First Edition: Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025

KFF Health News: Republican States Claim Zero Abortions. A Red-State Doctor Calls That ‘Ludicrous’
In Arkansas, state health officials announced a stunning statistic for 2023: The total number of abortions in the state, where some 1.5 million women live, was zero. In South Dakota, too, official records show zero abortions that year. And in Idaho, home to abortion battles that have recently made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the official number of recorded abortions was just five. (Varney, 2/13)

KFF Health News: Montana Looks To Regulate Prior Authorization As Patients, Providers Decry Obstacles To Care
When Lou and Lindsay Volpe’s son was diagnosed with a chronic bowel disease at age 11, their health insurer required constant preapproval of drugs and treatments — a process the Volpes say often delayed critical care for their son. “You subscribe to your insurance policy, you pay into that for years and years and years with the hope that, if you need this service, it will be there for you,” Lou Volpe said. “And finally, when you knock on the door and say, ‘Hey guys, we need some help,’ they just start backpedaling.” (Dennison, 2/13)

KFF Health News: Top California Democrats Clash Over How To Rein In Drug Industry Middlemen
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators in Sacramento seem to agree: Prescription drug prices are too high. But lawmakers and the second-term governor are at odds over what to do about it, and a recent proposal could trigger one of the biggest health care battles in Sacramento this year. A California bill awaiting its first hearing would subject drug industry intermediaries known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, to licensing by the state Department of Insurance. And it would require them to pass along 100% of the rebates they get from drug companies to the health plans and insurers that hire them to oversee prescription drug benefits. (Mai-Duc, 2/13)

Politico: Energy And Commerce Committee's Medicaid Problem Just Got Tougher 
It was always going to be tough for House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie to rally his members around cuts to Medicaid; his job could soon get even harder. The House GOP budget blueprint unveiled Wednesday would direct several congressional committees to achieve at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts across programs under their panels’ purviews — necessary to offset a party-line, budget reconciliation bill to enact President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda. ... The bulk of those savings would have to come from making changes to Medicaid, which currently insures more than 70 million Americans. And, in an interview Wednesday, Guthrie acknowledged that one major savings option probably won’t have the support to pass the House. (Leonard, 2/12)

Politico: Johnson Says He's Not Changing Budget Resolution Ahead Of Committee Vote 
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Wednesday evening that he’s not planning to make changes to his budget plan, despite hard-liner demands for deeper spending cuts and other adjustments. Several hard-liners on the Budget Committee told GOP leaders Wednesday they want at least $500 billion more in guaranteed spending cuts and a series of other changes. The current budget resolution, which leaders are hoping to pass through the committee Thursday, includes a minimum of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. (Hill, 2/12)

Idaho Capital Sun: Idaho Bill That Could Repeal Medicaid Expansion Advances To House, Despite Negative Public Testimony 
By one vote, the Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday advanced a bill critics said would repeal Medicaid expansion. House Bill 138, by Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene, requires Idaho to enact 11 Medicaid policy changes or repeal Medicaid expansion — a policy that lets more low-income Idahoans be eligible for the health insurance assistance program. If any of those policies aren’t in effect by July 2026, the bill would repeal Medicaid expansion, a law passed in 2018 by nearly 61% of Idaho voters. (Pfannenstiel, 2/12)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Advantage Marketing Regulation May Be Driving ACA Fraud
Unscrupulous insurance marketers vexed by a federal push against Medicare Advantage fraud found a more hospitable environment on the health insurance exchanges, brokers say. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services implemented regulations earlier this decade to address concerns that beneficiaries shopping for private Medicare plans were being misled and victimized. Meanwhile, health insurers became more bullish about the growing marketplaces, and leading carriers began offering commissions for exchange plan sales, making this market more attractive to brokers and other third-party marketing firms. (Tepper, 2/12)

Stat: Medicare Removes Sexual Orientation, Gender Questions From Forms 
The U.S. agency that oversees Medicare is taking out questions on enrollment application forms that ask people about their sexual orientation and gender identity. (Herman, 2/12)

Politico: RFK Jr. Taps Former Border Patrol Agent As Senior Adviser
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has tapped a retired border patrol chief to be one of his senior advisers, in a sign of the outsized role that the government’s health department could once again play in managing the fallout of President Donald Trump’s deportation policies. Chris Clem, a longtime U.S. Border Patrol agent who supported Kennedy’s 2024 run for president, joined the Health and Human Services Department in recent weeks, two people familiar with the appointment said and an HHS spokesperson confirmed. (Cancryn, 2/12)

Politico: Why The Health Care Industry Is Letting RFK Jr. Cruise To Confirmation 
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s expected Senate confirmation on Thursday to lead the nation’s health agencies threatens upheaval for America’s $4 trillion health care industry. The industry is doing little and hoping for the best. From drugmakers to doctors’ organizations, groups thought to have the clout to steer policy and funding in Washington because they enjoyed bipartisan support and huge lobbying budgets have remained silent about Kennedy. They haven’t spoken up even though he has accused them of fraud and conspiracy, and promised to hold them accountable. (Payne, 2/12)

The New York Times: Behind R.F.K. Jr.’s Vow To ‘Follow The Science’ On Vaccines
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent the first day of his back-to-back confirmation hearings deftly avoiding questions about his views on vaccines. On the second day, when a prominent Republican senator insisted there was no link between vaccines and autism, Mr. Kennedy shot back that a new study “showed the opposite.” “I just want to follow the science,” Mr. Kennedy declared. (Gay Stolberg and Jewett, 2/12)

The New York Times: Top N.I.H. Official Abruptly Resigns As Trump Orders Deep Cuts
The No. 2 official at the National Institutes of Health abruptly resigned and retired from government service on Tuesday, in another sign that the Trump administration is reshaping the nation’s public health and biomedical research institutions. The official, Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak, a dentist and researcher, was long considered a steadying force and had weathered past presidential transitions. ... One person familiar with the decision said Dr. Tabak had been confronted with a reassignment that he viewed as unacceptable. (Gay Stolberg, 2/12)

Politico: Judge Allows Trump To Implement ‘Fork In The Road’ Deadline For Federal Workers 
A federal judge is allowing the Trump administration to move forward with its plan to downsize the federal workforce by offering employees the option to resign now but stay on the payroll through September. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole, an appointee of Bill Clinton, did not address whether the deferred-resignation program is legal. Instead, the judge ruled Wednesday that several unions that sued over the program lack legal standing to pursue the issue in court. (Gerstein, 2/12)

Politico: Education Department Moves To Fire Civil Servants 
The Education Department terminated a swath of its civil service workforce on Wednesday, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The precise number of affected employees was not immediately clear. Firing notices were distributed to workers in the department’s offices for civil rights, federal student aid and communications, as well as its legal department, according to people who relayed details and documents that substantiated the terminations to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. (Perez Jr. and Quilantan, 2/12)

The Hill: 75,000 Workers Took Trump, Musk Government Buyout
Roughly 75,000 federal workers across government have accepted a buyout offer, taking an unusual deal spearheaded by the Trump administration as it looks to reduce the federal workforce. A senior administration official confirmed the figure in the hours after a court rejected a bid by unions to quash the program. (Beitsch, 2/12)

Bloomberg: Some Research Universities Face Credit Risk From NIH Funding Cut
Proposed cuts by the Trump administration to a type of federal funding from the National Institutes of Health would pose a credit challenge to universities that receive the funds, analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. said. The NIH has been ordered to slash funding for research at universities and hospitals, though on Monday a federal judge temporarily paused the change. A hearing date is scheduled for Feb. 21. (Rembert, 2/12)

Stat: Trump Cuts Fuel Research Brain Drain, Young Scientists Look Abroad
A torrent of disruptive Trump administration policies is alarming scientists who fear the current political climate is weakening researchers’ resolve to stick with careers in academic science. Already, the anxiety is so deep that many scientists say it could undermine the country’s enduring position as the world leader in biomedicine. (Chen and Wosen, 2/12)

Stat: Resistance Is Organizing Against Trump Attacks On Science
For the first month of the Trump administration, it appeared that there was little organized resistance to its attacks on the existing system of biomedical research. But resistance is starting to form. Unions representing fellows at the NIH and several universities are planning a protest at the headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services next week. Simultaneously, a grassroots group of scientists is planning a protest in Washington, D.C., and state capitals around the country in March. (Oza, 2/13)

MedPage Today: Archives Host Missing CDC Data
After learning the hard way that government data may not always be available or reliable, the research community is finding alternative ways to host important government health data and guidance online. The Alt CDC Bluesky account posted about one notable archive of CDC datasets hosted on the nonprofit Internet Archive. It houses hundreds of CSV files, metadata files, zip files, PDFs of infographics, and more -- uploaded before Jan. 28, 2025 -- available to download. Alt CDC also gave a shout out to the data archivists who made it possible. (Robertson, 2/12)

Stat: As Trump Hits Pause On Anti-Bribery Law, Will Pharma Engage In Bad Behavior?
Between 2011 and 2020, 10 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies paid a combined $1.34 billion in fines to the U.S. government for bribing foreign officials in order to boost purchases of their medicines. The law that made it possible is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which has been credited with making changes in long-standing industry business practices. (Silverman, 2/12)

Military.Com: Pentagon Reverses Course, Says Troops Will Be Reimbursed For Travel For Fertility Treatments
The Pentagon will continue to reimburse service members who travel to get fertility treatments, the department confirmed this week, walking back its earlier move to fully repeal its reproductive health care travel policy. Late last month, the Pentagon quietly updated its travel regulations to remove all the language allowing service members to get travel and transportation allowances for trips related to reproductive health care. That meant travel was no longer covered for either abortion or fertility treatments. (Kheel, 2/12)

Louisiana Illuminator: Louisiana Attorney General Signs Off On Extraditing NY Doctor In Abortion Pill Case 
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill signed an extradition form Wednesday for a New York physician, she announced in a news release. Her action comes less than two weeks after a Louisiana grand jury indicted the doctor for prescribing and shipping abortion pills to the state. “We will take any and all legal actions to enforce the criminal laws of this state,” Murrill wrote in her statement, adding that the extradition form was sent to Gov. Jeff Landry’s office for his approval.  (O'Neil, 2/12)

North Dakota Monitor: Abortion, Reproductive Rights Bills Rejected In North Dakota House 
Four bills related to abortion and reproductive rights failed Wednesday in the North Dakota House. A so-called personhood bill would have allowed women who get abortions to be charged with murder. Two others sought to protect access to contraception and in vitro fertilization, while a fourth bill proposed what the sponsor called a “common-sense” approach to abortion access. All failed with significant margins, with the pro-IVF bill garnering the most support. (Achterling and Dalrymple, 2/12)

Minnesota Public Radio: Republicans Advance Anti-Abortion Legislation During Control Of Minnesota House 
Minnesota House Republicans advanced a pair of anti-abortion bills Wednesday through a committee, underscoring their intention to press ahead with measures now that could languish if power shifts to shared control next month. (Masters, 2/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Insurers Deny 850 Million Claims A Year. The Few Who Appeal Often Win.
After three years of doctors’ visits and $40,000 in medical bills didn’t cure their daughter’s rare condition, April and Justin Beck found a specialist three states away who offered a promising treatment. They set out before dawn last spring for the nine-hour drive to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, where Dr. Aravindhan Veerapandiyan explained how infusions of antibodies could help Emily, now 9 years old, and her misfiring immune system. (Wernau, 2/12)

Bloomberg: Walgreens’ VillageMD Taps Advisers As Backer Pursues Exit Plan
VillageMD, the health care clinic chain backed by Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., is working with Evercore Inc. for assistance as explores options that include a sale or restructuring of its operations, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The health care provider is also working with Alvarez & Marsal Inc. for operational help, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter. (Basu, 2/12)

Modern Healthcare: Private Equity Investors Worry As States Debate Oversight Bills
States' fight to clamp down on private equity deals in healthcare isn't over, despite recent setbacks. Proposed legislation in states including California, Connecticut and Minnesota fell flat last year, raising questions about future oversight efforts affecting private equity transactions. However, the new year brought renewed support for state legislation ranging from stricter reporting requirements to stipulations on certain operational models. (Hudson, 2/12)

CBS News: SEIU Healthcare Workers At UPMC Washington Hospital Reach Contract
Union workers at Washington Hospital have reached a contract, avoiding a strike. The union says the contract includes average raises of 12% over three years. UPMC Washington confirmed the three-year collective bargaining agreement with SEIU Healthcare has been ratified. (Behanna, 2/12)

CBS News: San Francisco Mayor Lurie Signs Fentanyl State Of Emergency Ordinance; Unveils "Stabilization Center" In Tenderloin
San Francisco is ramping up its efforts to battle a deadly fentanyl crisis with the city's new mayor declaring a state of emergency because of the drug's impact. Mayor Daniel Lurie on Wednesday afternoon signed an ordinance declaring a fentanyl state of emergency to address the crisis after the city's Board of Supervisors approved the ordinance Tuesday evening. (Castañeda, 2/12)

CNN: ‘One Of The Larger Mysteries I’ve Ever Seen’: Industrial Chemical Found In Illicit Fentanyl
The drug supply is constantly evolving, and some experts suggest that a “fourth wave” of the opioid epidemic is underway, in which illicit fentanyl is more frequently mixed with other drugs. New research shows high levels of one unexpected addition: BTMPS, an industrial chemical used as an adhesive in the production of plastics, was found in the illicit fentanyl supply in the US. (Mukherjee, 2/12)

AP: Michigan's New Law Resulted In No-Gun Orders For Nearly 300 People
Nearly 300 people in Michigan were barred from possessing guns in 2024 under a new law that empowers courts to intervene if there’s evidence they could harm themselves or others, according to a report released Wednesday. Michigan joined at least 20 states in passing a so-called red flag law, which allows police, health professionals, family members or roommates to ask local judges to ban someone from possessing guns for a year. (White, 2/12)

AP: A Rare Bipartisan Coalition In Alabama Pushes Ban On Machine Gun Conversion Devices
A bipartisan coalition of mayors, lawmakers and law enforcement in Alabama endorsed a public safety package on Thursday that would ban the devices that convert semi-automatic weapons into machine guns — a rare consensus on gun restrictions and a departure from years of conflict about how to stem gun violence. Conversion devices that speed the firing of semi-automatic weapons are already banned under federal law, but there’s currently no state law prohibiting possession. (Riddle, 2/12)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Health Care Provider Bankruptcy May Stick Rural Georgia With State Prisoners' Medical Bills
Macon State Prison has become one of the bloodiest correctional facilities in Georgia, and no one knows that better than the men and woman who work for Macon County EMS. As the violence at the prison just south of Oglethorpe has intensified, so, too, have the calls for ambulance service. And because of those calls, the county now finds itself dealing with an unexpected and costly burden: more than $100,000 in unpaid bills. (Robbins and Teegardin, 2/13)

Politico: Pricey Diet Drugs Like Ozempic Are Exacerbating State Budget Woes
Colorado’s spending on highly effective but costly weight-loss drugs for state workers more than quadrupled from 2023 to 2024 — and costs have been doubling every six months. Now, the state wants to scrap the benefit, arguing that it’s financially unsustainable. (Hooper, 2/12)

AP: Lawyers For Inmates Ask Judge To Take Over Health Care Services In Arizona Prisons
Lawyers for 25,000 people incarcerated in Arizona have asked a judge to take over health care operations in state-run prisons and appoint an official to run them, saying the state is not capable of fixing deep failures in care even though it has been required to do so over the last decade. In a filing Tuesday, the attorneys said a takeover is urgently needed because the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry lacks the leadership to comply with changes ordered by a judge in a 2012 lawsuit over the quality of medical and mental health care for prisoners. (Billeaud, 2/12)

CBS News: Measles Outbreak In Texas Was "Completely Preventable," Infectious Disease Expert Says 
"It is troubling, because this was completely preventable," Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins, told CBS News on Wednesday. "What we're seeing is, one of the places in Texas — it has the lowest vaccination rates, the highest school exemption rates from measles vaccination — having a measles outbreak, including hospitalizations of individuals who've been infected with measles." (Moniuszko and Higgins, 2/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Our Hospital Is Full To The Brim’: California Slammed By Flu Cases
California is grappling with an unusually severe flu season this winter, with hospitalizations rising and concerns that the outbreak could last for weeks. The situation is particularly dire in the Bay Area, where Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, said flu activity has reached alarming levels. “2025 is the year of flu in the Bay Area,” he said, highlighting the overwhelming number of cases impacting emergency departments. (Vaziri, 2/12)

Fortune: Experts Warn 2024–25 Flu Season Hasn’t Peaked Yet, Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better
If you haven’t caught the flu this season, perhaps you know someone who has, or are concerned about the virus infiltrating your household. We are, by at least one measure, in the midst of the nation’s worst flu season in recent decades. At least 24 million illnesses, 310,000 hospitalizations, and 13,000 influenza-linked deaths—including 57 children—have plagued the U.S. this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Flu-related emergency department visits necessitated the CDC’s most severe “very high” ranking as of Feb. 7, as did influenza virus activity in national wastewater samples. (Leake, 2/12)

Stat: Global Officials Unsure If U.S. Will Take Part In Critical Flu Vaccine Meeting
Later this month influenza experts from around the world will gather at the Crick Worldwide Influenza Center in London to pour over data in a multi-day effort, led by the World Health Organization, to decide which specific viruses next winter’s flu shot should target. For now, the WHO doesn’t know if U.S. government representatives will show up. Whether they do so could have an impact on the composition, and ultimately the effectiveness, of flu vaccines throughout the Northern Hemisphere and beyond. (Branswell, 2/13)

CIDRAP: Clade 1b Mpox Outbreak In DR Congo Linked To Sex Workers; New York Reports First Case
New research on the epidemiologic and genomic evolution of the clade 1b mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) suggests 83% of cases were linked to sex work, three healthcare workers contracted the disease, and infected pregnant women frequently miscarried. ... In related news, New York state officials have confirmed clade 1b in a resident, the first such case in New York state and the fourth clade 1b case confirmed in the United States. (Soucheray, 2/12)

CNN: Marijuana Ads Are Enticing Kids To Try Weed, Study Says 
A legal loophole is allowing children who access social media to see enticing advertisements for marijuana with potentially dangerous consequences, according to experts. (LaMotte, 2/12)

CBS News: Eating Yogurt Could Help Protect Against Aggressive Form Of Colorectal Cancer, Study Finds
Yogurt has often been touted as good for gut health. Now, in a new study, researchers at Mass General Brigham in Boston have found it may be beneficial in the fight against cancer. The study released Wednesday found that people who ate two or more servings of yogurt per week tended to have lower rates of a particularly aggressive form of colorectal cancer. (Riley, 2/12)