First Edition: Thursday, March 19, 2026

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Oz Says California’s Not Fighting Health Care Fraud, But Data Shows It’s Part Of A Larger Battle
For weeks, Mehmet Oz has been waging a public feud with California leaders over health care fraud, accusing the blue state of failing to adequately combat such abuse. Oz, who heads the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, alleged that there was approximately $3.5 billion of fraud in the hospice and home health care industry in Los Angeles County alone. “This administration under President [Donald] Trump is not going to tolerate taxpayer dollars being stolen because people aren’t paying attention anymore. We’re focused on this,” Oz said. (Thompson, 3/19)

KFF Health News: Lawmakers Seek To Protect Crisis Pregnancy Centers As Abortion Clinic Numbers Shrink
Conservative lawmakers in multiple states are pushing legislation drafted by an anti-abortion advocacy group to increase protections for crisis pregnancy centers, organizations that provide some health-related services but also work to dissuade women from having abortions. The legislation would prohibit state and local governments from requiring crisis pregnancy centers to perform abortions, provide referrals for abortion services, or inform patients about such services or contraception options. It also would allow crisis pregnancy centers to sue the violating government entity. (Orozco Rodriguez, 3/19)

KFF Health News: Many ACA Customers Are Paying Higher Premiums. Most Blame Trump And Republicans, Poll Finds
Most people who get their health coverage through the Affordable Care Act say they face sharply higher costs, with many worried they will have to pare back other expenses to cover them, according to a poll released Thursday. Some are uncertain whether they will be able to continue paying their premiums all year. Still, 69% of those enrolled last year signed up again this year, often for less generous coverage. About 9% said they had to forgo insurance, according to the survey by KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. (Appleby, 3/19)

KFF Health News: Watch: Affordability Plagues Health Care In Its Shift From Nonprofit To Profit Machine
On What the Health? From KFF Health News, distributed by WAMU, chief Washington correspondent and host Julie Rovner sat down with Drew Altman, president and CEO of KFF, to talk about the likelihood of a national health care debate to rein in costs. As the midterm elections approach, the cost of health care is the public’s top economic concern, Altman said. Although past reforms have significantly increased the number of people with health insurance, they have not successfully addressed affordability, he said. (Rovner, 3/19)

HEALTH CARE COSTS AND COVERAGE

Stat: Senate Democrats Lay Out Plans To Overhaul Health Insurance 
Democrats are laying out their plans to rebuild the health care system in the hopes of eventually regaining control of Congress and the White House. On Thursday, a dozen Senate Democrats proposed a framework for private health insurance with the goal of making it affordable, and more standardized and simple. (Wilkerson, 3/19)

Fierce Healthcare: To Tackle Costs, Lawmakers Weigh Curbs On Provider Consolidation
Provider consolidation was tip of the tongue Wednesday during a hearing that sat hospital and physician association leaders across from legislators. Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health often returned to the issue when seeking answers on the drivers of, and solutions for, Americans’ rising healthcare costs. (Muoio, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Cuts Put Home- And Community-Based Services At Risk
Healthcare providers say they’re worried that access to home- and community-based services could diminish under President Donald Trump’s tax law. The tax law, which cuts $960 billion from Medicaid over 10 years, and a draft Medicare Advantage regulation threaten to reverse decades of progress getting patients care outside of institutional settings, according to providers and trade associations. (Early, 3/18)

CBS News: A Typical U.S. Family Needs Annual Income Of $145,000 To Thrive, Study Finds. About Half Fall Short
Roughly half of Americans fall short of the annual income needed to cover their basic needs, according to new research. A U.S. family with children needs about $145,000 in income to be considered economically secure, according to a March 16 report from the Urban Institute. About 49% of Americans live below that financial threshold, the nonpartisan think tank found. In 2024 (the latest available data), the median household income for married couples in the U.S. was $128,700, U.S. Census data shows. (Picchi, 3/18)

PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS

The Hill: Mark Cuban Backs TrumpRx For Lowering Drug Costs
Billionaire enterpreneur Mark Cuban on Wednesday touted the federal government’s TrumpRx drug platform, saying the initiative is saving Americans money. “Everyone wants me to rip on TrumpRx,” Cuban wrote on the social platform X. “Reality is, it’s saving patients money on IVF and a few other drugs. A lot of money. IMO, anything that saves patients money is a win.” Cuban, who has criticized President Trump and endorsed former Vice President Harris in the 2024 presidential race, co-founded Cost Plus Drugs — which intends to cut out pharmaceutical middlemen and reduce the price of prescription drugs — in 2022. (Rego, 3/18)

NBC News: TrumpRx Isn't Doing Much For Drug Prices. What Would It Take To Change That?
Americans are furious about drug prices. The Trump administration’s answer? A new website. But more than a month after its launch, the site, TrumpRx.gov, remains small — offering discounts on just 54 prescription drugs. Many of those drugs already have cheaper generic versions or savings programs available elsewhere, and the discounts can’t be used with insurance or count toward a deductible. Awareness of the site remains limited. (Lovelace Jr., 3/18)

MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Stat: FDA’s Top Infectious Disease Regulator To Depart Agency 
The Food and Drug Administration official in charge of reviewing infectious disease products is leaving the agency, according to an email viewed by STAT. (Lawrence, 3/18)

NBC News: FDA Pulls Proposed Rule Barring Teens From Indoor Tanning
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday withdrew a proposed rule that would have barred all Americans under age 18 from using tanning beds. Dozens of states — including California, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas and Minnesota — as well as Washington, D.C., already ban the use of tanning beds for minors. Other states have restrictions that allow teens to use tanning beds with parental consent. (Sullivan, 3/18)

Roll Call: Defining ‘Ultraprocessed’ Could Spur Research, School Lunch Rules 
The Trump administration is nearing a key milestone in its “Make America Healthy Again” agenda: proposing a definition of ultraprocessed foods. Stricter scrutiny of nutrition and food additives has been a focal point of the MAHA movement, gaining support from food policy experts as well as lawmakers across the political spectrum. Ultraprocessed foods have been blamed for widespread obesity rates and malnutrition, as well as being contributing factors to chronic diseases, heart disease and cancers. (DeGroot and Bridges, 3/18)

Stat: National Survey Of NIH-Funded Researchers Shows Precarious State Of U.S. Science — ‘This Is Like The Titanic’
A nationwide STAT survey of federally funded researchers reveals that, a year after Donald Trump’s return to the White House, many academic scientists are reeling. Rather than waning, the impacts of the administration’s seismic changes to science funding are intensifying, causing researchers to drastically scale back the ambition of their work and driving some to shut down their labs entirely. (Wosen, 3/19)

Stat: Researchers Surveyed By STAT Detail The Scientific And Personal Toll Of Grant Cuts: ‘This Can’t Be How It Ends’
Scientists, as a whole, are a resilient and patient bunch. Expanding the frontiers of human knowledge by even an iota can take decades and comes with frequent disappointment. But for many, the uncertainty they’ve confronted over the past year, amid a dizzying array of funding cuts, delays, and other changes by the Trump administration, is unprecedented. It has caused some biomedical researchers to hit their breaking point. (Wosen and Oza, 3/19)

IMMIGRATION CRISIS

The 19th: ICE Has Been Deporting Pregnant Immigrants. DHS Just Told Us How Many.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained and deported hundreds of pregnant, postpartum and nursing immigrants since the start of the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed for the first time Wednesday. Federal policy says that such individuals should only be detained in limited circumstances. (Luthra, 3/18)

The 19th: Pregnant People In ICE Detention Report Lack Of Medical Care
Amanda Isabel Fanego Cardoso was about 11 weeks pregnant when she was detained last September, then transferred between five immigration facilities over several months. Because her medical care was so limited, she said, it was only after her release this February that she learned she had developed potentially life threatening pregnancy-related conditions. (Luthra, 3/18)

VACCINES

ProPublica: How RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Agenda Risks A Return Of Childhood Plagues 
Dr. Adam Ratner hovered over a gravely ill infant in a New York City intensive care unit on a grim day in 2022. The 3-month-old girl spiked a fever two days earlier and had become lethargic. Soon she was having seizures and struggling to breathe. She didn’t register Ratner’s towering frame or the bright hospital lights. Her eyes stared up and to the right, eerily frozen.  (Callahan, 3/19)

Stat: Vaccines' Indirect Benefits Overlooked In Battle Over 'Medical Freedom'
With a backlash against vaccines following the Covid-19 pandemic — and the rise of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — there has been an intense focus among some in the United States on the importance of individual autonomy and “medical freedom” when it comes to choosing which immunizations to get and when. (Branswell, 3/19)

COVID

AP: Study Estimates More Than 150,000 Uncounted COVID-19 Pandemic Deaths
The COVID-19 pandemic’s early death toll was much higher than the official U.S. count, according to a new study that spotlights dramatic disparities in the uncounted deaths. About 840,000 COVID-19 deaths were reported on death certificates in 2020 and 2021. But a group of researchers — using a form of artificial intelligence — estimate that as many as 155,000 unrecognized additional deaths likely occurred in that time outside of hospitals. That would mean about 16% of COVID-19 deaths went uncounted in those years. (Stobbe, 3/18)

CIDRAP: Antibiotic Used In COVID Patients Tied To Increased Signs Of Antibiotic Resistance
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 75% of hospitalized COVID patients received antibiotics on admission, primarily because of limited treatment options and concerns about bacterial coinfections. One of those antibiotics was azithromycin, a macrolide antibiotic commonly used for respiratory infections. Use of azithromycin was driven in part by a study, now retracted, that suggested it could improve outcomes in COVID patients when used in combination with the antimalaria drug hydroxychloroquine. Although subsequent trials would find the combination had no benefit for COVID patients, widespread azithromycin use continued for several months. (Dall, 3/18)

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

The New York Times: Women Who Undergo Menopause Before 40 Face Higher Heart Attack Risk
Women who go through menopause before turning 40 have a significantly higher lifelong risk of heart attacks than women who go through the transition later, according to a new study. The study found that women who went through what is referred to as premature menopause had 40 percent more fatal and nonfatal heart attacks throughout the course of their lives than those who went through menopause after 40. (Rabin, 3/18)

The Boston Globe: Mass. Abortion Rates Doubled After Supreme Court Nixed Roe V. Wade
In the years since the US Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, Massachusetts has emerged as a major national provider of abortion care, with new state data showing terminations using medication have more than doubled, and most patients receiving care are from out of state. The increase was driven largely by the rapid expansion of telehealth services in which providers can prescribe abortion pills, as well as a surge of patients traveling from states that imposed tighter restrictions following the Supreme Court decision. (Rahal, 3/18)

MEDICARE

CBS News: Medicare Freezes New Supplier Enrollment As Russian‑Linked Texas Fraud Case Unfolds
When the CBS News Texas I‑Team returned to a small North Austin office tied to an alleged multimillion‑dollar Medicare billing scheme, two workers were inside placing what appeared to be medical billing records into large black trash bags. They did not respond when asked whether someone instructed them to discard the documents. Weeks earlier, the same two employees told the I‑Team they had been hired to open mail and scan documents and were unaware of the fraud allegations or arrest of the man who ran the company. (New, 3/17)

WP Intelligence: Exclusive: Medicare’s AI Experiment Leads To Delayed Care For Some Seniors
Doctors and other providers in six states must get permission from AI-driven tech companies before giving seniors selected medical care. The experiment is a pilot program that could be expanded. (Adams, 3/17)

Stat: HHS Watchdog Details Misuse Of Antipsychotic Drugs In Nursing Homes 
A pair of federal watchdog reports released Thursday urge Medicare to do more to crack down on nursing homes’ use of antipsychotic drugs and inappropriate schizophrenia diagnoses for residents with dementia. (Bannow, 3/19)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Bloomberg: Stryker Cyberattack Delays Surgeries For Some Patients
The cyberattack against Stryker Corp. has delayed surgeries for some patients, the company said Wednesday, adding to the fallout from the incident last week. The medical technology company said its products are safe and its systems are being restored, but disruptions to ordering, manufacturing and shipping have held up procedures for patients waiting on custom implants. (Swetlitz and Thornton, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: Highmark Health, BCBS Kansas City Affiliation Approved 
Highmark Health and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City are set to finalize an affiliation agreement. The deal, which resembles an acquisition with no cash changing hands, was approved by the Missouri Commerce and Insurance Department. The affiliation is expected to close March 31, the two parties announced Tuesday. (Tong, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: Geisinger Seeks Capital Requirement Relief After Risant Merger
Geisinger is asking Pennsylvania regulators to relax capital requirements for its insurance businesses, set as part of its 2024 acquisition by Risant Health. Risk-based capital requirements are designed to ensure an organization has enough money in reserve to cover the risks it assumes. Geisinger is requesting the requirement threshold be lowered for the next 13 years, according to a filing it made on behalf of its insurance subsidiaries and Risant with the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. (Hudson, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: MedArrive Buys Inbound Health’s Patient Routing Software
Technology company MedArrive acquired some software assets of shuttered hospital-at-home company Inbound Health. MedArrive announced the purchase Wednesday but did not disclose financial terms. (Eastabrook, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: Health Insurance Bankruptcies Increased In 2025
States shut down more troubled health insurance companies in 2025 than during the prior year, but the total remained below historical trends. Georgia and Minnesota each declared Sonder Health Plans and UCare insolvent last year, according to a preliminary analysis of financial filings the credit ratings agency AM Best performed for Modern Healthcare. In 2024, Opticare Vision Services was the sole health-related insurance company subject to these measures when Utah placed it in rehabilitation, AM Best reported last week. (Tepper, 3/18)

The Baltimore Sun: Why Are Doctors Burning Out And Dying By Suicide
In her surgical care for women with reproductive cancers, Dr. Maryann Wilbur said she faced repeated demands from both insurance companies and the hospitals she worked for to compromise on providing the best care for her patients. “You start to see there are perverse incentives in both directions to withhold care — to perform care that is not needed — to perform the wrong care,” Wilbur told The Baltimore Sun. “What we have here is a reimbursement model that is based around the dollar and not on patient outcomes.” (Hille, 3/18)

PHARMACEUTICALS

The Guardian: GLP-1 Diabetes Drugs Could Stop Anxiety And Depression Worsening, Study Finds
Diabetes drugs could prevent anxiety and depression from worsening, according to research. Type 2 diabetes affects more than 800 million people globally and research shows that those with the condition are about twice as likely to have depression as the wider population. (Bawden, 3/18)

CNN: Heart Benefits Fade After Stopping GLP-1 Medications, Study Finds 
One major benefit of taking injected GLP-1 medications is a sizeable reduction in risk for heart attacks, strokes and other heart problems. However, if people stop taking the medication, those heart benefits are erased. (Goodman, 3/18)

Fox News: What Really Happens After Coming Off Ozempic And Other Weight-Loss Drugs?
With millions of people using injectable GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Wegovy or Zepbound, many may wonder what happens if they stop. Previous clinical trials suggested a discouraging "rebound" effect, where patients regained a significant portion of their lost weight almost immediately after ending treatment. (Quill, 3/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Would You Spend $1,000 A Month On Supplements?
Kristin Leite, 38, spends about an hour organizing her “stack” for the week. “In the morning, I take four powders and about five capsules,” said Leite, an esthetician who lives in Tampa, Fla. She pops around five more in the afternoon, and at night she swallows six or seven capsules. (O'Brien, 3/18)

STATE WATCH

CBS News: $900 Million Proposal Aims To End Decades-Long Healthcare Desert In Georgia
A $900 million proposal to build a new hospital in South Fulton aims to address what some call a medical desert. South Fulton doesn't have any hospitals. People who live there have to drive some 30 minutes or more to get to an emergency room. A proposal to build a hospital in Union City would make emergency room care more accessible. (Head, 3/17)

Stat: Md. Bill Would Force Pharma To Disclose Ties To Disease Awareness Campaigns
In a bid for transparency in pharmaceutical marketing, a bill introduced in the Maryland legislature would require drugmakers to disclose that they sell or are developing a medicine to combat an illness in disease awareness advertisements. (Silverman, 3/18)

The Colorado Sun: New Measles Case Reported In Weld County, Colorado’s 12th Of The Year 
Colorado on Wednesday reported its 12th measles case of the year, in a Weld County adult who was hospitalized but has since been released. (Ingold, 3/18)

Chicago Tribune: Chicago Public Health Officials Report High RSV Activity
The respiratory illness RSV is still going strong in Chicago — an unusually late showing for the virus, which can strike infants especially hard. RSV activity has moved from moderate to high in Chicago, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. Though it’s typical for RSV to spread more widely in the winter — along with illnesses like the flu and COVID-19 — it’s often more prevalent earlier in the season. (Schencker, 3/18)

PUBLIC HEALTH

CIDRAP: Six In 10 US Foodborne Illnesses In 2024 Linked To Contaminated Produce, Annual Report Reveals
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Coordinated Outbreak Response, Evaluation, & Emergency Preparedness (CORE+EP) has released its annual report on 2024 foodborne illness investigations, showing that vegetables and fruits were responsible for 60% of illnesses, trailed by multi-ingredient foods (20%), dairy products (10%), and nuts and seeds and eggs (5% each). The multi-ingredient foods were frozen shakes, shrimp salad, bagged salad mix, chocolates, gummies, and cones, while the nuts were walnuts, and the cheese consisted of raw cheddar, queso fresco, and cotija. The produce included mangoes, romaine lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, carrots, onions, sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, basil, and parsley. (Van Beusekom, 3/18)

CIDRAP: CDC Says Investigation Into Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Moringa Leaf Powder Is Over
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ended its investigation into a Salmonella outbreak tied to moringa leaf powder. A total of 97 cases have been recorded, with 32 new cases since the CDC’s previous update on January 29. Illness onsets ranged from August 22, 2025, to February 27, 2026. The outbreak resulted in 26 hospitalizations but no deaths and was the first of two Salmonella outbreaks related to contaminated moringa powder in the past six months. The CDC said the two outbreaks are unrelated. (Soucheray, 3/18)

MENTAL HEALTH

The Hill: College Students Face Ongoing Mental Health Struggles
Depression and suicidal ideation are stubbornly high among college students despite increased efforts by universities to combat the long-growing problem. While nearly all four-year institutions and the vast majority of community colleges offer mental health services, it hasn’t been enough to combat the academic stress, increased screen and social media time, rising isolation and other factors experts say can contribute to the difficulties students face. (Lonas Cochran, 3/18)

MedPage Today: Psilocybin Failed To Live Up To Hype For Treatment-Resistant Depression
Psilocybin plus psychotherapy showed limited efficacy for easing depressive symptoms in individuals with treatment-resistant depression, the phase IIb EPISODE randomized clinical trial found. (Monaco, 3/18)

The Conversation: Magic Mushroom‑Infused Products Are Being Sold in Gas Stations — What Public Health Officials Want Consumers To Know
Psilocybin-infused products are appearing in Colorado gas stations. Here’s what public health officials say about safety, legality, and risks. (Kroll, 3/177)