Health Care

Funding cuts may undermine efforts to connect rural patients and specialists remotely

One rural Iowa hospital is trying to remotely connect its patients with more specialists from around the state. But cuts to federal funds might disrupt efforts like that.

Missouri faces the prospect of Medicaid cuts

The prospect of Medicaid cuts by Congress are sending a chill through Republican and Democratic-led states, where millions of people could lose medical coverage or states might have to cut other services.

As the VA plans more cuts, mental health care workers already feeling the impacts

Officials at the VA say they plan to cut tens of thousands more jobs. Providers there say cutting any jobs will compromise health care. Mental health workers say they're already feeling these impacts.

Tips to lower your medical bill

Just because a medical bill arrives in the mail doesn't mean you have to pay that exact price. NPR's Life Kit has tips to eliminate, reduce or negotiate a medical bill.

Production of cheaper alternatives to name brand obesity drugs will stop on Wednesday

Large-scale compounding facilities have to stop making tirzepatide, the main ingredient in blockbuster obesity drug Zepbound, Wednesday.

'An Arm and a Leg" podcast explores the cost of health care in the U.S.

Long wait times for appointments at your doctor? You can now become a 'member'

There's a critical shortage of primary care doctors across the country, and long wait times for appointments. In response, there are 12,000 "concierge" medical practices now operating in the U.S. that charge patients membership fees. But is this trend worsening the ongoing shortage of primary care doctors for everyone else?

Supreme Court to decide if states can strip Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funds

At issue is whether a state, in this case, South Carolina, can remove Planned Parenthood clinics from its state Medicaid program, even though Medicaid funds cannot generally be used to fund abortions.