First Edition: Friday, Oct. 3, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Nuclear Missile Workers Are Contracting Cancer. They Blame The Bases
At a memorial service in 2022, veteran Air Force Capt. Monte Watts bumped into a fellow former Minuteman III nuclear missile operator, who told him that she had non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Watts knew other missileers with similar cancers. But the connection really hit home later that same January day, when the results of a blood test revealed that Watts himself had chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. (Kime, 10/3)

KFF Health News: Health Centers Face Risks As Government Funding Lapses
About 1,500 federally funded health centers that serve millions of low-income people face significant financial challenges, their leaders say, as the government shutdown compounds other cuts to their revenue. Some of these community health centers may have to cut medical and administrative staff or reduce services. Some could eventually close. The result, their advocates warn, may be added pressure on already crowded hospital emergency rooms. (Andalo, 10/3)

KFF Health News: Democrats Make This Shutdown About The ACA
As long predicted, much of the federal government shut down on Oct. 1, after Congress failed to agree on spending bills that keep most programs running. Republicans need at least a handful of Democratic votes to pass spending bills in the Senate. In exchange, Democrats demanded Republicans renew expanded premium subsidies for Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, which were passed during the pandemic — effectively forcing their own shutdown over ACA policies, as Republicans did in 2013. (Rovner, 10/2)

ABORTION

Politico: FDA Approved New Generic Abortion Pill Before Shutdown
The FDA signed off on a second generic option for the abortion pill mifepristone on Tuesday, hours before most of the federal government shut down and despite Republican opposition to the drug. Evita Solutions applied to make another generic mifepristone on Oct. 1, 2021, according to the FDA’s Sept. 30 approval letter. (Gardner, 10/2)

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

The Washington Post: WIC Could Run Out Of Money In Weeks, As Government Shuts Down 
Funding for a program that helps millions of women and children with neonatal care and nutrition could soon run out as the federal government plunges deeper into a shutdown, according to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. During a conversation with House Republicans on Wednesday, Vought warned that the federal government probably can only support the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — commonly known as WIC — for another week. Other experts, including those at the National WIC Association, predict federal support for WIC could last up to two weeks. After those funds run out, states will have to reach into their own coffers to cover the costs. (Choi and Alfaro, 10/3)

NBC News: What The Shutdown Means For Medicare, Medicaid And Other Health Programs
Your Medicare, Medicaid or Affordable Care Act coverage won’t vanish during the government shutdown, but changes to some benefits and fewer government workers to help could still disrupt care for millions. ... Fortunately for everyday people, core programs like Medicare and Medicaid will keep running because their funding is built into law. But a popular Medicare benefit — telehealth — has already ended for many, and so-called discretionary programs, such as Community Health Centers (CHCs), may be at risk unless Congress acts soon. (Lovelace Jr., 10/2)

CNN: Local Health Departments Worry About Government Shutdown’s Effects On Staffing, Disease Outbreaks And Nutrition Services 
The US government’s shutdown is shaking the nation at a time when public health staffing has already been reduced, the threat of disease outbreaks looms, and both the respiratory virus season and hurricane season are upon us. (Howard, 10/2)

Military.com: How The Government Shutdown Impacts Veterans And The VA
While most integral veterans’ services remain intact, other aspects have been affected and some concerns are emanating within veteran communities. (Mordowanec, 10/1)

VACCINES

The New York Times: Kennedy Fires N.I.H. Scientist Who Filed Whistle-Blower Complaint
Three weeks after a leading scientist at the National Institutes of Health filed a whistle-blower complaint against the Trump administration, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy fired her, according to her lawyer and a copy of the termination letter. Her dismissal was the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken against government scientists and environmental experts after they warned that administration policies were endangering public health and safety. (Mueller, 10/2)

MedPage Today: Kennedy Video On Death Rates Before Vaccines Ignores Other Harms Of Infection
Earlier this week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a 7-minute video on X in which he promised to "shred" a chart displayed during his Senate hearing last month. Kennedy proclaimed that deaths due to some of the most common infectious diseases fell dramatically during the 20th century long before vaccines were widely used. But experts said Kennedy is comparing apples to oranges. The chart focused on infections, not deaths -- and infections have been substantially reduced by vaccination. (Fiore, 10/2)

NPR: With No Guidelines Yet From CDC, Getting A COVID Shot Remains Confusing
Remy Sweeney-Garrett desperately wants to get her daughters vaccinated against COVID-19. But so far that's been impossible. "I'm very worried, and frustrated," says Sweeney-Garrett, 34, who lives in Seattle with her 9-year-old daughter Maxine and 18-month-old daughter Maeve. "And, yeah, I'm angry." (Stein, 10/2)

TARIFFS AND DRUG PRICES

Bloomberg: Alnylam Pulls TV Ad After Trump Crackdown On Drug Industry Spots
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. has stopped airing a TV commercial for its new heart medicine, a sign that the Trump administration’s crackdown on the industry’s ubiquitous drug ads is having an impact on the media landscape. Alnylam was one of many companies to get letters last month from the US Food and Drug Administration calling out what the agency believes are misleading commercials. (Smith, 10/2)

The Washington Post: Trump Claimed A Win On Drug Prices, But Big Pharma Also Scored
President Donald Trump celebrated a long-promised victory Tuesday, announcing that he had used the threat of tariffs to prod pharmaceutical giant Pfizer into cutting U.S. drug prices. But the deal, under which the company would sell some drugs in the U.S. at the same low cost as in other countries, delivered a win for Pfizer, too. In the two days since the announcement, the company’s stock jumped 14 percent as investors realized the new U.S. prices posed little threat to profits. (Whoriskey and Gilbert, 10/2)

MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The Washington Post: Canadians With ‘X’ Passports Warned They Could Face Problems At U.S. Border
The Canadian government has updated its travel advice to warn citizens with gender-neutral passports that their documents may no longer be accepted at the U.S. border. “While the Government of Canada issues passports with a ‘X’ gender identifier, it cannot guarantee your entry or transit through other countries,” Canada’s new travel advisory for the United States reads. “You might face entry restrictions in countries that do not recognize the ‘X’ gender identifier.” (Bisset, 10/2)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Stat: Trump Medicare Rule Delays Fix For Drug Price Negotiation Loophole 
The Trump administration is delaying a proposal to crack down on a loophole that allows drugmakers to avoid Medicare price negotiation on some of their products by making minor tweaks. (Wilkerson, 10/3)

Bloomberg: Humana Reaffirms Guidance After Key Medicare Scores Slip Out
Humana Inc. shares jumped after the company affirmed its earnings guidance for 2025, reassuring investors who have been blindsided by insurance companies’ outlook cuts this year. The company said its preliminary view of Medicare quality ratings are in line with its assumptions in a filing Thursday. (Tozzi, 10/2)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Aetna Medicare Advantage Plans Revealed
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services previewed the Medicare Advantage options available for 2026 on Tuesday. The Medicare Plan Finder tool that beneficiaries use to select coverage is live with the policies and prices health insurance companies offered for the coming plan year. The annual enrollment period runs from Oct. 15-Dec. 7. (Tepper, 10/2)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth Group Sells 54 Home Care Locations To Pennant Group
Pennant Group acquired 54 home health and hospice locations for $146.5 million from UnitedHealth Group as part of the insurer’s recent acquisition of Amedisys. Pennant Group closed the deal with the insurer on Wednesday, according to a news release. The company said the locations are spread across Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. They are among 164 home health and hospice operations UnitedHealth Group agreed to sell in a settlement with the Justice Department in its bid to buy Amedisys. (Eastabrook, 10/2)

Modern Healthcare: NeueHealth Closes $1.5B Deal With VC Firm, Goes Private
NeueHealth closed on its agreement to be acquired by venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates for an estimated $1.47 billion. The company is now privately held under the agreement. The care management firm, formerly known as Bright Health Group, signed a definitive agreement in December 2024 to be acquired by its majority owner New Enterprise, pending regulatory and stockholder approval. Stockholders approved the deal in May. (DeSilva, 10/2)

PHARMA AND TECH

Stat: Amgen Says Cholesterol Shot Prevented Heart Problems In A Broad Population
Amgen said Thursday that its cholesterol-lowering shot, Repatha, prevented a composite of heart disease death, heart attack, and the most common type of stroke in a 12,000-patient trial. (Herper, 10/2)

The Washington Post: How AI Is Making It Easier To Design New Toxins Without Being Detected
In October 2023, two scientists at Microsoft discovered a startling vulnerability in a safety net intended to prevent bad actors from using artificial intelligence tools to concoct hazardous proteins for warfare or terrorism. Those gaping security holes and how they were discovered were kept confidential until Thursday, when a report in the journal Science detailed how researchers generated thousands of AI-engineered versions of 72 toxins that escaped detection. The research team, a group of leading industry scientists and biosecurity experts, designed a patch to fix this problem found in four different screening methods. But they warn that experts will have to keep searching for future breaches in this safety net. (Johnson, 10/2)

DEMENTIA AND ALZHEIMER'S

Newsweek: Brain Reshaping May Predict Dementia Years Before Symptoms
The way the brain’s shape changes as it ages could help to paint the picture of its overall health and offer early warning signs for dementia—years before typical symptoms emerge. Brain scan analysis led by researchers at University of California, Irvine and University of La Laguna in Spain revealed substantial alterations in shape that were closely linked to declines in memory, reasoning and other cognitive functions. (Millington, 10/2)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Infection Associated With Increased Risk Of New-Onset Vascular Dementia In Older Adults
A new study in npj Dementia using data from the UK Biobank shows that COVID-19 survivors aged 50 and older had a higher likelihood of developing new-onset dementia (NOD) compared to uninfected controls. ... According to the authors, compared with matched non-COVID controls, prior COVID-19 infection was associated with a 41% increased risk of all-cause dementia. ... Men, unvaccinated participants, those with high blood pressure, and those with frequent alcohol use had the highest association with NOD. (Soucheray, 10/2)

ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

MedPage Today: Parkinson's Risk Rises With Outdoor Air Chemical Exposure
Exposure to ambient trichloroethylene (TCE) -- a common chemical used in degreasing and dry cleaning -- correlated with a higher risk of Parkinson's disease, an analysis of over a million Medicare beneficiaries showed. Exposure to outdoor TCE was associated with a new diagnosis of Parkinson's disease approximately 14 years later in a dose-dependent manner, reported Brittany Krzyzanowski, PhD, of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, and co-authors. (George, 10/2)

The Hill: Wildfire Smoke Found To Reduce Sperm Quality In New Study
A new study indicates the potential health impacts of wildfires don’t end when wildfire season does. Researchers at the University of Washington found that wildfire smoke exposure could reduce key aspects of sperm quality in men. (Plante - 10/2)

ABC News: Landmark Study Recommends 'Planetary Health Diet' For Saving Lives And The Planet
Changing how the world eats could reduce premature deaths, save trillions of dollars and slow the impacts of climate change, according to a new landmark report released Thursday by the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission, a coalition of experts in nutrition, climate, economics, health and agriculture from more than 35 countries. ... The researchers said that if people worldwide adopted their "Planetary Health Diet" (PHD), up to 15 million premature deaths could be avoided annually. (Glasser, 10/2)

PUBLIC HEALTH

Fox News: Mouth Bacteria And Fungi Triple Pancreatic Cancer Risk, Study Finds
People with certain bacteria and fungi in their mouths may face a dramatically higher risk of pancreatic cancer — more than three times greater — according to new research from NYU Langone Health and and Perlmutter Cancer Center. In the study, which was published in JAMA Oncology, researchers identified 27 types of bacterial and fungal species in the mouth’s microbiome that may contribute to the disease. (McGorry, 10/2)

CIDRAP: Two Investigations Reveal How Resistant Bacteria May Have Spread From Pets To People
Investigations into human and animal infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria in Massachusetts reveal genetic links that hint at potential transmission between pets and their owners, researchers reported last week in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The paper describes two separate investigations that were ultimately linked through epidemiologic and molecular detective work. (Dall, 10/2)

The Hill: Pasta Meals Sold At Walmart, Trader Joes May Be Linked To Listeria Outbreak That Killed 4
Four people are dead and 19 more have been hospitalized following a listeria outbreak connected to recalled ready-to-eat pasta meals sold at grocery stores across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced. As of Sept. 30, there have been 20 confirmed cases of listeria poisoning in connection with the outbreak across 15 states. The outbreak is linked to recalled ready-to-eat pasta meals sold at Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Kroger and Albertsons stores. (Kaplan, 10/2)

STATE WATCH

AP: Some GOP-Led States Like Nebraska Push Back On Medical Marijuana
Nebraska officials missed a deadline this week granting licenses to marijuana growers as part of a voter-approved measure that legalized medical marijuana, offering the latest example of pushback in Republican-led states against efforts to legalize the drug. “How many times do we have to go down this road of fighting for our lives?” Lia Post asked through sobs Tuesday to the newly formed Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission as it became clear the body would not meet the Wednesday deadline. (Beck, 10/2)

WUSF: Planned Parenthood Will Offer Free Breast Exams And Cervical Screenings Across Florida 
Planned Parenthood locations across Florida are offering free breast exams and cervical screenings on Monday, Oct. 6, as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The event is for one day only, at 13 Planned Parenthood locations across the state, including Tampa, Lakeland and Sarasota. (Sheridan, 10/3)

Becker's Hospital Review: Firearm Injury Costs Fall Largely On Medicaid: Study
Firearm-related injuries drove $7.7 billion in healthcare spending over six years, with $1.6 billion attributable to 2021 alone, according to a study published in JAMA Health Forum on Sept. 26. More than half the costs were billed to Medicaid. The study estimated how much U.S. hospitals spent on firearm injuries between 2016 and 2021 by evaluating emergency department and inpatient visits across six states. (Casolo, 10/2)

North Carolina Health News: Whooping Cough Surging In North Carolina 
Most people likely know pertussis by its more common name — whooping cough, which comes from the “whoop” sound made as the person tries to catch their breath in between violent coughing spells. The Corbin family in Chapel Hill is well acquainted with the other nickname for pertussis — the “100-day cough.” Earlier this year, 11-year-old Alex Corbin spent at least two months struggling with a cough that made him vomit, kept him up at night and left him breathless. (Fernandez, 10/3)

CIDRAP: Avian Flu Strikes Backyard Flocks In 2 States
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed two more H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in poultry, both in backyard flocks. One detection involves a flock in Montana’s Broadwater County that has 8 birds, and the other affects a flock in North Carolina’s Guilford County with 6 birds. (Schnirring, 10/2)