First Edition: Friday, Feb. 6, 2026

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: With ICE Using Medicaid Data, Hospitals And States Are In A Bind Over Warning Immigrant Patients
The Trump administration’s move to give deportation officials access to Medicaid data is putting hospitals and states in a bind as they weigh whether to alert immigrant patients that their personal information, including home addresses, could be used in efforts to remove them from the country. Warning patients could deter them from signing up for a program called Emergency Medicaid, through which the government reimburses hospitals for the cost of emergency treatment for immigrants who are ineligible for standard Medicaid coverage. (Galewitz and Seitz, 2/6)

KFF Health News: Effective But Underprescribed: HIV Prevention Meds Aren’t Reaching Enough People
Billing mistakes. Stigma. Doctors who aren’t keeping up with the latest research. Those are just some of the hurdles that keep HIV prevention medication out of reach for many Americans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates more than 2 million Americans could benefit from a treatment known as PrEP, but only a quarter of them are getting a form of the drug. Zach Dyer appeared on WAMU’s “Health Hub” on Feb. 4 to share tips patients can use to avoid those pitfalls and find a doctor who knows more about PrEP. (Dyer, 2/6)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: HHS Gets Funding, But How Will Trump Spend It?
The Department of Health and Human Services is funded for the rest of the fiscal year. But lawmakers remain concerned about whether the Trump administration will spend the money as directed. Meanwhile, negotiations over extending expanded subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans have broken down in the Senate, mostly over a perennial issue — abortion. The subsidies’ expiration at the end of 2025 has left millions of Americans unable to afford their health insurance premiums. (Rovner, 2/5)

PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS

The Wall Street Journal: White House Debuts Drug-Buying Site TrumpRx, With Roughly 40 Medications
The White House on Thursday launched its drug-pricing website, dubbed TrumpRx, the culmination of efforts by the administration to bring down pharmaceutical costs for some consumers. When it launched, it had roughly 40 drugs available, including obesity treatments Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and infertility treatments such as Gonal-F from EMD Serono. (Essley Whyte, Calfas and Loftus, 2/5)

Stat: TrumpRx: Frequently Asked Questions About Online Drug Portal 
President Trump on Thursday night announced the launch of TrumpRx, the website that he and his aides have touted for months as a platform aimed at lowering prescription drug prices. (Chen, Wilkerson and Cirruzzo, 2/6)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Ends 340B Drug Pricing Program Rebate Pilot
The Health and Human Services Department has agreed to scrap a contentious 340B Drug Pricing Program rebate model and go back to the drawing board. HHS and the American Hospital Association, in a joint court filing Thursday, asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine to vacate litigation over HHS’ 340B rebate pilot program and send the pilot back to HHS. (Early, 2/5)

MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The Hill: Trump Cuts $1.5B In Health, Transport From Blue States
The Trump administration is rescinding a total of $1.5 billion in health and transportation funds from multiple blue states, a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) confirmed Thursday. The OMB directed the Transportation Department to rescind $943 million from Colorado, Illinois, California and Minnesota, and it directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to rescind $602 million from those states. (Frazin, 2/5)

The New York Times: Trump Strips Job Protections From Thousands Of Federal Workers 
The Trump administration finalized a new policy on Thursday that would strip job protections from up to 50,000 federal workers, a move that would make it easier for President Trump to remove or discipline them, in his latest effort to dismantle the federal work force. Until now, the roughly 4,000 people appointed by the president, known as political appointees, were the only federal workers who could be fired at will. The policy issued on Thursday allows the administration to expand that number to include career employees whom the administration considers to also have policy-related roles. For these employees, any whistle-blower complaints would now be handled inside their agencies rather than by the independent Office of Special Counsel, as they had previously. (Sullivan, 2/5)

CIDRAP: Report Finds US Biodefense Lagging As Biological Risks Intensify
A bipartisan working group convened by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has released a new report identifying critical policy actions that would strengthen US defenses against biological threats. The report, Protecting Americans from Biological Threats, was developed by the CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security Working Group on Biodefense over the course of four months and is endorsed by more than 40 experts spanning public health, national security, biotechnology, and government. (Bergeson, 2/5)

'MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN'

The New York Times: Kennedy Makes Unfounded Claim That Keto Diet Can ‘Cure’ Schizophrenia 
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asserted on Wednesday that the keto diet could cure schizophrenia — an unfounded claim that experts say vastly overstates preliminary research into whether the high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet might help patients with the disorder. Mr. Kennedy made the remarks while traveling in Tennessee as part of his national tour to urge Americans to “eat real food” — a message he is delivering in conjunction with his recent overhaul of federal dietary guidelines, which now emphasize protein and fats, including steak, cheese, butter and whole milk, over carbohydrates. (Stolberg, 2/5)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Relaxes Rules On ‘Naturally Derived’ Dyes
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday announced the Food and Drug Administration was relaxing its enforcement of federal food additive regulations, making it easier for manufacturers to claim that they are not using artificial dyes in their products. The F.D.A. has barred food makers from advertising that products contain “no artificial colors” unless they have no added dyes of any kind. But Mr. Kennedy and F.D.A. officials announced that the agency would no longer enforce that rule, so long as companies were not using petroleum-based dyes. (Gay Stolberg, 2/5)

ON CAPITOL HILL

ABC News: Congress Secures Long-Term Funding For The World Trade Center Health Program
Congress has approved legislation for a funding fix that fully supports the World Trade Center Health Program and prevents a projected multibillion-dollar shortfall that threatened the program’s future. At a press conference Thursday morning, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., highlighted the action as a critical step toward protecting long-term care for those sickened by toxic exposure after the Sept. 11 attacks. "Fully funding the World Trade Center Health Program honors our promise to never forget 9/11 survivors and the brave first responders who put their lives on the line for our country," Gillibrand said. (Neporent, 2/5)

The New York Times: Senators Clash Over Immigration Enforcement, Risking A D.H.S. Shutdown 
Bipartisan Senate talks aimed at reining in President Trump’s immigration crackdown appeared to sputter on Thursday before they had even started, raising the risk of a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security in a little over a week. Senators left Washington for the weekend without opening serious talks on a measure needed to keep the department running past a Feb. 13 midnight deadline, with Democrats demanding major changes to immigration enforcement operations and Republicans digging in against measures to curb the Trump administration’s deportation drive. (Gold, 2/5)

IMMIGRATION CRISIS

NPR: Some Public Health Service Officers Deployed To Detention Centers Suffer 'Moral Distress'
In 2025, as immigrant arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement soared, so did the demand for health care providers to staff hastily constructed detention centers. One group tapped to meet the need is the U.S. Public Health Service, or USPHS: In the past year, nearly 400 officers have done monthlong tours helping to provide basic medical care to detainees at ICE facilities nationwide, according to a USPHS employee who reviewed a roster of staff deployments. (Landman, 2/5)

The Washington Post: School Officials Say Missing Minneapolis Girl Seen In ICE Detention In Texas
Children detained by ICE in Minneapolis and taken to Texas spotted a classmate in the cafeteria of the detention center. (Wu, 2/5)

The 19th: For People In ICE Detention, Access To Pads And Tampons Is Inconsistent
Period products like pads and tampons are considered an essential public health need, but access for women and trans people held in federal custody — from prisons to immigration detention centers — remains inconsistent. While specific figures for women held in immigration detention have not been reported for President Donald Trump’s second term, the detention population broadly reached record highs in 2025, growing from about 40,000 to nearly 70,000 people. (Norwood, 2/5)

The Washington Post: Want To Sue ICE For A Bloody Nose Or Broken Fence? It’s An Uphill Battle.
Many allege injuries or property damaged during the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Experts say suing the government will be tough. (Brittain, Klemko and Sacchetti, 2/6)

ABORTION

ProPublica: Texas Medical Board Issues Training For Doctors On Legally Providing Abortions
For the first time since Texas criminalized abortion, the state’s medical regulator is instructing doctors on when they can legally terminate a pregnancy to protect the life of the patient — guidance physicians have long sought as women died and doctors feared imprisonment for intervening. The new training from the Texas Medical Board comes nearly five years after the state passed its strict abortion ban in 2021, threatening doctors with severe penalties. (Jaramillo, Surana and Presser, 2/5)

TRANSGENDER CARE

CBS News: Johns Hopkins Medicine Denies Performing Gender Transition Procedures For Minors Despite Claims By HHS
Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Medicine denied performing gender transition procedures for minors after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) threatened to investigate. HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart says Johns Hopkins is allegedly taking part in "sex-rejecting" procedures for minors, which he claims do not meet recognized standards of healthcare. The HHS accuses Hopkins of "continuing to perform heinous and horrific acts of intentional permanent harm to minors." (Thompson, 2/5)

The Colorado Sun: Children's Hospital Colorado Sued For Pausing Gender-Affirming Care
Inside the stilled courtroom, an attorney asked a simple question and the mother on the witness stand began to cry. Where is your daughter right now? The question came during a hearing this week in Denver District Court in a lawsuit over Children’s Hospital Colorado’s suspension of gender-affirming care for transgender youth, a decision Children’s made in the face of escalating threats from the federal government. (Ingold, 2/6)

Stat: Hospitals Stop Gender Care For Minors Amid Federal Pressure 
At least nine hospitals or health systems have stopped providing gender-affirming hormones and puberty blockers to young trans people since the start of the year, in the wake of federal rules proposed in December that would withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding from clinics that continue pediatric care for transgender people. (Gaffney, 2/5)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

CBS News: Justice Department Investigates Baltimore Health Department Over Claims Of Racially Segregated Trainings
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is investigating Baltimore's Health Department (BCHD) over allegations that it holds racially segregated trainings, according to a letter to city officials on Wednesday. The investigation aims to determine if the department is violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by engaging in discriminatory employment practices. The measure prevents employers from discriminating against employees or applicants based on race, religion or sex. (Lockman, 2/5)

Crain's Chicago Business: Adtalem Global Education Changes Name To Covista, Expands Mission
The nation’s largest healthcare educator is changing its name, marking another chapter in its years-long transformation from a for-profit jack-of-all-trades school once mired in controversy to a multi-university network putting doctors, nurses and veterinarians into the U.S. workplace. Adtalem Global Education has become Covista, the Chicago-based education company said this morning, with a plan to expand its healthcare career network and establish itself as a major player in the nation’s health workforce infrastructure. (Asplund, 2/5)

CBS News: NYC Nurses Strike Tentative Deals On More Key Issues On Day 25, But Not Enough To End Work Stoppage, Union Says
There were protests and arrests on Day 25 of the New York City nurses strike, but also progress in negotiations on some of the key issues that remain. Nurses rallied Thursday on Manhattan's West Side and outside The Mount Sinai Hospital on the Upper East Side, saying the New York State Nurses Association has more to do at the bargaining table, though they are closer to a deal. (Williams, 2/5)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealthcare Leads In Medicare Advantage Prior Auth Denials
Medicare Advantage insurers processed 52.8 million prior authorization requests in 2024, a 6% increase from the prior year and 42.3% more than in 2019, according to an analysis by the health policy research group KFF. These health insurance companies at least partly denied 7.7% of prior authorization requests in 2024, up from 6.4% in 2023, the review of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data found. The number of requests per Medicare Advantage member declined slightly to 1.7 in 2024. (Tepper, 2/5)

AP: Houston Doctor Indicted For Falsifying Medical Records In Liver Transplant Case
A Houston doctor has been indicted on charges of falsifying medical records for five patients, making them ineligible to receive a liver transplant, federal prosecutors announced on Thursday. Dr. John Stevenson Bynon Jr. was indicted by a grand jury in Houston last month on five counts of false statements relating to health care matters. Bynon is accused of making false statements in his role as director of abdominal organ transplantation and surgical director for liver transplantation at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston. (Lozano, 2/6)

Fox News: Patient Survives 48 Hours After Surgeons Remove Both Lungs At Northwestern
Surgeons at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago were able to keep a critically ill patient alive for 48 hours after removing both of his lungs, the hospital reported last week. The patient, a 33-year-old Missouri resident whose name was not shared, was originally flown to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with lung failure linked to a flu infection in spring 2023. (Rudy, 2/5)

PHARMA AND TECH

The Hill: GLP-1 Overdoses On The Rise As Weight Loss Medications Proliferate
As the popularity of weight loss drugs has increased, so have calls to poison control as people, including children, overdose on the medications. GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound are designed to be injected, typically once a week. That means the medications are set to remain in the body for that long, which can have devastating consequences if a child gets their hands on the medicine. The case of Jessa Milender, reported by local Indiana news outlet WTHR, is one example. The then-7-year-old girl took her mother’s GLP-1 injection, which she thought was a drug for stomach aches. (Whiteside, 2/5)

AP: Hims & Hers Launches Wegovy Knockoff Pill, Novo Nordisk Vows To Sue
Telehealth company Hims & Hers said Thursday it will launch a cheaper, off-brand version of the weight-loss pill Wegovy, just weeks after drugmaker Novo Nordisk launched its highly anticipated reformulation of the blockbuster medication. The announcement from Hims is the latest example of the company’s efforts to capitalize on the booming popularity of GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy, which have revolutionized weight loss treatment in the U.S. ... Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy is the first of the medications to become available in a pill format. (Perrone, 2/5)

The Washington Post: This Super Bowl Spot Will Tout A Cancer Test That Is Often Wrong 
A telehealth company that generated buzz last year with a defiant Super Bowl ad hawking weight-loss drugs is back for this year’s championship with a socially charged pitch around longevity. “Rich people live longer,” intones the artist Common, as the spot for Hims & Hers advises that you, too, can get access to the same “custom-formulated peptides,” hormone therapy and other wellness products as the wealthy. (Gilbert, 2/6)

Stat: Do Statins Really Cause Those Side Effects? What The Data Shows 
Far fewer people who could benefit from statins actually take the cholesterol-lowering drugs now. Many who start taking them stop. The long list of side effects, detailed in fine print on package inserts and discussed in exam rooms over the years, pose barriers to many patients, doctors say. A new meta-analysis hopes to set the record straight on one of the most widely used, low-cost doses of cardiovascular disease prevention available. (Cooney, 2/5)

CIDRAP: CARB-X Funds Development Of Rapid Test For Typhoid Fever
CARB-X announced today that it’s awarding Chembio Diagnostic Systems $1.8 million to support the development of a rapid, finger stick–based diagnostic test for typhoid fever. The money will help Chembio, of Medford, New York, develop a blood-based point-of-care test, using its proprietary Dual Path Platform, that can detect acute infection caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi based on the presence of immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies. (Dall, 2/5)

Modern Healthcare: Abbott Dual Glucose-Ketone Sensor Push Goes On As FDA Flags Libre
Abbott Laboratories said it still aims to launch its dual glucose-ketone sensor this year while addressing newly disclosed issues federal regulators have with its FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitors. In October, Abbott received a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration related to an inspection at its diabetes care site in Alameda, California. The agency said Abbott did not transfer performance specifications to third-party manufacturers and ensure ongoing monitoring of products while being made or once finished. (Dubinsky, 2/5)

Bloomberg: Apple Is Scaling Back Plans For AI-Based Health Coach Service
Apple Inc. is scaling back plans for a virtual health coach, according to people with knowledge of the matter, part of an effort to rethink how the company approaches the burgeoning market for wellness services. The initiative, code-named Mulberry, was wound down in recent weeks, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the move wasn’t public. Apple now plans to take some of the features it had planned for the artificial intelligence-powered offering and roll them out individually over time within its Health app. (Gurman, 2/5)

STATE WATCH

The Washington Post: They Ushered Their States Through Covid. Now They Want To Lead Them.
Why doctors who led the pandemic response in their states are running for office. (Merica, 2/6)

The Colorado Sun: Colorado Democrats Propose New Limits On 3-D Printed Guns, Tougher Rules For Firearms Dealers 
Democrats in the Colorado legislature are adding to their slate of proposals this year to tighten the state’s gun regulations with measures that would further crack down on 3-D printed firearms and impose tougher rules on gun dealers. (Woods and McKinnon, 2/5)

Verite News New Orleans: St. Tammany Illegally Shortened School Days For Student With Disabilities, Lawsuit Claims
The family of a special needs student in St. Tammany Parish has filed a federal lawsuit against the parish school board and the school district’s superintendent, Frank Jabbia, saying that the district inappropriately shortened the child’s school days to two hours, depriving him of more than two-thirds of instructional time during the 2024-2025 school year compared to other students. The lawsuit alleges that the decision prevented the child — who for months spent his shortened school days in a specialty classroom isolated from other students — from access to equal education, violating longstanding federal special education laws. (Syed, 2/5)

The New York Times: Uber Found Liable In Rape By Driver, Setting Stage For Thousands Of Cases
A federal jury in Phoenix on Thursday ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to a passenger who said one of its drivers had raped her, setting the stage for thousands of similar cases around the country. The ride-hailing giant has long maintained that it is not liable for the misconduct of drivers on its platform, whom it classifies as independent contractors, not employees. But the jury rejected that defense, providing a road map for more than 3,000 pending sexual assault and sexual misconduct lawsuits that accuse the company of systemic safety failures. (Steel, 2/5)

AP: Jurors Award $8.3M To Kansas Foster Teen's Family After Mental Health Crisis Death
Jurors have awarded $8.3 million to the family of a Kansas foster teen who died in 2021 after he was held facedown for 39 minutes in a juvenile intake center while in the throes of a mental health crisis. Five juvenile officers in Sedgwick County either used excessive force on Cedric “C.J.” Lofton or failed to intervene, the jurors decided Wednesday after a trial in federal court in Wichita. (Hollingsworth, 2/5)

The New York Times: Nancy Guthrie Kidnapping Shows Limits Of Tracking Pacemakers In Police Work
Like an estimated three million Americans, Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of the NBC News anchor Savannah Guthrie, has a pacemaker implanted in her chest. Law enforcement officials who are investigating her kidnapping are reported to have contacted the company that made Ms. Guthrie’s device to find out what they can learn from the information it yields. Experts in heart health and digital forensics say the answer may be “not much.” (Kolata, 2/5)

OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS

CBS News: Person Infected With Measles Visited Montgomery County Urgent Care, Pennsylvania Health Officials Say
A person with a confirmed case of measles visited an urgent care center in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, last month, health officials said. The Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services and Office of Public Health said Thursday that the infected person was at the Patient First Primary and Urgent Care on Collegeville Road on Thursday, Jan. 29. Officials said anyone at the center from 1:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. on that date could have been exposed to measles and should monitor themselves for symptoms for the next 21 days. (Simon, 2/5)

AP: Jalisco Issues Health Alert Over Measles Outbreak In World Cup Host
The Mexican state of Jalisco on Thursday issued a health alert and mandated the use of face masks in schools as a measles outbreak hit the state capital, a key host city for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup. The measures come on the heels of an epidemiological alert issued by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) earlier this week over the spread of the preventable disease across the Americas, particularly in Mexico, which leads the region with 1,981 cases confirmed by authorities this year and more than 5,200 suspected cases. (Llano and Pesce, 2/6)

CBS News: Tuberculosis Warning Sent To Long Island School District After Students Possibly Exposed
A Long Island school district is warning parents their kids may have been exposed to tuberculosis after learning that "an individual in the school community" was being treated for the highly contagious and possibly fatal disease. The Patchogue-Medford School District said in a letter to some parents in January that the Suffolk County Department of Health first alerted them about the infectious person. (Prussin, 2/5)

CIDRAP: More Avian Flu Outbreaks In Pennsylvania, Colorado
Millions of birds, including 1.3 million commercial table egg layers in Weld County, Colorado, have been sickened with highly pathogenic avian influenza, per this week’s notifications from the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS). In addition to the major outbreak in Colorado, 722,000 birds on a commercial table egg layer farm facility in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, were also sickened. (Soucheray, 2/5)

CIDRAP: Federal Testing Improves Detection Of H5N1 Avian Flu In US Dairy Herds
Influenza A(H5N1) viral RNA was widely present in US retail milk during the spring 2024–25 outbreak among dairy cattle, according to a report published late last week in Emerging Infectious Diseases. In milk samples collected from April 13 to May 3, 2024, researchers detected influenza A viral RNA in 36% of samples from 13 states, including in five states (Arkansas, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, and Oklahoma) that had no reported outbreaks at the time. Across the country, only 29 infected herds had been reported as of April 12, a total that was inconsistent with the number of positive samples. (Bergeson, 2/5)

PUBLIC HEALTH

MedPage Today: Pandemic Disruptions Worsened Cancer Survival, Study Finds
People diagnosed with cancer during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic had worse short-term survival compared with cases in the years leading up to the pandemic, including for breast, prostate, colorectal, and other cancers, a population-based cohort study suggested. (Bassett, 2/5)

The Hill: Domestic Partners ‘Increasingly Likely’ To Use Poison To Harm, Kill Partners, DHS Says
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is warning law enforcement agencies across the U.S. about an uptick in people using poisons, such as cyanide, to kill or harm their domestic partners. There were 17 documented instances of people using chemical or biological toxins against their partners between 2014 and 2025, resulting in at least 11 deaths, according to a January bulletin prepared by DHS’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office. More than half of those incidents occurred in the past five years, the data showed. (Brams, 2/5)