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The Office of Personnel Management said it will “pseudonymize” medical records it collects on more than 8 million people — federal workers and retirees, and their family members. Democrats and employee unions say the agency’s move is an overreach.
Final regulations on Medicaid work requirements say enrollees must regularly obtain documentation — possibly from medical professionals — to prove that they’re too sick to work. Doctors say the rules put them in a tough spot.
Last year, the Trump administration announced a voluntary pledge by dozens of insurers to improve prior authorization, which often requires patients to seek approval before treatments. But prior authorization remains commonplace, and there's no evidence the government is trying to hold insurers to account.
With the federal Medicaid work requirements looming in January, Democrats are considering state legislation to call out big companies that employ workers enrolled in the safety net health program. Business giants such as Amazon and Walmart said the figures are misleading.
New Medicaid work requirements could make a complex system even harder for farmworkers to navigate.
Washington state has launched the first program to help cover home care and other supports. Several other states are paying attention.
Just a few months before the midterm elections, Democrats appear to be doubling down on healthcare as a campaign issue as costs rise and insurance coverage declines. Meanwhile, Congress is taking aim at nonprofit hospitals. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Victoria Knight of Bloomberg Government, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post join 51Ƶ Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 51Ƶ Health News’ Samantha Liss, who wrote the latest “Bill of the Month.”
Over the past 70 years, the number of inpatient psychiatric beds has dropped dramatically, leaving many without critical care when they experience mental health crises. I was one of the lucky ones to get a bed — after 21 hours of waiting.
Insurers that sell plans in Obamacare marketplaces across 16 states and the District of Columbia have asked regulators to approve a 14% median premium increase for 2027, according to a new Peterson-51Ƶ analysis.
Many Americans are shopping around for affordable options as the cost of health insurance soars. But some who hope to keep the same doctors and medications face a thicket of red tape and disruption after they switch plans.
Drugmakers provide financial assistance to help patients afford increasingly expensive medications. But some insurers do not count those payments toward a plan’s deductible or out-of-pocket maximum and make patients pay instead.
Thousands of people who had a Medicare drug plan with zero-dollar premiums last year got small premium increases this year — and didn’t know it. They were dropped from their coverage for failing to pay amounts as little as $8, and most can’t get it again until 2027.
A work requirement is coming to Medicaid. Sam Whitehead tells WAMU’s “Health Hub” how to keep your coverage — and who’s exempt from the new rule.
California’s next governor will face tough decisions on a highly controversial piece of healthcare policy: what to do about health coverage for the more than 1.4 million low-income residents without legal status. Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton present starkly different choices as public opinion wavers.
The Supreme Court handed down its last decisions of its 2025-26 term this week, including in an immigration case that could result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of workers in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Lizzy Lawrence of Stat, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Amanda Seitz of 51Ƶ Health News join 51Ƶ Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss this story and more.
The Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid and SNAP may complicate Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s reelection chances.
Trinity Moravian Church, a politically diverse congregation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been raising money to retire medical debt in the surrounding community.
Uninsured patients made up about 1 in 4 of the more than 20,000 gunshot wound inpatient hospitalizations in Florida from 2018 to 2024, an analysis of state data by 51Ƶ Health News and The Trace found. They also had shorter hospital stays than those with any form of coverage.
Margaret Hvatum ended up in the hospital after her insurer denied coverage of a medicine she relies on to boost her immune system. Hvatum got entangled in the preapproval process, which the insurance industry has vowed to improve.
The payment by Elevance Health to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services comes as the agency threatened to bar new enrollments in the company’s plans.
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