Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Thursday, July 24, 2025
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: Tribal Health Officials Work To Fill Vaccination Gaps As Measles Outbreak Spreads
Cassandra Palmier had been meaning to get her son the second and final dose of the measles vaccine. But car problems made it difficult to get to the doctor. So she pounced on the opportunity to get him vaccinated after learning that a mobile clinic would be visiting her neighborhood. “I was definitely concerned about the epidemic and the measles,” Palmier, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said at the June event. “I wanted to do my part.” (Zionts, 7/24)
KFF Health News: Watch: What Are Medicaid Work Requirements?
President Donald Trump signed legislation that mandates some Medicaid recipients prove they’re working, volunteering, or completing other qualifying activities at least 80 hours a month to maintain coverage. This applies to 40 states (plus Washington, D.C.) that have expanded Medicaid to a broader pool of low-income adults. Those states will share $200 million to prepare eligibility systems by the end of next year. (Rayasam, 7/24)
The New York Times: RFK Jr. Rescinds Endorsement Of Flu Vaccines With Preservative Falsely Linked To Autism
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday formally rescinded federal recommendations for all flu vaccines containing thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that the anti-vaccine movement has falsely linked to autism. The decision cements a move last month by vaccine advisers whom Mr. Kennedy named to the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices after abruptly firing all 17 previous members. (Mandavilli, 7/23)
NBC News: Do Fluoride Supplements Harm Children? FDA Panel Discussion Turns Into Heated Debate
A meeting Wednesday at the Food and Drug Administration about fluoride supplements became, at one point, a contentious back-and-forth over whether the ingestible tablets harm children’s microbiomes or play a vital role in helping protect them from tooth decay. Pediatric dentists consider the chewable tablets, available only by prescription, as particularly important for families who live in areas without fluoride in drinking water, who don’t have dental insurance or who can’t afford regular visits to dentists. (Edwards, 7/24)
Bloomberg: HHS, FDA, USDA Open Debate On How To Define Ultra-Processed Foods
Three US agencies on Wednesday announced plans to formally open debate over how to define the term “ultra-processed” food, which is sure to prompt fierce lobbying from companies eager to exempt their products from the distinction. The Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture are jointly asking for public feedback regarding the establishment of a uniform definition for ultra-processed food. (Cohrs Zhang and Peterson, 7/24)
ON CAPITOL HILL
Roll Call: Republicans Plan Bipartisan Health Package As Democrats Demur
Senate Republicans say they are working on a bipartisan health package to lower drug and health insurance costs, a development that’s news to some Democrats who remain skeptical that their GOP colleagues will work with them. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., is leading the talks, with a particular focus on more transparency from pharmacy benefit managers, so-called upcoding practices in Medicare Advantage and other health items. (Hellmann, 7/23)
Military.Com: Proposal To Expand Private Health Care For Veterans Advanced By House Panel
A bill aimed at giving veterans easier access to private doctors using Department of Veterans Affairs funding has advanced out of a key House panel after stark partisan debate. Cost issues scuttled a couple of controversial provisions from the GOP-led bill advanced Wednesday compared to the version of the bill that was introduced earlier this year. But the legislation still stoked strong opposition from Democrats accusing Republicans of trying to privatize the VA as Republicans insisted they are trying to give veterans more options in their care. (Kheel, 7/23)
The New York Times: House Panel Approves Spending Bill That Rejects Some Trump Foreign Aid Cuts
House Republicans on Wednesday advanced spending legislation that would provide billions more dollars than what President Trump requested for foreign aid, global health, peacekeeping activities and international broadcasting in the coming year, defying Mr. Trump’s wishes for more drastic funding cuts. The measure, if enacted, would still slash the foreign aid and the State Department budget compared with the current year, cutting it by 22 percent, to $46.2 billion. (Kim, 7/23)
MedPage Today: Challenge Fauci's Pardon, Rand Paul Says
Sen. Rand Paul, MD (R-Ky.), took aim at former President Joe Biden's pardon of Anthony Fauci, MD, in a new interview. During his final hours in office, Biden pardoned Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), to guard against potential "revenge" by the incoming Trump administration. However, Paul questioned the pardon this week in an interview with conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (Henderson, 7/23)
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
The New York Times: Supreme Court Lets Trump Fire Consumer Product Safety Regulators
The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed President Trump to fire the three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a five-member group that monitors the safety of items like toys, cribs and electronics. The court’s brief order was unsigned, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications, though the court’s three liberal justices dissented. (Liptak and Montague, 7/23)
The New York Times: U.S. Quietly Drafts Plan To End Program That Saved Millions From AIDS
The federal program to combat H.I.V. in developing nations earned a reprieve last week when Congress voted to restore $400 million in funding. But that may be short-lived: Officials at the State Department have been mapping out a plan to shut it down in the coming years. Planning documents for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, obtained by The New York Times, call for the organization to set a new course that focuses on “transitioning” countries away from U.S. assistance, some in as little as two years. (Nolen, 7/23)
IMMIGRATION CRISIS
The Boston Globe: Health Care Workers Protest Outside Burlington ICE Facility
Around 20 physicians and medical residents stood outside the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office here Wednesday to protest the Trump administration’s enforcement tactics that they say will severely impact health care in Massachusetts. They wore blue scrubs and long, white lab coats with “Protect patients, colleagues, communities. Abolish ICE” written on the back with a marker. In between short speeches, the workers led chants shouting “Hands off” as more than 300 residents from around the Boston area shouted “Heath care!” back to them. (Mathew, 7/23)
The Washington Post: ICE Moves To Shackle Some 180,000 Immigrants With GPS Ankle Monitors
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has directed personnel to sharply increase the number of immigrants they shackle with GPS-enabled ankle monitors, as the Trump administration widens surveillance of people it is targeting for deportation, according to an internal ICE document reviewed by The Washington Post. In a June 9 memo, ICE ordered staff to place ankle monitors on all people enrolled in the agency’s Alternatives to Detention program “whenever possible.” About 183,000 adult migrants are enrolled in ATD and had previously consented to some form of tracking or mandatory check-ins while they waited for their immigration cases to be resolved. Currently, just 24,000 of these individuals wear ankle monitors. (MacMillan and Foster-Frau, 7/24)
The Guardian: How Trump Has Supercharged The Immigration Crackdown - In Data
Revealed: Guardian analysis provides a detailed picture of surging arrests and a detention system that’s stretched beyond capacity. (Singh, Craft and Witherspoon, 7/23)
The New York Times: Appeals Court Blocks Trump’s Attempt To Restrict Birthright Citizenship
A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that President Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship violated the Constitution, affirming a district court judge’s nationwide injunction and bringing the issue one step closer to a full constitutional review by the Supreme Court. In a 48-page opinion, two of the three judges on the panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that Mr. Trump’s executive order “contradicts the plain language of the 14th Amendment’s grant of citizenship to ‘all persons born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’” (Schwartz, 7/23)
San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Permanente Pauses Gender-Affirming Surgeries For Youths
Kaiser Permanente will pause gender-affirming surgeries for patients under age 19, the provider said Wednesday. The decision by the nonprofit health giant, slated to go into effect Aug. 29, comes on the heels of other major health care providers in California, including Stanford Medicine and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, that have similarly scaled back or halted gender-affirming care for adolescents. It applies to Kaiser locations nationwide. (Ho, 7/23)
The CT Mirror: Connecticut Children’s ‘Winding Down’ Youth Gender-Affirming Care
Connecticut Children’s Medical Center confirmed Wednesday it is shutting down the program that provides gender-affirming health care to transgender and gender-diverse patients. (Golvala and Altimari, 7/23)
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
The Wall Street Journal: Exclusive | Bill Would Force Hospitals To Warn If They Aren’t Equipped To Save Premature Babies
Hospitals would be required to disclose how they make key decisions regarding extremely premature infants in a bill set to be introduced Thursday by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.). The legislation is in part prompted by a Wall Street Journal investigation last year that found mothers had been told no lifesaving measures were possible for their extremely premature infants, even though other hospitals nearby offered care for infants born at similar gestational ages. (Essley Whyte, 7/23)
AP: Nevada Parental Notification Abortion Law In Effect; Planned Parenthood Lawsuit Seeks Halt
A 40-year-old Nevada law requiring minors having an abortion to first notify their parents or guardians is now in effect for the first time, after a federal district court judge lifted an administrative block Tuesday afternoon. The one-page order from District Court Judge Anne Traum came after a federal appellate judge earlier this week opted not to temporarily pause implementation of the never-enforced 1985 law while the federal appeal proceeds. In anticipation of the law going into effect, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte filed a new lawsuit in state court Monday seeking to halt its implementation. (Mueller and Vong, 7/23)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Missouri AG Accuses Planned Parenthood Of Misleading Women About Safety Of Abortion Pills
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has filed a lawsuit against the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, accusing the organization of misleading women about the safety of medication abortions. (Munz, 7/23)
Chicago Tribune: Planned Parenthood Of Illinois Names New CEO
Planned Parenthood of Illinois has named a new leader — a change that comes as the organization faces a barrage of threats, including a yearlong loss of federal Medicaid dollars. (Schencker and Lourgos, 7/23)
Politico: Florida Democratic Governor Primary Shaken Up By Abortion Fight
David Jolly is the only major Democrat running for Florida governor next year. But he’s still facing attacks and scrutiny about his Republican past over a key issue threatening party unity: abortion rights. The former GOP representative and MSNBC political contributor has faced backlash in recent weeks from Anna Hochkammer, executive director of the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition political committee. The criticisms have incensed his supporters, who’ve rushed to defend him publicly. (Leonard and Sarkissian, 7/23)
AP: US Fertility Drops To New Low In 2024, CDC Data Shows
The fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to an all-time low in 2024 with less than 1.6 kids per woman, new federal data released Thursday shows. The U.S. was once among only a few developed countries with a rate that ensured each generation had enough children to replace itself — about 2.1 kids per woman. But it has been sliding in America for close to two decades as more women are waiting longer to have children or never taking that step at all. The new statistic is on par with fertility rates in western European countries, according to World Bank data. (Stobbe, 7/24)
Iowa Public Radio: An Iowa Baby Born Premature At 21 Weeks Is Now A World Record Holder
A baby born at a University of Iowa Health Care hospital in Iowa City has been named the Guinness World Records titleholder for most premature baby. Nash Keen is now 1 year old and doing better than anyone expected after facing what experts had previously called impossible odds. (Kelley, 7/23)
CIDRAP: Birth Complications Linked To Common STIs In Pregnancy
Earlier this week in The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific, Australian researchers identified a link between common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) during pregnancy and a higher risk of significant birth complications such as preterm birth, stillbirth, and babies born small for gestational age. (Soucheray, 7/23)
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Modern Healthcare: Site-Neutral Payment Would Start In 2026 Under CMS Proposal
Medicare may soon test a plan to equalize reimbursements for outpatient services regardless of where the care is provided. This foray into so-called site-neutral payment would begin next year and focus on physician-administered medications such as chemotherapy drugs. Hospitals would get paid less than they are now for providing those services. (Early, 7/23)
Modern Healthcare: Henry Ford Health, Michigan State Launch Venture Capital Fund
Henry Ford Health, Michigan State University and the MSU Research Foundation have created a $10 million venture fund to invest in early-stage healthcare companies. The organizations have a goal of investing an additional $2 million per year over the next five years, according to a Wednesday news release. (DeSilva, 7/23)
Becker's Hospital Review: AI Tool Flags Heart Disease With 77% Accuracy
Researchers from New York City-based organizations Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian have developed an AI tool capable of identifying patients at risk of having undiagnosed structural heart disease. The tool, called EchoNext, was trained on more than 1.2 million electrocardiogram and echocardiogram data pairs from 230,000 patients, according to a July 16 news release from NewYork-Presbyterian. Upon validation, the tool accurately identified 77% of structural heart problems in 3,200 electrocardiograms compared to 64% accuracy of 13 cardiologists analyzing the same data. (Gregerson, 7/23)
CLIMATE AND HEALTH
The Washington Post: Courts Banned This Herbicide Twice. The EPA Wants To Bring It Back.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday its proposed decision to reregister dicamba, a herbicide widely used on soybean and cotton farms that has been banned twice by federal courts. The EPA originally approved dicamba’s use on genetically engineered soybeans and cotton in 2016. Environmental groups sued the EPA over dicamba in 2020 because of its potential drift away from the intended target, especially during warmer temperatures, and harm neighboring crops, nearby ecosystems and rural communities. (Ajasa, 7/23)
Bloomberg: UN Top Court Says Countries Are Obliged To Fight Climate Change
One of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the fallout from climate change has won a landmark legal battle, giving countries new ammunition to pursue some of the planet’s biggest emitters. In its advisory opinion, delivered on Wednesday, the International Court of Justice said countries have a responsibility to do what they can to limit global warming to the critical threshold of 1.5C, saying that failure to do so may violate international law. The ICJ sided with the South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu in a case brought two years ago via the United Nations General Assembly. (Ainger and Schwartzkopff, 7/23)
Politico: Trump’s Latest Plan To Undo The ‘Holy Grail’ Of Climate Rules: Never Mind The Science
The Trump administration plans to argue that federal law does not require agencies to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, in a move designed to derail virtually all U.S. limits on climate pollution, according to three people familiar with the upcoming proposal. The Environmental Protection Agency will as early as this week unveil its plan to undo the so-called endangerment finding, which in 2009 laid out a comprehensive case for how human emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases threaten human health and welfare. (Colman, 7/23)
The Guardian: ‘Boiling Frog’ Effect Makes People Oblivious To Threat Of Climate Crisis, Shows Study
Surveys show that the increasing number of extreme climate events, including floods, wildfires and hurricanes, has not raised awareness of the threats posed by climate change. Instead, people change their idea of what they see as normal. This so-called “boiling frog effect” makes gradual change difficult to spot. (Hambling, 7/24)
OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS
Minnesota Public Radio: U Of M Launches New Institute Focused On Infectious Diseases
The University of Minnesota is launching a new institute focused on identifying and responding to infectious diseases. The new effort comes at a critical time, said University of Minnesota Institute on Infectious Diseases director Michael Gale. (Wurzer, Stockton and Alvarez, 7/23)
NBC News: Summer Covid Cases Are Rising Across The U.S. — Is It Time For A Vaccine?
As of July 15, Covid cases were growing or likely growing in 27 states including Texas, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rates of positive Covid tests have also been increasing in recent weeks, the CDC says, specifically in the southern region of the country. N.B.1.8.1 is the current dominant variant in the United States, accounting for 43% of all new Covid cases, according to the CDC. It’s an offshoot of the XVD.1.5.1 strain, a descendant of the omicron variant. (Srinivasan and Lovelace Jr., 7/23)
The Hill: 2 Tennessee Children Hospitalized With Rare La Crosse Virus: What Is It?
Two children in Tennessee are now recovering at home after being hospitalized for La Crosse virus, a rare mosquito-borne virus that can, in severe cases, lead to inflammation of the brain. The Knox County Health Department said the two children were hospitalized earlier this month. They mark the first cases of the virus this year in the county, according to health officials. (Hollingsworth and Nethers, 7/23)
CIDRAP: Four States Announce More Measles Cases
Amid ongoing record post-elimination measles activity in the United States, four states have reported more measles cases, including Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Meanwhile, in its weekly update, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added 10 more cases to the national total, which has now reached 1,319 cases. (Schnirring, 7/23)
CBS News: Patient Dies Of Brain-Eating Amoeba In South Carolina, Hospital Confirms
A patient in a South Carolina children's hospital has died of a brain-eating amoeba, according to the facility. In a news briefing Tuesday, Prisma Health Children's Hospital-Midlands confirmed the patient died of primary amebic meningoencephalitis, also known as PAM, a rare but often fatal brain infection caused by the Naegleria fowleri organism. ... According to the South Carolina Department of Public Health, the patient's exposure likely occurred at Lake Murray, though officials said they cannot be completely certain. (Moniuszko, 7/23)
Stat: H5N1 Bird Flu Hasn’t Been As Deadly As Feared. Study Offers Theory Why
The H5N1 bird flu virus has historically extracted a heavy toll when it infects humans, with nearly half of confirmed cases ending in death over the past three decades. But of the 70 cases reported in the United States over the past 18 months, only a single death occurred, leaving experts puzzled at how to explain the phenomenon. (Branswell, 7/23)
NPR: A Genetic Tweak Could Prevent Mosquitoes From Transmitting Malaria
Each year, 263 million people get malaria. But from the parasite's perspective, infecting humans is harder than you might think, and requires completing an epic journey within the tiny body of a mosquito. First, the mosquito must suck the blood of an individual infected with malaria — bringing the Plasmodium parasite into the insect's gut. Then the parasite must travel to the critter's salivary glands, where it's poised to be injected into the mosquito's next victim via a bite. (Lambert, 7/23)
CANCER RESEARCH
Newsweek: Cancer Vaccine Breakthrough: What We Know About 'Exciting' Early Data
Researchers at the University of Florida are moving closer to developing what they have described as a "universal" cancer vaccine, according to a study published in Nature Biomedical Engineering on July 18. The vaccine would work by "waking the immune system up against something that looks dangerous, and then that response spills over to recognize and reject the tumor," Dr. Elias Sayour, co-author of the study, director of the Pediatric Cancer Immunotherapy Initiative, and principal investigator at the RNA Engineering Laboratory at the University of Florida, told Newsweek. (Laws, 7/24)
Newsweek: Weight Loss Jab Found To Shrink Breast Cancer Tumors
Millions of Americans have turned to weight-loss injections originally developed to treat diabetes—and now, research suggests that these medications may offer a surprising additional benefit: shrinking obesity-related breast tumors. A new study in mice shows that tirzepatide—the active ingredient in the popular drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound—not only helps shed pounds but may also slow or reduce the growth of breast cancer tumors linked to obesity. (Notarantonio, 7/23)
San Francisco Chronicle: UCSF, Stanford Launch $200M Cancer Hub For Breakthrough Research
UCSF and Stanford are launching a $200 million cancer hub that will be the largest collaborative project of its kind on the West Coast, with the goal to dramatically improve cancer care, especially for the most stubborn diseases, over the next decade. The Weill Family Foundation is funding the center with a $100 million matching donation, for which Stanford and UCSF together have raised about $25 million in institutional funds; each university will raise $50 million over the next decade. (Allday, 7/23)
STATE WATCH
Chicago Tribune: Chicago To Invest $40 Million In Upgrades To Homeless Shelters
Tania Navarrete welcomes a group of city employees to her new apartment on the South Side. She guides them through the living room and bedroom and then into her kitchen. Art lines the walls and the fridge is fully stocked with food. The employees, on a “special assignment” for the day, are with the city’s Homeless Outreach and Prevention team. They helped Navarrete find and move into the new apartment about a month ago. (Johnson, 7/23)
NBC News: Doctor Charged In Matthew Perry's Death Pleads Guilty To Drug Distribution
Dr. Salvador Plasencia pleaded guilty to charges Wednesday stemming from Matthew Perry's accidental overdose in 2023 in a series of cases targeting those who supplied the "Friends" actor with copious amounts of ketamine. Plasencia agreed last month to plead guilty to four counts of distributing ketamine and had a formal hearing on the matter in federal court. A judge decided he will remain out on bond until his Dec. 3 sentencing hearing. According to an agreement with prosecutors, Plasencia faces up to 40 years in prison and three years of supervised release. He also faces a fine of at least $2 million, the agreement says. (Madani, 7/23)
AP: 8 Children Taken To Hospitals From Harvard Square Church Concert
Eight children at a church near Harvard University where a French youth choir was holding a concert suffered seizure-like symptoms and were taken to hospitals, possibly the result of fumes from cleaning supplies, officials said. The symptoms were not life-threatening, the Cambridge Fire Department said in a news release. About 70 other people in attendance at the concert Tuesday evening at St. Paul’s Parish in Harvard Square were not affected. (7/23)
LIFESTYLE AND HEALTH
AP: Meta Launches New Teen Safety Features, Removes 635,000 Accounts That Sexualize Children
Instagram parent company Meta has introduced new safety features aimed at protecting teens who use its platforms, including information about accounts that message them and an option to block and report accounts with one tap. The company also announced Wednesday that it has removed thousands of accounts that were leaving sexualized comments or requesting sexual images from adult-run accounts of kids under 13. Of these, 135,000 were commenting and another 500,000 were linked to accounts that “interacted inappropriately,” Meta said in a blog post. (Ortutay, 7/23)
MedPage Today: 10,000 Daily Step Count Goal Debunked By Huge Study
Study after study, higher daily step counts were shown to track with better health outcomes, even well below the oft-touted target of 10,000 steps. Based on a meta-analysis of studies published since 2014, increasing daily step counts above 2,000 was associated with a risk reduction, according to Ding (Melody) Ding, PhD, MPH, of the University of Sydney, and colleagues. (Lou, 7/23)
