Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Friday, May 29, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: A Trump Stronghold Grapples With Health Risks Of ICE Detention Sites
Until recently, this rural city about 45 minutes east of Atlanta was best known for its Blue Willow Inn cookbooks featuring recipes for Southern dishes such as baked pineapple casserole and kudzu blossom jelly. Lately, however, the community has been trying to stave off a new identity of “prison town” as it fights the opening of what could become the nation’s largest immigration detention center, holding up to 10,000 people. (Rayasam, 5/29)
KFF Health News: After Her Bout Of Amnesia, A $59,000 Billing Dispute Wouldn’t Go Away
On April 10, 2025, several hours after finishing a hike in Sedona, Arizona, Jan Anderson started repeating herself. “Did we hike this morning?” she asked. “Yes, we hiked,” said her husband, Steve Francks. “And you did really well.” But 15 seconds later, she asked the same question: “Did we hike today?” Anderson, 65, a retired finance executive, doesn’t remember any of it. She can recall what happened that afternoon only because her husband started recording her on his cellphone. “I was just on this nonstop loop,” she said. Almost immediately, Francks knew something was wrong. “Jan was out of it,” he said. (Sausser, 5/29)
KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: More Kids Without Coverage
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by congressional Republicans in 2025, was supposed to backload cuts to health programs so they wouldn’t take effect until after the 2026 midterm elections. That’s not how things are working out, with numerous analyses showing insurance coverage is already starting to drop. Meanwhile, the Trump administration claims that the coverage reductions prove its anti-fraud efforts are working. But those efforts are likely to affect far more people than just those who commit fraud against federal health programs. (Rovner, 5/28)
HEALTHCARE COSTS AND COVERAGE
Modern Healthcare: CDC Says Uninsured Rate Held Steady At 8.3% In 2025
The share of Americans lacking health insurance has held steady for the past few years — but the percentage is expected to rise. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday shows 8.3% of Americans, or 28 million people, lacked health insurance in 2025. In comparison, 8.2% of residents lacked coverage in 2024. (Tepper, 5/28)
Modern Healthcare: Feds Finalize No Surprises Act Rule Overhauling Dispute Process
After more than two years of delay, the federal government issued a regulation Thursday implementing major updates to the No Surprises Act. The final rule from the Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury departments and the Office of Personnel Management overhauls the law’s Independent Dispute Resolution process, which health insurance companies and out-of-network providers use to reconcile claims covered under the No Surprises Act, which is intended to protect patients against surprise bills. (Early, 5/28)
EBOLA OUTBREAK
Bloomberg: US Plan For Kenya Ebola Quarantine Facility Obstructed By Court
A Kenyan high court has temporarily blocked the government from approving a deal with the US to establish an Ebola quarantine facility in the East African nation. It also stopped Kenyan authorities “from admitting into, transferring to, receiving within, or facilitating the entry into Kenya of persons exposed to or infected with Ebola,” pursuant to the arrangement with the US, judge Patricia Nyaundi said. Parties will make oral arguments before the judge in the case on June 2, according to the order. (Herbling, 5/29)
CNN: US Ebola Facility In Kenya Sparks Backlash At Home And Abroad
The plan to launch this week a health facility in Kenya for Americans who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus has received widespread criticism – from both Kenyan doctors and US officials working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Madowo, Kent and Princewill, 5/28)
NBC News: Americans Who Get Ebola Will Go To Europe For Treatment, Not U.S., Officials Say
If more Americans contract Ebola and need advanced medical care, they will be sent to Europe rather than brought to the U.S., senior administration officials said Thursday. The announcement is the latest in a series of moves Trump administration officials have made to keep Americans exposed to or infected with Ebola out of the country amid the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Already, the U.S. has set up a facility in Kenya for any Americans exposed. It is set to open Friday with 50 quarantine beds. (Miller, 5/28)
Stat: Trump Ebola Travel Restrictions May Impede Doctors Who Want To Help
When Craig Spencer contracted Ebola while working in Guinea during the West African outbreak in 2014, he was already back in the United States when he first developed symptoms. He credits the treatment he got at New York’s Bellevue Hospital for his survival. If Spencer, an emergency medicine physician and an associate professor in Brown University’s School of Public Health, were to contract Ebola in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda — if he’d even had high-risk exposures to Ebola patients — he wouldn’t be allowed back into the U.S. for care or quarantine. (Branswell, 5/28)
The Hill: US, Mexico, Canada Coordinate Ebola Travel Measures Ahead Of FIFA World Cup
The U.S., Mexico and Canada — the three countries hosting this year’s FIFA World Cup beginning in June — announced public health travel measures for people coming from parts of Africa that are at greatest risk from Ebola. “This coordinated approach aims to protect our citizens and the millions of visitors, fans, athletes, and tourists expected during the FIFA World Cup 2026, while maintaining travel and commerce across our borders,” the nations said in a joint statement Thursday. “The health and safety of every person in the region remains our highest priority as we welcome the world to North America.” (Swai, 5/28)
Bloomberg: Congo Defends Ebola Response As WHO Warns Tracing Is Failing Amid Insecurity
Congo’s health minister pushed back against claims the country’s Ebola outbreak was spiraling out of control, even as World Health Organization officials warned insecurity and population displacement were preventing responders from tracing most suspected contacts. “I’ve heard in the press that the epidemic is ‘out of control,’” Roger Kamba, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Minister of Public Health, Hygiene, and Social Welfare, told reporters Thursday in Bunia, the outbreak’s epicenter. “We need to put into perspective the alarmist cries.” (Kavanagh and Gale, 5/29)
Bloomberg: WHO Advisers Recommend Limiting Experimental Ebola Drugs To Clinical Trials
Drugs in development to treat and prevent infections caused by the Ebola virus that’s circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda should be given only as part of clinical trials, advisers to the World Health Organization said. That means people who are sick now, or are at risk of becoming sick after being exposed to them, may not get access. It has been extraordinarily difficult to develop Ebola drugs, given that the outbreaks emerge sporadically, often in remote areas, and kill patients so quickly. (Fay Cortez and Smith, 5/28)
HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK
CNN: Hantavirus-Exposed Cruise Passengers May Soon Be Allowed To Return Home But Must Remain Under 24/7 Watch
The US government is prepared to allow American passengers who were exposed to a unique strain of hantavirus to return home as early as Monday, provided their states post a monitor outside their homes 24/7 for the remaining three weeks of their six-week quarantine. (Goodman, 5/28)
VACCINES
MedPage Today: FDA Panel Backs New COVID Vaccines Aimed At Dominant Strain
The FDA's vaccine advisors voted 8 to 0, with one abstention, in favor of a monovalent XFG vaccine for COVID-19 shots for the 2026-2027 season. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) also discussed the need to target the long-simmering BA.3.2 variant, also known as "cicada," though most expressed confidence that targeting XFG was the right way to go. (Fiore, 5/28)
The New York Times: Suit Says Black Infants Were Subjected To Experimental Vaccine Without Consent
The families of two Black infants who were unknowingly enrolled as test subjects in a mid-1960s vaccine trial for a respiratory virus and died shortly afterward have sued the United States government. Ross Otto Hambrick and Victor Marcellus King were just a few months old when they were administered a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V., at a children’s clinic in Washington, D.C., between 1965 and 1966 without their families’ knowledge or consent, according to a lawsuit filed on May 22. Both died from the disease, coupled with bacterial pneumonia, about a year later, when Ross Otto was 14 months old and Victor 16 months. (Tumin, 5/28)
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Fierce Healthcare: HCA Acquiring Healthcare Professional College To Boost Workforce
For-profit hospital chain HCA Healthcare announced a deal to acquire The College of Health Care Professions, an in-person and online educator that prepares more than 8,000 students per year for non-physician healthcare positions. Terms for the deal announced Wednesday afternoon were not disclosed. A letter to students from the school’s chancellor and CEO, Eric Bing, said the acquisition would close “in the coming months, subject to customary regulatory approvals.” (Muoio, 5/28)
Modern Healthcare: Oura Partners With Counsel Health To Offer Access To Physicians
Oura is taking another step in its move from wellness to healthcare by giving users direct access to a physician. The company on Thursday announced a partnership with artificial intelligence-enabled virtual care company Counsel Health. Oura users will be able to connect with Counsel Health physicians and ask health-related questions after receiving alerts from the device’s symptom radar feature. The partnership was announced as part of the company’s introduction of Oura Ring 5. (Famakinwa, 5/28)
Modern Healthcare: Teladoc Debuts Clinical Offerings On Walmart’s Better Care Services
Teladoc Health launched several services on Walmart’s virtual health hub. The company said in a Thursday news release it will offer virtual urgent care, dermatology and nutrition services through Walmart’s platform for $89 per visit. Walmart created its Better Care Services hub in January to connect users to third-party digital health providers such as Teladoc. (DeSilva, 5/28)
Modern Healthcare: Clover Health Wins Medicare Advantage Star Ratings Lawsuit
Clover Health is in line for a boost to its Medicare Advantage star ratings under a court ruling that could embolden other health insurance companies. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia ruled Wednesday that 20 measures the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services uses to assess quality are improper. The court ordered CMS to recalculate Clover Health’s 2026 scores. (Tepper, 5/28)
ProPublica: More Than $100M Billed For Questionable Vascular Procedures, IG Report Finds
Dozens of doctors are routinely performing risky vascular procedures in medical offices, generating tens of millions of dollars in Medicare payments for potentially unnecessary procedures, according to a federal report released earlier this month. The review, completed by the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services, flagged nearly 140 doctors across the country as having “concerning” billing patterns. (Waldman, 5/29)
San Francisco Chronicle: California University To Open Medical School In Central Valley
The University of the Pacific plans to open a medical school at its main campus in Stockton, one of the only institutions to issue a doctor of medicine (M.D.) degree in California’s Central Valley. The school is slated to open in the fall of 2030, according to Thursday’s announcement. University officials hope it will help address the growing shortage of physicians in the Central Valley. UOP is the second major university in California to announce plans to open a medical school in recent weeks, after Santa Clara University with Sutter Health. (Ho, 5/28)
Iowa Public Radio: Broadlawns Hospital Brings Iowa’s First Mobile Memory And Wellness Unit To Polk County
Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines launched a new mobile memory unit that will offer mobile care services for dementia. The Mobile Memory and Wellness Clinic will serve as an extension of Broadlawns’ Memory Center and will travel to different neighborhoods and community centers in Polk County. (Curran, 5/28)
PHARMA AND TECH
HealthDay: Drug Effective In Slowing Progressive MS, Trial Shows
An already-approved MS drug can significantly slow progression in people with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), according to a new study. Patients treated with an IV infusion of ocrelizumab (Ocrevus) were less likely to have progression of their disability, researchers report in The Lancet. Specifically, they had better hand function and arm dexterity, and they were less likely to need a wheelchair, researchers found. (Thompson, 5/29)
NBC News: CVS Caremark Will Cover Lilly’s Weight Loss Drug Zepbound Again After Patient Backlash
CVS Caremark will resume covering the weight loss drug Zepbound this year after it removed it from its list of covered medications last year, drugmaker Eli Lilly said Thursday. CVS Caremark is one of the country’s largest pharmacy benefit managers, deciding which medications millions of people in the U.S. can get through insurance and how much they pay out of pocket. (Lovelace Jr., 5/28)
The Washington Post: When Is A GLP-1 Drug Too Potent?
In interviews, doctors warned that using a drug to shrink your body that much will require close medical management — much more than the level of monitoring many people are now getting when taking drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound. (Rowland, 5/29)
MedShadow Foundation: Tejocote Root And The Tainted Supplement Problem The FDA Can’t Contain
An investigation into unregulated weight-loss products found widespread contamination with a toxic plant and a regulatory system struggling to keep them off the market. (Yasinski, 5/28)
CIDRAP: Multistate Salmonella Outbreak Tied To Moringa Supplements Tops 100 Cases, Leads To New Recall
After reopening an investigation into a Salmonella outbreak tied to moringa leaf powder, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday confirmed 22 new cases in four newly affected states and implicated another product. The new cases and states increase the outbreak total to 119 infections in 36 states. The CDC also confirmed six new outbreak-related hospitalizations, bringing hospital cases to 32. No deaths have been reported, however. (Wappes, 5/28)
Modern Healthcare: Doctronic Releases Utah AI Prescribing Pilot Results
Early results from a controversial pilot program testing the use of artificial intelligence to automate some prescriptions refills are in and being viewed as a promising test case for how AI may next be used in healthcare. In January, the state of Utah launched the pilot with artificial intelligence platform Doctronic. The state allowed the company to use its AI chatbot to manage prescription renewals for 192 drugs used to treat chronic conditions such as diabetes, depression and high blood pressure. The 12-month pilot is being widely watched within the industry, and there have been questions raised about its safety, legality and the broader use of AI in healthcare. (Famakinwa, 5/28)
The New York Times: What Happens When Your Employer Knows The Diseases You Might Get?
Imagine this scenario: At a routine visit, your doctor administers a new genetic test that shows you have a hugely elevated risk of a heart attack in the future. You’re in shape; you feel fine. But the prediction is in your DNA. The next day, you tell your employer that your doctor wants you to make some adjustments — switch to a less physically taxing role, or maybe lower your stress levels in an effort to save your life. Can your boss legally deny you these accommodations? Under current law, yes. (Baumgaertner Nunn, 5/28)
STATE WATCH
Planet Detroit: Radioactive Waste Blocked From Michigan Landfill
A Van Buren Township landfill is barred from accepting shipments of radioactive waste from Manhattan Project-era sites, a Wayne County Circuit Court judge ruled Wednesday. Judge Kevin Cox’s order, issued following a February bench trial, sides with Wayne County and communities that sued Wayne Disposal by making an Aug. 6, 2025 preliminary injunction permanent. (Allnutt, 5/28)
Bridge Michigan: Michigan Bills Seek To Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide
Laws that would allow doctors to prescribe life-ending medication to terminally ill patients are being considered once again in Michigan. House Democrats unveiled a package of bills last month to create a “Death with Dignity Act,” following a similar effort in the previous term by Senate Democrats to legalize physician-assisted death in the state. Similar laws cover more than 100 million Americans in 14 states. (Newman, 5/28)
The Colorado Sun: Colorado Midwives Sue The State, Saying Regulators Make It Hard To Work Safely
Kalie Caler was 8 years old when she decided that she wanted to deliver babies for a living. Born and raised in Pagosa Springs, she completed midwifery school in Florida before moving home to start Mountain Roots Midwifery in 2019. (Singer, 5/28)
AP: California Attorney General Sues 23andMe Over User Data Breach
California’s attorney general sued the genetic testing company formerly known as 23andMe on Thursday, alleging it failed to protect sensitive user data in a 2023 breach that affected nearly 7 million people across the country. Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the lawsuit against Chrome Holding Co., which 23andMe rebranded under after filing for bankruptcy last March. 23andme is known for its direct-to-consumer DNA test kits that provided customers information on their ancestry and genetic predispositions for certain health conditions. (Ding, 5/28)
San Francisco Chronicle: California Families Sue To Block Demand For Trans Kids’ Health Info
The Trump administration has launched a baseless and intrusive criminal investigation into hospitals that treat transgender youths after judges refused to identify them or release their medical records, six California families alleged in a lawsuit this week. After a year of rejections by federal courts nationwide of Justice Department subpoenas seeking information on the hospitals’ patients, the department “has now decided to sidestep those orders” with a criminal investigation demanding some of “the most sensitive information a medical provider can possess,” lawyers for the families said in a suit filed late Wednesday in federal court in San Jose. (Egelko, 5/28)
The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Reports First Heat-Related Death Of 2026
The Maryland Department of Health on Thursday reported the state’s first heat-related death of 2026. State health officials said the victim was a man in his 70s or 80s from Calvert County but declined to release additional details about the death. (Karpovich, 5/28)
Maryland Matters: Md. Medicaid Agency May Have Paid For Care For Inmates, Dead People
The state agency responsible for overseeing Medicaid payments and services lacked “effective processes” to identify millions in questionable payments made to dead or incarcerated people, according to an audit released this week. (Brown, 5/28)
The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Opioid Settlement Dashboard Launched
Maryland has launched a public dashboard to track how opioid settlement dollars are received, distributed and spent across the state. (5/28)
Verite News: Jefferson Parish Has The Most Opioid Overdose Deaths In La. Here’s How It’s Spending Its Settlement Money
Jeffrey Alford had been living in active addiction for five years when, in August 2020, he was arrested on a felony charge of possession of a Schedule II drug and booked at the Jefferson Parish jail. Like many others who struggle with opioid use disorder, Alford started with prescription pain pills, then he moved on to heroin and methamphetamines. When powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl flooded the market, he started using them too — whether he realized it or not. “You didn’t know what you were getting,” Alford said. “You thought you were getting heroin, but you’re actually getting fentanyl.” (Fernelius and Hawkins, 5/28)
The Texas Tribune: Texas App Age Verification Law Can Go Into Effect For Now
Texas’ law requiring app marketplace operators like Google and Apple to verify all users’ ages and seek parental permission before minors can download apps or make in-app purchases can go into effect for now, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. (Cobler, 5/28)
North Carolina Health News: Survivors, Advocates Encourage Bill To Place AEDs In Schools
Hailey Yentz was lifting weights with her track and field team in February 2025, when she started to feel dizzy. Without knowing why, she collapsed in a teammate’s arms and for 10 minutes, she had no pulse. The college senior was having a heart attack. (Crawford, 5/29)
DEMENTIA AND ALZHEIMER'S
MedPage Today: Alzheimer's Signs Hidden In Midlife Brains, Study Shows
Alzheimer's disease pathology was detected in midlife and was tied to minor changes in cognitive performance in people without dementia, data from a prospective cohort study showed. This pathology, measured by amyloid and tau blood biomarkers, was uncommon in middle age, and was associated with a higher likelihood of cognitive decline over 5 years, reported Kristine Yaffe, MD, of the University of California San Francisco, and co-authors in The Lancet. (George, 5/28)
MedPage Today: Brain Changes Linked With Speech-In-Noise Impairment
Difficulty understanding speech in background noise was tied to brain changes in speech-processing networks and may be an early behavioral marker of neural vulnerability before cognitive decline, a study of older adults suggested. (George, 5/28)
GLOBAL WATCH
Bloomberg: Virgin Galactic-Flown Mission To Study Menstruation In Space
A reproductive health nonprofit is seeking to raise $1.2 million to book space travel with Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. and research menstruation in weightless conditions. The group, called Operation Period, will study the impacts of space on menstrual physiology — a key consideration for female astronauts during long-duration space travel. The research, which is slated to take place during a 90-minute suborbital flight next year, will also study the performance of menstrual products, according to a statement from the group and Virgin Galactic. (Pashankar, 5/28)
AP: Canadian Man Expected To Plead Guilty To Selling Lethal Substances To People Who Killed Themselves
A Canadian man accused of selling lethal substances online to people who took them to end their own lives is expected to plead guilty Friday to 14 counts of counseling or aiding suicide, his lawyer said. Kenneth Law is scheduled to appear in a Newmarket, Ontario, court to enter the plea and sentencing is expected to take place later. Canadian prosecutors will withdraw 14 murder charges in exchange for Law’s plea, his lawyer Matthew Gourlay said. (Gillies, 5/29)
