Trump Team Faces Key Legal Decision That Could Put Mental Health Parity in Peril
By Aneri Pattani
The administration is facing a May 12 deadline to declare if it will defend Biden-era regulations that aim to enforce laws requiring parity in insurance coverage of mental and physical health care.
Honey, Sweetie, Dearie: The Perils of Elderspeak
By Paula Span
A new training program teaches workers to stop the baby talk and address older people as adults.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Cutting Medicaid Is Hard — Even for the GOP
Republicans on Capitol Hill are struggling to reach consensus on cutting the Medicaid program as they search for nearly a trillion dollars in savings over the next decade — as many observers predicted. Meanwhile, turmoil continues at the Department of Health and Human Services, with more controversial cuts and personnel moves, including the sudden nomination of Casey Means, an ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s, to become surgeon general. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Lauren Sausser, who co-reported the latest “Bill of the Month” feature, about an unexpected bill for what seemed like preventive care.
Sen. Ron Wyden Seeks Answers on RFK Jr.’s Purge of FOIA Staff
By Rachana Pradhan
“Citizen oversight is a cornerstone of a functioning democracy,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., demanding answers to more than two dozen questions, including who was involved in decisions to fire staff who handled Freedom of Information Act requests.
Daily Edition for Thursday, May 8, 2025
Stanford Medical School Grad Tapped For Surgeon General: President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he plans to nominate Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer and graduate of Stanford Medical School, as the nation’s surgeon general. “Casey has impeccable ‘MAHA’ (Make America Healthy Again) credentials,” Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times.
Meet the Florida Group Chipping Away at Public Benefits One State at a Time
By Katheryn Houghton and Samantha Liss
The Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” platform has boosted the agenda of a conservative think tank that’s been working for more than a decade to reshape the nation’s public assistance programs.
Seeking Spending Cuts, GOP Lawmakers Target a Tax Hospitals Love To Pay
By Phil Galewitz
Republicans, on the hunt for spending cuts, are eyeing a special kind of Medicaid tax that nearly every state uses to boost funding for hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers.
A California Lawmaker Leans Into Her Medical Training in Fight for Health Safety Net
By Christine Mai-Duc
As California’s budget deadline looms, state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, a physician-turned-lawmaker, says state leaders may soon have to make some tough decisions on health care spending. With the state’s Medi-Cal program billions of dollars short, California’s health care safety net is at risk — even without federal cuts to Medicaid.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Rite Aid Again Seeks Bankruptcy Protection: Rite Aid has put its Sacramento-area store leases on the market as the bankrupt pharmacy chain looks to offload its assets. The company plans to sell customer prescription files, inventory, and other assets. Stores will remain open for now, but the company isn’t buying new inventory, so bare shelves will likely become more common. Read more from the Sacramento Business Journal and AP.
