Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Thursday, June 11, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: Trump Bought Tobacco Stocks And Raked In Industry Donations As FDA Eased Standards
President Donald Trump, who once declared he had “saved” flavored vapes, grew his stock holdings this year to as much as $1.64 million in tobacco giant Philip Morris. He also had holdings in Altria and a third leading tobacco company, though an apparent discrepancy in his disclosures clouds the extent of his investments. In 2025, tobacco interests donated $6 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC that supports the president, and Trump’s inauguration. And, on April 30, a week before FDA guidance that provided a critical boost to the industry, Reynolds American dropped an additional $5 million into the super PAC’s coffers. (Tahir, 6/11)
KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’
Sam Whitehead reads the week’s news: More Americans are getting access to physician-assisted suicide as states legalize the practice. Plus, hundreds of people allege medical neglect in ICE detention centers. (6/11)
WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS
The Washington Post: Companies Are Racing To Improve Your GLP-1 Experience
The enormous popularity of new weight-loss drugs often eclipses the downsides: the burden of weekly injections, rough gastrointestinal side effects, muscle and bone loss. That is shaping a race among drug manufacturers vying to roll out better options. Eli Lilly, which makes Zepbound and Mounjaro, and Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic and Wegovy, have the vast market for branded drugs to themselves and are steadily reaping billions of dollars. But pharmaceutical giants Pfizer, Roche, Boehringer Ingelheim and Amgen are among competitors planning to bring improved drugs to the market. (Rowland, 6/10)
Fierce Healthcare: How Health Plans, Employers Are Approaching GLP-1 Coverage
Despite steady demand for obesity medications, 49% of payers who do not currently cover GLP-1s for obesity would not do so at any price, a new report from Pharmaceutical Strategies Group (PSG) found. (Gleeson, 6/10)
MedPage Today: FDA Issues Safety Alert On Weight-Loss Drug's Kidney Risks
The FDA issued a drug safety communication approving a label change that warns about the risk of kidney stones or kidney injury with the over-the-counter (OTC) weight loss drug orlistat (Alli), the agency said Wednesday. The label now recommends that consumers with a history of kidney disease or kidney stones consult a healthcare provider before using the drug. (Monaco, 6/10)
Bloomberg: Weight-Loss Drugs Cut UK Food Bills By £780 Million, Study Shows
Rapidly expanding use of weight-loss medicines in the UK has wiped about £780 million ($1 billion) off annual grocery spending, according to research by a consumer data group. Households with at least one user of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs bought 299 million fewer food items in the year after adoption of the medication, with users reporting a dwindling number of cravings and cutting back on treats like chocolate and potato chips, the study from Worldpanel by Numerator published Wednesday showed. (Linsell, 6/10)
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: Visceral Fat Loss Associated With Better Long-Term Cardiometabolic, Cognitive Health
Irrespective of weight loss, maintaining a lower level of visceral fat—fat stored deep within the abdomen, wrapping around vital organs—may lead to better long-term cardiometabolic and cognitive health, according to two new studies led by Iris Shai, adjunct professor of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (Brownstein, 6/10)
EBOLA OUTBREAK
The Washington Post: The Infectious Diseases Experts Worry Could Spread During The World Cup
When millions of soccer fans descend on North America this month for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, they will bring more than team jerseys and national pride. They will also bring the microbes that travel with people. Public health officials have spent years preparing for the tournament, which is expected to draw visitors from more than 100 countries to the United States, Canada and Mexico. Although diseases such as Ebola and hantavirus have been in the headlines, public health experts say the diseases most likely to show up in clinics, emergency departments or urgent care centers are likely to be less exotic. (Sun, 6/10)
The New York Times: U.S. Ebola Unit Sparks Fury, Protests And A Political Crisis In Kenya
The U.S. plan to open an Ebola quarantine facility in Kenya was meant to help contain the outbreak by isolating American patients exposed to the virus. Instead, it has caused an outbreak of violence and political rancor, with hundreds of Kenyans taking to the streets in protest. (Mpoke Bigg and Schmitt, 6/10)
CIDRAP: Ebola Case Count Nears 600 As Feds Ask For Travel Restrictions Ahead Of World Cup
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) government said yesterday the number of confirmed Ebola cases has risen to 598, with 115 deaths. All cases in the DRC are from Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces. The case-fatality rate of the DRC outbreak now stands at 19.2%. Almost 300 patients (297) are currently being treated in Ebola facilities for their infections, and 22 people have recovered. (Soucheray, 6/10)
OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS
CIDRAP: CDC: 9 Cases Now Confirmed In Deadly Listeria Outbreak Linked To Soft Cheese
According to an update yesterday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are now nine cases of listeriosis linked to an ongoing outbreak involving soft ricotta cheese. So far eight people have been hospitalized and one person from Maryland has died from his or her infection. Three people each have been sickened in New York, Maryland, and Virginia. Of the eight people interviewed, six reported eating any soft cheese prior to symptom onset. (Soucheray, 6/10)
Bloomberg: Screwworm Outbreak Not Threat To Food Supply, Agriculture Secretary Says
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sought to reassure senators Wednesday that the recent screwworm outbreak is under control and not a threat to the country’s food supply. “Over the past week and a half, USDA has confirmed six cases of the New World screwworm within the US, all but one in the south of Texas,” Rollins said while testifying before the Senate Agriculture Committee. “We know this development is a serious threat but it did not catch us off guard.” (Umansky-Castro, 6/10)
Bloomberg: Screwworm Outbreak In Texas Puts Spotlight On USDA Staffing And Response
US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins pushed back on suggestions that staff cuts at her agency could slow the agency’s response to the outbreak of a deadly cattle parasite in the US. The US Department of Agriculture has added more than 100 full-time employees to work on New World screwworm over the last 15 months in preparation for the parasite to arrive in the country, Rollins said at a Senate hearing Wednesday. (Elkin, 6/10)
The Hill: Trump Administration Blames Joe Biden's Immigration Policies For Screwworm
As cases of New World screwworm spread and threaten the beef and cattle industry, the Trump administration is rolling out a familiar playbook: Blame former President Biden. The parasitic fly had been eliminated in the U.S. since the 1960s, but now it’s back, and according to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, the new resurgence is entirely due to the lax immigration policies of former President Biden’s administration. “The threat didn’t appear overnight; it was the direct result of the Biden-Harris Admin’s WEAK foreign policy agenda and FAILED immigration policies,” Rollins wrote in a social media post last week. (Weixel, 6/10)
San Francisco Chronicle: Possible Hantavirus Case Investigated At San Quentin
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center is awaiting state and federal test results after an incarcerated person showed symptoms that could be consistent with hantavirus, the rare rodent-borne virus that has drawn renewed attention after a recent cruise ship outbreak. cruise ship outbreak. (Vaziri, 6/10)
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Bloomberg: Is The US Prepared For The Next Pandemic? How Trump’s Policies Weakened Defenses
Recent outbreaks of Ebola and hantavirus infections are reminders that when such rare diseases flare up, they have the potential, in our interconnected world, to spread beyond their points of origin. While neither of these deadly menaces is thought likely to provoke a global epidemic, they’ve stoked anxiety about the ability of the US to respond to such a threat. The fundamentals of pandemic preparedness include maintaining a robust public health infrastructure, including a strong surveillance system to detect threats early; investing in research to facilitate the quick development of new treatments and vaccines; and building public trust in health officials. (Nix, 6/11)
Politico: America’s Doctors Just Voted For War With RFK Jr.
American doctors want their leading lobby to drop its nice guy routine with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. At the American Medical Association’s annual meeting this week, members of the group’s House of Delegates are sending a clear message to their leaders: Call out Kennedy, even if it costs us in the pocketbook. That message was stated most clearly in the election of Sandra Fryhofer, an internist from Atlanta and uncompromising Kennedy critic, as AMA president-elect. (Levien, 6/10)
Stat: OB-GYN Group Issues Vaccine Recommendations, Deviating From CDC
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has released a recommended vaccine schedule for pregnant people, one that diverges from the advice currently offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Branswell, 6/10)
Roll Call: Prior Authorization Bill Now Eligible For House Fast Track
Legislation aimed at reducing delays when Medicare Advantage plans require preapproval for care could hit the House floor under fast-track rules for bills that have broad support. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., targets use of prior authorization in Medicare Advantage — in which insurers approve or deny services before they can be delivered. (Hellmann, 6/10)
Bloomberg: Trump's Haiti Deportation Push Could Trigger Nursing Home Staffing Crisis
Thousands of Haitian immigrants who take care of ill and aging Americans could soon be forced to leave the US. Their departure, some nursing-home operators and Republican lawmakers fear, would unleash a healthcare disaster. The Supreme Court is expected to decide by the end of its current term whether the Trump administration can revoke the temporary protected status, known as TPS, of about 350,000 Haitian nationals. The court’s ruling is also expected to affect immigrants who fled turmoil in Venezuela, Syria, El Salvador and other countries. (Cattan, 6/10)
PUBLIC HEALTH
Bloomberg: Diabetes Conference Expulsions Lead To Apology And Resignations
American Diabetes Association Chief Executive Officer Chuck Henderson issued an apology for the forcible removal of five prominent obesity scientists from the group’s annual meeting who were handing out copies of an anti-Trump editorial. “Regardless of the circumstances that led to those events, I recognize the impact that experience had,” Henderson said in a video. “I am deeply sorry for the hurt, frustration, and the pain that resulted.” (Inampudi, 6/10)
MedPage Today: AMA Delegates Stop Short Of Backing Universal Newborn Cytomegalovirus Screening
A proposal to back universal newborn screening for congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) was fiercely debated among the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates on Tuesday. The proposal was ultimately referred for more study after several speakers threw cold water on the idea, saying such policies -- now in place just in Minnesota and Connecticut -- could do more harm than good. (Clark, 6/10)
MedPage Today: AMA Adopts Policy Pushing Back On AI Creep In Medicine
Artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine must always be overseen by physicians, according to a policy adopted by the American Medical Association (AMA) on Tuesday. At its annual meeting on Tuesday, AMA's House of Delegates passed a resolution requiring its leaders to advocate for legislation and regulation requiring AI tools to "integrate with the physician-led team and be used at the direction of the treating physician; respect the continuity of care and best practices related to transitions of care; have transparent, auditable data demonstrating safety and efficacy; [and] be subject to relevant and appropriate regulations (including but not limited to those related to liability and documentation)." (Frieden, 6/10)
Becker's Hospital Review: The Emerging Healthcare Model Leaders Are Flocking To
As the link between oral health and overall wellness becomes more widely recognized among patients, healthcare leaders are looking for more ways to integrate care to enhance patient outcomes. (Portalatin, 6/10)
MedPage Today: Lawsuits Claiming Social Media Is 'Addictive' Gain Momentum
Social media has been on trial for allegedly harming youth mental health, and tech companies have been facing uphill legal battles in recent months. In a landmark case in March, a California jury found Meta and Google liable for the depression and anxiety of a woman who compulsively used social media as a child, awarding her $6 million. (Henderson, 6/10)
Fox News: Americans Born After 1970 Face Higher Death Rates From Several Major Causes In Middle Age
Americans born after 1970 are dying faster than their parents did, data shows. New analysis from Tufts University reveals that Gen Xers and millennials are failing to outlive their predecessors, dying at higher rates from common chronic illnesses and external causes than previous generations did when they were the same age. (Quill, 6/10)
SCIENCE AND INNOVATIONS
Newsweek: Popular Supplement Linked To Faster Alzheimer’s Progression
A supplement taken by millions of older adults to ease joint pain may accelerate the progression of Alzheimer's disease, according to new research from the University of Florida. The study, published June 9 in Nature Metabolism, found that people already showing signs of mild cognitive impairment were 25 percent more likely to develop dementia if they were taking glucosamine in supplement form than those who did not use the pill. (Afshar, 6/11)
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: High Ultra-Processed Food Consumption Linked To Increased Dementia Risk
Eating a diet high in ultra-processed food such as hot dogs and packaged snacks may increase the risk of dementia, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. They found that those who ate the highest amount of ultra-processed food every day had a 58% increased risk of developing dementia and a 46% increased risk for cognitive impairment compared to people who ate the lowest amount of daily ultra-processed food. (Roeder, 6/10)
MedPage Today: Study Warns On Sugary Drinks And Liver Cancer
Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with an increased risk of two liver cancer subtypes, according to a pooled analysis of 11 prospective cohort studies including more than 1.5 million adults. (Bassett, 6/10)
MedPage Today: Shingles Vaccine Might Be Less Effective In Systemic Sclerosis Patients
Brazilian patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) had a lower immune response to the recombinant herpes zoster vaccine (Shingrix) compared with healthy controls in a randomized trial, casting doubt on the vaccine's long-term effectiveness in this population. (Gever, 6/10)
HEALTH INDUSTRY AND PHARMACEUTICALS
Modern Healthcare: American Medical Association Opposes ‘Provider’ Term For Physicians
It’s a common turn of phrase: “Talk to your healthcare provider today.” But according to the American Medical Association, the word “provider” doesn’t cut it. The AMA voted this week during its annual meeting in Chicago to oppose the use of “provider” when referring to a clinician with a medical degree. It’s a pointed reference to the AMA’s larger strategy to fight scope creep. (Hudson, 6/10)
CIDRAP: In 2025, The Number Of NIH-Backed PIs And Fellows Declined. Black, Hispanic Researchers Hit Hardest
Last year was tumultuous for US researchers, with numerous changes occurring at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). While the agency eliminated billions of dollars of funding and often nixed peer-reviewed grant meetings, it was unclear who the cuts impacted the most. A study published this week in JAMA found that, while the number of investigators sank overall, Black and Hispanic researchers received fewer research grants and fellowships than their peers in 2025. (Holohan, 6/10)
Modern Healthcare: Clover Health Gets Medicare Advantage Ratings Boost
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has granted Clover Health higher Medicare Advantage quality scores after the insurer won a lawsuit last month, the company announced Wednesday. Clover Health’s largest Medicare Advantage contract — which comprises multiple plans — earned a boost to its 2026 star rating. The company successfully challenged the legality of some of the measures CMS uses to evaluate Medicare Advantage plans. (Tepper, 6/10)
Modern Healthcare: PBM Consolidation Grows As Smaller Rivals Struggle To Compete
The pharmacy benefit manager sector is undergoing a resorting as mergers and closures accumulate. The ranks of PBMs trying to chip away at the market dominance of UnitedHealth Group unit Optum Rx, CVS Health subsidiary CVS Caremark and Cigna division Express Scripts have been shrinking, and more transactions may be on the horizon. Smaller PBMs that market themselves as transparent alternatives to the top companies, pharmacy benefit models that bypass PBMs, and a bevy of regulations, federal mandates and state laws meant to curb abuses have been roiling the industry. (Tong, 6/10)
NBC News: Medicare Advantage Plans Denied Prior Authorization Requests At Unusually High Rates, HHS Report Finds
Patients enrolled in some of the nation’s largest Medicare Advantage plans were denied requests for rehabilitation and other critical services at unusually high rates, according to a report released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general. It comes amid increased scrutiny of how insurers use prior authorization, a cost-cutting tool that experts say often leads to the delay or denial of necessary care. (Lovelace Jr., 6/11)
Modern Healthcare: No Surprises Act IDR Rule Leaves Enforcement Questions Unanswered
Providers and payers want regulators to enforce a convoluted out-of-network arbitration process they say remains unchecked despite recent efforts to streamline it. A weedy new Independent Dispute Resolution rule resolves myriad communication and transparency concerns that have long ensnarled the arbitration process. But the technical rule issued in May wasn’t designed to address larger enforcement and policy questions, and that’s chafing the industry. (Early, 6/10)
Modern Healthcare: UPMC Layoffs To Impact 200 Employees
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is laying off about 200 staff members and cutting 300 open positions. The cuts, part of a regular reassessment of services, primarily affect non-clinical roles and positions that are not patient-facing, a UPMC spokesperson said Tuesday. UPMC has 100,000 employees. (DeSilva, 6/10)
STATE WATCH
Los Angeles Times: Supporters Of L.A. County Healthcare Sales Tax Declare Victory
Supporters of a half-cent sales tax proposed to help fund health services in Los Angeles County declared victory Tuesday after days of steadily gaining ground as more ballots were counted. (Ellis, 6/9)
AP: New Mexico's Universal Childcare Program Faces Key Legal Test
A New Mexico judge is scheduled Thursday to consider arguments in a challenge to the state’s fledgling universal childcare program, an ambitious and closely watched effort to eliminate daycare costs for all working families. A lawsuit brought by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez and other plaintiffs challenges the process used by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration to eliminate an income cap and co-pays for childcare assistance before the Legislature had a chance to weigh in or approve funding. (Peters, 6/11)
New Hampshire Public Radio: NH Gets High Marks For Children’s Economic Well Being, But Ranks Worst For Youth Depression
Two new reports have ranked New Hampshire high in children’s wellbeing but one has ranked the state as the worst for youth depression. (Richardson, 6/10)
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Ohio Passes Bill To Pay Nursing Homes $875 Million After State Supreme Court Ruling
Ohio lawmakers moved to pay nursing homes $875 million on Wednesday after a state Supreme Court ruling found they were underpaid. The money was included in an omnibus budget correction bill that now goes to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature. The $875 million is earmarked for skilled nursing facilities. (McGowan, 6/10)
