This email offers the latest from KFF Health News about Medicaid and the uninsured. To view all of our resources on these topics, visit the Medicaid or Uninsured news pages.

For People With Opioid Addiction,
Medicaid 'Unwinding' Raises the Stakes

(STEPHANIE COLOMBINI / WUSF)

By Kim Krisberg, Public Health Watch and Stephanie Colombini, WUSF

CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. — It was hard enough for Stephanie to get methadone treatment when she moved to Florida from Indiana last year. The nearest clinic was almost an hour's drive away and she couldn't drive herself. But at least she didn't have to worry about the cost of care.

As a parent with young children who was unable to find a job after moving, Stephanie qualified for Medicaid despite Florida's tight eligibility rules. The state insurance program for people with low incomes or disabilities covers the methadone she needs to reduce her opioid cravings and prevent withdrawal sickness.

For nearly a decade, methadone has helped her hold down a job and take care of her kids. "Just have a normal, really normal, life," said Stephanie, 39, who asked that her last name be withheld because her two youngest children don't know about her history of opioid use disorder or that she has been in treatment for opioid addiction. "All the things that some people take for granted."

So it was devastating for Stephanie when she visited her clinic in summer 2023 and learned she had been dropped from the state's Medicaid rolls as the program worked to redetermine the eligibility of each enrollee. Suddenly, her methadone prescription cost much more than she could afford. Read more here.

More on Medicaid

Montana Looks To Fast-Track Medicaid Access for Older Applicants
By Katheryn Houghton
As Montana's population ages, providers serving low-income seniors say more people aren't getting the care they need as they wait to get on Medicaid. Montana lawmakers are considering creating a shortcut to that care.

Elections

Vance Wrongly Blames Rural Hospital Closures on Immigrants in the Country Illegally
By Sam Whitehead
Experts disputed the claim by Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, noting that a range of other issues — from low reimbursement rates to declining patient use — combine to cause these facilities to shutter.

Presidential Election Puts Affordable Care Act Back in the Bull's-Eye
By Stephanie Armour
The outcome of the upcoming presidential election could affect the number of insured Americans, the fate of premium-reducing subsidies, the shape of Medicaid, and the cost of coverage for tens of millions of people.

California Continues Progressive Policies, With Restraint, in Divisive Election Year
By Don Thompson
This legislative cycle, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills affirming reproductive rights and mandating insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization, but the Democrat was reluctant to impose new regulations and frequently cited costs for vetoing bills.

Health and Race

Black Americans Still Suffer Worse Health. Here's Why There's So Little Progress.
By Fred Clasen-Kelly and Renuka Rayasam
The United States has made almost no progress in closing racial health disparities despite promises, research shows. The government, some critics argue, is often the underlying culprit.

Rural Health Care

Patients Are Relying on Lyft, Uber To Travel Far Distances to Medical Care
By Michael Scaturro
Uber and Lyft have become a critical part of the nation's infrastructure for transporting ailing people from their homes — even in rural areas — to medical care sites in major cities such as Atlanta.

'Dreamers' and ACA

'Dreamers' Can Enroll in ACA Plans This Year — But a Court Challenge Could Get in the Way
By Julie Appleby
Nineteen states are seeking to stall a Biden administration rule that would allow recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to enroll in ACA coverage and qualify for subsidies. DACA provides work authorization and temporary deportation protection to people brought to the U.S. as children without immigration paperwork.

KFF Health News on Air

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': LIVE From KFF: Health Care and the 2024 Election
The Affordable Care Act has not been a major issue in the 2024 campaign, but abortion and reproductive rights have been front and center. Those are just two of the dozens of health issues that could be profoundly affected by who is elected president and which party controls Congress in 2025. In this special live episode, Tamara Keith of NPR, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Cynthia Cox and Ashley Kirzinger of KFF join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss how health policy has affected the campaign and how the election results might affect health policy. Plus, the panel answers questions from the live audience.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Health of the Campaign
The 2024 presidential race is taking on a familiar tone — with Democrats accusing Republicans of wanting to ban abortion and repeal the Affordable Care Act and Republicans insisting they have no such plans. Voters will determine whom they believe. Meanwhile, for the second time in a month, a state judge overturned an abortion ban, but few expect the decision to settle the matter. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News' Lauren Sausser, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-Washington Post "Bill of the Month," about a teenage athlete whose needed surgery lacked a billing code.

Journalists Weigh In on Racial Trauma, Medicaid Expansion, and Opioid Settlements
KFF Health News and California Healthline staffers made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here's a collection of their appearances.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.