Author: Scott Welch
When Virginia Guevara moved into a studio apartment in California’s Orange County in 2024 after nearly a decade of homelessness, she needed far more than a roof and a bed. Scattered visits to free clinics notwithstanding, Guevara hadn’t had a full medical checkup in years. She required dental work. She wanted to start looking for ...
Red meat has reentered the national health conversation thanks to sweeping changes to federal diet guidelines released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). President Donald Trump’s administration last week unveiled a new upside-down food pyramid as part of the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. It emphasizes ...
As Congress debates whether to extend the temporary federal subsidies that have helped millions of Americans buy health coverage, a crucial underlying reality is sometimes overlooked: Those subsidies are merely a band-aid covering the often unaffordable cost of health care. California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and five other states have set caps on health care spending in a bid to rein ...
President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled Monday hundreds of millions of dollars each state will receive this fiscal year as part of a $50 billion rural health fund baked into Republicans’ “big, beautiful” law. The five-year Rural Health Transformation Program — authorized under GOP lawmakers’ mega tax and spending cut package Trump signed into law in July — ...
While health authority officials updated state lawmakers on Tuesday on how the state will use $180 million in federal rural hospital funding provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill, they’re also trying to gauge how the allocation compares to the projected loss in funds rural Nevada will face due to pending Medicaid cuts scheduled go into ...
Members of the U.S. House today voted 221-205 to bring an Affordable Care Act health insurance premium subsidy bill resolution up on the House floor, against the wishes of Republican House leaders. The resolution could lead to floor consideration of an ACA premium subsidy bill. The underlying bill could keep the high ACA premium subsidy ...
The rapid rise in health care costs is forcing many Americans to make tough choices. Nearly 6 in 10 patients have skipped or delayed medical care because of the cost, and the same percentage has had difficulty paying a medical bill in full or on time, a new survey from the health care finance company ...
The Senate is staring down multiple flash points in the coming months as lawmakers head into a year colored by electoral politics but with plenty of policy fights on the horizon. Lawmakers wrapped up a grueling year by completing some of their pre-holiday agenda, including passing the annual National Defense Authorization Act and confirming scores of nominees. ...
In 2025 speaking with hundreds of employers and consultants, conversations were often upbeat and optimistic. But beneath that optimism, there’s a growing frustration that can’t be ignored. Year after year, health care costs continue to climb at record rates.
In 2013, before the Affordable Care Act helped millions get health insurance, California’s Placer County provided limited health care to some 3,400 uninsured residents who couldn’t afford to see a doctor. For several years, that number has been zero in the predominantly white, largely rural county stretching from Sacramento’s eastern suburbs to the shores of ...