https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/mp_20250718_seg_MMR_-_Rural_Health_64.mp3 The Rural Health Transformation Program calls for federal regulators to hand states $10 billion a year for five years starting in fiscal year 2026. But the “devil’s in the details in terms of implementing,” said Sarah Hohman, director of government affairs at the National Association of Rural Health Clinics. “An investment of this amount…
Category: Rural Health
In Rush To Satisfy Trump, GOP Delivers Blow to Health Industry
Doctors, hospitals, and health insurers for weeks issued dire warnings to Republican lawmakers that millions of people would lose health coverage and hospitals would close if they cut Medicaid funding to help pay for President Donald Trump’s big tax and spending bill. But Republicans ignored those pleas, made even deeper cuts, and sent the legislation…
The Foster Care System Has a Suicide Problem. Federal Cuts Threaten To Slow Fixes.
If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.” Elliott Hinkle experienced depression and suicidal thoughts even before entering the foster care system in Casper, Wyoming, at age 15. At the time, Hinkle, who is transgender, struggled with their…
Doulas, Once a Luxury, Are Increasingly Covered by Medicaid — Even in GOP States
As a postpartum doula, Dawn Oliver does her best work in the middle of the night. During a typical shift, she shows up at her clients’ home at 10 p.m. She answers questions they may have about basic infant care and keeps an eye out for signs of postpartum depression. After bedtime, she may feed…
Insurers Fight State Laws Restricting Surprise Ambulance Bills
Nicole Silva’s 4-year-old daughter was headed to a relative’s house near the southern Colorado town of La Jara when a vehicle T-boned the car she was riding in. A cascade of ambulance rides ensued — a ground ambulance to a local hospital, an air ambulance to Denver, and another ground ambulance to Children’s Hospital Colorado….
Republican Megabill Will Mean Higher Health Costs for Many Americans
The tax and spending legislation the House voted to send to President Donald Trump’s desk on Thursday, enacting much of his domestic agenda, cuts federal health spending by about $1 trillion over a decade in ways that will jeopardize the physical and financial health of tens of millions of Americans. The bill, passed in both…
In a First, Trump and GOP-Led Congress Prepare To Swell Ranks of US Uninsured
CLARKESVILLE, Ga. — Last September, Alton Fry went to the doctor concerned he had high blood pressure. The trip would result in a prostate cancer diagnosis. So began the stress of trying to pay for tens of thousands of dollars in treatment — without health insurance. “I’ve never been sick in my life, so I’ve…
‘We Need To Keep Fighting’: HIV Activists Organize To Save Lives as Trump Guts Funding
GREENVILLE, Miss. — Cedric Sturdevant woke up with “a bit of depression” but made it to church, as he does every Sunday. In a few days, he would drive from Mississippi to Washington, D.C., to join HIV advocates at an April rally against the Trump administration’s actions. It had clawed back more than $11 billion…
KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: Supreme Court Upholds Bans on Gender-Affirming Care
The Host Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner @julierovner.bsky.social Read Julie’s stories. Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book “Health Care Politics and Policy A…
With Property Seized and Federal Funding Uncertain, Montana Asbestos Clinic Fights for Its Life
LIBBY, Mont. — Dozens of feet of tubing connect Gayla Benefield to her oxygen machine so she can walk from room to room inside her home on the picturesque Kootenai River, surrounded by the Cabinet Mountains. Like many people who live in this remote town about 80 miles from the U.S.-Canada border, the 81-year-old Benefield…