Nothing melts our hearts like a health policy valentine. Readers made us swoon this season, writing poetic lines about prescription drug pricing, medical debt, primary care shortages, and more.
Here are some of our favorites, starting with the grand prize winner and first runner-up, whose entries were each turned into a cartoon by staff illustrator Oona Tempest.
Darling, this Valentine’s Day,let’s grab our passportsand fly away to someplace,where the same drugs cost a fractionof what they do in the States.
— Jennifer Reck
I saw the doctor for a check,I had a lump in my right breast.Two weeks for the answer.It wasn’t cancer.So instead of death, I’m in debt.— Sunshine Moore Anger
Other Newsroom Favorites
I was lost in the sadness and shock of you leaving, Tore my eyes away from my Morning Briefing How could you leave us, Why would you stray? When you are loved so dearly by the ACA? But I realized too late, ’Twas not to be, My primary care no longer loved me
– Zac Aulson
Parental love is beautiful And guess what makes it stronger A paid parental leave policy To stay with baby longer
– Andrea Ferguson
The paperwork flirts with my affections, A dance of denials, full of rejections. My heart yearns for you, my sweet medication, but insurance insists on prior authorization.
– Sally Nix
My love for you, darling, is blinding Like a clinical trial pre-findings But I fear we shall part And I’ll lose my heart Because of Medicaid unwinding!
– Kara Gavin
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
This story can be republished for free (details).
It’s the rare policy question that unites Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the…
El gobierno de Trump presentó un amplio paquete de propuestas regulatorias que cambiarían de manera…
Listen in as “Life Kit” host Marielle Segarra and health reporter Sarah Boden untangle the…
Republicans think patients should be shopping for better health care prices. The party has long…
It’s February, so open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act is over. We’re getting the first glimpses of how sign-ups are shaking out after the expiration of enhanced subsidies…
Health policy has never looked so flirtatious. Every year, our readers send us valentines that…