Selena Simmons-Duffin
Selena Simmons-Duffin reports on health policy for NPR, with a focus on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., health insurance, reproductive health, and transgender health.
She won NLGJA's Excellence in Transgender Coverage Award in 2026 for a scoop about the Trump administration's plans to prohibit Medicaid from paying for gender-affirming care for youth.
Since joining the Science Desk in 2019 as a reporter, she's covered CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic, the fallout from the end of Roe v. Wade, and many stories about health insurance, including a story about a man who married his roommate for health benefits.
Before becoming a reporter, Simmons-Duffin worked for 10 years as a producer and editor for NPR's flagship programs, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. In 2014, she drove the full length of the U.S.-Mexico border with host Steve Inskeep for the "Borderland" series.
Simmons-Duffin is a graduate of Stanford University, where she studied English and started out in radio at KZSU. She studied documentary radio at the Salt Institute before coming to NPR as an intern in 2009.
She can be reached via encrypted message at selena.02 on Signal.
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States are building huge new systems to implement Medicaid work requirements. But will newly empowered Democrats be able to repeal or delay that change?
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About 157 million Americans get their health insurance through work. A survey of employers shows a moderate price uptick this year, but workers still say health costs are a top concern. -
NPR has learned that $86 million in teen pregnancy prevention funds meant for local grantees nationwide is instead going to a single large contractor with ties to the Trump administration.
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With days left to go in the 2026 fiscal year, lawmakers push the health department to spend the money Congress allocated to prevent teen pregnancy. An NPR exclusive. -
Citing widespread fraud, JD Vance and Dr. Mehmet Oz announced 760,000 Americans had been kicked off health insurance purchased in the federal ACA marketplace. The move raises lots of questions.
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Because of a data lag, the current reality of access may be even worse. -
Two deaths associated with the measles outbreak in Pennsylvania prompted messaging from the health secretary that both encouraged and undermined vaccinations.
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Federal Medicaid dollars can no longer pay for gender-affirming care for youth. Doctors who treat trans kids say it will harm vulnerable people.
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The number of abortions is up in the United States. Is it because fewer people are using birth control pills? -
The Trump administration has canceled all but a handful of grants meant to teach teenagers and caregivers about reducing teen pregnancies, arguing they are "normalizing sexual activity for minors."
