Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Thursday, June 4, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: RFK Jr. Seeks To Peek At Americans’ Medical Records For Clues On Autism And Vaccines
U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pursuing federal government access to most Americans’ medical records, in a quest to research a link between vaccines and autism — a connection the medical establishment studied for decades and flatly rejects. The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking data from little-known state systems that allow hospitals and clinics to exchange detailed, identifiable patient information, KFF Health News has learned. (Seitz and Tahir, 6/4)
KFF Health News: Louisiana’s Reporting Law Chills Immigrant Medicaid Applications
Yolibeth’s 4-year-old daughter scrambled headfirst onto a cushy leather love seat at their home near New Orleans and pushed a hairbrush into the hands of Miriam Romero, a health coordinator who works with the family. Romero placed the girl in her lap and started brushing her dark hair. Yolibeth, a 38-year-old single mother who moved to South Louisiana from Honduras 15 years ago, watched them, smiling. The daughter is the youngest of five children living in this mixed-status household. Yolibeth and her two oldest kids don’t have legal immigration status, but the other three — ages 4, 9, and 13 — were born in the U.S. and are citizens. (Parker, 6/4)
KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’
Arielle Zionts reads the week’s news: For some older adults, the risks of certain preventive screenings might outweigh the rewards. Plus, cost spikes for Obamacare plans have consumers seeking cheaper health coverage, which is often less comprehensive. (6/4)
HEALTHCARE COSTS AND COVERAGE
Modern Healthcare: Presbyterian Healthcare Services Drops Medicare Advantage Plans
Presbyterian Healthcare Services will discontinue most Medicare Advantage plans next year, the health system said Wednesday. Presbyterian Health Plan, the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based nonprofit provider’s insurance arm, will retain only its Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans, or D-SNPs. The company will lay off about 150 workers. The insurer had about 54,000 Medicare Advantage members through May, nearly 14,000 of whom were enrolled in D-SNPs, according to Modern Healthcare Data & Insights. Presbyterian Health Plan also offers Medicaid, employer and individual plans in New Mexico. (Tong, 6/3)
The Hill: Conservative Think Tank Alleges Widespread ObamaCare Enrollment Fraud
An influential conservative think tank contends that a quarter of all ObamaCare exchange enrollments were improper, adding more fuel to claims from the Trump administration and GOP lawmakers that the exchanges are rife with fraud. The Paragon Health Institute’s report found more than 6 million people were improperly enrolled in the health law’s exchanges in 2026. The report also argued taxpayers will improperly subsidize the Affordable Care Act program by nearly $25 billion. (Weixel, 6/3)
Fierce Healthcare: 21% Of Adults Experienced A Coverage Denial In The Past Year
One in five adults with private insurance coverage said that they or a family member had a medical service denied in the past year, even though it was recommended by their physician. The Commonwealth Fund released its 2025 Affordability Survey and the results of focus groups on the subject, which found that 8% of coverage denials were due to denied claims, while 13% were due to prior authorization denials. One percent of the denied services fell into both categories, per the report. (Minemyer, 6/4)
NEW WORLD SCREWWORM
The New York Times: Flesh-Eating Pest Confirmed In U.S. Cattle
The New World screwworm — a fly whose larvae feed on the tissue of livestock, wildlife and pets — has been detected in a 3-week-old calf in La Pryor, Texas, the Agriculture Department confirmed on Wednesday night. It is the first case found in cattle in the United States since the insect was eradicated from the country in the 1960s. “We are taking immediate action this afternoon and evening already to deploy, to contain and to eradicate this case of the New World screwworm in South Texas,” Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, said at a news conference. If more screwworms are found beyond the single case, the infections, which can kill if left untreated, could devastate the American cattle industry. (Draper, 6/3)
EBOLA OUTBREAK
The New York Times: As Ebola Outbreak Widens, Trump Has Yet To Outline A Plan
Even as the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo appears poised to become the largest on record, Trump administration officials have not articulated a clear plan for caring for Americans at risk of the disease. Hundreds of Americans, including federal officials, aid workers and journalists, are expected to be in parts of Congo, where the disease is rampant, in the coming months. ... The United States does not have the authority to quarantine Americans elsewhere in the world, and cannot prevent them from re-entering the country. (Mandavilli, 6/3)
CIDRAP: WHO Chief Says Response Is ‘Catching Up’ To Ebola Outbreak
After visiting health officials and frontline responders in the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in recent days, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said today that, despite numerous challenges, he feels hopeful about stopping the outbreak. In a press briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanam Ghebreyesus, PhD, said there have been 344 confirmed Ebola cases and 60 confirmed deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the outbreak began, along with 15 confirmed cases and one death in neighboring Uganda. (Dall, 6/3)
Bloomberg: Ebola Burial Team Attacked As 11 Patients Flee Care In Congo
A burial team was attacked and 11 Ebola patients fled isolation facilities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, as the outbreak spread to another health zone in the country’s hardest-hit province. A team attempting to safely bury an Ebola victim was assaulted in the South Kivu town of Katana, forcing workers to abandon the coffin and allowing community members to handle the body, an incident health officials warned could spark new chains of transmission. (Gale, 6/4)
Bloomberg: Ebola Patient From Congo Traveled To UAE And Uganda: WHO
An individual with Ebola traveled to the United Arab Emirates and then to Uganda, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. The Congolese resident is one of 15 confirmed positive Ebola cases in Uganda, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing. The WHO is working with Uganda and the UAE to “gather additional information, assess the risk of exposure during travel and to facilitate contact tracing,” Tedros said. WHO said that as part of contact tracing, 16 people in the UAE and 58 in Uganda who might have been exposed are isolated for monitoring. (Furlong and Tarek, 6/3)
AP: As Ebola Surges In Congo, Women Face The Greatest Risks As Caregivers
Every day for the past week, Aline Kasiwa has fed her sick mother, helped her drink and washed her clothes, all while fearing she could catch the Ebola virus as eastern Congo is plagued by one of the fastest-spreading outbreaks of the disease on record. “She is the only family I have left. I cannot abandon her,” Kasiwa told The Associated Press, adding that she is too afraid to take her mother to the hospital where an infection could be confirmed. “These days we hear that many people are dying there, even nurses,” she said. (Kabumba and Banchereau, 6/4)
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Newsweek: VA Benefits Change Impacts Thousands Of Veterans Expecting Prosthetic Limbs
The Department of Veterans Affairs has overhauled how it purchases prosthetic limbs, a shift that immediately speeds up delivery for thousands of veterans nationwide. The change matters because prosthetic orders have long been slowed by layers of procurement rules that added weeks to wait times for veterans who rely on these devices for mobility, independence, and recovery. The new policy removes most contracting reviews, affecting the vast majority of prosthetic limb orders and setting up a steep drop in average delivery times in the months ahead. (Castro, 6/3)
NPR: Strict Medicaid Work Rules Could Harm People With Serious Illnesses, Advocates Say
Advocates for people with serious illnesses, like cancer and HIV, say the strict Medicaid work rules that the Trump administration released this week are likely to put ongoing treatments in jeopardy. States must put the work requirements into effect by January 1. That was already a tight timeline, says Adrianna McIntyre, assistant professor of health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (Simmons-Duffin, 6/3)
CNN: Trump Says He Will Nominate Todd Blanche To Be Attorney General
President Donald Trump announced at a private dinner at the White House Wednesday night he will nominate Todd Blanche to be attorney general. When Trump makes the nomination official, it will end Blanche’s two months serving in the role in an acting capacity since his predecessor, Pam Bondi, was fired. Since then, Blanche, Trump’s firebrand former personal attorney, has taken great pains to prove to the president that he is up for the job. (Holmes and Rabinowitz, 6/4)
AP: MAHA Candidate Zach Lahn Wins Republican Primary For Iowa Governor
Businessman Zach Lahn’s win in Iowa’s Republican gubernatorial primary over President Donald Trump’s pick, Rep. Randy Feenstra, delivered a rare electoral setback for Trump in a primary season that had handed him back-to-back victories. The narrow upset Tuesday revealed cracks in Trump’s coalition in the red state that helped the president mount his comeback, encouraging Democrats who are hopeful they can flip control of the governor’s office this year. It also marked a potential breakthrough moment for the Make America Healthy Again movement, which has clashed with the Trump administration over its embrace of pesticides and backed Lahn’s message in favor of regenerative farming and against large agricultural corporations. (Fingerhut and Swenson, 6/3)
Stat: Top Ultra-Processed Food Researchers Call For Sweeping Policy Change: ‘The System Is Rigged’
A special edition of the American Journal of Public Health features ultra-processed food experts who want MAHA priorities turned into government policy. (Todd, 6/3)
The Washington Post: Trump Took A Hair-Loss Drug For Years. It’s No Longer On His Medical Records.
President Donald Trump’s medical reports no longer include a common hair-loss prevention drug that his physicians said he routinely used during his first term in office. Finasteride — also known by the brand name Propecia — is used by millions of American men to prevent male-pattern hair loss. Three of Trump’s past physicians have said that he used the drug before and during his first term as president. (Diamond, 6/4)
IMMIGRATION CRISIS
AP: AP Finds Dozens Of Kids Separated Under Trump Faced Separation Again
Some of their parents have been locked in immigration detention facilities for months, others deported back to their home countries after being taken from their families once again. In some cases, immigration officials conducting interior arrests deported people despite discovering they were legally off limits for removal, according to emails obtained by AP. (Burke and Pérez D., 6/4)
The New York Times: Louisiana ICE Facility Mistreated Immigrants, Federal Investigators Say
A report by the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog described officers putting one man in a chokehold and stabbing another with a pen. (Aleaziz and Nehamas, 6/3)
The New York Times: New Jersey Gov. Sherrill Says Immigration Officials Won’t Let Her Visit Detention Center
Gov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey said Wednesday that federal immigration officials were continuing to bar her from entering a detention center in Newark, raising “serious questions about what is happening behind its walls." Ms. Sherrill noted that she had met Tuesday evening with relatives of migrants being held at the Delaney Hall detention center, which has become a focal point of protest against President Trump’s immigration crackdown. She said that the relatives had shared “heartbreaking reports of unsafe, inhumane and unconstitutional conditions” inside the 1,000-bed jail. (Tully, 6/3)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The Washington Post: Inside The Trump-Backed Push To Bring AI Doctors Into American Medicine
The administration is laying the groundwork for chatbots that can diagnose illness and prescribe medicine, but physicians say AI can introduce more problems. (Dwoskin, 6/4)
Stat: Patients Turn To AI Scribes To Keep Track Of Visits
Patients are getting used to being recorded in the doctor’s office. More than a quarter of U.S. practices now use AI-based listening tools called ambient scribes, which capture visits in real time and draft clinical notes for clinicians to enter into patients’ medical records. But what happens when it’s the patient doing the recording? (Palmer, 6/4)
ON CAPITOL HILL
MedPage Today: Senators Clash Over Youth Gender Care Bans
As the Trump administration continues to target gender-affirming care for youth, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee debated the issue in a hearing on Wednesday. Committee members heard testimony against and in support of such care, with some calling for a federal ban, and others questioning why they were even there when there are more pressing healthcare issues facing Americans and decisions about medical care are better left to families and physicians. (Henderson, 6/3)
The Washington Post: Rep. Ogles Deletes Homophobic Tweet, Blames Staff Amid Rare GOP Pushback
Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tennessee) is blaming his staff for a homophobic post made on his X account, as Republicans issue rare criticism of one of their member’s social media activity. A post on Ogles’s official X account Tuesday stated: “Homosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month.” The post was seemingly in response to the start of Pride Month, which celebrates the LGBTQ community. (Wang, 6/3)
The Hill: Queen Of Versailles Fights Opioid Crisis In D.C. With National Naloxone Awareness Day
The so-called Queen of Versailles is trading her kingdom for Capitol Hill, heading to Congress to mark a day she championed dedicated to bringing attention to naloxone, commonly known as the brand name Narcan, which can reverse opioid overdoses. “Ten years ago, no one knew what Narcan was,” Jackie Siegel told ITK in an interview. Now Siegel ... is coming to Washington for the fourth annual National Naloxone Awareness Day. (Kurtz, 6/3)
AUTISM
HealthDay: Urine Test Can Detect Autism, Study Says
A simple urine test might help identify children who are likely to have autism earlier than the best assessment tools now available, a new study says. Autistic children appear to have specific gut microbe profiles that can be used to distinguish them from neurotypical (or typically developing) children, researchers reported May 26 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. A urine test based on these profiles correctly identified 90% of autistic children and did not misidentify any children without autism, researchers found. (Thompson, 6/3)
MEN'S HEALTH
MedPage Today: FDA OKs Inflatable Penile Prosthesis For Erectile Dysfunction
The FDA approved the Titan Prime inflatable penile prosthesis for men with erectile dysfunction, Coloplast announced on Wednesday. This prosthesis is indicated for men who are considered to be candidates for implantation of a penile prosthesis, and is "designed to emulate the appearance and performance of a natural erection, supporting device performance for patients, surgeons, and partners," the company said. (Bassett, 6/3)
Stat: Male Puberty Is Understudied — But When It Starts May Predict Long-Term Health Risks
Researchers say puberty timing may predict men's risk of heart disease, diabetes, depression, and may even explain shorter male lifespans. (DeLuca, 6/4)
HEALTH INDUSTRY AND PHARMACEUTICALS
AP: Judge Shuts Out Press And Public In Luigi Mangione's State Murder Case Hearing
A hearing in Luigi Mangione ’s state murder case in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was held in secret Wednesday after the judge shut out the press and public without explanation. New York Judge Gregory Carro said he sealed the virtual proceeding at the request of the defense but provided no other details, raising questions about transparency in the closely watched case. Court hearings in the U.S. are presumptively open to the public, but judges are permitted to close them in certain circumstances, such as to protect sensitive or confidential information. (Sisak, 6/3)
Stat: HaloMD Faces Fourth Insurer Lawsuit Over No Surprises Act Disputes
A fourth major health insurer is suing HaloMD over its use of the No Surprises Act’s arbitration process, arguing that the middleman deceived arbitrators by sending them a “sham letter” and misleading price data. Highmark Health, a Pennsylvania-based Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee with over 7 million members, claims in a complaint filed June 1 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania that HaloMD and one of its clients, a neuromonitoring provider called Bromedicon, submitted more than 450 ineligible disputes with the company and won more than $3.9 million. Like the three Blue Cross plans before it, Highmark wants those awards tossed and its money returned. (Bannow, 6/3)
Modern Healthcare: Eli Lilly's 340B Claims Policy Sets Up New Fight With Hospitals
Eli Lilly’s ultimatum that it will cut off 340B drug discounts to hospitals that refuse to share claims data sets up another legal battle between drugmakers and providers. On Monday, the company told federal regulators it would withhold 340B drug savings from hospitals starting next week if they do not disclose pharmacy claims data. Eli Lilly executives have said they need the data to root out waste, such as duplicative discounts across government programs. (Kacik, 6/3)
San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco's New Kaiser Hospital Will Have Sky Lounge, Garden
Kaiser Permanente has filed proposed plans for its new hospital in San Francisco’s Anza Vista neighborhood. Upon completion in 2033, it will be Kaiser’s first new hospital in the city in more than 70 years. (Ho, 6/2)
Bloomberg: 23andMe Relaunches As Nonprofit With Goal To Reach 100 Million Users
The founder of 23andMe Research Institute wants to reach 100 million users, an ambitious goal after the seller of DNA testing kits emerged from bankruptcy as a nonprofit. 23andMe has the DNA of about 13 million users who mailed in saliva samples in exchange for data about their genetic code. In an interview with Bloomberg’s The Circuit with Emily Chang, Anne Wojcicki said it needs to expand its customer base dramatically. “To do things we want to do, particularly in an AI world, you want hundreds of millions” of users, she said. (Smith and Chang, 6/3)
The Wall Street Journal: Your Brain On Anesthesia: Could Be More Like A Coma Than You Think
One minute you’re talking, the next you’re out cold. But what’s actually going on when you are under anesthesia? We often think of anesthesia as putting us in a deep sleep. But new research suggests it could actually be closer to being in a coma than previously thought. And there’s still lots we don’t know about how these drugs work on the brain, even though thousands of patients undergo a general anesthetic every day. (Woodward, 6/3)
STATE WATCH
Bay Area News Group: Bay Area Families Sue To Block DOJ From Getting Transgender Children’s Stanford Medical Records
Parents of transgender children who received care at Stanford’s children’s hospital are asking a federal judge to stop the hospital from turning over their children’s identities and medical records to the Trump administration as part of a criminal investigation. A lawsuit filed against Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford seeks to block the hospital from complying with a U.S. Department of Justice criminal subpoena seeking the information. (Baron, 6/3)
San Francisco Chronicle: Why Google Wants To Release 32 Million Mosquitoes In California
Google is seeking permission from federal regulators to release up to 32 million sterile mosquitoes in California — a pest control technique meant to quell the spread of an invasive mosquito species that’s been expanding to many parts of the state, including the Bay Area. The Mountain View tech giant has requested a permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to initiate a project that would release up to 16 million mosquitoes in California in the first year of the project and another 16 million in the second year, according to a notice published May 6 in the Federal Register. The proposal appears to be part of Google’s “Debug Project,” a group of scientists and engineers working to eliminate disease-carrying mosquitoes, according to the company’s website. Debug did not respond to questions from the Chronicle. (Ho, 6/3)
The New York Times: Arizona, Nevada Agree To Trade For Desalinated Pacific Ocean Water
San Diego could sell some of its rights to Colorado River water to Arizona and Nevada under a deal struck Wednesday that could help parched inland states fill a widening gap between water supply and demand. (Dance, 6/3)
Cardinal News: Background Checks For Private Firearm Sales Will Stop Again, Lynchburg Judge Rules
After seven months of conducting no background checks for private firearm sales, followed by one week of checks, Virginia State Police have again halted the checks after a Lynchburg judge stepped in Wednesday. (Malinak and Beyer, 6/4)
NPR: Technology Helps Some Students With Disabilities Excel. Now It’s Leaving Schools
Ninth grader Soraya Martin is a bubbly, social teenager who recently found a new passion. "I'm a very creative writer, I love to write stories for fun," she says. Stories come naturally to Soraya, but reading and writing don't. That's because she has dyslexia. "Academically, school has always been a really big challenge for me." Then last school year, she started using technology that allows her to do a number of things: dictate her writing rather than type, listen to books rather than read them on a page and take photos of notes on the board. (Mehta, 6/4)
PUBLIC HEALTH
HealthDay: High-Puff Vapes May Grow More Toxic With Extended Use, Study Finds
E-cigarettes that offer a lot of extra puffs might become more toxic the longer they are used, a new study says. High-puff vapes can typically deliver into the thousands of inhalations before they run out, because they hold more e-liquid and are designed for extended use, researchers said. But toxic chemicals called aldehydes start building up in the e-liquid as it is repeatedly exposed to vapor-producing heat, researchers reported May 28 in the journal ACS Omega. (Thompson, 6/3)
The Boston Globe: ‘Superdodgers’: The Rare Group Still Untouched By COVID
More than six years since the pandemic, COVID-19 infections have become a near-universal experience. Most people have tested positive at least once. Many have had it multiple times. And yet, a small, persistent group insists they’ve never had it at all. Who are these so-called superdodgers, sometimes dubbed “NOVIDs”? Are they outliers of behavior, beneficiaries of luck, or do they hold clues to something deeper in human biology? Last month, The Boston Globe asked readers who believe they’ve never caught the coronavirus to share their experiences. (Rahal, 6/3)
CIDRAP: Report Warns International Travelers, Hunters Of Brucellosis Risks
Hunters and globetrotters experiencing fever, headache, or joint pain might want to get checked out for a bacterial infection called brucellosis, according to a new paper in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report by researchers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and their state partners. The zoonotic disease is caused by bacteria of the Brucella genus. The authors seek to raise awareness of brucellosis, particularly among clinicians, public health workers, and people who engage in activities that put them at higher risk of infection. (Boden, 6/3)
CIDRAP: Traveling For Cosmetic Procedures Can Lead To Complications
Traveling in United States or to another county to undergo surgery has become increasingly popular. A study published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases found that medical tourism for a cosmetic procedure increased the risk of postsurgical complications such as infections. While it’s unclear how many people travel for cosmetic surgery currently, medial tourism is expected to increase, the study noted. Many people choose to undergo procedures in different states or countries because they’re hoping for shorter waits and less-expensive procedures. (Holohan, 6/3)
