Medicare’s AI Push Snarls Patients and Doctors in Errors and Delays
Medicare has launched the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction Model (WISeR), an AI‑driven prior‑authorization pilot covering 13 services such as epidurals and kyphoplasties in six states. Early reports from Oklahoma, Arizona, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Washington describe confusion, denied claims, long wait times and payment backlogs that force patients like Bill Curry to make extra trips. Vendors claim the system approves 88% of eligible requests within 72 hours, yet providers experience weeks‑long delays and AI “hallucination” errors. The rollout, announced in June 2025 and activated in January, is being criticized for its speed and potential to expand across Medicare.
Readers Curse Medical Debt and Defend Spelling Therapy
Letters to the editor published by KFF Health News spotlight several pressing health‑care issues. Readers condemn aggressive medical‑debt collection, especially by hospitals participating in the 340B drug‑pricing program, and call for congressional action. Advocates for spelling therapy rebuke media portrayals...
Democrats Seek To Spotlight Rising Health Costs by Forcing Vote on Trump Regulation
Senate Democrats plan to invoke the Congressional Review Act to overturn a Trump administration rule that would tighten ACA enrollment verification and allow plans with higher out‑of‑pocket limits. The rule could push up to 2 million people off Affordable Care Act...
Long-Awaited Rule Aims To Boost ACA Choices While Embracing Higher Deductibles
The CMS final rule for the 2027‑2028 ACA marketplace introduces non‑network plans and permits higher out‑of‑pocket maximums for bronze and catastrophic policies, aiming to broaden consumer choice and lower premiums. Implementation will cost roughly $1.3 billion a year and could shave...
FDA’s Greenlight of Old Chemical Offers Chance To Restore Faith in Sunscreen
The FDA approved the UV filter bemotrizinol (BEMT) on June 9, adding it to the agency’s GRASE list after two decades of review and decades of use in Europe. The ingredient provides broad‑spectrum UVA/UVB protection while delivering a lighter, less visible...
Upcoming Billing Change Could Make Pregnancy Pricier
Starting in January, the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG) and the AMA will replace the longstanding bundled maternity payment with a set of fee‑for‑service codes that bill each prenatal, delivery and postpartum service separately. The new codes aim...
In a Vaccine-Skeptical California County, a Potential Playbook To Contain Measles
Shasta County, a conservative region of northern California, identified its first measles case in late January and launched an aggressive containment effort. Public health officials traced nine cases, contacted more than 600 potential exposures across venues like Costco and a...
Readers Address Drugged Driving, Suicide Prevention, Worker Shortages
Letters to the editor in KFF Health News spotlight five pressing policy debates: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defends its Trump‑era funding for drug‑impairment research; a public‑health scholar challenges the causal link between poverty and rising suicide rates despite...
Colorado Charts Its Own Course on Vaccines Amid Federal Pullback
Colorado enacted a law allowing the state to source vaccines for Medicaid and other programs based on recommendations from national medical societies rather than CDC guidance. The legislation also authorizes pharmacists to prescribe and administer vaccines and strengthens legal protections...
Minnesota Lawmaker Proposes Using Hospital Tax To Fill Charity Care Gap
Minnesota Rep. Steve Elkins introduced legislation to redirect the state’s 1.56% hospital tax revenue—about $250 million annually—back to hospitals to boost charity care, arguing it roughly equals the $241 million spent on such care in 2024. The move follows a Star Tribune‑KFF...
Trump Demands Medicaid Data for Deportation. Some States Go a Step Further.
Republican‑led states are expanding federal immigration enforcement by requiring their public health agencies to report Medicaid recipients whose legal status is doubtful. North Carolina joined Indiana, Louisiana, Montana and Wyoming in passing laws that flag Medicaid users to the Department...
License To Deliver: Some Midwives Break the Law To Assist With Home Births
In Georgia, certified professional midwives (CPMs) who attend home births operate illegally, facing cease‑and‑desist letters or criminal charges. Demand for home births has surged, up 72% in the state and 42% nationwide since 2020, prompting advocates to push for licensing...
Trump and Kennedy Seek To Relax Safeguards for AI Healthcare Tools
The Health and Human Services office, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has proposed rolling back user‑centered testing and AI‑transparency rules for electronic health‑record (EHR) systems, including AI‑driven scribe tools. Clinicians like Kaiser Permanente therapist Paul Boyer report that while...
Watch: 8 Health Insurance Terms You Should Know
Health insurance terminology can be confusing for U.S. consumers, prompting KFF Health News to publish a concise guide covering eight essential terms. The article clarifies the distinction between deductibles and out-of‑pocket limits, defines copays and coinsurance, and highlights how prior...
Journalists Shed Light on Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak and a Crisis in the Nation’s ERs
Public health journalist Céline Gounder highlighted a hantavirus outbreak aboard a transatlantic cruise ship across PBS NewsHour, Fox LiveNow, CBS Mornings, and NPR’s Morning Edition in early May. Simultaneously, KFF senior editor Elisabeth Rosenthal warned that emergency‑room boarding delays are...