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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), known as Congress’s “scorekeeper,” projects federal spending and revenues over the next decade and cost estimates of proposed legislation are measured against those projections. Those projections include spending on major federal programs, such as Medicaid. CBO also typically releases a detailed baseline for federal spending on Medicaid that includes estimates of enrollment by eligibility group and spending by service category. The 2025 reconciliation law, signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025, made major changes to federal revenues and spending, with CBO estimating the new law would reduce federal spending on Medicaid by…

Inpatient treatment for mental health and substance use accounted for 10% of total commercial inpatient stays in 2023 (or 32 per 10,000 enrollees). The average (mean) total inpatient cost (including the share paid by the insurer and the share paid by the patient) for a mental health admission was $15,900 and for a substance use admission was $15,500.Using claims data from the 2023 Merative MarketScan Commercial Claims Database, this Peterson-KFF analysis describes the most common diagnoses for inpatient treatment and total associated costs, including patients’ out-of-pocket share. This brief is available through the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, an online information…

In recent years, federal payments to Medicare Advantage plans, and how they are adjusted for enrollee health status, have come under increased scrutiny. Medicare Advantage plans receive a capitated amount for each enrollee, and these payments are “risk adjusted” based on the diagnosis codes reported by the insurer to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for each enrollee. Plans receive higher payments for enrollees who are sicker and expected to have higher health care spending, and lower payments for enrollees who are healthier and expected to have lower health care spending. The purpose of this risk adjustment is…

Health workers contain the highly fatal Marburg virus during an outbreak. An outbreak of Marburg, a highly infectious haemorrhagic fever, has been reported in western Uganda. The outbreak was discovered after a child died, according to Reuters, while Stat reports that two cases of Marburg were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) this week. Uganda is already trying to contain an outbreak of Ebola Bundibugyo Virus, which is also a viral haemorrhagic fever. The US Embassy in Uganda noted reports of Marburg on Monday and urged caution. The US issued a level four “do not travel” alert for Uganda…

The Medicare Advantage quality bonus program, established by the Affordable Care Act, increases Medicare payments to Medicare Advantage plans that qualify by having a star rating of 4 or above (on a five-star rating system). (See the KFF brief on Medicare Advantage payments for more detail.) Plans may, but are not required to, use the increase in payments to cover the cost of supplemental benefits, including reduced cost sharing, extra benefits not covered by traditional Medicare (e.g., vision, hearing and dental), lowering Part B premiums, and/or subsidizing Part D prescription drug coverage. The star ratings are intended to help consumers…

Climate change is one of the WHO’s top six health priorities, but there are few funds to address it. On the day France recorded its hottest temperature on record, a coalition of health ministers, officials and advocates huddled in a sweaty, half-full auditorium in Paris to take stock of a campaign they have spent a decade waging: the fight to put human health at the centre of the world’s response to climate change. The meeting was a high-level gathering of the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH), the WHO-hosted network of 106 countries launched at COP26 in…

Thousands more people at risk from a virus which causes pneumonia and other serious lung infections will be able to get vital protection on the NHS this winter. From September, all adults aged 65-74 who are living with a chronic respiratory condition or who have a suppressed immune system will be offered the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, as the NHS expands its life-saving programme to protect those who are most vulnerable. This includes thousands of people living with chronic asthma, bronchitis or cystic fibrosis or who have weakened immune systems caused by other conditions (such as diabetes or blood…

One issue will decide Steven Cohen’s vote for Nevada governor this fall: Which candidate can best protect him from getting kicked off Medicaid? Cohen is a 38-year-old Las Vegas resident with autism and has dual enrollment in Medicaid and Medicare. He said he’s very concerned that he could lose his Medicaid coverage once work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks take effect in January, under congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act. “When you’re going to some providers, notably mental health, once a month, or in the case of one provider, a couple of times a week, those copays quickly…

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.” QUINCY, Calif. — When Taletha Washburn and the staff at Plumas Charter School first heard that California wanted to help schools treat more kids struggling with mental health, it felt like a well-timed remedy for a rural community where families struggle to find care. Getting the program funding up and running, however, has proved difficult. Employees spent two years “spinning our wheels,” attending state-led webinars, filling out countless forms, and researching electronic health record systems…

Robert F Kennedy Jr US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has broadened the terms of the country’s vaccine advisory committee in an apparent move to circumvent a judge’s ruling that his appointees lacked the requisite experience to serve as the country’s immunisation advisors. The new charter for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was published on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website last week. Instead of requiring vaccine-related expertise, the new terms simply require that “members shall collectively represent a balanced range of scientific, clinical, and public health expertise relevant to the committee’s mission”.  A…

Agbonlahor, O., DeJarnett, N., Hart, J. L., Bhatnagar, A., McLeish, A. C., & Walker, K. L. (2024). Racial/Ethnic discrimination and cardiometabolic diseases: A systematic review. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 11(2), 783–807. Allen, A. M., Thomas, M. D., Michaels, E. K., Reeves, A. N., Okoye, U., Price, M. M., Hasson, R. E., Syme, S. L., & Chae, D. H. (2019). Racial discrimination, educational attainment, and biological dysregulation among midlife African American women. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 99, 225–235. Allen, A. M., Wang, Y., Chae, D. H., Price, M. M., Powell, W., Steed, T. C., Rose Black, A., Dhabhar, F. S., Marquez‐Magaña,…

Cecilia Vaca Jones, Executive Director of Breathe Cities. LONDON – “Cleaner air is possible when there’s political will,” said Cecilia Vaca Jones, executive director of Breathe Cities, told a panel during London Climate Action Week. Britain’s capital is the poster child for that statement. In 2019, less than a decade after more stringent national air quality targets were first introduced, some experts estimated it could take the city 193 years to meet the target to reduce some pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which both harms lung development and is a risk factor in asthma.  But five years later, that…

Europe’s air quality has improved substantially since 2015. Decades of environmental policies, advances in technology, and cleaner approaches to industry and transportation in Europe have paid off, resulting in a steady decrease in the emission of major air pollutants.  Despite the challenge of wildfires, Europe’s air quality improved in 2025, according to the latest data released by Copernicus, the European Union’s (EU) Earth Observation unit.  “Europe continues to make steady progress in improving air quality thanks to sustained efforts to reduce emissions from transport, industry, residential heating, and other key sectors,” said Laurence Rouil, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring…

The Business of Health with Chip Kahn June 30, 2026 Video About this Episode Episode 10, AI Series: Chip talks with Dr. Toyin Ajayi, co-founder and CEO of Cityblock Health, which delivers value-based care to more than 100,000 Medicaid and dual-eligible members across ten states, many of them people of color managing chronic conditions. [AB1.1][AB1.2][MR1.3][AB1.4]Ajayi makes a pointed case: Roughly 60 percent of health care AI investment goes to billing, coding, and risk adjustment — making sure someone gets paid — while only a fraction goes to delivering care. If we continue to concentrate AI there, she warns, it will…

It’s tick season, possibly the worst in a decade. More and more Americans are being exposed to these parasites as climate change expands the range where they can survive. That means more people are also exposed to the bevy of health conditions they can cause, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, the alpha-gal-triggered red meat allergy, and, most common of all, Lyme disease. For the latter, there may be some additional protection on the horizon. Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Valneva announced this spring they plan to seek regulatory approval for a vaccine to protect against Lyme disease. A previous vaccine…

People who don’t have a trusted health care provider are more likely than people with one to believe or lean toward believing several common myths about vaccines, a new KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust reveals. Similarly, people who use social media or artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots at least weekly for health information are more likely than those who don’t to endorse these false vaccine claims. One example: Among adults who say they do not have a doctor or other health provider they trust to answer questions about their health, about 4 in 10 (39%) incorrectly believe that…