First Edition: Thursday, June 5, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Trump Decried Crime In America, Then Gutted Funding For Gun Violence Prevention
Violent crime was already trending down from a covid-era spike when President Donald Trump presented a picture of unbridled crime in America on the campaign trail in 2024. Now his administration has eliminated about $500 million in grants to organizations that buttress public safety, including many working to prevent gun violence. In Oakland, California, a hospital-based program to prevent retaliatory gun violence lost a $2 million grant just as the traditionally turbulent summer months approach. Another $2 million award was pulled from a Detroit program that offers social services and job skills to young people in violent neighborhoods. And in St. Louis, a clinic treating the physical and emotional injuries of gunshot victims also lost a $2 million award. (Sable-Smith, 6/5)

ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

AP: Canadian Wildfire Smoke Makes Air Quality Worse In Eastern US
Smoke from Canadian wildfires worsened air quality in the eastern U.S. on Wednesday as several Midwestern states battled conditions deemed unhealthy by the federal government. The fires have forced thousands of Canadians to flee their homes and sent smoke as far as Europe. In the U.S., smoke lingered on the skylines of cities from Kansas City to Minneapolis, and a swath of the region had unhealthy air quality Wednesday, according to an Environmental Protection Agency map. (Whittle and Karnowski, 6/4)

Bloomberg: A 2,000 Mile Saharan Dust Cloud Approaches Texas And Florida
A swirling gray haze forced Claribel Ramirez to shut her house to block out the fine grit that settled on every flat surface in Puerto Rico. The culprit? A 2,000-mile dust plume blown off Africa’s Saharan Desert and sent across the Atlantic where it will reach Florida and possibly even Texas later this week. There, it will turn the sky a dull gray during the day and possibly provide some dazzling sunsets. And if the winds mix it down to the surface, the grit will make people sneeze, wheeze and plead for relief from the allergens and grime. (Sullivan and Wyss, 6/4)

Bloomberg: How Heat Waves Spread Disease
When researchers mimicked heat waves in the lab to see how climate change might affect the spread of disease, they found that dialing up the temperature had the potential to lead to two very different outcomes: A spike in the population of disease-spreading parasites or a collapse in their numbers. ... The new research, which was published in PLOS Climate on Wednesday, suggests that factors like how long heat waves last and how hot they get can determine whether a community is hit by a disease breakout or spared. (Court, 6/4)

FUNDING AND RESEARCH CUTS

The New York Times: Here Are The Nearly 2,500 Medical Research Grants Canceled Or Delayed By Trump
In his first months in office, President Trump has slashed funding for medical research, threatening a longstanding alliance between the federal government and universities that helped make the United States the world leader in medical science. Some changes have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye, a New York Times analysis found. (Hwang, Huang, Anthes, Migliozzi and Mueller, 6/4)

The New York Times: Trump Budget Eliminates Funding For Crucial Global Vaccination Programs
The Trump administration’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year eliminates funding for programs that provide lifesaving vaccines around the world, including immunizations for polio. The budget proposal, submitted to Congress last week, proposes to eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s global health unit, effectively shutting down its $230 million immunization program: $180 million for polio eradication and the rest for measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases. (Mandavilli, 6/4)

Politico: A Plan To Preserve U.S. Science Leadership
National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt made a plea to the nation’s science research community during her second annual State of the Science address in Washington on Tuesday: Course-correct or lose to China. We’re in the midst of a “radical new experiment,” McNutt explained, in which the U.S., by pursuing budget cuts, canceling grants and adopting restrictive research policies, serves as the treatment group, while China is the control. (Schumaker, 6/4)

The Hill: WH Budget Chief Pressed On PEPFAR Funds, Says Africa ‘Needs To Absorb More Of The Burden’
Office and Management Budget Director Russell Vought on Wednesday was pressed on proposed cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) pursued as part of a new rescissions request from the Trump administration. During a budget hearing Wednesday, Vought defended proposed reductions as targeting items like “teaching young children how to make environmentally friendly reproductive health decisions” and efforts he claimed were aimed at strengthening “the resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer global movements.” (Folley and Weixel, 6/4)

MEDICAID AND THE GOP 'MEGABILL'

Modern Healthcare: Tax Bill To Cost $1T In Medicaid, Other Healthcare Cuts: CBO
The Republican tax-and-spending-cuts legislation speeding through Congress would take more than $1 trillion out of the healthcare system over a decade, according to an analysis the Congressional Budget Office published Wednesday. ... In healthcare, Medicaid would be subject to the lion's share of the cuts and see its federal budget diminish by $864 billion. The work requirement provisions alone would reduce spending by $344 billion. (McAuliff, 6/4)

Bloomberg: Trump Obscures Medicaid Cuts In Bid To Pass Massive Tax Bill
Donald Trump publicly resisted Medicaid cuts — until his budget director, Russell Vought, convinced the president that reductions to health coverage for low-income people, embedded in the Republican tax bill, were just weeding out fraud and abuse. Trump has readily adopted that rhetoric, repeatedly declaring that his signature bill contains “no cuts” to the social safety program, even as the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates at least 7.6 million people would become uninsured if the bill takes effect. (Cook, 6/4)

The Hill: Schumer Renames Trump Megabill The ‘Well, We’re All Going To Die Act’
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) gave a new name to the “big, beautiful bill” on Wednesday, calling it the “Well, We’re All Going to Die Act.” Schumer appeared at a press conference alongside Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and stood next to a sign that read “Well, We’re All Going to Die Act,” a reference to previous comments from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa.) (Suter, 6/4)

Fierce Healthcare: Medicaid Work Requirements Revives Call To Update Texting Ban
Stricter Medicaid eligibility checks look destined to be included in President Donald Trump-backed reconciliation legislation charging through Congress, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill. New work requirements are likely to make it more difficult for current Medicaid enrollees to keep their insurance coverage, leading to a push aimed at exempting managed care plans from a 1991 law restricting their ability to text members. (Tong, 6/4)

Fierce Healthcare: State Exchange Directors Urge Senators To Extend ACA Tax Credits
Leaders at state-based insurance exchanges are expressing concern about the impact that the Republicans' "Big Beautiful Bill" could have on people enrolled in Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans. In a letter (PDF) sent to key Senate healthcare leaders on both sides of the aisle, the directors warn that proposals in the bill would drive up costs for the privately insured, and the end of the premium tax credits would likely push more than 4 million people off of their coverage. (Minemyer, 6/4)

CAPITOL WATCH

Politico: Trump Launches Investigation Into Whether Biden Aides Concealed Alleged Decline
President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into whether aides to former President Joe Biden concealed alleged declines in his mental acuity, including by the use of an automatic pen to sign Biden’s name on official documents. Trump said in a statement Wednesday that the investigation will look into whether Biden’s aides attempted to “deceive the public” by hiding “serious cognitive decline” from the American people. (Bianco and Cheney, 6/4)

The Hill: Biden Calls Claims He Wasn’t Making Decisions In White House ‘Ridiculous And False’
Former President Biden on Wednesday rebuked claims from President Trump and other Republicans that he was not the one making decisions at the end of his time in the White House after Trump ordered an investigation into the matter. “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false,” Biden said in a statement. (Samuels, 6/4)

Modern Healthcare: What Is HHS' Administration For A Healthy America?
The Health and Human Services Department is about to have a brand-new agency for the first time in nearly a quarter century as Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. kickstarts his "Make America Healthy Again" agenda. The Administration for a Healthy America, proposed in the department's fiscal 2026 budget request, would centralize activities that other HHS agencies and offices currently oversee that touch on areas such as primary care, HIV/AIDS, mental health, maternal and child health, environmental health, rural health, and the healthcare workforce. (Early, 6/4)

Stat: Experts Examine Repercussions Of Kennedy's Covid Vaccine Policy
Delivering Covid vaccinations has never been an easy job. But health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rewriting of government recommendations will make the effort to get vaccine doses into arms exponentially more difficult, experts say. The changes will complicate discussions between pediatricians and parents, obstetricians and pregnant patients, and both groups and their insurers, these experts say. They will also likely result in Covid shots being harder to access, with fewer doctors choosing to stock them and fewer pharmacies willing to administer them, for both economic and liability reasons, the experts said. (Branswell, 6/5)

NPR: Health Care Mess At Commerce Prompts Questions From House Democrat
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is demanding answers from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about why employees fired from his department were denied health care coverage they had already paid for. "I urge you to take immediate action to remedy the financial and physical injury done to employees who had their health coverage illegally cancelled," wrote Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, acting ranking member of the committee, in a letter to Lutnick. "I also request information about how you are ensuring that such abuse of employees never occurs again." (Hsu, 6/4)

MedPage Today: HELP Committee Supports Reauthorizing FDA Program To Streamline Review Of OTC Drugs
Lawmakers expressed bipartisan support for reauthorizing an FDA program that helps streamline the process for bringing nonprescription drugs to market during a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Wednesday. Democrats, however, questioned whether the recent workforce reduction at the agency could hamper the program's implementation, while HELP Committee Chair Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.), criticized the agency for failing to move more drugs from prescription to over-the-counter (OTC) status. (Firth, 6/4)

NPR: Medicare Seeks Lower Prices For Drugs, Including Ozempic
As President Trump touts his own executive orders to lower drug prices, the Medicare drug price negotiations begun during the Biden administration are continuing behind the scenes. Two companies – Novo Nordisk and Amgen – confirmed to NPR that they had received opening price offers from the government, kicking off bargaining that could last through October. The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment on the status of negotiations. (Lupkin, 6/4)

Military.Com: Budget For Veterans To See Private Doctors Would See Big Boost In GOP's VA Funding Proposal
The program that allows veterans to see private doctors using Department of Veterans Affairs funding would get a 50% boost under a spending plan released by House Republicans on Wednesday. Overall, the House Appropriations Committee's fiscal 2026 VA spending bill would give the department about $453 billion -- a whopping $83 billion more than Congress approved for the department for this year. (Kheel, 6/4)

PUBLIC HEALTH

CBS News: Ground Beef With Possible E. Coli Distributed Nationwide, Including To Whole Foods, USDA Says
Ground beef that was distributed nationwide may be contaminated with E. coli, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service. In a public health alert issued Wednesday, the agency said the one-pound, vacuum-packed packages of "ORGANIC RANCHER ORGANIC GROUND BEEF 85% LEAN 15% FAT" were produced on May 22 and 23 this year. The packaging is labeled with "Use or Freeze By 06-19-25" and "Use or Freeze By 06-20-25" and has "EST. 4027" inside the USDA mark of inspection. (Moniuszko, 6/4)

CIDRAP: US Valley Fever Cases May Be 18 Times Higher Than Reported
Data models estimate that the number of coccidioidomycosis (valley fever) cases reported through US surveillance in 2019 was 10 to 18 times higher, with 18,000 to 28,000 related hospitalizations and 700 to 1,100 deaths, suggesting that the burden of the fungal lung infection is substantially higher than thought. The findings come from a study led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 6/4)

CNN: Measles: Wastewater Is Now Helping Track Spread Around The US
As measles cases rise to precipitously high levels in the US this year, there’s a new tool to help track the spread: wastewater. Wastewater surveillance rose to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic, as testing sewage for virus particles helped provide early warning signs of increased transmission and fill the gaps as case reporting scaled back. (McPhillips, 6/4)

CIDRAP: More Measles Cases Tied To Domestic Air Travel In US
Yesterday an unvaccinated adult in Bell County, Texas, located in the central part of the state, became the county's first measles case. The route of exposure is unknown, and county health officials said they are investigating any potential community exposures, including identifying whether the person recently traveled internationally or domestically. (Soucheray, 6/4)

MedPage Today: Is It Really Time To Say Goodbye To Benadryl?
A paper that calls for saying a "final goodbye" to diphenhydramine -- best known as Benadryl -- has physicians talking on social media. Published in the World Allergy Organization Journal, the paper gives several reasons why it's time to move on from Benadryl, including the "presence of effective and safer second-generation antihistamines, frequent and sometimes severe adverse reactions to first-generation agents, [and] its demonstrated abuse potential." (Henderson, 6/4)

SCIENCE AND INNOVATIONS

CIDRAP: Maternal Obesity Linked To Increase In Childhood Infections
A new long-term study published in BMJ Medicine suggests that children born to very obese mothers (those with a body mass index [BMI] of 35 or higher) are at increased risk of being admitted to a hospital for infection in their first five years of life. The study comes from data collected as part of the Born in Bradford study, a UK analysis that assessed short- and long-term mother and child health outcomes. (Soucheray, 6/4)

The Wall Street Journal: DNA Analysis Startup Nucleus Genomics Aims To Rank Embryos Based On Potential Longevity
Prospective parents using IVF will soon be able to rank embryos using genetic and other information in the hopes of extending the longevity of their offspring, according to the 25-year-old entrepreneur behind Nucleus Genomics, a DNA testing and analysis company. “Lifespan has dramatically increased in the last 150 years,” said Kian Sadeghi, the company’s founder and chief executive. “DNA testing to predict and reduce chronic disease can make it happen again.” (Dockser Marcus, 6/4)

The Guardian: Breakthrough In Search For HIV Cure Leaves Researchers ‘Overwhelmed’
A cure for HIV could be a step closer after researchers found a new way to force the virus out of hiding inside human cells. The virus’s ability to conceal itself inside certain white blood cells has been one of the main challenges for scientists looking for a cure. It means there is a reservoir of the HIV in the body, capable of reactivation, that neither the immune system nor drugs can tackle. (Lay, 6/5)

Bloomberg: ADHD: King’s College London Researchers Find No Meaningful Increase
ADHD may seem like it’s everywhere at the moment, but researchers found its prevalence hasn’t changed much in recent years. A review by King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience found that the proportion of people with a medical diagnosis for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder didn’t increase meaningfully between 2020 and 2024. The findings published Thursday are based on four studies only, due to the poor quality of most of the others reviewed by the researchers. (Wind, 6/5)

The Washington Post: Are Cold Plunges Good For You? Here’s What The Science Says
Ice baths and cold plunges — interchangeable terms for soaking in near-freezing water — have grown wildly popular in recent years, thanks to podcasters, social media influencers, professional athletes and others touting their uses for exercise recovery and personal wellness. ... That question was at the heart of a new study of frigid water and resistance training. The study’s authors found that plunging your limbs into icy water after lifting weights slows blood flow to muscles, hampering their ability to recover and grow, potentially reducing the benefits of the workout. (Reynolds, 6/4)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Modern Healthcare: High Health Plan Costs Push Employers To Demand More From Vendors
As healthcare costs climb, employers are no longer settling for big promises from benefits partners. Employers are navigating a roughly 8% increase in healthcare spending this year with some employees feeling the effects through higher premiums, narrower provider networks and changes to the physical and well-being programs made available to them. (Berryman, 6/4)

Modern Healthcare: DispatchHealth Acquires Medically Home
DispatchHealth said Wednesday it has completed the acquisition of hospital-at-home technology company Medically Home. The companies wrapped up the acquisition in late May, according to DispatchHealth. The Denver-based company said in a news release Medically Home CEO Graham Barnes will not have a role at DispatchHealth, though other former Medically Home executives will assume new positions. (Eastabrook, 6/4)

Modern Healthcare: Aveanna Healthcare Acquires Thrive Skilled Pediatric Care
Aveanna Healthcare has completed its $75 million acquisition of Thrive Skilled Pediatric Care. Wakefield, Massachusetts-based Thrive offers pediatric home care, including private duty nursing and pediatric physical, occupational and speech therapy, in 23 locations across seven mostly southern states. The acquisition expands Atlanta-based Aveanna’s footprint in Texas, Virginia and North Carolina and extends it to two new states, Kansas and New Mexico. (Eastabrook, 6/4)

Modern Healthcare: Outpatient, Sustainability, AI: 5 Trends In Hospital Construction
Despite tight budgets and other operational challenges, health systems are increasingly investing in replacement hospitals and sustainability, while maintaining a strong focus on outpatient facilities in construction and design projects. More than 53% of the construction and design firms that responded to Modern Healthcare's 2025 Construction and Design Survey said the industry is growing, even as it faces financial headwinds such as funding limitations, inflation and recent tariffs. (DeSilva, 6/4)

Modern Healthcare: HaloMD Denies Allegations In Elevance Health Lawsuit
HaloMD, a billing dispute consulting company, is denying allegations leveled against it in a lawsuit filed by a subsidiary of insurer Elevance Health. Blue Cross Blue Shield Healthcare Plan of Georgia, which operates under Elevance Health's Anthem brand, filed the suit late last month in federal court in Georgia, alleging HaloMD and its out-of-network clients inappropriately won higher reimbursements through the No Surprises Act's independent dispute resolution system. In a news release Wednesday, HaloMD said it plans to fight the suit to the "full extent of the law." (DeSilva, 6/4)

Becker's Hospital Review: 'Unquestionably Defamatory': UnitedHealth Sues The Guardian After Nursing Home Report
UnitedHealth Group is suing The Guardian for defamation following the publication of an investigative report from the media outlet that accuses the company of engaging in harmful and fraudulent cost-cutting tactics in nearly 2,000 nursing homes. The lawsuit, which a UnitedHealth spokesperson said was filed June 4 in a Delaware state court, centers around a May 21 article with the headline “Revealed: UnitedHealth secretly paid nursing homes to reduce hospital transfers.” (Emerson, 6/4)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth's FAQs On Medicare Advantage, Optum, Leadership
Battered by Wall Street, UnitedHealth Group prepared a set of talking points for executives to cite during a meeting with shareholders Monday that offers insights into how the conglomerate is responding to a sudden crisis. Stat first reported on the "Frequently Asked Questions" list after UnitedHealth Group inadvertently sent a draft to the news outlet. The company later published a revised version of the 16-page document on its public website Wednesday. (Tepper, 6/4)

STATE WATCH

AP: Texas Hospital That Discharged Woman With Doomed Pregnancy Violated The Law, A Federal Inquiry Finds
A Texas hospital that repeatedly sent a woman who was bleeding and in pain home without ending her nonviable, life-threatening pregnancy violated the law, according to a newly released federal investigation. The government’s findings, which have not been previously reported, were a small victory for 36-year-old Kyleigh Thurman, who ultimately lost part of her reproductive system after being discharged without any help from her hometown emergency room for her dangerous ectopic pregnancy. (Seitz, 6/4)

AP: A Man Is Arrested Over Links To The Palm Springs Fertility Clinic Bombing
Federal authorities arrested a man they say collaborated with the bomber of a fertility clinic in May, alleging that he supplied chemicals used to make explosives and traveled to California to experiment with them in the bomber’s garage months before the attack. The two men connected in fringe online forums over their shared beliefs against human procreation, authorities told reporters Wednesday. The blast gutted the fertility clinic in Palm Springs and shattered the windows of nearby buildings, with officials calling the attack terrorism and possibly the largest bomb scene ever in Southern California. (Ding, Rodriguez and Offenhartz, 6/5)

North Carolina Health News: Healthy Opportunities Advocates Press Lawmakers To Fund Program
In 2022, Christina Schnabel was a single mom in Hendersonville barely making ends meet. She lived in public housing and made do with help from services like Medicaid and SNAP. Her son suffered from chronic gastrointestinal symptoms. That changed after she started volunteering with a local nonprofit called Caja Solidaria. The organization was one of the community partners in the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, a Medicaid program that tackled nonmedical health needs of low-income North Carolinians. (Vitaglione and Baxley, 6/5)

CBS News: New Penn Med Center In Philadelphia Aims To Help People With Williams Syndrome, Develop Better Treatments
A new specialty center opened Tuesday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. It's one of the first in the country to help children and adults with Williams syndrome, a rare condition that makes them extra friendly. "This center is going to be life-changing for families," said Jocelyn Krebs, director of the Armellino Center of Excellence for Williams Syndrome. (Stahl and Nau, 6/4)