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Latest California Healthline Stories

Trump Team Faces Key Legal Decision That Could Put Mental Health Parity in Peril

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.

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

“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.

A California Lawmaker Leans Into Her Medical Training in Fight for Health Safety Net

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.

Trump Policies at Odds With ‘Make America Healthy Again’ Push

On the surface, President Donald Trump embraced the MAHA movement with a pledge to end the nation’s high rates of chronic disease. But the broader Trump agenda may prove to be the biggest barrier this effort confronts.