing insomnia symptoms.

17 Apr 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': On autism, it’s the secretary’s word vs. CDC’S

The secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., contradicted his agency's researchers this week with unsubstantiated or outright false claims about autism spectrum disorder and those with the condition.

17 Apr 2025

RFK Jr. struggles to navigate frustrated supporters and a demanding boss

After the Senate voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary, supporters of his "Make America Healthy Again" movement cheered at having a champion in the federal government.

17 Apr 2025

Diabetes medications may help shield the brain from cognitive decline

A study led by researchers in the University of Florida College of Pharmacy has found that a pair of popular glucose-lowering medications may have protective effects against the development of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

16 Apr 2025