Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Friday, Oct. 9, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: AI, Tech Leaders Are Lobbying Trump Health Officials In A Government-Run Chat Room
A cadre of elite techies, financiers, and high-level Trump administration officials have spent a year quietly charting an extraordinary and rapid campaign to persuade Americans to use apps and other artificial intelligence-powered tools to manage their healthcare and medical records. As that campaign has unfolded, administration officials have granted tech companies an unusual opportunity to nudge the nation’s health department toward a loosely regulated future for AI health apps in which the government reimburses them for services as it does medical professionals. (Seitz, Rosenfeld, and Tahir, 10/9)
KFF Health News: ‘We Are Seen As Disposable’: Rural Residents Fight A Proposed Gas Pipeline
Despite being in one of the nation’s fastest-growing states, this rural county of roughly 85,000 people is still brimming with red foxes, coyotes, white-tailed deer, and wild turkeys. But in recent months, Enbridge Gas North Carolina’s proposed plans for a natural gas pipeline have exposed how population growth, here and across the nation, is driving a divide between wealthy newcomers and longtime residents. (Clasen-Kelly, 10/9)
KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: Midterm Madness
The midterm elections are less than a month away, and a new poll from KFF shows voters are very concerned about rising health costs and trust Democrats more than Republicans to address the issue. In an apparent attempt to close the gap, President Donald Trump is sending checks, some dubbed as “refunds,” to some Medicare and Affordable Care Act enrollees, but those checks are for far less than most patients’ costs have risen in 2026. (Rovner, 10/8)
OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS
ABC News: Cold And Flu Medicine Purchases Up Nearly 22% From Last Year, Walgreens Data Shows
Walgreens is already seeing an early-season bump in cold and flu-related sales, according to data first viewed by ABC News. Purchases of cold and flu medications are up 21.7% compared to the same time last year, and cough drops are up 16.6%. Numbers from the company from past seasons also show that activity is expected to rapidly increase in the weeks ahead. Recent history indicates flu activity starts increasing around the end of September and then ramps up in December, according to Walgreens. (Benadjaoud, 10/8)
ABC News: Health Officials Report 74 New Measles Cases In Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is reporting 74 new measles cases since Monday, the state's health department said Wednesday. A total of 1,078 cases have been reported in the state so far this year. At least 207 people have been hospitalized and five people have died, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH). "Of the 74 cases added, more than 40 represent individuals who were sick more than two weeks ago and are no longer contagious, but their cases were only recently reported and subsequently confirmed, the DOH said. Wednesday's update "does not reflect a current surge in new infections." (Benadjaoud and Kekatos, 10/8)
ABC News: CDC Says Measures In Place To 'Assess' Travelers From Russian Region Where Plague Was Reported
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it has established measures to "identify and assess" any travelers from the Russian region where a possible plague case was reported. In a statement on Wednesday, the agency noted that roughly only 200 travelers from the region arrive in the U.S. over the course of a year. These travelers enter the country through airports where CDC staff are already positioned. (Benadjaoud and Kekatos, 10/8)
COVERAGE AND ACCESS
Roll Call: Pallone Bill Would Drop Surprise Billing Law’s Arbitration Process
A 2020 law intended to protect patients from “surprise” medical bills would get an overhaul under a bill introduced Thursday by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The New Jersey Democrat’s bill would replace the law’s arbitration process that insurers and providers use to reach a decision on payment for some out-of-network services, like emergency department visits. Instead, the fee would be calculated based on a median rate insurers pay for in-network services. (Hellmann, 10/8)
MedPage Today: Straight To The Top: Patients Email Insurance CEOs Over Care Denials
When insurance companies deny claims made through traditional channels, some patients have taken their cases directly to the CEO's inbox. Two patients recently had success with emailing insurance company CEOs, and their stories were highlighted by Wendell Potter, a former insurance company executive, in his Substack newsletter Health Care Un-Covered. (Robertson, 10/8)
Roll Call: Warner Pitches Health Care Expansion As He Preps For Swan Song
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia is leaning into a major expansion of U.S. health insurance coverage as he prepares for what’s likely to be his final term in office, in contrast to his earlier years on Capitol Hill marked by a more centrist approach to health care. (Livingston and Cohn, 10/8)
AP: US, Zambia Sign $2.49B Health Financing Pact After Removing Data And Specimen-Sharing Terms
The U.S. government and Zambia signed a health financing deal on Thursday after agreeing to remove specimen-sharing and patient-data clauses that had stalled the conclusion of the pact. The Zambian government also said that the deal does not contain any clauses linked to the country’s abundant mineral resources, which will be negotiated separately. (Zimba, 10/8)
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
NBC News: MAHA Loyalists Accuse Trump Administration Of ‘Broken Promises’
Some supporters of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement have begun to publicly turn against their leader, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Trump administration as a whole as they demand tougher crackdowns on food dyes and pesticides. A scorecard released Thursday by MAHA activists, including former members of Kennedy’s 2024 presidential campaign, claims the Trump administration broke more than 85% of its promises to MAHA on food, agriculture and environmental health. The makers of the scorecard include Dave Murphy, a former fundraiser for Kennedy’s campaign, and Charles Eisenstein, Kennedy’s former chief speechwriter. (Tsirkin and Bendix, 10/8)
Stat: Midterm Elections: MAHA Nearly Invisible On Campaign Trail
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement rushed into American politics with a promise: Let an unlikely coalition of activists reach the masses, and they will deliver revolutionary gains for the Republican Party. (Cueto, Cirruzzo and Payne, 10/9)
CIDRAP: Feds Sold Lab Equipment That Exposed US To ‘Severe Bioterrorism Threat,’ Report Says
Federal agencies sold unneeded lab equipment to apparent resellers, exposing it to potential redeployment by people with malicious purposes, creating a national biosecurity risk, per a new US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. “Federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] and the U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA] can donate or sell lab equipment that they no longer need,” the report said. “But some lab equipment could pose public health or national security threats if it falls into the wrong hands. For example, bad actors could use it to develop bioweapons.” (Van Beusekom, 10/8)
CIDRAP: HHS Launches New Major Vaccine Injury Initiative
Today Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a sweeping initiative to fund research on vaccine injuries, including opening a new vaccine injury clinic at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The initiative also proposes to reimburse physicians for reporting suspected vaccine-related injuries to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) through a new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) policy and code. HHS also said they are modernizing VAERS and making it easier for physicians to report an injury. (Soucheray, 10/8)
CIDRAP: Lawmakers Want Answers From CDC Director On Childhood Vaccine Recommendations, Measles Response
A letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Erica Schwartz, MD, MPH, JD, from Democratic lawmakers indicates a growing frustration with her leadership amid attempts by President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to change childhood vaccine recommendations. (Dall, 10/8)
NBC News: Pentagon Says There Will Be A Livestream Of Firing Squad’s Execution Of The Fort Hood Shooter
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday the public would be able to watch the firing squad execution of a former Army officer convicted of a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. Speaking from the USS Abraham Lincoln to the conservative news outlet Real America’s Voice, Hegseth said Nidal Hasan is “going to get a firing squad of soldiers, and we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it.” (Long and Lubold, 10/8)
The Marshall Project: ICE Has Arrested Twice As Many Children This Year
The image of immigration officers arresting 5-year-old Liam Ramos — in a blue bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack — in January sparked outrage across the country. Celebrities from Ms. Rachel to Madonna called for the closure of the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the Texas immigrant camp that held Ramos and many children like him. Lawyers filed complaints about contaminated food and shoddy healthcare, and hundreds of activists protested outside the detention camp. (Villagran and Livingston, 10/8)
PUBLIC HEALTH
CIDRAP: USDA Notes More H5N1 Avian Flu On Poultry Farms
According to the latest update from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), there were six new detections of H5N1 avian flu this past week, including major outbreaks at two large facilities in Indiana and Minnesota. (Soucheray, 10/8)
Bloomberg: Taylor Farms To Halt Mexican Iceberg Lettuce During Summer Cyclospora Season
Taylor Farms, whose produce was linked to this summer’s diarrhea-causing parasitic outbreak, will indefinitely suspend iceberg lettuce shipments from central Mexico for much of next summer. The Salinas, California-based company will not harvest or process iceberg lettuce from central Mexico during the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s defined cyclospora season, Taylor Farms Chief Executive Bruce Taylor said in a public letter. The season runs from May 1 to Aug. 31, according to the CDC. That mirrors the rainy season in Mexico, the company wrote in its letter. (Peterson, 10/8)
Stat: To Capture Impact Of Abortion Restrictions, Researcher Betsy Pleasants Studies Reddit
Betsy Pleasants was studying one historic disruption to abortion access when a more seismic one emerged. In spring 2022, as a graduate student at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Pleasants was researching the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on abortion services when a leaked draft opinion indicated that the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade. (Chen, 10/9)
The New York Times: For Two Sisters, A 'Biological Age Test' Measured More Than Their DNA
The notification lit up Michelle’s phone at 5:25 a.m. on the West Coast: a text from her older sister, Deb, who had an idea. Deb had heard on a longevity podcast about a new technology that claimed to measure how quickly a person was aging. For $399, each sister could submit a blood sample and learn how her habits and experiences had affected the ways her genes behaved. The test, called TruAge, could supposedly tell them the functional ages of their brains, hearts, lungs and bodies overall. “I think it would be super interesting to look at test results between siblings,” Deb, 56, had written. “You interested?” (Baumgaertner Nunn, 10/8)
SCIENCE AND INNOVATIONS
The New York Times: Clinical Trial Indicates A.I. Chatbots Could Aid Urgent Care
Last year, nearly 100 people tried a new form of medical care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. After scheduling a visit with the hospital’s urgent care facility, they discussed their ailments with a Google chatbot before meeting with their doctors. The bot explored their symptoms, the possible causes of their maladies and the potential treatments, before generating a summary of each conversation. Doctors could then review the bot’s summary in preparation for a patient’s visit. (Metz, 10/8)
MedPage Today: Genetically Engineered Treatment For Blindness Shows Early Promise In Small Study
A majority of patients with advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP) showed preliminary evidence of improved light sensitivity with engineered genes encoding for a light-sensing protein, a small preliminary trial showed. Seven of 10 patients had increased light sensitivity after optogenetics treatment, aided by use of light-stimulating goggles. (Bankhead, 10/8)
The Washington Post: The Surprising New Idea That Is Reshaping How We Think About ADHD
Brandon Luu began thinking about the body’s circadian machinery as a teenager, when he was routinely unable to fall asleep until late, sometimes well past 2 a.m. The schedule made mornings miserable and school harder. But it also left him with a question: What happens when the body’s sense of time falls out of sync with the world around it? (Eunjung Cha, 10/8)
MedPage Today: Four Deaths Prompt FDA Safety Concerns About Novel Schizophrenia Drug
The FDA flagged a potential safety signal after four deaths were reported among patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia who received investigational evenamide in clinical trials, Newron Pharmaceuticals said Thursday. The notice follows an announcement in April that the agency halted patient enrollment in the phase III ENIGMA-TRS 2 trial after the sudden death of a participant in an evenamide clinical trial. That hold remains in place at U.S. study centers but enrollment continues in other countries, and additional clinical sites are being added. (George, 10/8)
MedPage Today: Can DMARD Doses Be Safely Reduced For RA Patients? Korean Trial Says Yes
Close to 90% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) well controlled on targeted therapies were able to take 50% dosage reductions without experiencing worsened disease activity in a randomized trial, South Korean researchers said. (Gever, 10/8)
Stat: Argenx Sees Setback With Failure Of Study Of Drug For Autoimmune Disease
Argenx said Thursday that its blockbuster drug Vyvgart didn’t outperform placebo in a Phase 3 trial of patients with Sjögren’s disease, a chronic autoimmune disorder. (Mast, 10/8)
CIDRAP: Hepatitis B Vaccine Study Condemned As Unethical Wins Approval From Danish University
The University of Southern Denmark confirmed that it has given the green light to a controversial study in Guinea-Bissau, funded with $1.6 million from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that plans to offer life-saving hepatitis B vaccines to only half of enrolled babies. News of the study, first reported in December by CIDRAP News, prompted an international outcry from health groups and political leaders, who condemned its design as unethical. Those concerns led Guinea-Bissau officials and administrators at the Danish university to place the study on hold for several months. (Szabo, 10/8)
CIDRAP: Mothers Vaccinated Against HPV Before Pregnancy Less Likely To Give Birth Prematurely, Study Finds
Mothers vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) before pregnancy are less likely to develop pregnancy complications, especially if immunized before age 17, a large new study finds. Researchers found that women immunized against HPV were 15% less likely than women unvaccinated against HPV to deliver very prematurely, or during the 28th to 31st weeks of a 40-week pregnancy, according to a Swedish study published this week in The BMJ. Babies born before the 37th week of pregnancy are more likely to have poor health or disabilities. (Szabo, 10/8)
The Morning Call: Endometriosis Is A Painful, Chronic Condition That Often Goes Undiagnosed. This Family Wants More Attention To Be Paid
Shared pain and a desire to overcome it are among the many things that bring Carissa Kent and her daughter, Angelina, together. Their pain is both emotional and physical; the mother and daughter both have endometriosis, a chronic and painful condition where uterine tissue grows outside of the uterus. (Greiss, 10/8)
The Baltimore Sun: Low Vaccine Reaction Tied To Healthy Diet In International Study
What’s living in your gut determines whether you have a fever reaction to a vaccination, new research shows. Fever is the most common reaction to vaccination and could lead some people to delay or forego future shots, especially for modern vaccines such as the mRNA vaccine developed to fight COVID-19. (Hille, 10/8)
HEALTH INDUSTRY AND PHARMACEUTICALS
AP: Price Of Drugs From Canada Set To Soar For Millions Of Americans
Millions of Americans who buy cheap drugs from Canada could soon lose access when a customs rule goes into effect later this month, a change that has sparked opposition from Democrats and some Republicans with the cost of living a top issue for voters ahead of midterm elections. The rule applies to a swath of goods beyond drugs and is intended to collect tariffs and prevent illegal drugs from coming into the U.S. It comes as President Donald Trump has made lowering drug prices a top target in addressing soaring healthcare costs, and critics say the rule will hurt patients seeking affordable medicine. (Hussein, 10/8)
Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Rethink Medical Device ROI As Costs Climb
Hospitals are looking for medical devices that deliver a meaningful return on investment as they face mounting pressure to cut costs. Medical and surgical supply costs, including for devices, rose from $40 billion in 2020 to $57 billion in 2025, reflecting an average annual increase of about 8.2%, according to data and analytics company Definitive Healthcare. The average hospital margin was less than 3% in 2025, said Kristi Kline, principal at Deloitte Consulting. (Dubinsky, 10/8)
Bloomberg: Humana Surges As Medicare Advantage Contract Earns Higher Star Rating
Humana Inc. shares surged as the company improved its performance on crucial Medicare Advantage quality ratings that will boost future revenue. Shares rose 17% in postmarket trading in New York before slightly paring those gains. The company’s largest Medicare Advantage contract with more than 2 million members improved its rating above the threshold to earn bonus payments, according to data released from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday. (Swetlitz and Tozzi, 10/8)
The Baltimore Sun: Systems Restored At Luminis Health 5 Weeks After Cyberattack
Luminis Health announced that its systems have been restored, five weeks after the hospital system experienced a cyberattack. (Bhat, 10/8)
Modern Healthcare: Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan Faces Antitrust Lawsuit
Michigan’s attorney general filed an antitrust suit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, alleging the insurer unlawfully abused its market-leading position. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by Attorney General Dana Nessel (D), claims the insurer overcharged the state employees’ medical benefit plan by conspiring with other Blue Cross Blue Shield carriers to divvy up markets. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, which also owns Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont, is the largest insurer in the state. (Tong, 10/8)
Modern Healthcare: Beth Israel Lahey Health Names Peter Shorett President, CEO
Beth Israel Lahey Health has tapped Peter Shorett as its next president and CEO, effective Jan. 1. He succeeds Dr. Kevin Tabb, who in March announced he would step down. Shorett, who joined the 14-hospital system in 2019, is the system’s chief operating officer and senior executive vice president. (DeSilva, 10/8)
STATE WATCH
Cardinal News: Community Teams Work To Aid Virginia First Responders So They Can Focus On What's Needed Most
Jim McPheeters of Fairfax County remembers working outside on a hot, summer day when he began to feel the onset of a heart attack — symptoms he was able to identify because of his role on Fairfax’s Community Emergency Response Team. (Stephenson, 10/9)
Wyoming Public Radio: Wyoming Gets Funding To Help Low Income Families
Wyoming is receiving $2.4 million dollars to continue a home visit program aimed at improving the health and well being of low income parents with young children. (Beck, 10/8)
AP: Audit: Errors Led To $13M+ In Improper Homeless Spending In Hawaii
In a rush to stem an accelerating homelessness crisis, Gov. Josh Green’s administration put its signature program to address the issue in the hands of a small nonprofit ill-equipped to properly account for tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money it was spending, overseen by a state agency equally incapable of controlling expenditures. The result was that the state Office of Housing and Homelessness Solutions made at least $13.7 million in unauthorized or questionable expenditures to its handpicked contractor, the nonprofit HomeAid Hawaiʻi, State Auditor Les Kondo found in a 58-page report on the governor’s kauhale initiative released Wednesday. (Yerton, 10/8)
