A drumming circle at the Friendship House in San Francisco. Friendship House is a Native-led recovery treatment program that provides culturally relevant care. San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images hide caption
Policy-ish : Shots - Health News Who gets what sort of care often boils down to big decisions about policy. Find the latest on the federal health overhaul, the intersection of government regulation and health, and the battle to contain costs.
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Both candidates have health care records, but Donald Trump does not talk about his often on the campaign trail. VCG/Getty Images hide caption
Samantha and Ariane Buck have struggled with medical debt for years, making it difficult at times to provide for their children. A ballot measure in their state of Arizona to cap interest rates on medical debt passed overwhelmingly, fueled by support from Democrats and Republicans. Ash Ponders for KFF Health News hide caption
Rep. Leigh Finke, Minnesota's first openly trans legislator, arrives to cheers from supporters just before before the Minnesota Senate introduced the trans refuge bill at the state capitol building in Saint Paul in April 2023. Transgender rights may come up in the vice presidential debate on Tuesday. Stephen Maturen/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
The Maryland State House on May 11, 2023, in Annapolis, MD. Brian Witte/AP hide caption
Veronica, 17, drove with her mother nearly four hours from her home in Iowa to visit a doctor in Minneapolis in September. Iowa banned gender-affirming care for youth in March 2023.
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Kentucky state Sen. Karen Berg (D-Louisville), is consoled by colleagues after SB 150 passed the Senate, 29-6, at the Kentucky state Capitol in Frankfort on Feb. 16, 2023. Berg's transgender son died by suicide in December 2022. Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader/Tribune News Service via Getty Images hide caption
Some employers are giving workers contributions to buy their own health care plans on the individual marketplace. It can mean a better plan option for some, though critics note it moves the complex process of choosing a good plan from staff to employees. ljubaphoto/Getty Images/E+ hide caption
Ravi Coutinho took a picture of himself on May 22, 2023, hoping to mark the beginning of his recovery from alcohol use disorder. Webber Coutinho family hide caption
A "ghost network" is when a health plan lists providers in its network who are not actually available. The problem is rampant in mental health care, reporting by ProPublica shows. Stone RF/PM Images/Getty Images hide caption
Anti-abortion protesters march past the Planned Parenthood in Bloomington, Ind., after the Rally for Life march in January 2023. The facility offers birth control and testing for sexually transmitted diseases now that abortion is banned in Indiana. Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks at the Republican National Convention in July. She said Arkansas does not need "a duplicative program" to address its maternal mortality problems. Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images hide caption
Every state but Arkansas has moved to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage
Natalie and her child at their home in Iowa, a state that bans abortion after six weeks gestation. In the two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned, 14 states have enacted abortion bans. Kathryn Gamble for NPR hide caption
An abortion can affect a woman’s financial future -- and the broader economy
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kody Kinsley discusses the impact of Medicaid expansion on prescriptions during a news conference at the North Carolina Executive Mansion in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday, July 12, 2024. When the state expanded access to Medicaid in December, more than 500,000 residents gained access to health coverage. Makiya Seminera/AP hide caption
Judith Dambowic, a multiple myeloma patient, on her porch in Oakland, CA, right before shaving her head in preparation for a stem cell transplant in May. Dambowic wanted California to pass a law regulating Medigap insurance policies. The reform, which ultimately failed, would have made it easier for her to switch her coverage from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare.
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Abortion rights and other health care issues were part of Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign stump speech in Fayetteville, N.C., on Thursday — three days before Biden dropped out of the race. Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption
Rogue health insurance agents have been switching people into Affordable Care Act plans without their knowledge. Social media ads that falsely promise people money for groceries are part of the scheme, a lawsuit says. Sarayut Thaneerat/Getty Images hide caption
Family members often provide caregiving for people with dementia and it can take a financial and emotional toll. Ocskaymark/iStockphoto/Getty Images hide caption
In just a few years, half of all states passed bans on trans health care for kids
Excess sound from airplanes or freeways or equipment can affect health. Kevin Carter/Getty Images hide caption
U.S. Supreme Court Police officers put up barricades to separate anti-abortion activists from abortion rights activists during a demonstration in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on June 24, 2024. JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Dr. Stephanie Arnold, who prefers bright-colored clothes instead of a white coat, meets with a patient who needs a pelvic exam. The family medicine clinic Arnold founded offers reproductive health care, including abortion, alongside all kinds of other care. “It’s a little bit of everything, which is very typical of family medicine,” she says. Elissa Nadworny/NPR hide caption