Category: Medicare

KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: RFK Jr. Upends Vaccine Policy, After Promising He Wouldn’t

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week did something he had promised not to do: He fired every member of the scientific advisory committee that recommends which vaccines should be given to whom. And he replaced them, in some cases, with vaccine skeptics. Meanwhile, hundreds of employees of the National Institutes of Health sent an open letter to the agency’s director, accusing the Trump administration of policies that “undermine the NIH mission.” Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

Role Reversal: Millions of Kids Are Caregivers for Elders. Why Their Numbers Might Grow.

As state officials anticipate Medicaid funding cuts that could strip resources for those with disabilities and chronic health conditions, an army of unpaid caregivers waits in the wings: children. At least 5.4 million kids are estimated to be caring for family members at home, a number likely to rise if Medicaid cuts hit professional home-based services.

KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: Bill With Billions in Health Program Cuts Passes House

The House narrowly passed a budget reconciliation bill, including billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy along with billions of dollars in cuts to health program spending. But the Senate is expected to make major changes to the measure before it can go to President Donald Trump for his signature. This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.

Tracking the Medicaid Provisions in the 2025 Reconciliation Bill

KFF is tracking the Medicaid provisions in the 2025 federal budget bill, including new Medicaid work and verification requirements and a reduction in the expansion match rate for states that use their own funds to cover undocumented immigrants.

An Arm and a Leg: A Health Policy Veteran Puts 2025 in Perspective

Two stories from Washington, D.C., give listeners a sense of what changes the Trump administration has been making to health policy, with KFF Health News’ Julie Ronver and Arthur Allen.

At Social Security, These Are the Days of the Living Dead

In recent weeks, Social Security has been plagued by problems related to technology, system errors, and even the marking of living people as dead.

KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: 100 Days of Health Policy Upheaval

Members of Congress are back in Washington, and Republicans are struggling to find ways to reduce Medicaid spending without cutting benefits. Meanwhile, confusion continues to reign at the Department of Health and Human Services. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

KFF Health Tracking Poll April 2025: Public’s View on Major Cuts to Federal Health Agencies

Amid sweeping cuts to federal government health agencies by the Trump Administration, much of the public opposes cuts to funding and staffing, including some Republicans. Support of many of these cuts is largely partisan, however, there is agreement ac…

Most of the Public Oppose Major Federal Cuts to Health Agencies and Programs and Say They Have Been Made “Recklessly”

As the Trump administration and Congress pursue broad cuts to federal health agencies and budgets, most of the public, including some Republicans, oppose deep budget and staffing cuts to federal health programs and agencies, a new KFF Health Tracking P…

Medicare Advantage Insurers Often Use Rewards and Incentives to Encourage Enrollees to Complete Health Risk Assessments (HRAs)

This analysis examines the share of Medicare Advantage enrollees in contracts (which usually include multiple plans) that offered rewards or incentives for completing health risk assessments (HRAs) in 2023, as well as differences across Medicare Advant…