Medicare spending on “skin substitutes” reached $10 billion last year. A leading seller made a large donation to President Trump’s election campaign.

© Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Medicare spending on “skin substitutes” made of dried placenta has soared as doctors pocket lucrative discounts from sellers.

© Photo Illustration by The New York Times

Opinion writers discuss issues from vaccines to Medicaid.

The health insurer named Tim Noel, a longtime employee of its parent company, for the job. The previous chief executive, Brian Thompson, was killed in Manhattan.

In a wide-ranging interview, Xavier Becerra, President Biden’s health secretary, defended his tenure and hinted that he might run for governor of California.

The government is expected to pay lower prices for Ozempic and Wegovy starting in 2027. The Trump administration will decide whether to expand coverage for millions of Americans.

But high medical costs contributed to results that disappointed Wall Street, and the company’s stock fell on the news that it had made less than analysts expected.

A law that coaxed companies to lower the price of drugs came with a little-known consequence: smaller discounts for low-income health clinics.

A private business has helped supercharge a controversial federal drug program. Patients and insurers have been left with big bills.

Lower courts ruled that a task force that determines which treatments must be covered at no cost had not been validly appointed.

Almost 24 million Americans have signed up for plans offered under the Affordable Care Act, driven by subsidies that are expiring and that Congress may not renew.

They were the bright lights during a rocky year, making the city a cooler, and fairer, place to be.

My story is one small part of an ongoing struggle for restaurant workers and culinary culture.

An “international cybercriminal group” harvested the personal data of potentially hundreds of thousands of people from the state’s social services and health insurance systems, officials said.