In the states, there were some wins for healthcare access.
This webcast was made available on Wednesday, November 12, 2025 in KFF Health News.
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 healthcare 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.
Dan Weissmann @danweissmann
Host and producer of "An Arm and a Leg." Previously, Dan was a staff reporter for Marketplace and Chicago's WBEZ. His work also appears on All Things Considered, Marketplace, the BBC, 99 Percent Invisible, and Reveal, from the Center for Investigative Reporting.
KFF Health News is a national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.