Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Approves Execution By Firing Squad For Ex-Army Psychiatrist Who Killed 13 People In 2009 Shooting
The New York Times: Trump Orders Execution By Firing Squad For Gunman In 2009 Fort Hood Shooting
President Trump has approved the execution of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the U.S. Army officer who killed 13 people and wounded 32 others in the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood in Texas, the deadliest mass shooting at an American military base. Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Monday that Major Hasan would be executed by firing squad, adding that the secretary of the Army would set the time and place of the execution. If the order is carried out, Major Hasan, 56, will be the first person to be executed through the military justice system since 1961. (Cameron, 10/5)
On ICE and the immigration crisis —
ProPublica: Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens In Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
The Trump administration says none of this is happening. “DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake.” “There are no ‘indiscriminate’ stops.” Allegations of “racial profiling are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE.” “The pattern is NOT of law enforcement using force.” “ICE does not zip tie or restrain children.” But that is precisely what is happening, and at a far larger scale than previously reported. (Foy, Talbot, Yar, Michelena, Fortis, Elba and Wray, 10/6)
The (San Bernardino) Sun: Adelanto ICE Medical Staff Repeatedly Failed Detainee Who Died, Internal Report Says
Medical staff at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center repeatedly failed 39-year-old Ismael Ayala-Uribe before he died in custody, according to a mortality review by investigators with ICE’s Health Services Corp. The former DACA recipient died from complications related to a pelvic abscess while in ICE custody on September 22, 2025, a coroner’s report states, after being detained for nearly a month inside the Adelanto detention center, federal authorities said. (Mena, 10/3)
Los Angeles Times: ER Visits From Foreign-Born Patients Fell Drastically During ICE Raids, Study Finds
Last summer’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations left many foreign-born residents of Los Angeles afraid to venture outdoors, even when their health depended on it. A new study from USC finds that emergency room visits from patients born outside of the U.S. fell by more than 20% in the first four weeks after arrests escalated in June 2025. Those who did come in were significantly more likely to require hospitalization than U.S.-born patients, suggesting that they were postponing treatment until they were seriously ill. (Purtill, 10/5)
On Medicaid cuts —
Modern Healthcare: Democratic Governors Urge HHS To Delay Medicaid Work Requirements
Five Democratic governors want more time from the federal government to implement Medicaid work requirements correctly. In a Thursday letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the governors of California, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon and Virginia, all Democrats, urged HHS to delay the start date for the work requirements, citing shifting policies that have thrown their preparations off course. (Early, 10/5)
The CT Mirror: Gov. Touts Response To Medicaid Cuts, Stops Short Of Pledging Funds
Gov. Ned Lamont and other state officials gathered in Stamford on Monday afternoon to spotlight Connecticut’s efforts to protect residents’ Medicaid coverage in the face of pending federal changes to the program taking effect on Jan. 1. (Golvala, 10/5)
AP: Black 'Welfare Queen' Trope Persists Despite Data To The Contrary
A new video from Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was standard issue Republican messaging for promoting her state’s stricter rules for people on Medicaid. No more could able-bodied people lounge around while receiving taxpayer-funded healthcare, she said — they needed to work. But the decision to portray an unemployed moocher as a young, white, cheeseball-chomping gamer named Brad upset some conservative commentators last week. (Turbay and Tang, 10/6)
Modern Healthcare: CMS Medicaid Rules Expand Cuts Beyond Trump's Tax Law
President Donald Trump enacted the largest Medicaid cuts in history last year. Since then, his administration has stretched those cuts even further than scorekeepers expected. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ state-directed payments regulation, its provider tax proposal, its rule codifying Medicaid work requirements and a guidance document revising certain Medicaid budget policies would result in deeper impacts than what the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected last year, according to CMS’ own calculations. (Early, 10/5)
In Medicare developments —
Stat: Judges Seem To Favor Humana In Medicare Advantage Lawsuit
Federal appeals court judges didn’t take kindly to the Trump administration’s arguments Monday in a hearing on Humana’s lawsuit against the government over its rules for auditing Medicare Advantage plans. (Bannow, 10/5)
