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A new KFF analysis finds that 3.8 million Medicare beneficiaries met the criteria to be eligible for the new Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, based on claims data from 2023. The temporary 18-month program, launching on July 1 and running through December 2027, will provide coverage of three GLP-1s (Wegovy, Zepbound, and Foundayo) used for weight reduction and weight management to eligible beneficiaries who are enrolled in Medicare Part D. The total cost to the federal government of the program will depend in part on what share of eligible beneficiaries participate, how quickly they take up coverage, and how many prescriptions each…

On July 1, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will roll out a new, temporary program covering GLP-1s for obesity for people with Medicare. The program, known as the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, provides coverage of GLP-1s used for weight reduction and weight management to eligible beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Part D, although the program will operate outside of the Part D benefit and payment system. Under the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, eligible beneficiaries can get Medicare coverage of GLP-1s for obesity for a $50 monthly copayment, which will not count towards the Part D deductible or out-of-pocket spending…

Health staff at an Ebola treatment centre at Elikya hospital in Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a fact: a new pandemic threat is not a question of if, but when. Armed with this knowledge, all leaders must ask themselves: Are we ready, and what more must be done to protect our people and avoid an Ebola- or COVID-sized catastrophe? Over the last decade, outbreak and pandemic monitoring bodies and tools have been activated in the wake of crises. Many perform much-needed functions. But the approach has led to a fragmented system characterised by gaps and overlaps. Important…

Editorial Note: Originally published on January 13, 2026, this resource will be updated as needed, most recently on June 29, 2026, to reflect additional developments. On September 18, 2025, the U.S. government (USG) released its new America First Global Health Strategy, which details how the U.S. will engage in global health efforts moving forward. As part of this new strategy, the U.S. has announced that it will be establishing bilateral health cooperation agreements with countries that receive U.S. global health assistance. These agreements, or Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), between the U.S. and partner countries represent five-year plans (for the period…

An aerial image of the earthquake damage. The official death toll from Venezuela’s twin earthquakes last week was 1,450 by Sunday, but over 50,000 people are still missing, and hopes of reaching them alive are fading fast. The first 72 hours are critical for earthquake rescue efforts before injuries, suffocation and dehydration take their toll, according to rescue experts. “Critical infrastructure remains severely disrupted, including electricity, water, telecommunications, and transport, with Maiquetía International Airport still closed due to damage. Hospitals continue to operate under mass casualty protocols, and shelters have been established for displaced families,” the UN Office for the…

Alea Bates wasn’t ready to leave Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s main hospital four days after a stranger shot her seven times at close range. Miraculously, hospital records show, none of the bullets damaged her internal organs. But after surgery, Bates said, she couldn’t get out of bed or walk to the bathroom without help. She complained of intense pain radiating down her left leg, weakness in her knee, and a numbing sensation below it, according to hospital records. Bates, who worked as an Uber Eats driver, didn’t have the strength to drive a car. Still, Bates said, the hospital told her…

LADUE, Mo. — Over four consecutive days in January, Margaret Hvatum ran a 5K, a 10K, a half-marathon, and a full marathon. The 70-year-old covered a combined distance that’s nearly equivalent to running the length of Manhattan four times.  By the end of the month, she was in a hospital bed. Hvatum, a part-time computer science professor, has a weakened immune system due to a rare condition known as primary immunodeficiency, which makes it difficult for her body to fight infections. Prior to her 2005 diagnosis, she had four bouts of shingles, a painful rash caused by a virus. For…

Life-saving work of The Global Fund: distribution of anti-malarial nets, along with drugs for malaria, HIV and TB, has been a calling card since its foundation. As the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria heads into a secretive but highly contentious election of a new Executive Director, the names of three candidates who are reportedly on the shortlist, all US citizens, have surfaced. They include former Global Fund Executive Director Mark Dybul, former Trump appointee William Steiger and a former NYC public health official, Ashwin Vasan.  Whoever emerges victorious from the current election must immediately confront a $5.36…

Note: The data presented below are updated monthly as new Medicaid/CHIP enrollment data become available. This tracker presents the most recent data on monthly Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment reported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as part of the Performance Indicator Project. It includes data for Medicaid and CHIP and reports enrollment data for children and adults. The data are generally the most recent data available and are useful for reporting trends in Medicaid enrollment. However, the data only capture full-benefit enrollees, excluding those who receive limited benefits, such as those who receive…

The influx of people, equipment and supplies needed to respond to the Ebola virus outbreak is overwhelming for communities. Treatment tents are burning in Ituri, burial teams are facing hostility, and suspected patients are fleeing quarantine centres, disappearing into communities. These heartbreaking incidents are often described as obstacles to controlling the current Ebola outbreak. For the dedicated frontline workers risking their lives every day to contain the virus, these challenges are deeply frustrating. But as we reflect on how to best support these heroic efforts, we must ask a difficult question: why are people resisting those who are working so…

(Oona Zenda/KFF Health News) A professional in-home caregiver lost her coverage for Zepbound. She soon realized getting it back was not straightforward. “I was like: ‘What am I going to do? Hopefully I can just continue keeping this weight off.’” — Deborah Finley, 50, of Lodi, California Deborah Finley, 50, of Lodi, California, said her weight started to worry her during the early days of covid. That’s when she noticed a lot of the people who were on ventilators or dying had something in common: obesity. “It was a scary time,” she said. As a single mom, she was afraid…

Every state, along with Washington, D.C., requires children to obtain certain vaccinations before they can attend school or childcare. These mandates date back decades, and many public health experts consider them a foundational defense against infectious disease. Since the summer of 2025, Florida leaders have aimed to make the state the first to drop some of those vaccine mandates. The anti-vaccine rhetoric has often been positioned as a push for “medical freedom.” Related efforts to revise laws and regulations rumbled along at the state health department and in the legislature for months. But by the end of April, the fight…

A major Medicare Advantage company has paid the government more than $342 million to help settle allegations that it overcharged the federal healthcare program for years. Elevance Health, which covers about 2 million people on Medicare, sent the money to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services via wire transfer on May 27, court records show. Government lawyers disclosed the payment in a June 22 court filing. In an email to CMS staff, Elevance described the money as a “remittance of the total overpayment amount” estimated by government audits, court records show. Company spokesperson Leslie Porras told KFF Health News…

The opening of the fourth Inter-parliamentary Conference on Family, Sovereignty and Values in Ghana.  Human rights and legal experts have urged African governments not to buy into a draft charter being incubated by conservatives that will undermine the rights of women and girls. Conflict, repressive laws and harmful cultural and religious practices conspire to undermine the health and safety of African women, girls and sexual minorities. Now, one of the few continental treaties that protects women’s rights and promotes gender equality – known as the Maputo Protocol – is under threat from a conservative alliance with its roots in the…

Nearly 2,000 people unknowingly living with HIV have been diagnosed by a pioneering NHS programme, which tests anyone needing a blood test in A&E, saving lives and preventing new infections, shows new data. Under the first-of-its kind, large scale programme, adults in need of a blood test in A&E in 88 areas of England with the highest rates of HIV are routinely tested for the virus alongside hepatitis B and C unless they opt out. Latest NHS data shows that 1,900 previously undiagnosed cases of HIV have now been identified by the programme since it began in April 2022. If…

Wildfires have evolved into a year-long threat for the European region. As Europe sweats through the hottest week on record for June, the continent faces the looming spectre of wildfires – just one year after last year’s deadly events in Turkiye and Southern Europe. But wildfire season is no longer episodic. It has evolved into a year-long threat, fueled by a warmer climate and its side effects.  Increased temperatures, prolonged droughts and unpredictable weather patterns are creating more fire-prone conditions, and countries around the world are feeling the consequences, whether they are in the direct path of fires or thousands…