Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Monday, June 8, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: MAHA’s Treatments For Autism: Camel’s Milk, Stem Cell Injections — And Spelling Therapy
Elizabeth Bonker is a silent woman with a loud mission. She wants government agencies to cover the costs of training people with autism in a form of communication called assisted spelling. One problem: Leading professional organizations don’t believe it works. "All nonspeakers above the age of 5 should be given the opportunity,” typed Bonker, who is 28 and cannot talk. Her mother, Virginia Breen, held a wireless keyboard for her. They sat on a hotel patio before an April 27 meeting with a senior aide to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Allen, 6/8)
KFF Health News: By September, Nearly A Third Of Americans Will Live In States With Legal Aid In Dying
Jules Netherland traveled from her home in the Bronx to the New York state Capitol in Albany several times in the past few years, hoping to persuade the legislature to pass a medical aid in dying bill, allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives with a lethal prescription. She spoke at rallies. With other members of the advocacy organization Compassion & Choices, she visited legislators’ offices. In 2024, as the state Assembly was debating the aid in dying bill, she helped unfurl a banner in the chamber gallery that read, “Stop the Suffering.” (Span, 6/8)
KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘On Air’: Gounder Fills In Details Behind Ebola, GLP-1, And Trump Headlines
Céline Gounder, KFF Health News’ editor-at-large for public health, discussed a recent study that suggests ultraprocessed foods are linked to increased dementia risk on CBS News 24/7’s The Daily Report on June 3. Gounder also discussed the Ebola outbreak in central Africa and the impact of U.S. health funding cuts on CBS News’ CBS Mornings on June 3. (6/6)
PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS
The Hill: TrumpRx Platform Adds 160 More Prescription Drugs
President Trump on Friday announced that over 100 prescription medications would be added to his administration’s direct-to-consumer drug platform, TrumpRx, the second expansion of the initiative in as many months. “I am pleased to announce that TrumpRx.gov is adding another 160 Prescription Drugs, at highly discounted prices, for a new total of over 800 of the most commonly-used Prescription Drugs,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “TrumpRx.gov will now provide clear, transparent, and DISCOUNTED offerings for FOUR OUT OF FIVE of every prescription filled by Americans,” the president added. (Brams, 6/6)
AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Modern Healthcare: HHS Faces Lawsuit Over ACA Exchange Rule For 2027
Chicago, Baltimore, Columbus, Ohio, and Pima County, Arizona, want a court to toss a recent health insurance regulation that they maintain includes policies never authorized by federal law. The plaintiffs contend that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services violated the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 when it issued a final rule last month that will make major changes to the health insurance exchanges next year. Pima County is home to Tucson, the second-most populous city in Arizona. (Early, 6/5)
MEDICAID AND MEDICARE
Politico: How Sick Is Sick Enough? New Medicaid Work Rule Worries Patient Advocates, States
The 40 plus states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act thought they knew what to expect when Republican’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act outlined last year which low-income residents might be shielded from work requirements because they are too “medically frail.” ... Patient advocacy groups, physicians and state officials say they fear that chronically ill people, whose ability to work often fluctuates, will fall through the cracks and become uninsured at a time when they most need care. (Ollstein and King, 6/7)
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: As Ohio Targets Medicaid Fraud, Elderly Ohioans And Those With Disabilities Fear Losing Their Independence
Allegations that Medicaid is losing billions of dollars to fraud have sent Ohio Republicans racing to overhaul the state’s home-care system before their summer break. But as conservatives rush forward with a sweeping reform bill, critics are questioning whether lawmakers are moving too quickly to understand how the changes could harm elderly and disabled Ohioans who depend on this kind of care to live independently. (Staver, 6/7)
The CT Mirror: CT Community Health Workers Still Waiting For Medicaid Support
In 2023, lawmakers passed a measure requiring the state’s Medicaid program to pay for services provided by community health workers who help patients navigate the medical system. The law passed but didn’t specify an implementation date, and the budget didn’t earmark funding for the initiative. Today, community health workers and advocates are still waiting for the state to come up with the money to make the measure a reality. (Golvala, 6/5)
Modern Healthcare: Clover Health's Win Could Upend Medicare Advantage Star Ratings
A recent federal court ruling could shake up the Medicare Advantage Star Ratings program. The decision only requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to recalculate 2026 Medicare Advantage star ratings for Clover Health, but its consequences could reach further and lead to higher quality scores, and more bonus revenue, across the industry. (Tepper, 6/5)
MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Fox News: TSA Updates Medical Marijuana Guidelines, But Experts Urge Caution
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently updated its medical marijuana guidelines, adding specific instructions to its "What Can I Bring?" directory for both carry-on and checked bags. Patients who use cannabis to manage chronic pain, anxiety, nausea or other qualifying conditions may travel with their medication for use at their destination. (Quill, 6/7)
The New York Times: Police Remove Diabetes Experts From Conference For Distributing Critique Of Trump Administration
Several diabetes experts were escorted out of an influential medical conference by the police on Friday after they handed out copies of an editorial criticizing the Trump administration’s attacks on scientific research. The incident took place Friday morning at a meeting of the American Diabetes Association in New Orleans, shortly before Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, was scheduled to speak. An organizer announced just before Dr. Bhattacharya’s session that he would no longer be speaking; a senior adviser at the N.I.H. took his place. (Blum, 6/5)
Politico: RFK Jr.’s Movement Was Supposed To Save The GOP’s Majorities. It’s Not Even In The Game
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement isn’t doing much to help Republicans maintain control of Congress. MAHA Action and MAHA Institute, the movement’s political organizations spreading Kennedy’s message on healthy food and vaccine safety, have largely stayed out of the races that will determine the makeup of Congress. Tony Lyons, the publisher of Kennedy’s books who’s taken a lead role in running the groups, has struggled to turn Kennedy’s appeal into the juggernaut Republicans had hoped would enable them to hold onto their House and Senate majorities. (Chu, 6/6)
The Hill: Steak N' Shake Touts Endorsement Win In Iowa Governor Primary: 'We Like Getting It Right'
Fast food chain Steak ‘n Shake is touting its political prowess after the Republican candidate it endorsed for Iowa governor defeated a challenger backed by President Trump. ... Steak ‘n Shake threw its support behind businessman Zach Lahn in the gubernatorial race in late May, calling him the “only MAHA-supporting candidate” in the field, a reference to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. (Brams, 6/5)
CNN: Ultraprocessed Food Scientists Say Americans Are ‘Fed Up’ With Industry And Government Inaction
The ultraprocessed food industry is yet again under attack, and it’s not just MAHA moms or scientists who study food calling for change. Some 77% of frustrated Republicans, Democrats and Independents are now calling for mandated “large warning labels” on all packages of ultraprocessed foods, or UPFs, according to a new poll. (LaMotte, 6/5)
MEASLES
NBC News: Where Is Measles Still Spreading In The U.S.? Cases Reached 2,030 Across 30 New Outbreaks This Year
Measles cases in the U.S. reached 2,030 on Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. That’s just a few hundred shy of the 2,288 logged in all of 2025, a record-breaking year that saw more measles diagnoses than any year since 1991. There have been 30 new outbreaks this year, compared to 48 last year, the CDC said. The majority of cases are children and teenagers. More than 92% are unvaccinated and 6% (127 of the 2,030 patients) have been hospitalized. (Edwards, 6/5)
CIDRAP: CDC: Only 1 In 10 Hospital Patients Early In The West Texas Measles Outbreak Had Underlying Conditions
A new study in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and their state partners analyzes the patients hospitalized during the first two months of the measles outbreak that swept through West Texas in 2025, finding that nearly all were unvaccinated children, only 11% had preexisting conditions, and respiratory complications were common. (Bergeson, 6/5)
NBC News: Why Measles And Flu — Not Ebola — Are Front Of Mind For Doctors Ahead Of The World Cup
The World Cup is presenting a unique challenge for public health officials. Dozens of teams from around the globe — along with millions of their dedicated fans — will descend on major U.S. cities in the coming weeks. It’s the largest in FIFA history, with 39 teams setting up training camps in the United States. The first match in this country will be June 12 in California, with the last match more than a month later, on July 19, in New Jersey. (Edwards, 6/5)
ProPublica: What ProPublica Found In The Genetic Code Of America’s Measles Outbreaks
American children lined up for the world’s first measles shots in the early 1960s, but it took nearly 40 years of shoring up immunization programs before the infamous contagion had been so thoroughly controlled that a panel of experts declared in 2000 that the United States had eliminated measles within its borders. For a quarter century, the U.S. only saw outbreaks when infected travelers brought the virus in from abroad. The resulting waves of measles didn’t last more than a year. Those days are gone. (Lash and Callahan, 6/8)
EBOLA OUTBREAK
ABC News: Ebola Outbreak Could Exceed 20,000 Cases In 3 Months Without Urgent Public Health Measures: CDC
Without urgent action, there is a strong likelihood the Ebola outbreak in Africa will exceed 20,000 cases and 4,000 deaths within three months, a new modeling estimate from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests. The cases and deaths would be centralized to the current outbreak region, the model, released Friday, suggests. (Benadjaoud, 6/5)
AP: Health Workers In Congo Fight Ebola Outbreak With Little Pay Or Rest
Dr. Richard Lokudu, the medical director of Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, has received barely any compensation for his work on the front line of one of Congo’s deadliest Ebola virus outbreaks. Lokudu and several of his colleagues work all day at the hospital treating an influx of patients. Notifications of suspected cases come even late at night. “I have not received my allowance (and) what happened to others could happen to me as well,” Lokudu told The Associated Press. (Kabumba and Adetayo, 6/8)
Politico: The Disease Detectives Suiting Up To Fight Ebola At The World Cup
When the United States, Canada and Mexico formally submitted their co-hosting bid to soccer governing body FIFA in 2018, they touted the safety of the region, noting “no major endemic infectious diseases across any of our Host Countries.” Now, as the three countries prepare to welcome one of the largest international gatherings around the globe since the Covid-19 pandemic, infectious diseases are front of mind. (Bluth, Gardner, Negesse, Sarkissian and Kaufman, 6/6)
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
San Francisco Chronicle: SF General Hospital Hit With Record Fine For Lapses In Fatal Stabbing
San Francisco General Hospital was utterly unprepared to deal with workplace violence when a social worker was fatally stabbed there in December, California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health said in issuing a record fine against the facility. State safety inspectors fined San Francisco General $130,500 for seven workplace-violence-prevention violations, six of which were labeled “serious.” (Barned-Smith, 6/6)
Chicago Tribune: New Safeguards Approved For Illinois Hospitals' Guardianship Cases
A bill aimed at strengthening protections for vulnerable adults under guardianship gained approval from Illinois lawmakers six months after a Tribune investigation revealed troubling consequences of area hospitals’ use of guardianship. (Hoerner and Gutowski, 6/6)
Chicago Tribune: Plastic Surgeon Ayoub Sayeg Still Operating Despite 8 Deaths
Dr. Ayoub Sayeg’s ads have an appealing ring to budget-minded consumers: “Most Affordable Plastic Surgery Center in Chicago. Period.” His social media, website and occasional billboards offer discount prices for those seeking “confident curves,” including perkier breasts, flatter tummies and plumper butts. (Gutowski and Pratt, 6/7)
NBC News: A Trail Of Errors: How A Florida Surgeon Removed A Patient’s Liver By Mistake
The patient was hemorrhaging, bright red blood pooling in his abdomen. His heart had stopped. As the medical team frantically did chest compressions on 70-year-old William Bryan, a surgeon raced to complete his operation through an incision in Bryan’s belly. (Chuck and Lavietes, 6/5)
Modern Healthcare: University Of Michigan Health-Sparrow Outsourcing Nearly 400 Jobs
The University of Michigan Health-Sparrow said it plans to outsource nearly 400 environmental, food- and nutrition-related positions. The system has signed letters of intent with Xanitos and TouchPoint Support Services to provide the services at its Lansing, Michigan, hospital. Leaders of the affected departments are expected to depart Aug. 1, while team members will be laid off Sept. 1, a spokesperson for UM Health-Sparrow said Friday. (DeSilva, 6/5)
Valley News: DHMC Birthing Pavilion To Establish Drug Treatment Program For Patients
Dartmouth Health recently announced plans to use $900,000 in federal funds to establish an inpatient substance use treatment program in the birthing pavilion at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. More babies born at DHMC are exposed to substances in the womb than at any other hospital in New Hampshire, according to a news release from DH. (Shanahan, 6/7)
Stat: When It’s Time To Save A Limb, Novel Vascular Clinic Meets Homeless People Where They Are
Carlton Haynes hugged his left knee, pulling it toward his shoulder as hard as he could. He was desperate to blunt the pain shooting from an open, oozing wound on his right shin. Anahita Dua, a vascular surgeon leading an unusual clinic created by Massachusetts General Hospital that Saturday, told him he was going to the ER and then the OR, where she would remove damaged skin and treat the wound. (Cooney, 6/8)
San Francisco Chronicle: Can Free Tuition For CNAs Solve California’s Caregiver Shortage?
One of California’s largest senior living facilities has a new solution to the growing shortage of certified nursing assistants, who provide basic care to older patients. When Analynn Mausisa learned in January that her employer, the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living, was offering workers like her free tuition to become a CNA, she jumped at the chance. (Ho, 6/7)
AP: Pulitizer Prize-Winning Psychiatrist And Author Robert Coles Dies
Harvard University professor Robert Coles, the psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who championed the cause of children grappling with poverty and segregation, has died at 97, his son said Sunday. The son, also named Robert Coles, told The Associated Press that his father died Thursday at a hospice center in Lincoln, Massachusetts. (6/8)
PHARMACEUTICALS
Axios: Microplastics In Blood Drop After Plasma Exchange, Circulate Study Reports
A "blood cleansing" treatment gaining popularity in the longevity space appears to reduce microplastics circulating in the bloodstream, according to newly published research. (May, 6/7)
Bloomberg: Amgen’s Tavneos Faces Scrutiny As NEJM Investigates Approval Study
The New England Journal of Medicine is investigating allegations of research misconduct in a key study used to approve Amgen Inc.’s drug Tavneos. The US Food and Drug Administration recently proposed pulling the drug from the market, alleging that the medicine was approved based on manipulated data. European health regulators are also reviewing the drug. (Swetlitz and Langreth, 6/5)
The Wall Street Journal: The Era Of The One-Size-Fits-All Cancer Drug Is Ending
Investors have poured billions into the hunt for the next Keytruda. The latest data carries a sobering message: there may be no single successor to Merck’s mega-blockbuster in cancer. No company is riding that hope harder than Summit Therapeutics. A couple of years ago, the biotech backed by billionaire Bob Duggan published data suggesting its drug, ivonescimab, beat back a form of lung cancer longer than Keytruda did. The stock rocketed, turning a company with no approved product into one worth over $20 billion at its peak, more than Moderna is worth today. Investors began to believe something better than Keytruda had finally arrived. (Wainer, 6/6)
Undark: Promising 'Liquid Biopsies' May Not Be Ready For Primetime
An emerging technology seeks to help revolutionize the world of cancer diagnosis: Multi-cancer early detection tests aim to spot signals for different types of cancer from a single blood draw or other body fluid sample. Also known as a specific type of liquid biopsy, MCED tests look for abnormalities that may indicate cancer, like circulating tumor DNA; some tests can indicate the likely origin of a cancer, while others may merely show that cancer could be present without identifying a probable type or location. A key advantage of MCEDs, supporters say, is their potential to identify cancers at earlier, more treatable stages. As such, they may help save lives. (Cohen, 6/8)
WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS
CBS News: This Weight-Loss Drug Hasn't Been Approved By The FDA. Doctors Are Prescribing It Anyway.
Retatrutide isn't supposed to be everywhere. Touted as the next generation in the GLP-1 craze, it's an experimental weight-loss drug that is not authorized outside of clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration hasn't reviewed whether it is safe and effective, which is the legal path for prescription drugs to come to market. And yet retatrutide is for sale all over the internet, a phenomenon with no modern precedent. (Gilbert, Yamaguchi and Geller, 6/8)
MedPage Today: Modest Weight Loss Plus Few GI Upsets With Amylin Injectable
Petrelintide, an investigational long-acting amylin analog, induced significant weight loss with minimal side effects in the global phase II ZUPREME-1 study. By week 28, all five investigational doses of petrelintide yielded significantly greater weight loss compared with placebo when added to a reduced-calorie diet and exercise in people with obesity or overweight. (Monaco, 6/7)
Bloomberg: Boehringer Pitches Muscle-Sparing Obesity Drug In Crowded Field
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH is pitching its experimental obesity drug as a way to help patients lose fat while preserving muscle, providing a potential edge in the crowded market for weight-loss medicines. Survodutide reduced visceral fat, the harmful type stored deep in the abdomen around organs, by as much as 34% in an analysis within a larger clinical trial, the company said Sunday. Lean mass accounted for no more than 10.8% of the change in total tissue mass at the highest dose, while liver fat fell by more than 60%. (Wind and Kresge, 6/7)
Bloomberg: Novo Nordisk CEO Looks Beyond Weight Loss To Longevity, Aesthetics
Novo Nordisk A/S Chief Executive Officer Mike Doustdar says the company’s blockbuster obesity drugs could ultimately pull it into increasingly buzzy areas of healthcare, from longevity research to aesthetic medicine. “We have to be obsessed with what our patients want,” Doustdar said Sunday in an interview at the American Diabetes Association conference in New Orleans. (Muller, 6/7)
STATE WATCH
North Carolina Health News: Lawmakers Eye Child Welfare Reforms After Death
Outrage over the death of Moore County toddler Rylan Ott in 2016 compelled North Carolina on a path to improve its child welfare system. Nearly a decade later, the state has rolled out several of those reforms — a statewide office focused on preventing child fatalities, regional supervisory offices to provide more support to county departments of social services, and a modernized intake and assessment system for all 100 counties that will eventually include case management. (Fernandez and Fredde, 6/8)
Asheville Watchdog: Death Takes A Holiday: NC Medical Examiners Plan Coordinated Vacation To Protest Low Pay
Paula Case knows the job of a medical examiner wasn’t meant to be easy. Since 2021 she has driven up and down seven counties of western North Carolina investigating deaths that are sudden, violent, unexpected or simply unattended by a physician. Like all local medical investigators in the state, Case, a registered nurse, is a part-time employee appointed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. (Clifford, 6/7)
ProPublica: Addiction Recovery Care Founder Tim Robinson Indicted In Federal Court
Timmy G. Robinson Jr., founder and owner of what was once Kentucky’s largest drug addiction treatment company, was criminally indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges of wire fraud and money laundering. The indictment, filed in the Eastern District of Kentucky, charges Robinson with fraudulently selling millions of dollars of the same IRS tax credit to two companies. Robinson “devised a scheme” to “unlawfully enrich himself” by selling those tax credits to two parties, the indictment says. Robinson is also charged with two counts of money laundering for spending the proceeds of the fraudulent sale. (Acquisto and Six, 6/5)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: St. Louis Public Schools Employee Has Legionnaires' Disease
The St. Louis Public Schools said late Friday afternoon that a Legionnaires' disease case involving a district employee had spurred officials to begin testing water at its central office downtown. (Schlinkmann, 6/7)
LIFESTYLE AND HEALTH
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Alternative Medicine Clinics Sell Hope For Defeating Disease, Aging – Often At High Cost
Ron Evangelista’s first appointment at Progressive Medical Center left him feeling hopeful. For years, Evangelista, 82, had been dragged down by osteoarthritis in his neck. The pain was so persistent that it had become challenging to do the simple things he loves, like walking the dogs or dancing with his wife, Kathy. She, too, had some chronic health issues. (Robbins and Teegardin, 6/8)
NPR: Can A Vibrating Belt Fend Off Bone Density Loss?
Andrea Bloom, 59, of Pleasanton, Calif., learned she had osteopenia, or low bone density, after a bone density scan. "When I saw my results, it was pretty shocking because I was one-tenth of a point away from an osteoporosis diagnosis," she says. More than 40 million adults in the United States aged 50 and older have osteopenia, which can progress to osteoporosis, leaving bones brittle and weak. (Aubrey, 6/6)
