Xavier Becerra, President Biden's nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, contended with critics of abortion rights on the first day of his confirmation hearings Tuesday. Sarah Silbiger/POOL/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Dr. Rochelle Walensky likens the call she got from the Biden team, asking her to lead the CDC amid a pandemic, to a hospital alarm that goes off when a patient's heart has stopped. "I got called during a code," she says. "And when you get called during a code, your job is to be there to help." Susan Walsh/AP hide caption
The federal health insurance exchange, HealthCare.gov, has reopened until May 15 for new sign-ups; you can also switch to a different health plan on the exchange. But some states that run their own health insurance marketplaces have different rules. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says President Biden told him from the outset: "We're going to make some mistakes along the way. We're going to stumble a bit. And when that happens, we're not going to blame anybody. We're just going to fix it." "Boy, was that refreshing," Fauci says. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption
The nearly 5,600-page legislative package that Congress passed in December includes new laws regarding aid to rural hospitals, funds for training more physicians, modest improvements in mental health care parity, and medical bill transparency. Trevor Carpenter/Getty Images hide caption
Once the rules for implementing it are worked out, a bill signed into federal law in December will eliminate the required five-month waiting period for diagnosed ALS patients to begin disability benefits, enabling quicker Medicare coverage as well. LumiNola/Getty Images hide caption
President-elect Joe Biden has released a $1.9 trillion proposal to help control the pandemic and bring economic relief to Americans. Matt Slocum/AP hide caption
Seema Verma, chief administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, says the changes in the way Medicaid is funded and regulated in Tennessee "could be a national model moving forward." Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images hide caption
When President-elect Joe Biden takes office, making changes to the U.S. health care system through the executive branch will require painstaking work. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption
Hospitals must now post on their websites, in a consumer-friendly format, the specific costs for 300 common and "shoppable" services, such as having a baby, getting a joint replacement, having a hernia repaired or undergoing a diagnostic brain scan. FS Productions/Tetra images RF/Getty Images hide caption
Nerissa Black works as a telemetry nurse at the Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia, Calif. Since early December, she's been tasked with caring for six critically ill patients per shift instead of four. Nerissa Black hide caption
Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, greets a supporter with an elbow bump at a drive-through event to pick up yard signs last month in Alpharetta, Ga. Ossoff is in a runoff with Republican David Perdue, the incumbent, for the U.S. Senate. Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images hide caption
A proposed rule could cause headaches and extra work for the successor of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, seen with President Trump in November. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Outside City Hall on the evening of a vote on a proposed mask order in Washington, Mo., residents Ali and Duncan Whittington protest against the order, along with their 4-year-old daughter. "I'm here because I feel my freedom is being violated," Ali says. Sara Shipley Hiles/KHN hide caption
Health care costs — including for things such as an insulin kit, for instance — can be catastrophically high for millions of Americans, even those with health insurance, a study finds. Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
President-elect Joe Biden's plan to lower the eligibility age for Medicare is popular among voters but is expected to face strong opposition on Capitol Hill. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
Joe Biden rallied supporters Wednesday, Nov. 4, in Wilmington, Del. Though he is now U.S. president-elect, Biden will have to await outcomes of January run-off races in the Senate to know much support he's likely to get there for his health care agenda. Paul Sancya/AP hide caption
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett's first opportunity to weigh in on abortion and contraception could come as early as this week, as the high court decides whether to take up a Mississippi case. Demetrius Freeman/Bloomberg/Getty Images hide caption
People stand in line for early voting at the John F. Kennedy Library on Oct. 27 in Hialeah, Fla. Lynne Sladky/AP hide caption
Health care activists rallied in front of the U.S. Capitol on March 22, 2017, to protest Republican efforts that would have dismantled the Affordable Care Act and capped federal payments for Medicaid patients. The Republican congressional bills, part of the party's "repeal and replace" push in 2017, were eventually defeated. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has detailed plans to combat the coronavirus crisis. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption
President Trump has promised at campaign rallies to protect patients with preexisting conditions, but he has not explained how he plans to do that. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption
President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have widely divergent views on health care issues. Patrick Semansky/AP hide caption