Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
From KFF Health News - Latest Stories:
KFF Health News Original Stories
Cheaper, Alternative Health Plans Are Having a Moment, but Critics Urge Caution
Congress' decision not to extend enhanced marketplace tax credits has boosted the appeal of alternative health coverage with lower monthly premiums. Consumer advocates dismiss the plans as "junk insurance,” while proponents say patients need alternatives to pricey marketplace options.
Journalists Distill News on Ebola, Licensing Midwives, and California’s Budget
KFF Health News journalists made the rounds on national or local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
Here's today's health policy haiku:
RFK JR. HAS SCOPE NOW
Bobby won't run for
— Philippa Barron
prez in '28, can do
more damage alone.
If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Us and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.
Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of KFF Health News or KFF.
Summaries Of The News:
Outbreaks and Health Threats
US Will Shield Drugmakers Who Make Hantavirus Treatment; Patient In Quarantine Tests Positive
Axios: Kennedy Offers Legal Shield To Develop Hantavirus Treatment
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is offering to shield drugmakers from legal liability as an incentive to develop treatments for the Andes hantavirus that caused a deadly outbreak on a cruise ship this month. (Bettelheim, 5/26)
NBC News: Spanish Government Confirms New Case Of Hantavirus
The Spanish government said Monday it has confirmed a new case of hantavirus connected to the cruise ship MV Hondius, which became the center of an outbreak that killed three people earlier this month. A Spanish national who has been in preventive quarantine at a hospital in Madrid tested positive for the virus, the Health Ministry said in a statement. (Silva, 5/25)
The Hill: WHO: Hantavirus Outbreak Is 'Stable'
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Sunday said the hantavirus “situation is stable for now.” Tedros provided an update stating that WHO has reported 12 cases of hantavirus and three deaths, with no other confirmed deaths since May 2. The outbreak is believed to have originated from South America after infected travelers boarded the cruise ship MV Hondius earlier this month. (Mancini, 5/24)
The Guardian: Ebola And Hantavirus Outbreaks Prompt Raft Of Conspiracy Theories In Divided US
Hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks carry with them familiar attendants in the US: extreme conspiracy theories about a planned pandemic, or “plandemic”, designed to upend midterm elections or push new vaccines or any one of a myriad of wild ideas. ... The hantavirus outbreak, which began on a cruise ship in the South Atlantic, killing three passengers and causing at least 11 to test positive, carries its own set of baggage in the form of conspiracy theories: passengers were crisis actors, or it was caused by Covid vaccines and Bill Gates, or perhaps it was an Israeli false flag operation and can be cured by the antiviral horse de-wormer ivermectin. (Helmore, 5/25)
Roll Call: Hantavirus, Ebola Highlight Political Division Over Disease
The Trump administration’s shake-up of the United States’ public health apparatus in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has public health experts concerned about the country’s ability to respond to emerging disease outbreaks like hantavirus and Ebola. Whether that’s a concern for Congress, however, often depends on the member’s party — a reaction that should be familiar to anyone who lived through the highly partisan response to the pandemic. (Cohen and Behrmann, 5/26)
CDC Suspends US Entry To Lawful Residents Traveling From Ebola-Affected Region
Politico: CDC Says Green Card Holders Who Were Recently In Countries Where Ebola Is Spreading Can’t Reenter US
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expanding its power to prevent individuals from entering the U.S. “in the interest of public health” — including lawful permanent U.S. residents. An interim final rule, released Friday, cites the current Ebola outbreak as the reason for the change. Lawful permanent residents who have been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within the last 21 days are now banned from entering the U.S. through mid-June, the agency said. (Gardner, 5/22)
ABC News: Why Travel Restrictions May Have Unintended Consequences As US Bars Some Visitors Amid Ebola Outbreak
Some public health specialists told ABC News that monitoring travel exposures is an important part of containing and tracing the spread of a disease. However, they warned that broader bans can have unintended consequences that may negatively impact global public health and hinder containment efforts that should be considered when making these decisions. (Cobern, 5/23)
NPR: U.S. Passengers Flying From Ebola-Affected Countries Now Being Rerouted To Virginia, Texas And Georgia
Friday evening, it was announced that two additional U.S. airports will start screening in the next few days—the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The two airports join Washington Dulles in Virginia. (Huang, 5/23)
The Hill: Trump’s Former COVID Adviser: US Equipped To Handle Response To Ebola Outbreak
A former adviser to President Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic said Sunday that the U.S. is equipped to handle an Ebola outbreak. “The U.S. right now does not have a confirmed head of the CDC, it does not have a confirmed head of the FDA, doesn’t have a confirmed Surgeon General. Is the U.S. prepared to deal with an outbreak of Ebola or any other infectious disease, if it comes to our shores?” CBS News’s Nancy Cordes asked Dr. Deborah Birx on “Face the Nation.” (Suter, 5/24)
More updates on the Ebola outbreak in Africa —
ABC News: Ebola Outbreak In DRC Spreads, With More Than 900 Reported Cases: Officials
The Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is "spreading rapidly," according to the head of the World Health Organization. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned during a Friday press briefing that the U.N. health agency has upgraded its risk assessment for spread at the national level from "high" to "very high." At the regional level, the risk remains "high" while the global level is still "low." (Winsor, Kekatos, and Benadjaoud, 5/24)
NBC News: 3 Red Cross Volunteers Die Of Ebola
Three Red Cross volunteers have died, believed to have contracted the Ebola virus during a humanitarian mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in March, the organization said. “At the time of the intervention, the community was not aware of the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak, and the outbreak had not yet been identified. They are among the first known victims of the outbreak,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said Saturday. (Lenthang, 5/23)
NBC News: DR Congo’s Neighbors Impose Covid-Style Measures In Push To Limit Ebola’s Spread
Health authorities and aid agencies across east and southern Africa are reinforcing screening at key crossings and scaling up preparedness planning, as officials warn that ongoing cross-border movement continues to present a risk of further cases. (Clayton, 5/25)
The Washington Post: Doctor Evacuated For Ebola Exposure Describes Life In Congo, Quarantine
Murmurs of a “casket disease” had already begun by mid-May, as patients began to die in waves. Patrick LaRochelle, an American missionary physician, was 20 minutes away from getting on a plane out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, part of his journey with his wife and three kids back home to the United States for a summer visit. Then he got a WhatsApp message: Ebola was here. (Weber, 5/26)
KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Distill News On Ebola, Licensing Midwives, And California’s Budget
Céline Gounder, KFF Health News’ editor-at-large for public health, discussed the diversion of a Detroit-bound plane to Canada over Ebola concerns on CBS News’ CBS Mornings on May 21. Gounder also discussed how the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak has been declared a global health emergency on Fox’s LiveNOW on May 18. (5/23)
Health Industry
PacificSource Health Plans Will Exit Some ACA, Medicare Exchanges For 2027
Modern Healthcare: PacificSource To Quit ACA Exchanges, Exit Montana Market
PacificSource Health Plans is the latest health insurance company to pull out of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 marketplaces. The nonprofit insurer will not offer exchange plans in Idaho, Montana, Oregon or Washington next year. PacificSource Health Plans will entirely leave Montana, where it currently covers 42,000 members in Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored and marketplace plans. The insurer has more than 500,000 members in those four states. About 30,000 are exchange enrollees, according to the consulting firm Evensun Health. (Tepper, 5/22)
Politico: RFK Jr., States At Odds Over Cause Of Obamacare’s Enrollment Declines
Both the Trump administration and state officials agree on the numerical fact: People this year are dropping their Obamacare coverage — to the tune of 1.2 million people out of a total enrollment of 24.3 million as of March, according to the latest federal data. But they are at odds over why. (King and Hooper, 5/25)
KFF Health News: Cheaper, Alternative Health Plans Are Having A Moment, But Critics Urge Caution
When Melanie Miller saw that her health insurance premium payment was set to nearly triple to $914 a month this year, she stopped shopping on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.This story also ran on CBS News. It can be republished for free. The 59-year-old retired teacher, who recently moved from Ohio to Michigan, now pays $341 a month for a pair of plans, one that covers routine and urgent care and another that pays fixed amounts for hospital stays. Neither meets federal standards for comprehensive coverage. (Kwon, 5/26)
Modern Healthcare: Hospital Pricing Under Fire From GOP, Insurers And Employers
Hospitals are under attack in Washington, and not just by their longtime foes in the insurance and drug industries. Those political powerhouses have indeed stepped up campaigns targeting hospitals, and all sides have ramped up spending on lobbyists. But increasingly others, including employers and conservative groups, have weighed in. Lawmakers in GOP-run Washington appear to be listening. (McAuliff, 5/22)
In other health industry news —
Modern Healthcare: Travel Nursing Market Steadies As Profitability Issues Persist
The travel nurse market is normalizing and several key performance metrics appear to be stabilizing above pre-Covid pandemic levels, according to the annual SIA NATHO Travel Nurse Benchmarking Survey. At the same time, profitability remains under pressure even as bill rates hold relatively steady. Overall, the data suggests the market is no longer in sharp decline but is instead moving into a more stable and operationally disciplined environment. (Fullilove, 5/22)
The Baltimore Sun: Eastern Shore Receives $3.1 Million Federal Healthcare Funding
Communities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore have received more than $3 million in federal funding to assist with clinic staffing and other health care needs. The $3,139,017 in funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced Sunday by U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, will go to Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties. (Hubbard, 5/24)
Carolina Public Press: UNCW Gets UNC System Blessing To Continue Medical School Planning
The University of North Carolina System Board of Governors voted Thursday to let UNC-Wilmington move forward with the planning process for its proposed medical school. It’s the next step — though an unusual one — in the university’s effort to mend healthcare inequity by increasing access in Southeastern North Carolina. (Denning, 5/24)
On mental healthcare —
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Ohio Therapists See Clawbacks Paused, Pay Reduced
The first thing Ohio therapists saw was the bill. It came from CareSource, Ohio’s largest Medicaid managed care plan, which covers more than 1.4 million members. In April, the Dayton-based organization told some behavioral health providers that it had been paying them too much for treating Medicaid patients — and that the therapists would have to pay the money back. (Washington, 5/25)
NPR: Mental Health Therapists Who Use AI To Take Notes Face Questions About Trust
For two years, Molly Quinn trusted her therapist with things she hadn't told anyone else. So when her therapist mentioned trying an artificial intelligence tool to take notes, Quinn didn't immediately refuse. The 31-year-old librarian from Fayetteville, Ark., asked to research it first. She wanted to understand where her words would go — whether they would stay local or be processed somewhere in the cloud. (Johnston, 5/26)
AP: State Asylums' Psychiatric Records Are Often Hard To Get
Breta Meria Conole was in a state psychiatric hospital for more than two decades. But the reason why is a family mystery. Debby Hannigan, her great grandniece, tried for years to access Conole’s medical records, because she thought they might hold clues to mental health issues in her family, including her oldest daughter’s depression. Hannigan twice wrote to the state of New York for the records. The second time she included a supporting note from her daughter’s therapist, who said the details would help “to know their family medical history better.” Both times she was turned away. (Stobbe, 5/24)
HealthDay: Study: Many College Students With Psychosis Aren’t Getting Medication
The college years are prime time for the emergence of mental illnesses involving psychosis, according to a new study. However, almost 60% of college students who seek mental health care after a psychotic episode do not get the recommended treatment, researchers recently reported in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. (Thompson, 5/26)
The Colorado Sun: How Can Colorado Help Kids Facing Mental Health Struggles? These Teens Have Ideas For The Next Governor.
The pressure to be perfect has stalked recent high school graduate Swarali Dhamal since she was in middle school, at once motivating and suffocating her while consuming more of her hours both in and outside of school. Recently, that nagging voice telling her to be flawless has grown louder because of carefully curated posts by friends and influencers flooding her social media feed. (Breunlin, 5/26)
Administration News
No Child Deaths Conclusively Linked To Covid Vaccine, FDA Says In Quietly Released Report
NBC News: No Child Deaths Definitively Linked To Covid Shots, FDA Says
No child deaths have been definitively linked to Covid vaccines, according to a report from the Food and Drug Administration that was quietly made public last week. The analysis comes nearly six months after former FDA vaccine chief Dr. Vinay Prasad said, without releasing evidence, that the agency had identified at least 10 previously unreported child deaths tied to the vaccines. (Lovelace Jr., 5/22)
Politico: Relief Group Is Phasing Out Vaccines RFK Jr. Believes Are Unsafe
An international relief group that provides vaccines to poor countries says it’s phasing out some vaccines that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believes are unsafe. The health secretary has cited Gavi’s use of the shots in blocking $600 million in U.S. funding. In a bid to get Kennedy to relent, the group on Thursday offered to speed the transition to shots that do not contain thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative. (Paun, 5/22)
In other Trump administration news —
AP: Trump Is Getting A Medical Exam On Tuesday
President Donald Trump is scheduled to get a medical exam on Tuesday, putting his health under renewed public scrutiny after he has worked to dismiss concerns over his age and stamina. The 79-year-old president is scheduled to visit Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for what the White House described as annual preventative medical and dental checkups. It will be Trump’s fourth publicly disclosed medical exam since he returned to office for a second term, and comes as he tries to project strength ahead of midterm elections that will test his sway with voters. (Binkley, 5/26)
Politico: Anti-Abortion Activists' Frustrations Escalate After Abortion Pill Ruling
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling to preserve access to telehealth abortions has escalated anti-abortion activists’ frustrations with the Trump administration and ramped up the groups’ pressure campaign directed at the White House. With the high court unwilling for now to curb the availability of drugs used in more than two-thirds of abortions, abortion opponents are demanding the federal agencies President Donald Trump oversees take immediate action or risk depressing conservative turnout in the upcoming midterm elections. (Ollstein, 5/25)
ProPublica: Lawmakers: DOJ Inspector General Should Investigate Alleged Drugs-For-Votes Scheme In Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress and four other members of the House of Representatives have asked the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General to investigate why a federal probe into a prison drugs-for-votes scheme was abandoned after the 2024 elections. “Credible allegations of election fraud uncovered through federal investigative work warrant serious scrutiny and transparent explanation,” the members of Congress wrote in the May 20 letter, adding that it was essential for “public confidence in democratic institutions” that such claims are handled consistently, “regardless of the political actors involved.” (Rutledge, 5/26)
Stat: What Prompted, And What's Holding Up, An Agency For Men's Health
Just before he was sworn in as assistant secretary for health at the end of 2025, Admiral Brian Christine — a urologist whose practice treated primarily male patients — talked at an FDA panel on testosterone about a series of alarming statistics: Male life expectancy is close to seven years shorter than women’s; men have higher mortality rates in 10 of the leading causes of death; and they make up the vast majority of deaths by suicide. (Merelli, 5/22)
Stat: Acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas Is Defying Expectations
People in the food world didn’t know what to expect when the Trump administration appointed a little-known Florida attorney as the FDA’s top food official in 2025. (Lawrence, 5/26)
On military food and nutrition —
Military.com: Robert Irvine’s 23-Year Fight To Fix Military Food Is Finally Paying Off
The Army spends roughly $3 billion annually on food procurement and has been expanding a campus-style dining modernization effort designed to improve quality, access and flexibility for soldiers. Robert Irvine says the transformation is long overdue. (Lindsay, 5/25)
Pharma and Tech
Experimental Gene-Editing Treatment Could Prevent Heart Disease In One Infusion
The New York Times: One-And-Done Heart Disease Prevention? Scientists Show It May Be Possible
In a small, preliminary study, an experimental gene-editing treatment dramatically lowered cholesterol levels, perhaps permanently, after just one infusion, scientists reported on Monday. If confirmed in larger studies, researchers hope the findings may lead to a one-and-done way to prevent heart disease in large numbers of people. Most gene therapies target rare diseases, but cardiovascular disease kills nearly 800,000 Americans a year. (Kolata, 5/25)
On treatments for gonorrhea and alcohol withdrawal —
San Francisco Chronicle: California’s ‘Plan B For STIs’ Is Working — With One Exception
A drug meant to prevent sexually transmitted infections if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex appears to be working well against syphilis and chlamydia, but within a year of making the therapy widely available in California, it no longer protects against gonorrhea, according to a new Kaiser study. DoxyPEP, a dose of antibiotics sometimes framed as Plan B for STIs, cut the risk of getting syphilis or chlamydia by up to 60%, according to the Kaiser study, which looked at roughly 25,000 members in Southern California. But it had no effect against gonorrhea, and there are signs that doxyPEP may be contributing to drug resistance in the bacteria. (Allday, 5/25)
Fox News: Alzheimer's Drug Could Reduce Alcohol Withdrawal Damage, Researchers Say
An investigational dementia drug may also ease alcohol withdrawal by calming the brain inflammation linked to addiction and relapse. That’s according to researchers at the University of Kentucky, who studied an experimental medication called MW150 that targets a brain inflammation pathway known as p38α MAPK. The drug, which has not yet been approved, is designed to treat mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. (Rudy, 5/25)
On weight loss drugs —
The Washington Post: Weight-Loss Compounder Hims & Hers Is Shifting To Wellness And Longevity
The next phase of Andrew Dudum’s quest to change how Americans get their health care is taking shape behind the walls of a nondescript factory, tucked off a side street in Silicon Valley. As co-founder and CEO of telehealth company Hims & Hers, Dudum has helped lead the tech industry’s encroachment on traditional medicine, using social media to sell popular prescription drugs over the internet. (Rowland, 5/24)
The Washington Post: Weight-Loss Drugs Pose Dangers To People With Eating Disorders
Stevee Williams, a restaurant manager in Houston, was preparing for her sister’s wedding when anxieties bubbled up about how she would look in her bridesmaid dress. She was diagnosed with anorexia when she was 17 and her struggle with eating never left. This time, at 27, she turned to a new tool to control her appetite, one of the GLP-1 drugs fueling a national weight-loss craze. On an online site promising easy prescriptions, she typed that she was 150 pounds (she wasn’t) and indicated she did not “feel well enough to get up and move around” (which also wasn’t true). Then she entered her credit card information. (Rowland and Eunjung Cha, 5/23)
The Hill: GLP-1 Usage Has Displaced Bariatric Surgery For Weight-Loss Treatment, Researchers Say
Increased use of GLP-1 drugs to treat obesity appears to be significantly reducing the number of surgeries that were once the primary option for dramatic weight loss. A new study published in JAMA Surgery examined trends in the use of metabolic and bariatric surgery in the U.S. between 2022 and 2024. As use of GLP-1 drugs increased by 140.4 percent during that period, bariatric surgery rates fell by 34 percent, researchers found after analyzing data from 11.7 million patients diagnosed with obesity or diabetes. The findings align with a separate recent study from Loyola University Chicago, which found the number of metabolic and bariatric surgeries in the U.S. dropped below 200,000 in 2024 for the first time since 2020. (Ramsey, 5/25)
In research on cancer and tumors —
Boise State Public Radio News: Largest Study Of Firefighting-Related Cancer Nears 50K Enrollees
The largest study of firefighter-related cancer is expected to soon top 50,000 volunteer enrollees. Growth has been strong over the last year despite a great deal of uncertainty last spring over the future of the ambitious effort. In April 2025, the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer (NFR) was shut down indefinitely in the wake of massive Trump administration layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services. (Woodhouse, 5/25)
The Washington Post: How Scientists Found A Weakness In One Of The Deadliest ‘Undruggable’ Cancers
For decades, one of the deadliest cancers had an Achilles’ heel lying in plain sight. Pancreatic cancer is an exquisitely cruel diagnosis, leaving only 13 percent of people alive after five years. But in the early 1980s, scientists discovered a weakness — a mutated protein called KRAS — that spurred the aggressive growth and spread an array of tumors. In pancreatic cancer, it would turn out to be a key driver of nearly every case. There was just one problem. The KRAS protein they needed to block was flat and smooth, without the crevices and cracks, pockets and sockets that a drug needs to get a toehold. (Johnson, 5/24)
WUFT: Waka, Waka, Waka, Waka: Scientists Trick Bacteria Into Eating Tumors
Canadian researchers have figured out a way to engineer bacteria into chewing up tumors. The little microbes eat and eat until they grow big enough to take over the unwanted mass. (Hagmajer, 5/26)
State Watch
Powdered Fentanyl Blamed After Dozens Sickened Last Week In New Mexico
NBC News: First Responders Exposed To Fentanyl In Deadly New Mexico Incident, Officials Say
First responders were exposed to fentanyl and sickened after arriving at a rural New Mexico home earlier this week to investigate a possible overdose that left three people dead, officials said Friday. They found four people unconscious at the home in Mountainair, east of Albuquerque, and two of them were declared dead at the scene, officials said. (Li and Morrison, 5/22)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
AP: Officials Lift Evacuation Orders For Some California Residents Living Near A Damaged Chemical Tank
Emergency officials lifted an evacuation order for some of the people who live near a damaged tank containing a hazardous chemical in Southern California after temperatures inside the tank fell enough to eliminate the risk of a catastrophic explosion. While there’s no longer a risk of a major explosion at the GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems plant in Garden Grove, there’s still a chance for a smaller blast or a fire, Orange County Fire Authority division chief Craig Covey said during a news conference on Monday. (Willingham and Stengle, 5/26)
ABC News: Health Officials Warn Patients Of Potential HIV, Hepatitis Exposure At Philadelphia Dental Office
Health officials in Philadelphia are recommending certain patients of a dental clinic accused of following "unsanitary practices" get tested for hepatitis and HIV due to potential exposures from April 2025 to May 2026, the city's Department of Public Health said in a statement this week. Officials on Wednesday identified the dental clinic in Center City Philadelphia as Smiles at Rittenhouse Square, also called Smiles on the Square, and said it is now closed due to the dentist's temporary suspension. (Abdelmalek and Cobern, 5/22)
Chicago Tribune: EPA Announces $295 Million To Remove Illinois Lead Pipes
Illinois will receive $295 million to address lead in drinking water as part of a $921 million regional investment, the federal government has announced. The move is one of many actions under the Federal Lead Action Plan, launched in President Donald Trump’s first term and aligned with his administration’s newer campaign to “Make America Healthy Again.” (Perez, 5/24)
Cardinal News: Background Checks For Private Firearm Sales Not Happening, One Month After Virginia Bill’s Emergency Enactment
Since October, Virginia State Police has not conducted background checks for the private sale of firearms at any of the gun shows organized by Annette Elliott, owner of Showmasters, she said. And state police were not present at the show she organized in mid-May — one of more than a dozen planned and held in Virginia in 2026 — almost a full month after a bill aimed at reestablishing universal background checks in the commonwealth was enacted. (Beyer, 5/26)
ProPublica: Albuquerque Officials Move To Address Surge In Citations Related To Homelessness
Judges, state public defenders and city officials in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are taking steps to curb a cycle of missed court dates and arrest warrants for crimes related to living outside that has led to a county jail population that’s about half homeless. Eighteen months ago, judges in Bernalillo County, which includes Albuquerque, noticed an increase in charges related to homelessness — including for obstructing a sidewalk, unlawful camping and unlawful storage of personal property. (Santa Cruz, 5/26)
Verite News: A Property Tax Trap For Senior And Disabled Homeowners Will Soon Be Fixed
Housing affordability is a serious and persistent issue across neighborhoods, incomes, and age groups in Orleans Parish and across the state. Even for longtime homeowners with fixed rate mortgages, rising insurance and property taxes are reducing affordability. Fortunately, one longstanding statewide policy gives vulnerable homeowners an opportunity to freeze their property taxes. Currently, more than 18,000 Orleans Parish households have age or disability freezes specifically designed to keep assessments from going up. (Pealer, 5/25)
Grist and States Newsroom: A Deadly Bacteria Is Creeping Up The Atlantic Coast. How Worried Should You Be?
Bailey Magers and Sunil Kumar cut strange figures on Pensacola Beach. Bags of disinfectant solution surrounded them on the white sand; their gloved hands juggled test tubes while layers of rubber and plastic shielded their skin from the elements. As the two organized their seawater samples on the popular Florida shoreline last August, an older woman wearing a swimsuit walked over to ask what they were doing. (Teirstein, 5/23)
On autism therapy clinics —
The New York Times: Short Naps, Long Hours: How Autism Clinics Squeeze Medicaid Dollars Out Of Preschoolers
On a sunny Wednesday morning last month, dozens of preschoolers filed into a Compleat Kidz autism clinic in Concord, N.C. One wore light-up sneakers. Another had a Spider-Man lunchbox. They settled into tiny green cubicles, each accompanied by a staff member, and started their work. A decade ago, this Charlotte suburb had no clinics providing therapy to children with autism. Now it has 12. Inside this one, children buzzed with activity as they worked long sessions with therapists. One 6-year-old girl, exhausted after hours of therapy, fell fast asleep in her therapist’s lap. Soon, a supervisor, Stephen Schroeder, intervened. (Kliff and Sanger-Katz, 5/23)
The New York Times: 5 Takeaways From A Times Investigation On Autism Therapy Clinics
Over the past decade, thousands of autism clinics have opened across the country. The growth has been fueled by rising autism diagnoses and a federal requirement that all state Medicaid programs pay for the treatment. The industry has recently received significant investment from private equity firms. A New York Times investigation found that the clinics often prioritize billing opportunities in ways that may harm children and overcharge the government. Many overprescribe hours, and some discourage parents from enrolling their children in school. (Kliff and Sanger-Katz, 5/23)
Lifestyle and Health
Kyle Busch Had Pneumonia And Sepsis, Family Says; Symptoms Of Sepsis Can Be Hard To Spot
The New York Times: Kyle Busch Died After Complications From Sepsis, Severe Pneumonia, Family Says
Kyle Busch suffered from severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis, “resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications,” the NASCAR driver’s family said in a statement Saturday. The statement was based on a medical evaluation provided to the family, it said. (Gluck, 5/23)
People.com: An Expert Explains Why Sepsis Is So Deadly
Especially among younger people, the onset can be sudden and the symptoms hard to recognize, says Dr. Todd Rice, professor of medicine and director of the intensive care unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Rice, who has not treated Busch and is not connected to his case, explains how an illness like pneumonia can cause sepsis, and why the condition can be so deadly, even for young, healthy people like Busch. (Finan, 5/25)
In other health and wellness news —
HealthDay: Dust Yields Clues to Viral Outbreaks, Study Finds
Scientists say dust contains clues to viruses circulating in offices, schools and other buildings, according to a new study. ... In their new study, an Ohio team vacuumed up dust samples from nearly 30 locations, including schools, university residence halls and office buildings. They then used high-tech genetic tracing technologies to spot molecules that viruses might leave in their wake as they decayed. A total of 200 different viruses were included in the test kit. The result: The team spotted 54 distinct viruses in the dust samples, including the COVID virus, influenza, norovirus, Epstein-Barr virus and many others. (Mundell, 5/26)
The Washington Post: A New Study Pinpoints How Much Sleep Is Best For Healthy Aging
The new research, published in the journal Nature on May 13, does suggest that there’s a sleep “sweet spot” between 6.4 and 7.8 hours of sleep a night. People who hit that amount had better functioning of the immune system, brain and heart, as well as other organs, when measured on the molecular level. (Penman, 5/26)
Fox News: Type Of Sitting May Predict Dementia Risk, 19-Year Study Reveals
The research, which was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in March, found that replacing mentally passive sedentary behavior with mentally active sedentary behavior was associated with a significant reduction in dementia risk. Mentally active sedentary behaviors could include reading, office work and other activities that keep the brain engaged while sitting, while mentally passive behaviors may include watching television or other low-engagement screen activities. (Margolis, 5/25)
Editorials And Opinions
Viewpoints: Are Smartphones Behind The Birth Rate Decline?; Lilly's New GLP-1 Could Be Game-Changer For Those With Severely High BMI
The Washington Post: A Suspicious Decline In Birth Rates Points To A New Culprit
The infinite scroll could contribute to lower fertility rates and smaller graduating classes. (Megan McArdle, 5/24)
The Washington Post: GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs Keep Growing More Promising
Eli Lilly's latest GLP-1 drug could be yet another powerful weapon in the fight against obesity. (5/24)
Stat: Stop The State Department From Dismantling PEPFAR
On Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda to be a public health emergency. This outbreak is deadly, with hundreds of cases across at least two countries, including, by report, one American who was working in the area. (William Roper, Jeffrey Koplan, Richard Besser, Tom Frieden, Anne Schuchat, Robert Redfield, Rochelle Walensky and Mandy Cohen, 5/26)
CNN: Sepsis: What People Misunderstand About This Diagnosis
The death of NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, whose family said he had severe pneumonia that progressed to sepsis, has renewed questions about a condition many people have heard of but few fully understand. Sepsis is more common and more unpredictable than most people realize. As a urologist, I frequently care for patients who arrive in the emergency room with infected kidney stones. The symptoms often started days earlier: flank pain, fevers, chills, nausea or a general feeling that something was not right. By the time they get to the emergency room, some look visibly ill: heart rate up, blood pressure low, tired and sometimes confused. This is no longer just an infection. This is sepsis, the body’s extreme response to infection. (Dr. Jamin Brahmbhatt, 5/24)
The Boston Globe: Psychedelic Therapy Could Save Veterans’ Lives
The moment for using psychedelics in medicine has arrived. (Marcus Capone, Amber Capone, Peter Palandjian and Eliza Dushku Palandjian, 5/25)