First Edition: Monday, Jan. 12, 2026

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: ‘Abortion As Homicide’ Debate In South Carolina Exposes GOP Rift As States Weigh New Restrictions
When a trio of Republican state lawmakers introduced a bill last year that would subject women who obtain abortions to decades in prison, some reproductive rights advocates feared South Carolina might pass the “most extreme” abortion ban in the United States. Now, though, it seems unlikely to become state law. In November, a vote to advance the bill beyond a legislative subcommittee failed. Four out of six Republicans on the Senate Medical Affairs Committee subpanel refused to vote on the measure. (Sausser and Sable-Smith, 1/12)

KFF Health News: Millions Of Americans Are Expected To Drop Their Affordable Care Act Plans. They’re Looking For A Plan B
It’s feeding time for the animals on this property outside Nashville, Tennessee. An albino raccoon named Cricket reaches through the wires of its cage to grab an animal cracker, an appetizer treat right before the evening meal. “Cricket is blind,” said Robert Sory, who is trying to open a nonprofit animal sanctuary along with his wife, Emily. “A lot of our animals come to us with issues.” ... The Sorys are passionate about their pets and seem to put the animals’ needs before their own. Both Robert and Emily started 2026 without health insurance. (Farmer, 1/12)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Update Listeners On Expiration Of Insurance Subsidies And New Rural Health Funding
KFF Health News senior correspondent Julie Appleby discussed changes to the Affordable Care Act in 2026 and how enrollees may be affected on WUNC’s Due South on Jan. 7. (1/10)

VACCINES

The New York Times: New Children’s Vaccine Schedule May Not Be The Last Of RFK Jr.’s Big Changes 
Comments by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allies suggest the revised schedule may presage an approach to immunization that prizes individual autonomy and downplays scientific expertise. (Mandavilli, 1/11)

AP: Changes To The US Vaccine Recommendations Are Sowing Confusion And Could Harm Kids
Dr. Molly O’Shea has noticed growing skepticism about vaccines at both of her Michigan pediatric offices and says this week’s unprecedented and confusing changes to federal vaccine guidance will only make things worse. One of her offices is in a Democratic area, where more of the parents she sees are opting for alternative schedules that spread out shots. The other is in a Republican area, where some parents have stopped immunizing their children altogether. She and other doctors fear the new recommendations and the terminology around them will stoke vaccine hesitancy even more, pose challenges for pediatricians and parents that make it harder for kids to get shots, and ultimately lead to more illness and death. (Ungar, 1/10)

The Hill: Cassidy On RFK Jr. Vaccine Schedule Change: ‘Let’s Just Take Care Of People And Move Beyond Your Ideology’
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) expressed further frustration Sunday with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changing the childhood vaccine schedule. The CDC, overseen by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., reduced the number of recommended vaccines for children from 17 to 11 on Monday, putting it in line with Denmark. “Let’s just take care of people and move beyond your ideology,” Cassidy, a medical doctor, told host Jacqui Heinrich on “Fox News Sunday.” (Rego, 1/11)

AP: Germany Sharply Rejects RFK Jr.'s Claims That It Prosecutes Doctors For Vaccine Exemptions
The German government has sharply rejected accusations by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claiming that it has been sidelining patient autonomy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The statements made by the US Secretary of Health are completely unfounded, factually incorrect, and must be rejected,” German Health Minister Nina Warken said in a statement late Saturday. Kennedy said in a video post earlier on Saturday that he had sent the German minister a letter based on reports coming out of Germany that the government was “limiting people’s abilities to act on their own convictions when they face medical decisions.” (Grieshaber, 1/11)

OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS

The Baltimore Sun: Health Officials Warn Of Potential Measles Exposure On Amtrak, BWI Airport Shuttles
A person with an infectious case of measles passed through Maryland this past week, potentially exposing passengers on Amtrak trains and shuttle buses serving BWI Airport, the Maryland Department of Health said Sunday. (Pryce, 1/11)

NBC News: Flu Is Particularly Hard On Kids This Season
The flu is hitting children especially hard this season. “This is really one of the worst flu seasons we’ve been seeing,” said Dr. Suchitra Rao, an infectious diseases physician at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday that the rate of kids and teenagers hospitalized with flu nationwide is the second highest in 15 years for this point in the season. Rao said her hospital has seen “record-breaking numbers of children with influenza.” (Edwards, 1/9)

The New York Times: Bird Flu Viruses Raise Mounting Concerns Among Scientists
In the United States, the term bird flu has become synonymous with a particular virus that has devastated poultry and dairy farms over the past few years. But that virus, called H5N1, is not the only form of bird flu in circulation. Concerned scientists are keeping a close eye other types, including a fast-changing flu virus called H9N2.In a study published in November, researchers in Hong Kong showed that over the last decade, this virus has acquired mutations that allow it to spread more efficiently among people and to cause more severe disease. (Mandavilli, 1/10)

'MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN'

Stat: New Dietary Guidelines Include A Section On Testosterone Levels 
Testosterone is having a moment at the Department of Health and Human Services. Late last year, the Food and Drug Administration convened an expert panel to discuss easing access to testosterone replacement therapy, including the prospect of removing the hormone from the list of scheduled, or restricted, substances and taking the black box warning off testosterone products. (Merelli, 1/12)

Politico: Parents On RFK Jr.’s Advice On Sweets: ‘Completely Unrealistic’
New dietary guidelines from the Trump administration have some big asks of Americans, from prioritizing protein to avoiding highly processed food. The most onerous directive, though, was probably for moms and dads. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins want them to stop giving their kids sugar until they turn 11. That, says Keri Rodrigues, a mother of five boys and the president of the National Parents Union, is “completely unrealistic.” (Paun and Yarrow, 1/10)

The New York Times: Beef Tallow Rises To The Top Of The U.S. Food Pyramid 
Beef tallow, a fat that both cardiologists and the federal government told Americans to avoid for nearly half a century, has become an unexpected breakout star in the new federal dietary guidelines. The rendered beef fat has been quietly growing in popularity over the past few years among cooks who like how it crisps fries and doughnuts, beauty influencers who smooth it on their skin and others who favor it for high-fat diets or believe it’s healthier than oil pressed from seeds. (Severson, 1/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Supplements Are A $70 Billion Industry. RFK Jr. Is Good For Business.
When Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released his MAHA Report in May, a who’s who of the wellness world convened at the White House for the occasion. There was the influential physician Mark Hyman, who co-founded the direct-to-consumer testing company Function Health, recently valued at $2.5 billion. Also in attendance: Alex Clark, the host of the popular Turning Point USA podcast “Culture Apothecary.” Longevity influencer Gary Brecka, who’d recently had Kennedy over to get intravenous drips and use Brecka’s hyperbaric chamber, was present, along with the “medfluencers” Dr. Will Cole and Dr. Paul Saladino. (Ashley O’Brien, 1/10)

MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

AP: Judge Halts Trump Administration Block On Federal Money For 5 States
A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot block federal money for child care subsidies and other programs aimed at supporting low-income families with children from flowing to five Democratic-led states for now. The states of California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York argued that a policy announced Tuesday to freeze billions of dollars in funds for three grant programs is having an immediate impact on them and creating “operational chaos.” In court filings and a hearing earlier Friday, the states contended that the government did not have a legal reason for withholding the money from them. (Mulvihill and Schoenbaum, 1/10)

The New York Times: Trump’s Steep Science Budget Cuts To Be Turned Back By Congress
Congress is racing to undo thousands of cuts to federal science programs that President Trump called for last year when planning the government’s current budget. If enacted, the president’s bid for an overall cut in scientific funding to $154 billion from $198 billion — a plunge of 22 percent — would have been the largest reduction in federal spending on science since World War II, when Washington and the seekers of nature’s secrets began their partnership. (Broad, 1/10)

The Boston Globe: Fear Pushes Immigrant Families Into Shadows Of Health Systems
Health providers across Massachusetts are noticing a troubling ripple effect from stepped-up immigration enforcement: Immigrant families are skipping medical appointments, choosing to forgo care, canceling their limited state-provided health insurance, and weighing health risks against fears of detention or deportation. Providers worry the situation will worsen because of a Dec. 29 court decision that allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to access personal information Medicaid has on undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants aren’t eligible for full Medicaid coverage through the state-run plan, called MassHealth, but they are among 247,500 noncitizens in the state who receive a limited version that covers emergency medical care. ICE now can access many of those records. (Rahal and Laughlin, 1/12)

HEALTH CARE COSTS AND COVERAGE

Politico: Trump’s Plan To Strong-Arm Insurers Into Lower Prices Is Met With Skepticism
President Donald Trump plans to call health insurers to the table and demand lower prices as he seeks to allay voters’ concerns over affordability. But health policy experts, researchers and even some GOP members say it won’t be so simple. Even if a deal materializes, there are reasons to be skeptical that voluntary cuts by insurance companies could bring significant, lasting health care savings for Americans. (Haslett, 1/10)

Politico: The Trump Loyalist At The Center Of The Senate’s Obamacare Talks
If the Senate is going to strike a deal to revive a signature Democratic policy, it will be in part because of an unlikely broker: a freshman Republican from the party’s MAGA wing. Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio is, on paper, an odd fit in the core group of about a dozen senators in talks to extend Obamacare credits that lapsed on Jan. 1. Most are well-known bipartisan dealmakers, such as Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. (Carney, 1/12)

NPR: Marrying For Health Insurance? The ACA Cost Crisis Forces Some Drastic Choices
When he stops to think about it, Mathew says, his situation feels kind of ridiculous. "I find myself in the middle of some sort of rom-com plot," he says. "For me to be able to see my doctor to tend to my autoimmune disease, I had to marry my best friend — it's like some weird twisted plot of 'Will and Grace.'" Mathew asked NPR not to use his full name because he fears repercussions from his health insurance company if they find out he got married to obtain coverage. (Simmons-Duffin, 1/12)

The CT Mirror: Some ConnectiCare Customers Report Enrollment, Billing Problems
A processing error has potentially left several hundred Connecticut residents who enrolled in 2026 Affordable Care Act health insurance plans without their selected coverage, state exchange and insurance officials said. (Golvala, 1/9)

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

St. Louis Public Radio: Trial To Decide Abortion Access In Missouri Begins Today 
More than a year after Planned Parenthood sued to overturn Missouri’s abortion ban, the issue finally heads to trial this week in Kansas City. Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang will preside over the case in Jackson County. The outcome could shape access to abortion services and any restrictions on the procedure that remain. (Fentem, 1/12)

NPR: More Single Women In Their 40s Are Using IVF To Have Children
Laura Terry dreamed of having kids — a family she could call her own. But there was one challenge: She wasn't interested in dating, marriage, or partnering up. So, she came up with an idea for an unusual present to give herself. "For my 39th birthday, I bought a vial of donor sperm," says Terry, who lives in Nashville, Tenn., and works at a top management consulting firm. (Gogoi and Lee, 1/12)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Politico: Nearly 15,000 Nurses Go On Strike At Top New York City Hospitals 
Nearly 15,000 nurses are walking out of their hospital jobs early Monday morning and onto the picket line, in what their union says is the largest nursing strike in New York City history. New York State Nurses Association members working for Montefiore Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian and the Mount Sinai Health System are demanding salary increases to account for inflation while fighting to maintain protections against understaffing that they won after a three-day strike three years ago. They are also calling for new contract provisions on artificial intelligence and workplace violence. (Kaufman, 1/12)

Stat: Medicaid Approves Extra Payments For Hospitals, Doctors Ahead Of Cuts 
The federal government approved $60 billion worth of extra Medicaid funds for hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, and other medical providers in the closing months of 2025 — money that will gradually get cut under Republicans’ tax law. (Herman, 1/12)

Modern Healthcare: Private Equity-Backed Healthcare IT Deals Increased In 2025: Bain
Healthcare IT buyout deal count has steadily increased the last few years as the sector remains attractive to private equity investors. Private equity-backed healthcare IT buyout transactions saw an increase while overall deal value for the sector doubled in 2025, according to a report from management consulting company Bain & Company published on Thursday. This increase contrasts with other parts of healthcare that saw declines in private equity deal activity. (Famakinwa and Broderick, 1/9)

The Washington Post: Dentists Focus On Getting Young Adults To Stop Skipping Care 
Young adults are the most likely age group to skip dental care, with a recent study finding that 1 in 3 didn’t see a dentist during the previous year. (McDaniel, 1/11)

Bloomberg: Anthropic Adds Features For Doctors, Patients In Health Care Push
Anthropic is making it easier for patients and clinicians to use its artificial intelligence chatbot to access medical information, part of a broader push into the lucrative health care sector. The San Francisco-based company on Sunday said that its Claude product is launching a new health care offering that is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, and can be used by hospitals, medical providers and consumers to field protected health data. Anthropic has also integrated scientific databases into its product and added enhanced capabilities for biological research. (Ghaffary, 1/11)

PHARMA AND TECH

Stat: Pulse Oximeter Study Doesn't Settle Issue Of Accuracy On Darker Skin 
Rather than provide clarity on how to reduce racial bias in pulse oximeter readings, a long-awaited study commissioned by the Food and Drug Administration has muddied the path forward. (Oza, 1/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: LSD Shows Promise In UCSF Trial For Generalized Anxiety
Lucas Hoffman has been burdened by anxiety for about as long as he can remember. But for a few weeks in 2024, after being treated as part of a clinical trial, the weight didn’t lift, exactly, but it became much more bearable. The treatment was LSD. The effects didn’t last, but even two years later, Hoffman, 23, said some benefits have lingered. In particular, he was able to understand, for the first time, that the anxiety doesn’t have to stop everything — that he will be OK, even when his mind and body are screaming the opposite. (Allday, 1/10)

The Washington Post: Longevity Medicine Booms With Promises To Slow Aging, Despite Lack Of Evidence
Longevity medicine has exploded into the mainstream, but the fervor has outpaced rigorous scientific evidence and federal regulations. (Thadani, 1/12)

Bloomberg: Veradermics Files For Initial Public Offering To Fund Hair-Growth Pill
Veradermics Inc. filed for an initial public offering to help commercialize its hair re-growth pill. Led by dermatologist co-founders Reid Waldman and Tim Durso, Veradermics is developing an oral, non-hormonal treatment for men and women with pattern hair loss, a condition that affects 80 million people in the US, according to a filing Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. (Hughes, 1/10)

Stat: FDA Puts Off Stoke's Request For Expedited Filing Of Dravet Drug 
Stoke Therapeutics and the Food and Drug Administration were unable to reach agreement on an expedited submission for the company’s severe epilepsy treatment, the company said Sunday. Feuerstein, 1/11)

The Washington Post: Scientists Are Inventing Treatments For Devastating Diseases. There’s Just One Problem
This past spring, a biotech company announced the first use of a new gene-editing technology in people to fix an errant gene that causes a severe immune disorder. In June, a baby born with a life-threatening metabolic disorder was allowed to leave the hospital after a six-month sprint by scientists to create a bespoke treatment for him. And increasingly, a generation of “bubble babies” born without immune defenses are nearing their teenage years after receiving a one-time experimental gene therapy in early childhood. Therapies that target genetic illnesses at their root are no longer on the horizon. They are here. (Johnson, 1/11)

The New York Times: Joel Habener, Whose Research Led To Weight-Loss Drugs, Dies At 88
Dr. Joel Habener, an American endocrinologist who discovered GLP-1, the protein fragment that became the basis of Ozempic, Wegovy and other blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs that are transforming 21st-century medicine, died on Dec. 28 in Newton, Mass. He was 88. His death, in a retirement community, was confirmed by his brother, Stephen, who said the cause was a heart attack. Researchers and drug companies long tried and failed to find an effective treatment for obesity, and many companies gave up on what they viewed as a lost cause. (Kolata, 1/9)

STATE WATCH

The Texas Tribune: Texas Changes Law To Attract Foreign-Trained Doctors
Like many internationally trained physicians in the United States, it took years before Duncanville surgeon Anil Tibrewal could call Texas home. Fifteen years of medical training to be exact. While the U.S. usually requires international medical graduates to complete a second medical residency in this country, Tibrewal completed three: one in India, another in England and the third in New York and Cleveland. (Langford, 1/9)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Medical Pot Industry Sprouts New Businesses, Patients
After lawmakers blunted expansion for years, Texas’ medical marijuana industry is slated to see more marijuana operators coming online, current ones opening more facilities and more Texans enrolling in the program this year. (Simpson, 1/12)

The Baltimore Sun: Bethesda Mental Health Clinic Closes After 35 Years
The Chesapeake Center, a Bethesda-based mental health clinic specializing in ADHD and learning differences, closed at the end of 2025 after more than three decades in operation, according to a letter sent to patients. (Karpovich, 1/10)

The New York Times: Death Toll From California Wild Mushroom Poisoning Rises To 3 
Three people in California have died and more than two dozen others have been poisoned by wild mushrooms, prompting state health officials to discourage foragers from consuming them. A resident of Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, died last weekend after consuming wild mushrooms, the county’s Department of Health Services said on Thursday. It was the latest death in an unusually active season for mushroom poisonings in Northern California. (Ziegler, 1/10)

The New York Times: Jirdes Winther Baxter, 101, Dies; Last Survivor Of Epidemic In Alaska 
Jirdes Winther Baxter, the last known survivor of a 1925 diphtheria epidemic in Nome, Alaska, which prompted a legendary sled dog relay of nearly 700 miles that delivered a lifesaving serum to the isolated frontier town, died in Juneau, the capital, on Jan. 5. She was 101. Her death, in a hospital, was confirmed by a son, Fred J. Baxter. (Longman, 1/11)

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Axios: "Pink Cocaine" Is Spreading In U.S. — And Users Don't Know What's In It
A drug marketed as "pink cocaine" is turning up more often in U.S. nightclubs and busts, alarming health officials because it's usually not cocaine at all. And no two batches are the same. (Contreras, 1/10)

AUTISM

CNN: Autism Advocates Celebrate Release Of ‘Magical’ First-Ever Barbie On The Spectrum 
Five-year-old Mikko’s eyes lit up with glee when she noticed something familiar about her Barbie: The doll held a fidget spinner and wore oversize headphones, just like hers. (Howard, 1/12)

CELEBRITIES AND POP CULTURE

Deadline: 'The Pitt' Honors Healthcare Workers & Civil Servants At Golden Globes
“I want to thank the first responders and healthcare workers, who are the real heroes who inspire us,” shared creator, showrunner, and executive producer R. Scott Gemmill, while accepting the group accolade for Best Drama Series. “Debora Kahn from The Diplomat reminded me I have to thank all the civil servants, as well,” he added. Actor Noah Wyle also tipped his hat to healthcare workers during his acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Drama Series earlier in the evening. (Cordero, 1/11)

PBS NewsHour: Inside The Real Pittsburgh Hospital Behind HBO's 'The Pitt'
Geoff Bennett visited the actual “Pitt,” the real Pittsburgh hospital that doubles as a key location in the show. (Bennett and Fecteau, 1/8)

Newsweek: Here’s What TV Gets Wrong About CPR—And It Could Cost Lives
When cardiac arrest occurs, every second counts—but, according to a new study out of the University of Pittsburgh, the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) techniques shown on television are misleading people about best practice and risking them waste precious time in the event of a real-world emergency. The study, published in the journal Circulation: Population and Outcomes, is the first to analyze how TV shows portray bystander CPR, highlighting the need for more accurate depictions to better instruct the public in cases of emergency. (Azzurra Volpe, 1/12)