Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Children's Hospital Colorado Pauses Gender Care For Trans Youths, Again
The Colorado Sun: Children's Hospital Colorado Suspends Gender-Affirming Care, Again
Children’s Hospital Colorado has again paused gender-affirming care for transgender people under the age of 18, after federal authorities opened a new investigation into the hospital. (Ingold, 1/2)
The Texas Tribune: Dallas County Sues Feds Over Public Health Funding Cut
Dallas County, buoyed by a recent Harris County court win, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over the clawback of $70 million in public health funds. (Langford, 1/2)
AP: Trump Administration Freezes Child Care Funds Over Alleged Fraud Schemes
The Trump administration has said it is freezing child care funds to all states until they provide more verification about the programs in a move fueled by a series of alleged fraud schemes at Minnesota day care centers run by Somali residents. All 50 states will be impacted by the review, but the Republican administration is focusing most of its ire on the blue state of Minnesota and is calling for an audit of some of its centers. (Kramon and Brumfield, 1/3)
Sahan Journal: Adult Immigrants In Minnesota Lost Access To State-Funded Health Care On Jan. 1
About 15,000 adult immigrants in Minnesota lost access to their state-funded health care on Jan. 1. In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature — which then had a Democratic-Farmer-Labor trifecta — passed a bill that granted immigrants who entered the country illegally access to MinnesotaCare, a health care program for low-income people that began in the 1990s. ... Enrollment opened in 2024, and beginning in 2025, immigrants were able to get care through the program if they were eligible based on their income. But about halfway through the year, a divided Legislature voted to end those benefits for adult immigrants. (Pross, 1/2)
Chicago Tribune: State Agency Says Information Of 670,000 Residents Exposed
The personal information of more than 670,000 Illinois residents may have been publicly accessible online for several years, the Illinois Department of Human Services said Friday. (Schencker, 1/2)
North Carolina Health News: NC State Retirees Have Been Challenging Health Plan Benefit Changes — For 13 Years
More than 13 years have passed since a group of prominent state retirees filed a lawsuit challenging what was then a new state law that required them to start paying for health care benefits they had received free of charge for years as part of their benefits package. (Blythe, 1/5)
KFF Health News: Iowa Doesn't Have Enough OB-GYNs. The State’s Abortion Ban Might Be Making It Worse.
Jonna Quinn was initially thrilled when she got her first job after her medical residency, working as an OB-GYN in Mason City, Iowa. It was less than two hours down the road from West Bend, where she grew up on a farm. But the hospital started restricting certain birth control options and fertility treatments based on its affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church, she said. At the same time, her unit was increasingly short-staffed as other obstetricians left and retired. (Krebs, 1/5)
On gun violence and mental health —
The New York Times: Trial Begins For Former Officer Over Uvalde School Shooting Response
Three years after AJ Martinez was shot in his right thigh as he hid under a pile of backpacks at an elementary school in Uvalde — the Texas city that suffered one of the nation’s deadliest school shootings — his road to recovery remains arduous and long. Currently 13 and in eighth grade, he continues to endure daily pain from the shrapnel embedded in his right leg, the back of his shoulders and the rear of his head. Now, his mother said, the families of the victims, including the 19 students and two teachers who were killed, are mentally preparing for another phase of the tragedy: the first of two criminal trials over the much-derided police response at Robb Elementary School. (Sandoval, 1/5)
