Latest Stories By Julie Appleby

President Donald Trump’s early actions on health care signal his likely intention to wipe away some Biden-era programs to lower drug costs and expand coverage under public insurance programs. The orders he issued soon after reentering the White House have policymakers, health care executives, and patient advocates trying to read the tea leaves to determine […]

Throughout Joe Biden’s presidency, he leaned on the outspoken former prosecutor and senator he selected as his vice president, Kamala Harris, to be the White House’s voice of unflinching support for reproductive health rights. Now, as Democrats rebuild their presidential ticket just a few months before Election Day, Harris would widely be expected to take […]

Former Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton spoke out last week on NBC’s “Today” show about what she said was a rare pneumonia that almost killed her and resulted in an expensive, monthlong hospital stay. It was a shocking reveal. One key comment jumped out for people who follow health policy: Retton said she was uninsured, […]

It’s winter, that cozy season that brings crackling fireplaces, indoor gatherings — and a wave of respiratory illness. Nearly four years since the pandemic emerged, people are growing weary of dealing with it, but the virus is not done with us. Nationally, a sharp uptick in emergency room visits and hospitalizations for COVID-19, influenza, and […]

Forget “repeal and replace,” an oft-repeated Republican rallying cry against the Affordable Care Act. House Republicans have advanced a package of bills that could reduce health insurance costs for certain businesses and consumers, partly by rolling back some consumer protections. Rather than outright repeal, however, the subtler effort could allow more employers to bypass the […]

Time is running out for free-to-consumer COVID-19 vaccines, at-home test kits, and even some treatments. The White House announced this month that the national public health emergency, first declared in early 2020 in response to the pandemic, is set to expire May 11. When it ends, so will many of the policies designed to combat the virus’s […]

Will a health plan pay for an abortion now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade? Even before the June 24 ruling, insurance coverage for abortion varied widely. Now the issue is even more complex as states set varying rules — about half are expected to limit or ban abortion in almost all circumstances. […]

The role that the federal government plays in containing future epidemics will hinge on the outcome of an appeal of this week’s court ruling that overturned the mask mandate for travelers on airlines, trains, and the nation’s mass transit systems. A federal court judge in Florida said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had […]

  Julie Ann Justo, an infectious disease clinical pharmacist for a South Carolina hospital system, hoped Christmas week would finally be the time her family could safely gather for a reunion. Before the celebration, family members who were eligible were vaccinated and boosted. They quarantined and used masks in the days leading up to the […]

The politicization of COVID vaccines — and, well, just about everything else having to do with the pandemic — has led to confusion, if not utter fatigue. And some posts circulating on social media — this slickly edited piece on YouTube, for example — seem to build on these feelings, attempting to cast doubt on […]

Even as the pace of vaccination against COVID-19 has steadily accelerated — hitting an average of 1.3 million doses a day in the last days of January — the frustration felt by many of those unable to secure an appointment hasn’t waned. Why, they wonder, can’t I get one if 100 million shots will soon […]

In the waning days of the campaign, President Donald Trump complained repeatedly on the campaign trail about how the United States tracks the number of people who have died from COVID-19, claiming, “This country and its reporting systems are just not doing it right.” He went on to blame those reporting systems for inflating the […]