Massive cuts to medical research and Medicaid. Waves of layoffs across the Department of Health and Human Services. Ongoing uncertainty around federal subsidies to buy health insurance on Affordable Care Act marketplaces. 2025 has been a rough year for federal health programs.
But meanwhile, in the states, there were some wins for health care access. “An Arm and a Leg” host Dan Weissmann examines how lawmakers from across the political spectrum accomplished meaningful reforms. This episode takes listeners to Nebraska, which instituted aggressive new restrictions on prior authorization, and Virginia, where lawmakers banned wage garnishment and capped interest rates for certain medical debts.
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This is original content from KFF Health News, 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. It is reprinted here with permission.
