How healthcare is changing in Florida and beyond

Healthcare in Florida and across the United States faces a bunch of challenges, including rising costs, access, an aging population and environmental risks.

In case you missed these stories, take a look at the coverage below.

In hindsight, Tim Winard says, he had not understood the difference between Affordable Care Act policies and short-term plans. His advice? Don’t rely solely on marketing materials and always get a cost estimate before a nonemergency procedure. By Jamie Kelter Davis

NO. 1: HE HAD SHORT-TERM HEALTH INSURANCE. HIS COLONOSCOPY BILL? $7,000

Here’s how this medical drama played out. | Published April 1, 2025 | Read Full Story by Julie Appleby

National Institutes of Health researcher Kevin Hall announced his early retirement on Wednesday due to concerns about alleged censorship of research results at the federal agency. By Annabelle Gordon

NO. 2: RFK’S HEALTH AGENCY SLASHED SCIENCE FUNDING IN FLORIDA AND OTHER TRUMP STATES

An analysis shows that the terminations are sparing no part of the country, politically or geographically. | Published April 20, 2025 | Read Full Story by Rae Ellen Bichell and Rachana Pradhan

Adelaide Tovar, a postdoctoral geneticist at the University of Michigan, prepares cell samples in a science laboratory on campus. Tovar is one of about 200 young scientists who will lose research funding because the Trump administration abruptly ended the National Institute of Health’s MOSAIC grant program. By Mike Hawkins

NO. 3: AS A DIVERSITY GRANT DIES, YOUNG SCIENTISTS FEAR IT WILL HAUNT THEIR CAREERS

What to know about the fallout in medical research. | Published May 1, 2025 | Read Full Story by Brett Kelman

Jackson South Medical Center, 9333 SW 152nd St, in south Miami-Dade has recently renovated its catherization lab as part of a plan to provide new and expanded cardiac care. By Michelle Marchante

NO. 4: HEART DISEASE FORECAST TO RISE IN SOUTH FLORIDA. HERE’S WHAT ONE HOSPITAL IS DOING

Inside the new lab, doctors will use tech that will let them reconstruct 3D models of a patient’s cardiovascular system. | Published July 23, 2025 | Read Full Story by Michelle Marchante

Rachel Nassif, day center director at the PACE Organization of Rhode Island, with program participant Roberta Rabinovitz. Rabinovitz goes to the center, in East Providence, for all her medical care, and an occasional lunch. PACE also set her up with a studio apartment in an assisted living facility in Bristol. By Felice J. Freyer

NO. 5: HEALTH GROUPS AIM TO COUNTER GROWING ‘NATIONAL SCANDAL’ OF ELDER HOMELESSNESS

At age 82, Roberta Rabinovitz realized she had no place to go. | Published August 20, 2025 | Read Full Story by Felice J. Freyer

Health insurance premiums have more than quadrupled since 1999, outpacing inflation. Americans face an average 20% rise in ACA premiums next year.

NO. 6: HERE ARE THE PRICE INCREASES THAT SHOULD CAUSE AMERICANS MORE ALARM

Wary of inflation, Americans have been watching the prices of everyday items such as eggs and gasoline. | Published August 25, 2025 | Read Full Story by Elisabeth Rosenthal

Amy Frank says she spent 17 hours on the phone ensuring that post-surgery care for her husband, Allen Frank, would be covered by insurance. The couple was among 90,000 people in central Missouri caught in the middle of a contract dispute between University of Missouri Health Care, a Columbia, Missouri-based health system, and Anthem, the national health insurance provider.

NO. 7: WHEN HOSPITALS AND INSURERS FIGHT, PATIENTS GET CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Amy Frank said it took 17 hours on the phone over nearly three weeks, bouncing between her insurer and her local hospital system, to make sure her plan would cover her husband’s post-surgery care. | Published September 3, 2025 | Read Full Story by Bram Sable-Smith

CAMC Women and Children’s Hospital in Charleston, West Virginia, is located on the banks of the Elk River. Extreme weather could cause the river to swell beyond its banks and surround the hospital, closing off all exits, according to a simulation of flooding data from the company Fathom. CAMC spokesperson Dale Witte said the hospital system has prepared by elevating electrical infrastructure and acquiring pumps. By Daniel Chang

NO. 8: AT LEAST 170 HOSPITALS FACE MAJOR FLOOD RISK. IS TRUMP MAKING IT WORSE?

When a big storm hits, Peninsula Hospital could be underwater. | Published October 8, 2025 | Read Full Story by Holly K. Hacker and Brett Kelman and Daniel Chang

NO. 9: AN AGE-OLD FEAR GROWS MORE COMMON: ‘I’M GOING TO DIE ALONE’

This summer, at dinner with her best friend, Jacki Barden raised an uncomfortable topic: | Published October 17, 2025 | Read Full Story by Judith Graham

Employer-sponsored family premiums rose 6% to $26,993 in 2025, driving higher deductibles and cost sharing as drug and hospital prices strain workers and employers.

NO. 10: A NEW CAR VS. HEALTH INSURANCE? AVERAGE FAMILY JOB-BASED COVERAGE HITS $27,000

With the federal shutdown entering its fourth week, spurred by a stalemate over the cost of health insurance for 22 million Americans on Affordable Care Act plans, a new report shows that over 154 million people with coverage through an employer also face steep price hikes — and that the situation is likely to get worse. | Published October 23, 2025 | Read Full Story by Phil Galewitz

Florida Department of Health Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo gives his remarks during Governor Ron DeSantis’ press conference that mostly covered his administration’s Covid response back in 2020, legislation of the removal of fluoride in the State’s public water supply, and other new legislation banning human control over the weather on Tuesday August 6, 2025, in Miami, Florida. By Carl Juste

NO. 11: AT THE HOLLOW IN FLORIDA, THE ‘MEDICAL FREEDOM’ MOVEMENT FINDS ITS BASE CAMP

MAGA and MAHA are happily married in Florida, and nowhere more at home than in Sarasota County, where on a humid October night a crowd of several hundred gathered to honor state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, his wife, and an unlicensed Canadian radiologist who treats cancer with horse paste. | Published November 3, 2025 | Read Full Story by Arthur Allen

Applicants in Miami line up at a mall to register for Obamacare in 2014.

NO. 12: OBAMACARE ENROLLMENT FRAUD? SEE RISKS OF PLAN-SWITCHING AND IMPERSONATIONS

Florida resident Keith Jones says his Affordable Care Act insurance plan was changed multiple times this year without his permission. | Published December 11, 2025 | Read Full Story by Julie Appleby

The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.