Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Thursday, July 23, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: A Death Revives Concerns About Police Brutality Six Years After National Reckoning
Not everyone at Lloyd Gilmore’s funeral knew him well. One woman, who had ironed her clothes two days in advance, said she just wanted to be there for his family. School-age children, guided by their parents, approached his open casket in the sanctuary of Cornerstone Baptist Church and peeked inside. Other people looked away. (Anthony, 7/23)
KFF Health News: Public Health Improvements Stall Amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown
As Earl Williams drove through a historic Black neighborhood known as Dewey City in his hometown, he hardly recognized what he saw. Homes that once belonged to friends, family, and neighbors had siding covered in mold. Some were boarded up. Others had holes in their roofs. (Lumpkins, 7/23)
KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’
Jackie Fortiér reads this week’s news: Coverage disruptions can have fatal consequences when switching health plans. Plus, more states are shaming employers that use your tax dollars to cover health costs for their low-income workers. (7/23)
HEALTHCARE COSTS AND COVERAGE
The New York Times: Trump Administration Says Surprise Billing Law Is Being ‘Gamed’ By Doctors
For the first time, officials have acknowledged problems with the No Surprises Act, which has led to huge payments. (Kliff, Sanger-Katz and Parlapiano, 7/22)
The Wall Street Journal: Medical Billing Arbitration Paid Out $15 Billion To Providers In Surprise Bill Disputes
A controversial process for arbitrating medical billing disputes awarded nearly $15 billion in payouts to healthcare providers last year, according to new federal data analyzed by The Wall Street Journal, more than triple the total for 2024. Doctor groups representing radiologists, anesthesiologists and emergency-room physicians have been among the winners under the setup, which was created under a 2020 law meant to protect patients from surprise medical bills. Insurers have to make the awarded payouts, and they have generally ended up on the losing end since arbitration began four years ago. (Mathews and McGinty, 7/22)
Modern Healthcare: CMS Falls Behind On No Surprises Act Billing Disputes
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and its contractors can’t keep up with the ceaseless onslaught of No Surprises Act out-of-network billing cases, federal data show. Providers and health insurance plans initiated 1.43 million Independent Dispute Resolution arbitrations this year through May, 46% more than during the comparable period in 2025. The system resolved 1.36 million cases over those five months. (Tepper and Broderick, 7/22)
The Hill: Senate Committee Advances $35 Insulin Cap For Private Insurance Holders
Bipartisan legislation to cap the cost of insulin at $35 for people with private health insurance advanced through a key Senate committee Wednesday, but its future remains uncertain. (Weixel, 7/22)
Bloomberg: Retiree Health Costs Spike 7.5% In Latest Estimate From Fidelity
People retiring this year can expect medical expenses to take a significantly bigger bite of their savings, according to a new report from Fidelity Investments. (Woolley, 7/22)
MEDICAID
Healthcare Dive: CMS Moves To Codify Limits On Medicaid Provider Taxes
The new proposed rule is meant to prevent states from guaranteeing providers will be refunded for their taxes, and should save Washington $246 billion over the next decade, regulators said. (Parduhn, 7/22)
The Colorado Sun: Colorado Medicaid Owes Feds $8 Million, Audit Finds
The federal government wants Colorado to return $8 million in Medicaid funding after accusing the state of misspending money on an in-home care program for people with disabilities. (Brown, 7/22)
RESEARCH AND FUNDING
The New York Times: Trump’s Plan For Science: More Money For A.I., Less For Universities
President Trump’s science adviser told lawmakers on Wednesday that the Trump administration intended to drastically overhaul the country’s approach to scientific research, including by shifting research funding away from universities toward individual researchers and private companies. At a House hearing, Michael Kratsios echoed points he laid out in a report released Tuesday, titled “Science: A New Golden Age.” He said the administration would prioritize artificial intelligence, robotics and nuclear energy while reducing the government’s focus on what he called “life sciences.” (Flavelle and Stolberg, 7/22)
MedPage Today: Docs Who Take Research Money From Industry Get Individual Payments, Too
More than a quarter of physician-industry interactions for research funding also involved the doctor receiving general payments from that same sponsor, an analysis of CMS data showed. In an analysis of nearly 60,000 physician-industry interactions, those payments peaked around the time the research began, Alon Bergman, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues reported in JAMA Network Open. (Clark, 7/22)
The Texas Tribune: Cancer Research Could Stall Amid Texas’ Limits On Foreign Workers
Texas spent billions recruiting scientists from around the world to turn the state into a cancer-research powerhouse. Now, nearly six months after Gov. Greg Abbott restricted public institutions’ use of the H-1B visa program, cancer advocates and immigration attorneys warn the policy could undercut that strategy. (Priest and Ngo, 7/22)
MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Fierce Healthcare: CMS Appeals Court Decision Behind 2026 MA Stars Recalculations
The Trump administration will appeal a Georgia court ruling that triggered a broad recalculation of insurers' Medicare Advantage star rating scores for 2026. In court documents filed Tuesday, federal agencies said they would appeal the ruling to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In late May, a judge in Georgia's Southern District Court came down in favor of Clover Health, tossing 20 measures that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services used to calculate its scores. (Minemyer, 7/22)
NPR: Advisers To The FDA Will Vote On Easing Regulation Of 7 Popular Peptides
A slate of experimental peptide therapies are under scrutiny today in what marks the beginning of a two-day meeting to help determine whether the compounds will become available from specialized pharmacies. The panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration is considering the evidence for seven compounds including some of the most sought-after: TB-500, BPC-157 and MOTs-C. (Stone, 7/23)
AP: Sex Work Or Starve: Aid Workers In Nepal Left Jobless By USAID Cuts Turn To Sex Work To Survive
She paces the side of the darkened highway in central Nepal, just enough light from the trucks roaring past to illuminate her painted face to the men rolling in on rickshaws and motorbikes. She knows that every stranger who pays for her body could end her life. But she also knows their money is the only thing preventing her death. This spot, littered in condom wrappers and fringed by jungle, is familiar to her. Rubi Lama once came here not as a sex worker, but as an aid worker who helped sex workers. (Gelineau, 7/23)
CYCLOSPORIASIS OUTBREAK
The Wall Street Journal: The FDA Is Investigating New Cyclospora Outbreak, But Hasn’t Identified Source
The U.S. Food and Drug and Administration said Wednesday it is investigating an additional cyclospora outbreak that the agency said has sickened at least 72 people. It is the latest of four continuing cyclospora outbreaks being investigated by the FDA. The largest involves at least 1,644 cases, which have been linked to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms and served at Taco Bell in five states. (McKee, 7/22)
NBC News: Lettuce May Be Tip Of The Iceberg As Cyclosporiasis Spreads
Shredded iceberg lettuce likely isn’t the only source of cyclosporiasis that’s spreading in the U.S. this summer, but former top Food and Drug Administration officials say we may never be able to pinpoint every food behind the outbreaks. (Lovelace Jr., 7/22)
The Washington Post: CDC Catches Up To State Tallies As Cyclosporiasis Case Count Surges
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dramatically increased its national tally of cyclosporiasis cases Tuesday, adding more than 4,000 confirmed illnesses after weeks in which state health departments had reported substantially higher numbers than the federal government. The confirmed cases count is more than double the 1,645 cases reported last week. The CDC also said it is aware of more than 7,400 additional illnesses that require further analysis to determine whether they should be counted as domestically acquired cases. That’s about 45 percent more than the 5,100 suspected cases previously reported. (Sun, 7/22)
EBOLA OUTBREAK
Stat: Study Supports Testing Merck's Ebola Vaccine Ervebo In Congo Outbreak
New data from a study in humans provides additional support to the idea that Merck’s Ebola vaccine Ervebo, licensed to target the Zaire species of ebolaviruses, could also offer some protection against another species currently circulating in a rapidly expanding outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Branswell, 7/22)
AP: Ebola Outbreak In Congo Has Killed Over 1,000 People
More than 1,000 people have died in the Ebola outbreak in Congo, according to Africa’s top health body, a grim toll in the fastest Ebola outbreak in history, as conflict, community resistance and an uneven response fuel its spread. (Ngorora and Asadu, 7/23)
COVID
Stat and The War Horse: Veterans Face Long Wait For Reinstatement After Refusing Covid Shots
When the Covid-19 vaccine was released in 2020, Daniel Pendergast was intrigued. “I honestly thought it sounded kind of ingenious at first,” he said. But then he learned there was a very small chance of heart inflammation that could occur after vaccination in healthy men like himself: around eight cases per million, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. For Pendergast, 44, whose family has a history of heart disease, even that low risk felt too high. He decided against taking the shot. (Rosenbaum, 7/23)
CIDRAP: Some Women Experienced Abnormal Uterine Bleeding Earlier In COVID Pandemic
Earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, some women reported menstrual periods that arrived early or late or spotting between periods, and now a study published yesterday in BMC Infectious Diseases has confirmed those reports. (Holohan, 7/22)
CIDRAP: Women Have Worse Signs, Symptoms Of Neurologic Long COVID Than Men, Researchers Say
More than a year after COVID-19 symptom onset, both previously hospitalized and nonhospitalized women who had long COVID reported four neurologic symptoms more often than their male peers, Northwestern University researchers write. (Van Beusekom, 7/22)
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
The New York Times: Massachusetts House Passes Bill That Would Loosen Late-Term Abortion Rules
A bill easing access to late-term abortion in Massachusetts passed in the state House of Representatives on Wednesday. The Senate is expected to vote on the measure before the legislative session ends next week. (Russell, 7/22)
Fierce Biotech: Biotech Leaders Back FDA Against ‘Malicious’ Abortion Lawsuit
A group of 61 biopharma companies, executives and investors has filed an amicus brief in support of the FDA in an ongoing case brought by Louisiana meant to remove access to the abortion pill mifepristone. (Incorvaia, 7/22)
AP: 2 Men Switched At Birth Are Suing A North Dakota Hospital
The families of two men who discovered through DNA tests that they were switched at birth 38 years ago are accusing a North Dakota hospital of robbing them of the lives they were supposed to lead. (Schuettler, Peipert and Johnson, 7/17)
AP: Trial Begins For Nurse Who Says Postpartum Issues Led Her To Kill Her Kids
Jury selection began Monday in the trial of a Massachusetts mother who strangled her three children while undergoing medical treatment for psychiatric problems that developed after she gave birth. The trial of Lindsay Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, could take several weeks and is expected to explore the complicated and rare phenomenon of postpartum psychosis, which afflicts a very small percentage of women who develop delusions and sometimes hallucinations after childbirth. (7/22)
MedPage Today: Contaminants In Water Linked To Uterine Cancer Risk
Higher levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) -- a disinfection byproduct of the drinking water treatment process -- were linked to a higher risk of uterine cancer among a cohort of California women. (Bassett, 7/22)
CIDRAP: ‘Women Don’t Have To Live In Pain’: Vaginal Estrogen In Menopause Could Reduce UTIs, Hospitalization
In 2021, Karen, who asked that her last name not be used, was always running to the bathroom because of a burning sensation and the urge to urinate. It had been more than 30 years since she had a urinary tract infection (UTI), but Karen suspected that one was causing her frequent bathroom trips. She visited her gynecologist, but her urinary culture tested negative for infection. At the time, her doctor didn’t seem concerned by Karen’s discomfort. (Holohan, 7/22)
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Becker's Hospital Review: Man Sues OpenAI For Unlicensed Practice Of Medicine
A lawsuit filed July 21 claims that ChatGPT offered inaccurate medical guidance to a Florida man that resulted in delayed care for a pulmonary embolism last year. The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco, accuses OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman of negligence, unlicensed practice of medicine, defective product design and other claims. It is among the first to allege that a chatbot’s health advice caused physical injury to a user seeking guidance about a medical condition, according to The New York Times, and the plaintiff has asked the court to stop ChatGPT Health from operating until independent evaluators verify its safety. (Gamble, 7/22)
WUSF: AdventHealth Plans To Build Hospital In Rapidly Growing The Villages Region
AdventHealth is planning to build an 80-bed hospital in The Villages, expanding acute-care services in one of the nation's fastest-growing metropolitan areas as the retirement community and its surrounding workforce continue to grow. (Mayer, 7/23)
Belleville News-Democrat: State Approves New $231 Million Hospital To Replace Touchette In Cahokia Heights
SIHF Healthcare has received state approval to build a new $231 million hospital to replace Touchette Regional Hospital in Cahokia Heights. (Cortes, 7/22)
Modern Healthcare: State Hospital Merger Reviews Slow Deals As Closures Loom
Hospitals are warning they may have to close unless state regulators speed up increasingly rigorous reviews of their efforts to be acquired. (Kacik, 7/22)
Fox News: Michelin Star Chef Overhauls Hospital Meals With 'Food Is Medicine' Menu
"Hospital food" has long been synonymous with packaged, ultraprocessed meals — despite the fact that hospitals are meant to promote healing. In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital at the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., Michelin-star chef Geoffrey Zakarian shared his initiative to improve what is served in U.S. hospitals, following the concept that "food is medicine." For the last three years, Zakarian said he’s been working on changing hospital food — most notably at Tampa General, which is a $4 billion nonprofit, 1,000-bed public hospital. (Stabile and Quill, 7/22)
PHARMA AND TECH
CBS News: Antihistamine Recall Across The U.S. Triggered By Heartburn Drug Contamination Risk, FDA Says
A generic version of the brand-name allergy medication Zyrtec is under recall across the U.S. due to potential cross-contamination with a heartburn drug, according to the Food and Drug Administration. (Cerullo, 7/22)
MedPage Today: FDA Greenlights Next-Generation ROS1 Inhibitor For Lung Cancer
The FDA approved zidesamtinib (Jideytro) for previously treated adults with locally advanced or metastatic ROS1-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), drugmaker GSK announced Wednesday. (Bassett, 7/22)
Stat: Retinal Implant To Restore Some Vision Loss Has Sights Set On U.S.
Europeans can now receive a device that can partially restore their vision loss. Americans may not have to wait long to get it, either. (Broderick, 7/22)
MedPage Today: New Study Links GLP-1s To Hair Loss
Adults with type 2 diabetes who used a GLP-1 receptor agonist had an increased risk of clinically recorded hair loss, data from a target trial emulation suggested. (Monaco, 7/22)
The Wall Street Journal: Dassault Systemes To Buy ArisGlobal For Up To $2 Billion
Dassault Systemes said it agreed to buy Nordic Capital’s ArisGlobal, a U.S. supplier of software to the life-sciences industry, for up to $2 billion, seeking to bolster its artificial-intelligence offering. French software company Dassault Systemes said Thursday that it is buying ArisGlobal for about $1.8 billion in cash at closing and up to $200 million in additional payments linked to AI-related revenue targets. (Calatayud, 7/23)
STATE WATCH
The New York Times: Gunman Faces Prison Sentence For Shooting Minnesota Lawmakers
More than a year after a man killed a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and shot another lawmaker and the legislator’s wife, he was expected to be sentenced to life in prison on Thursday. The attacks, described by prosecutors as targeted political assassinations, set off an urgent manhunt across the state and left Minnesotans in terror. The attacker went to the homes of Democratic lawmakers in the middle of the night, disguised as a law enforcement officer. (Londoño, 7/23)
NBC News: Four People Got A Rare Brain Cancer. Their Only Known Connection Is A Shuttered Army Ammunition Plant.
Three longtime Philadelphia police officers developed the same rare cancer, and the similarities in their cases were hard to ignore. They all had spent years working in the department’s narcotics unit. They all died of glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, within years of each other. (Lavietes, 7/23)
PUBLIC HEALTH
Newsweek: New Blood Analysis Could Show If Colon Cancer Will Return—Before Symptoms
A single blood sample taken before surgery may one day help doctors identify colorectal cancer patients at greater risk of recurrence or metastasis, according to new research from scientists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Gangnam Severance Hospital and Asan Medical Center. The study found that as colorectal cancer progresses, it reshapes the body's metabolism in ways that can be detected in the blood. (Azzurra Volpe, 7/22)
CIDRAP: Many US Accidental Drug Overdoses Could Be Prevented If Bystanders Present
Of nearly 192,000 accidental or undetermined-intent drug overdose deaths in the United States from 2022 to 2024, 76% occurred when the decedent was alone, highlighting the need for targeted messaging and wider distribution of opioid antagonist medications, according to a Public Health Alert today. (Van Beusekom, 7/22)
The Washington Post: The Hidden Way Cannabis Changes Your Brain While You Sleep
Larry Mitchell never thought much about the dreams he wasn’t having. For years, while he regularly smoked cannabis, his dreams seemed to disappear. Then, last summer, he quit. Soon afterward, his nights became populated by a vivid nocturnal world unlike anything he had experienced before. (Cha, 7/23)
Newsweek: Scientists May Have Found A Natural Defense Against Aging. There’s A Catch
A hormone that naturally declines as we grow older may play a key role in the chronic inflammation linked to cancer and other age-related diseases, according to new research in mice. The hormone, called thymulin, is produced by the thymus, a small organ behind the breastbone that helps train the body's immune system. (Azzurra Volpe, 7/22)
CIDRAP: Climate Change Is Driving Dengue Spread In Low- And Middle-Income Countries
Climate change and rapid urbanization are reshaping how dengue spreads in low- and middle-income countries, according to a systematic review published this week in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Dengue virus is spread by Aedes mosquitoes. (Bergeson, 7/22)
