Esther Lau testifies on June 20 before the California Senate Judiciary Committee in support of Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo's bill allowing teens with Medi-Cal coverage to seek therapy without parental approval. Senate of the State of California hide caption
Activists protest the prices of prescription drug outside the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., in October 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption
A counselor, right, navigates a client through the Medicare signup process at the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Broward County in Sunrise, Florida. Medicare open enrollment season ends Dec. 7. Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images hide caption
People gathered at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. in July at a rally held by the Center for Medicare Advocacy. They protested denials and delays in private Medicare Advantage plans. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption
Teresa Cox-Bates and her husband John Bates, along with their kids Eli, Ava and Issac. Teresa says HealthySteps has helped her face her own childhood trauma and be a better parent. Kholood Eid for NPR hide caption
Even though she still qualified, Beverly Likens of Martin, Kentucky, lost her Medicaid just days before a needed surgery. It took a lawyer helping her to straighten out the red tape. Veronica Turner/KFF Health News hide caption
Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, questions Dr. Monica Bertagnolli during her confirmation hearing to become director of the National Institutes of Health. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images hide caption
Amanda Zurawski is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights against Texas. Here, she arrives at the Austin courthouse where a hearing was held on July 20. SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Community health worker Hector Gallegos and nurse Jose Lopez gather supplies to treat homeless patients in Modesto, California. Ryan Levi/Tradeoffs hide caption
A social worker prepares to roll out with an officer at Denver Police District 5 on December 21, 2017. Denver has been a model for other cities, including Philadelphia, trying to create new ways to respond to emergency calls involving mental illnesses or drug addictions. AAron Ontiveroz/AAron Ontiveroz/Denver Post via Getty Images hide caption
Last year, more than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses. Advocates and family members marked the tragic toll with cardboard grave markers on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 23. Aneri Pattani/KFF Health News hide caption
The "bun in the oven" idea goes all the way back 2,000+ years to Ancient Greece, along with some other ideas that discuss pregnancy as a fundamentally passive state, says the author of a new book. Andrew Bret Wallis/Getty Images hide caption
Open enrollment started Nov. 1 for Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplaces. Carmel Wroth/NPR hide caption
For months, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) refused to hold a hearing on Dr. Monica Bertagnolli's nomination to lead the National Institutes of Health. Sanders finally held that hearing last week. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption
Hanmei Hoffman and her husband Derrick Hoffman farm in Greeley, Colorado, where most of their produce is sold to schools. Here she's moving boxes of cucumbers from a refrigerated container and loading them onto a waiting truck to deliver them to schools along Colorado's Front Range. Rae Solomon/Harvest Public Media hide caption
Since 2010, 150 rural hospitals have closed in the United States. Hospital leaders say that Medicare Advantage pays slowly and sometimes not at all and that this could push more hospitals to the brink. Mint Images/Getty Images/Mint Images RF hide caption
Striking Kaiser Permanente workers on the picket line in front of a hospital in Vallejo, Calif., on Oct. 6. A deal to avert another strike came together Friday. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
At a signing ceremony in April, Michigan's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, officially repealed the state's 1931 abortion ban. The old statute was unenforceable after voters enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution last November. Now Whitmer is backing more bills to repeal abortion regulations involving paperwork and payment, but one Democratic lawmaker could jeopardize the vote. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio hide caption
DocGo, a New York-based medical company, has partnered with Dollar General to test whether patients will use urgent and primary care from a van parked in the retail giant's parking lots. Sarah Jane Tribble/KFF Health News hide caption
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House event on August 29 where they announced the list of the first 10 medicines targeted for Medicare negotiations. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption
An unidentified woman lies under a blanket in a cell in the Flathead County Detention Center in Kalispell, Montana. She has been held there for nearly a year after being found mentally unfit to stand trial on burglary charges, according to a jail official. Aaron Bolton/Montana Public Radio hide caption
Medical assistant Lakeisha Pratt (left,) and receptionist David Bowers prepare for a busy day at North Side Christian Health Center, a safety-net health center in Pittsburgh. Even a temporary government shutdown could disrupt funding and force the clinic to cut back. Sarah Boden / WESA hide caption
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and other members of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus could force a federal government shutdown Oct. 1. The National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and prevention would be affected. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption
Health advocates and community members gathered in Washington D.C. in mid September to push the Biden administration to take additional action on medical debt in an event hosted by nonprofit Community Catalyst. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Community Catalyst hide caption