Federal subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans are set to shrink next year. Many shoppers are expected to be priced out, leaving those who stay with higher premiums. The dynamic that threatens to leave markets with fewer and more expensive options as insurers exit, too. How did we get here?
Podcast
Posted inMental Health
This Federal Experiment Is Pouring Money into Mental Hospitals. Will It Work?
As states struggle to meet the needs of people with serious mental illness, some are signing on to a federal pilot project that’s pouring new funding into institutional care.
Posted inInsurance
The Medicaid Policy Red and Blue States Agree On
More than half of states — from deep blue California to solidly red Louisiana — want to bring Medicaid behind bars in hopes of saving the lives of people as they leave jail and prison.
Posted inMental Health
One Scientist’s Mission to Change How We Prevent Overdoses
A leading addiction expert explains how he’s driven by the memory of a friend who died, and why he believes giving data on the drug supply to people on the street is more important than using it to inform national drug policy.
Posted inInsurance
A Rural Hospital in Kentucky Prepares for Medicaid Losses
Harrison Memorial Hospital in Cynthiana is already taking a hard look at its budget in light of Republican cuts to Medicaid.
Posted inHealth Equity
What It’s Like to Be Transgender in Trump’s America
How the federal government has restricted health care access for transgender Americans, and how those shifts in policy and rhetoric are changing life for one Alabama family.
Posted inInsurance
As the Big Beautiful Bill Becomes Law, States Face a ‘Daunting’ Rollout
North Carolina’s former health secretary explains the heavy lift and hard choices ahead of states as they rush to put Republicans’ new health reforms in place.
Posted inHealth Law
How Two Supreme Court Rulings Affect the ACA, Planned Parenthood and the Future of Preventive Care
Health law expert Katie Keith helps us break down what a pair of big court decisions mean for RFK Jr.’s power and for people’s access to abortion, cancer screening and many other kinds of care.
Posted inInsurance
Unpacking the Health Impacts of Republicans’ ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
On June 18, Tradeoffs moderated an online event with economists and doctors examining why this legislation could cost so many people their health coverage — or even their lives.
Posted inPublic Health
Trump’s Policies Could Undermine the Fight to End America’s HIV Epidemic
The White House is asking Congress to sharply roll back federal spending on HIV prevention, a reversal from President Trump’s first term, when he championed investment to end the epidemic in America within a decade.