A Guide To Finding Insurance at 26
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
It’s a difficult rite of passage for young adults without job-based insurance. Here are some tips for getting started.
California Taps Medicaid To Train and Recruit Behavioral Health Workers
By Christine Mai-Duc
Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 11 a.m. PT.
Daily Edition for Friday, August 8, 2025
To Make Up For Federal Medicaid Cuts, Santa Clara County Aims To Raise Sales Taxes: Santa Clara County supervisors unanimously voted Thursday to add a ballot measure to November’s special election that would increase local sales tax by five-eighth cent (0.625%) for five years to try to backfill some of the projected lost federal revenue due to Medicaid cuts. If approved, it would generate an estimated $330 million a year, a fraction of the roughly $1 billion in estimated loss of federal funding over the next few years. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Even in States That Fought Obamacare, Trump’s New Law Poses Health Consequences
By Daniel Chang and Sam Whitehead
GOP lawmakers in 10 states have refused for a decade to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. But when President Donald Trump got another whack at Obamacare, these holdout states went unrewarded.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Kennedy Cancels Vaccine Funding
The Health and Human Services secretary is winding down nearly $500 million in mRNA research funding, citing false claims that the technology is ineffective against respiratory illnesses — and notching a victory for critics of the covid vaccines. And President Donald Trump is demanding drugmakers drop their prices, quickly, but it’s unclear how he could make them comply. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KFF Health News’ Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these stories and more.
Daily Edition for Thursday, August 7, 2025
Death Toll From LA County Fires Might Be Vastly Undercounted, Study Says: The official death toll from the wildfires earlier this year stands at 31, but a study published Wednesday in JAMA estimates that 440 excess deaths occurred during that period, more than 14 times the official toll. Read more from SFGate, the Los Angeles Times, and AP. Keep scrolling for more wildfire news.
Watch: Millions of Americans Live Where Telehealth Is Out of Reach
By Sarah Jane Tribble and Holly K. Hacker and Caresse Jackman, InvestigateTV
In this video report, InvestigateTV and KFF Health News take viewers to Alabama, Idaho, and West Virginia to explore how gaps in internet connectivity and telehealth access cause residents to live sicker and die younger on average than their peers in well-connected regions.
Patient Numbers at NIH Hospital Have Plummeted Under Trump, Jeopardizing Care
By Rachana Pradhan
The renowned research hospital that cares for people with rare or life-threatening diseases has been pummeled by an employee exodus and the gutting of research, both driven by the Trump administration.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, August 6, 2025
LA County Takes Action To Prevent Heat-Related Deaths In Rental Units: Los Angeles County will soon require landlords in unincorporated areas to provide a way to keep their rental units 82 degrees or below to protect vulnerable tenants and combat heat-related deaths. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
Congress Looks To Ease Restrictions on Veterans’ Use of Non-VA Clinics and Hospitals
By Tony Leys
Veterans often face hurdles when they want the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay for care from clinics and hospitals outside the federal system. A bill in Congress, coupled with a major funding request from the Trump administration, could help clear the path for many rural veterans.
