Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Monday, June 29, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: Florida Hospitals Act Fast To Discharge Gun Victims — Especially If They’re Not Insured
Alea Bates wasn’t ready to leave Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s main hospital four days after a stranger shot her seven times at close range. Miraculously, hospital records show, none of the bullets damaged her internal organs. But after surgery, Bates said, she couldn’t get out of bed or walk to the bathroom without help. She complained of intense pain radiating down her left leg, weakness in her knee, and a numbing sensation below it, according to hospital records. Bates, who worked as an Uber Eats driver, didn’t have the strength to drive a car. Still, Bates said, the hospital told her it was time to go. (Chang, Clasen-Kelly and Pierce, 6/29)
KFF Health News: She Struggled To Get A Lifesaving Drug Even After Insurers Vowed To Help
Over four consecutive days in January, Margaret Hvatum ran a 5K, a 10K, a half-marathon, and a full marathon. The 70-year-old covered a combined distance that’s nearly equivalent to running the length of Manhattan four times. By the end of the month, she was in a hospital bed. Hvatum, a part-time computer science professor, has a weakened immune system due to a rare condition known as primary immunodeficiency, which makes it difficult for her body to fight infections. Prior to her 2005 diagnosis, she had four bouts of shingles, a painful rash caused by a virus. (Liss, 6/29)
KFF Health News: Reporters Talk Through FDA Sunscreen Move And Closure Of Rural Dialysis Clinics
KFF Health News freelance contributor Michael Scaturro discussed the FDA’s new approval of a sunscreen chemical on Science Friday on June 19. (6/27)
HEALTHCARE COSTS AND COVERAGE
AP: Millions Drop Obamacare Health Plans After Subsidies Expire And Costs Rise
About 3 million fewer people in the United States had Affordable Care Act health insurance plans in February compared with the same time last year, according to new federal data. In the report released Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggested the 13% drop in enrollment from 22.1 million people in 2025 to 19.2 million this year could be attributed to a federal crackdown on fraudulent or “phantom” enrollment. But health analysts said it was more likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies, which caused a surge in plan costs that resulted in many people being unable to pay their premiums. (Swenson, 6/27)
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Bloomberg: Court Rejects Trump EPA Bid To Roll Back Soot Pollution Limit
In a blow to the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda, a federal appeals court on Friday rejected the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to roll back soot pollution standards set in 2024. The decision upholds the tightened National Ambient Air Quality Standards for small particulates, called PM2.5, set by former President Joe Biden’s administration. (Hirji, 6/26)
AP: Lawsuit Says New Federal Policy Puts Reproductive Healthcare At Risk
Family planning and health organizations that serve tens of thousands of people across Pennsylvania could see federal funding delayed or denied by a new Trump administration policy, a new lawsuit alleges. The suit, which includes the Cumberland County-based Family Health Council of Central Pennsylvania as a plaintiff, takes aim at a step added this year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to applications for Title X grants, which provide local agencies with funds to aid low-income and uninsured patients with family planning and related health services. (White, 6/26)
Axios: Medicare Pushes End-Of-Life Discussions In Hospitals
The Trump administration wants to formalize the process for recording whether Medicare patients want to be kept alive if they become incapacitated. (Goldman, 6/29)
CIDRAP: New ACIP Charter Could Allow RFK Jr. To Further Restrict Vaccine Access, Critics Say
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is continuing his battle to remake federal vaccine policy, this time by rewriting the charter of a federal committee that wields enormous influence over childhood immunizations to shift its focus beyond vaccines. During his confirmation hearing, Kennedy promised senators that he would not alter the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which makes vaccine recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including which vaccines should be available for free to needy children and which ones should be covered without a copay by private insurance. (Szabo, 6/26)
Politico: Health Insurers Are Looking For MAHA Wins
Insurers and doctors’ groups, often divided over how to rein in health care costs, are now facing off over the Make America Healthy Again movement. The insurance industry is embracing MAHA, while the doctors’ lobby is pushing against the movement’s leader, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who many physicians see as a danger to public health. The opposing forces could shape Kennedy’s policy decisions on issues ranging from how much doctors earn to treat Medicare patients to how the government regulates medical services. (Hooper, 6/28)
Axios: Three Finalists Emerge To Lead FDA
White House aide Heidi Overton, oncologist Jeffrey Vacirca and senior Pentagon health official Stephen Ferrara are all in the running to be the next FDA commissioner, sources tell Axios. (Owens, 6/26)
ON CAPITOL HILL
NBC News: Senators Call For Military Healthcare Program To Cover Autism Therapy As A Basic Benefit
Less than 24 hours after NBC News reported on members of the military and retirees facing roadblocks in getting coverage for critical therapies for children with autism, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., issued a letter Friday to Pentagon leadership calling for changes. Gillibrand and Schmitt are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which oversees the Defense Health Agency and TRICARE. (Kane, McLaughlin and Dunn, 6/26)
The Hill: Bill Cassidy Criticizes Hegseth After Flu Outbreak At Texas Air Force Base
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Sunday knocked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after an outbreak of influenza infected several service members at an Air Force base in Texas. Cassidy, a licensed gastroenterologist and the first physician to chair the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” that “we do see the consequences, though, of ignoring the benefits that things like vaccines bring for public health.” “And if you will, I think what you’re going after is that this administration, parts of it, have tried to downplay the importance of immunization,” he said. (Mancini, 6/28)
The Hill: Social Security's Insolvency Is No. 1 Issue, Says Sen. Bill Cassidy
Outgoing Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said Sunday he is “working” on gaining consensus for his proposed reforms to Social Security, which he warns is growing closer to insolvency. “Right now, we’re working on Social Security. Social Security is … going to [be] insolvent, and when that happens, there’ll be a cut of 22 percent to 25 percent in someone’s benefits if we follow the current law,” Cassidy, who was defeated by a President Trump-backed opponent in a primary earlier this year, told host Margaret Brennan on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.” (Rego, 6/28)
EBOLA OUTBREAK
CIDRAP: As Ebola Deaths Top 300, African Officials Meet To Boost Regional Readiness
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) convened a three-day meeting Friday of African countries in hopes of strengthening regional preparedness for the growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has now claimed more than 300 lives. The meeting was set to include officials from the DRC, neighboring Uganda, and 11 other high-risk African Union member states, along with the members of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other key technical partners. (Dall, 6/26)
Bloomberg: Chaotic Push to Train Staff for US Ebola Outbreak Facility Alarms Health Workers
Thirty federal health service workers gathered last month at Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland to prepare for a trip to Africa, the first wave set to care for Americans exposed to a deadly Ebola outbreak ravaging communities across the continent. But participants quickly grew alarmed by what they described as a shambolic and hurried effort under intense pressure from Washington. (Nix, 6/26)
NPR: Balancing The Risks Of Catching Ebola While Covering The Outbreak
NPR often relies on reporters going into dangerous places to get the story. It can mean covering a war, natural catastrophes, or highly contagious, deadly diseases — like the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has killed hundreds of people so far. For this week’s Reporter’s Notebook, we hear from Emmet Livingstone about how he balances the risk of reporting in an area where Ebola is spreading. (Sánchez, Raney and Livingstone, 6/27)
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
The Baltimore Sun: St. Agnes Hospital Plans To Bring In Replacement Nurses During 1-Day Strike
Baltimore’s Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital will remain operational during a nurses’ union’s planned one-day strike next month, the hospital announced Saturday. (Bazos, 6/27)
MPR News: Fosston Moves To Regain Control Of Hospital From Essentia Health
As rural areas across Minnesota grapple with the loss of key medical services and increasing hospital consolidation, one community is fighting back. The city of Fosston in northwestern Minnesota, about 45 miles northwest of Bemidji, wants to hold Essentia Health, the hospital system that took over operations of its local hospital nearly 20 years ago accountable, alleging it has failed to meet the community’s health care needs in violation of its affiliation agreement. (Work, 6/29)
North Carolina Health News: Martin County Residents Press For Funding To Reopen Hospital
When Martin General Hospital closed its doors in 2023 after 73 years of service, residents of Martin County in eastern North Carolina were left without a local emergency department. At the time the hope was to get the facility reopened quickly with new management. Three years later, residents still have to travel across county lines to access life-saving care. (Baxley, 6/29)
Cardinal News: Radford University Finalizing Plan To Build New Health Sciences Center On Roanoke's Jefferson Street
Radford University is finalizing plans to build its new health sciences facility on Roanoke’s Jefferson Street, using a site not far from its current location, a university spokesperson confirmed. (Verrelli, 6/29)
Bloomberg: Hospital ERs' New Approach To Psychiatric Patients Faces Payment Risk
Ericca Voelker bounced from emergency rooms to psychiatric wards for years as she dealt with substance abuse and mood disorders. But after a bout of mania landed her back in the hospital in 2024, a new approach changed her trajectory. Rather than stay in the chaotic ER, she was diverted to a specialized unit designed to give people in mental distress swift treatment in a calmer setting. Voelker stayed for three days, left with a recovery plan and has been stable since. (Inampudi, 6/27)
Modern Healthcare: Care New England CEO Michael Wagner To Step Down Next Year
Dr. Michael Wagner, president and CEO of Care New England Health System, will step down early next year. Care New England’s board of directors has launched a national search for Wagner’s successor. After a new leader is selected and in place, Wagner will retire from full-time work and transition to board chair, replacing Gary Furtado, the system said Friday. (DeSilva, 6/26)
Medical Xpress: Some Patient Groups Are Far More Vulnerable To Near-Perfect Privacy Attacks From Medical AI
In a recent study, researchers conducted a first-ever patient-level privacy audit to see how easily individual patients could be identified from the underlying data used to train medical AI models. At first glance, an AI model may appear to protect everyone's privacy equally well, but a closer look reveals a different story. Researchers found that attackers can identify certain individual patients with near-perfect accuracy, exposing a hidden unfairness in privacy. People from underrepresented groups—such as racial minorities, Medicaid recipients or patients with rare medical conditions—are significantly more vulnerable to privacy leaks than the majority population. (Mondal, 6/26)
PHARMACEUTICALS
AP: States Look To Drop Prescription Costs By Reining In Middlemen
As consumers worry about medication costs, states are trying to lower drug prices by reining in big companies that oversee prescription coverage for health insurers. Some of those companies, called pharmacy benefit managers, also own pharmacies, and one of them, CVS, has spent millions of dollars fighting the regulations. Affordability is a key issue ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Legislators in at least a dozen states passed laws this year to limit compensation to the companies, set minimum payments from the companies to pharmacists and require the companies to disclose more information to their clients, states and the public. (Hanna, 6/27)
The Washington Post: Patients Can Save Thousands With Drug Coupons, But Only If Insurers Honor Them
For 16 years, Larry Gruber, a fitness coach from Wilton Manors, Florida, received a coupon card to help him pay for a psoriatic arthritis medication he needs that costs more than $7,700 a month. Each year, Amgen, which makes the drug, Enbrel, sent the coupon card worth thousands of dollars, and that counted toward Gruber’s health insurance deductible and out-of-pocket maximum. (Chang, 6/28)
CNBC: Medicare Will Soon Cover Obesity Drugs, But Many Seniors May Not Know
Millions of older Americans in Medicare are about to gain access to obesity drugs for the first time — but that landmark shift may be flying under the radar for many of them. (Constantino, 6/28)
The Hill: Oral GLP-1 Pill Delivers Nearly 12% Weight Loss In 36 Weeks, Study Finds
Patients taking the oral GLP-1 drug aleniglipron saw up to a 12 percent reduction in body weight after 36 weeks, according to researchers. The study, conducted at Northwestern University, found the drug stimulates insulin secretion, suppresses appetite and increases satiety to promote weight loss. “The difference with aleniglipron is it’s a small molecule, meaning it’s chemically made and can be taken with or without food,” said Dr. Robert Kushner, a co-author of the study and a professor at Northwestern. (Taub, 6/28)
MedPage Today: Taste, Smell Disturbances Seen In GLP-1 Users
Use of GLP-1 receptor agonists was associated with a higher risk of smell and taste disturbances among adults with type 2 diabetes, an analysis of electronic health record (EHR) data suggested. (Monaco, 6/26)
STATE WATCH
AP: New Mexico's Attorney General Launches Probe Into DEA's Fentanyl Actions
New Mexico’s attorney general on Friday opened a criminal investigation to determine whether U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents broke state law by allowing hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to reach the streets of Albuquerque. The extraordinary inquiry comes less than a week after The Associated Press reported that DEA agents repeatedly monitored — but did not seize — shipments of the synthetic opioid in a bid to build bigger criminal cases between 2023 and 2025. (Mustian, 6/26)
Spotlight on Maryland: Maryland’s Disability Pay Cuts Are Pushing Families To Brink
Noah Weikert can be shy when he meets new people — sometimes hiding behind his dad and grabbing his hand. But at Beans & Dreams, where he’s been working for three years, he looks people in the eye and smiles. The coffee shop, located near Frederick, employs people with developmental disabilities and has helped Weikert develop social and daily-life skills. Weikert’s sister is paid by the state to serve as a job coach as he wipes down tables and works the store register. (Conrad, 6/27)
The CT Mirror: Medicaid Costs Surged In 2024. It’s Still CT’s Cheapest Insurance
Connecticut’s Medicaid spending per enrollee jumped 14% between 2023 and 2024, nearly doubling the per-person cost growth of health expenses in the state overall, according to an April 2026 report by the state Office of Health Strategy. Despite the increase, Medicaid, known as HUSKY in Connecticut, still managed to maintain the lowest costs per enrollee of any market — even when compared to commercial insurance. (Golvala, 6/26)
Chicago Tribune: Chicago 911 Mental Health Response Team Flounders
Throughout his 2023 mayoral campaign, Brandon Johnson championed a progressive vision of sending teams of mental health clinicians instead of police officers to help people suffering from psychiatric emergencies. But since he took office and started phasing cops out of the city’s Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement program, those teams of mental health workers have struggled to respond to 911 calls. (Yin, 6/28)
ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH
CNN: Dangerous And Potentially Record-Setting Heat Wave To Scorch Millions This July Fourth
Millions of Americans across the eastern half of the US are facing a prolonged stretch of dangerous and potentially record-breaking heat as Americans get set to head outdoors to celebrate the country’s 250th Independence Day. (Waxman, 6/29)
AP: Record Heat Wave Fills Paris Mortuaries, Leaving Families In Distress
Every few minutes, the mortuary owner’s phone rings. Since a record-smashing heat wave started taking lives and storage space for bodies in Paris and beyond, the funeral directors and mourning families calling him mostly have the same question: Do you have room for one more? With all 32 places in his cold room taken, Zouhaeir Hertelli reluctantly has to gently say “Non,” over and over and over again. “We’re facing a really catastrophic situation,” he said. “I’m getting hundreds of calls.” (Leicester and Schaeffer, 6/29)
ProPublica: Deal For Native American Tribes’ Rights To Colorado River Water Stalled By Four States
A deal to bring Colorado River water to Native American communities in northern Arizona, where a third of homes lack running water, is being blocked by neighboring states, caught up in a broader battle over how to divide the dwindling river. The largest tribal water rights settlement in U.S. history — the product of decades of negotiations to secure water for the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe — was on the verge of being realized before Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming stepped in to oppose it being codified by Congress. (Olalde and Hager, 6/29)
AP: 25 Metro Detroit Communities Exceeded Michigan’s Lead Action Level For Drinking Water
Twenty-five Metro Detroit communities exceeded Michigan’s lead action level for drinking water since 2018, according to state compliance data analyzed by a drinking water engineer and reviewed by Planet Detroit. The communities all receive water treated by the Great Lakes Water Authority, or GLWA. Despite repeated exceedances, regulators have not required the distribution of water filters, something experts say is warranted. (Allnutt, 6/26)
The Washington Post: Powassan Virus Disease Is On The Rise In The U.S.
Cases of Powassan virus have hit the news in recent months because of the potentially life-altering, sometimes fatal, symptoms. (Sloan, 6/28)
MPR News: Mosquitoes In Minnesota Test Positive For West Nile Virus For The First Time This Summer
Mosquitoes collected in the Twin Cities metro area have tested positive for West Nile virus for the first time this year, and experts say more infected mosquitos are likely active in other parts of the state as well. (Bloch, 6/27)
The New York Times: Drones Used To Fight Mosquitoes As Dengue Fever Surges In Sri Lanka
Faced with one of its worst outbreaks of dengue in years, Sri Lanka is using military drones to scan rooftops and find mosquito breeding grounds to eliminate. The island nation is at war with the insect that carries the dengue virus and has infected more than 46,000 people so far this year, nearly double the number for the same period last year, and killed 29. Hospitals are stretched to capacity with more than 500 cases a day. (Waravita, 6/28)
Bloomberg: Venezuela Quakes Push Fragile Health System To The Brink
Earthquake victims are overwhelming healthcare centers in Venezuela’s coastal state of La Guaira and beyond, pushing an already fragile health system past its limits. Two powerful 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck within a minute of each other on Wednesday evening, toppling buildings and severely damaging the country’s main international airport. By Saturday afternoon, authorities reported nearly 3,240 injured people and a death toll approaching 1,430 nationwide. More than 430 aftershocks had occurred by Saturday, head of the National Assembly said in a report. (Itriago and Dahl, 6/27)
