Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Continues Assault on Obamacare
By Phil Galewitz and Julie Appleby
The domestic policy legislation the House advanced in May includes the most substantial rollback of the Affordable Care Act since President Donald Trump and his Republican allies tried to pass legislation in 2017 that would have largely repealed President Barack Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Mental health phone line; Covered California; Medicaid and vaccine research finding; transgender care; measles; wildfires; and more.
Native Americans Hurt by Federal Health Cuts, Despite RFK Jr.’s Promises of Protection
By Katheryn Houghton and Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez and Arielle Zionts
The Indian Health Service was mostly spared in the federal government’s widespread staffing cuts, but tribal governments and organizations have lost funding elsewhere in the melee of federal health agency cuts.
Trump Administration Is Ending Multiple HIV Vaccine Studies, Scientists and Officials Say
By Céline Gounder and Alexander Tin, CBS News
The cuts will shutter two major HIV vaccine research efforts, and a National Institutes of Health senior official said the agency has been instructed not to issue any more HIV vaccine research funding in the next fiscal year, with few exceptions.
Watch: In a ‘Dead Zone,’ Doctors Don’t Practice and Telehealth Doesn’t Reach
By Sarah Jane Tribble
Chief rural health correspondent Sarah Jane Tribble explains how millions of rural Americans live in counties with doctor shortages and where high-speed internet connections aren’t adequate to access advanced telehealth services.
Ballad Health’s Hospital Monopoly Underperformed. Then Tennessee Lowered the Bar.
By Brett Kelman
Ballad Health, a state-sanctioned hospital monopoly in Tennessee and Virginia, can now be deemed a “clear and convincing” benefit to the public with performance that would earn a “D” on most grading scales, according to Tennessee state documents.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Live From AHCJ: Shock and Awe in Federal Health Policy
This episode was taped live on Friday, May 30, at the annual conference of the Association of Health Care Journalists in Los Angeles. Host Julie Rovner moderated a panel featuring Rachel Nuzum, senior vice president for policy at The Commonwealth Fund; Berenice Núñez Constant, senior vice president of government relations and civic engagement at AltaMed Health Services; and Anish Mahajan, chief deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The panelists discussed the national, state, and local implications of funding cuts made over the first 100 days of the second Trump administration and the potential fallout of reductions that have been proposed but not yet implemented. The panelists also took questions from health reporters in the audience.
Daily Edition for Monday, June 2, 2025
Medi-Cal eligibility; summer covid surge; vaccine access; HIV prevention funding; violence in hospitals; cancer research; and more.
RFK Jr. Says Healthy Pregnant Women Don’t Need Covid Boosters. What the Science Says.
By Jackie Fortiér
Despite opposition by the leader of the Department of Health and Human Services, existing evidence on the safety and efficacy of getting a covid vaccine during pregnancy all points the same way: The shots are important for maternal and fetal health.
Role Reversal: Millions of Kids Are Caregivers for Elders. Why Their Numbers Might Grow.
By Leah Fabel
Illustration by Oona Zenda
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.
