First Edition: Thursday, March 27, 2025

KFF Health News: With Few Dentists And Fluoride Under Siege, Rural America Risks New Surge Of Tooth Decay 
In the wooded highlands of northern Arkansas, where small towns have few dentists, water officials who serve more than 20,000 people have for more than a decade openly defied state law by refusing to add fluoride to the drinking water. For its refusal, the Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority has received hundreds of state fines amounting to about $130,000, which are stuffed in a cardboard box and left unpaid, said Andy Anderson, who is opposed to fluoridation and has led the water system for nearly two decades. (Kelman, 3/27)

KFF Health News: Trump Turns Homelessness Response Away From Housing, Toward Forced Treatment 
President Donald Trump is vowing a new approach to getting homeless people off the streets by forcibly moving those living outside into large camps while mandating mental health and addiction treatment — an aggressive departure from the nation’s leading homelessness policy, which for decades has prioritized housing as the most effective way to combat the crisis. “Our once-great cities have become unlivable, unsanitary nightmares,” Trump said in a presidential campaign video. “For those who are severely mentally ill and deeply disturbed, we will bring them to mental institutions, where they belong, with the goal of reintegrating them back into society once they are well enough to manage.” Now that he’s in office, the assault on “Housing First” has begun. (Hart, 3/27)

The Washington Post: Social Security Backs Off Plan To Cut Phone Services For Disabled People 
The Social Security Administration on Wednesday abruptly backed off planned cuts to phone services for disabled and some elderly Americans applying for benefits amid an uproar from advocates. The originally proposed changes — scheduled to take effect Monday but now delayed to April 14 — would have directed all people filing claims to first verify their identity online or in person, removing a phone option in place for years. Advocates said the shift would make it impossible for many disabled and elderly people with limited mobility or computer skills to apply. (Rein and Natanson, 3/26)

AP: Supreme Court Seems Likely To OK $8 Billion Phone And Internet Subsidy For Rural, Low-Income Areas 
The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed likely to preserve the $8 billion a year the government spends to subsidize phone and internet services in schools, libraries and rural areas. The justices heard nearly three hours of arguments in a new test of federal regulatory power, reviewing an appellate ruling that struck down as unconstitutional the Universal Service Fund, the tax that has been added to phone bills for nearly 30 years. (Sherman, 3/26)

Stat: Tara Schwetz, Who Oversaw Creation Of ARPA-H, Placed On Leave By NIH 
The National Institutes of Health on Wednesday placed deputy director Tara Schwetz on administrative leave, according to a source familiar with the decision, marking the third time a senior leader has departed the agency since the Trump administration took power roughly nine weeks ago. (Facher, 3/26)

Politico: Judge Signals He May Narrow Scope Of Order Requiring Reinstatement Of Probationary Workers 
A federal judge indicated Wednesday that he may narrow an earlier ruling that required the Trump administration to rehire nearly 25,000 probationary workers. U.S. District Judge James Bredar entered a sweeping order two weeks ago reversing the administration’s mass terminations at 18 major federal agencies, including most Cabinet departments. That order applied nationwide, but Bredar said at a court hearing Wednesday that he may replace it with a more limited injunction that applies only in 19 states and the District of Columbia — the jurisdictions that sued over the firings. (Gerstein, 3/26)

MedPage Today: Alzheimer's Research Caught In Trump Funding Delays 
Research and patient care may quickly stop at 14 of the country's Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) due to lack of funds. Funding has effectively been halted at 14 of the nation's 35 ADRC after the Trump administration repeatedly canceled NIH advisory council meetings, the final step required in the ADRC grant approval process. "The 14 ADRCs remain in limbo," Alzheimer's researcher Ann Cohen, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh, told MedPage Today. (George, 3/26)

The Washington Post: Trump Cuts To USAID Halt Funding For Global Vaccinations
The United States is planning to terminate more than $1 billion in funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, an international organization that offers lifesaving vaccinations for millions of people each year in some of the world’s poorest countries, according to information in a document the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) sent to Congress this week. The surprise cuts to Gavi “would have a disastrous impact on global health security, potentially resulting in the deaths of more than 1 million children over five years and endangering lives everywhere from dangerous disease outbreaks,” said Sania Nishtar, a Pakistani doctor and chief executive of the organization. (Taylor and Martinez, 3/26)

Stat: On NIH Director’s First Day, The Agency Tackles One Of His Priorities — Ending ‘Censorship’ In Science
In October, Jay Bhattacharya, then a health economist at Stanford University, posted on X: “If you favor government control of misinformation, you are an enemy of free speech.” On Wednesday, on his first morning serving as director of the National Institutes of Health, the agency directed staff to compile a list of grants and contracts related to “fighting misinformation or disinformation” — a step that in recent weeks has preceded the termination of research funding in areas that run counter to the Trump administration’s priorities. (Oza, 3/26)

Politico: RFK Jr.'s Food Stamp Plan Fuels Tension With USDA
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign to swiftly bar the use of food stamps to buy soda is fueling tensions between his team and the Agriculture Department, according to four people inside and outside government familiar with the dynamics. The Health and Human Services secretary wants the Trump administration to approve state petitions banning soda from the program for the first time. But he doesn’t control the massive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is managed by the USDA. (Cancryn and Brown, 3/27)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Prosecutors Probe Tip About Timing Of Pfizer Vaccine
Soon after President Trump won the presidential election in November, British drugmaker GSK brought an unusual claim to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, according to people familiar with the matter. A senior GSK scientist, who formerly worked at rival Pfizer, had told GSK colleagues that Pfizer delayed announcing the success of its Covid vaccine in 2020 until after that year’s election. (Dawsey, Zuckerman and Hopkins, 3/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Taxpayers Spent Billions Covering The Same Medicaid Patients Twice
Health insurers got double-paid by the Medicaid system for the coverage of hundreds of thousands of patients across the country, costing taxpayers billions of dollars in extra payments. The insurers, which are paid by state and federal governments to cover low-income Medicaid recipients, collected at least $4.3 billion over three years for patients who were enrolled—and paid for—in other states, a Wall Street Journal analysis of Medicaid data found. (Weaver, Mathews and McGinty, 3/26)

Stat: Medicaid Cuts Complicate House GOP Budget And Tax Plans 
The House’s plan to cut government spending, including on Medicaid, to help pay for the extension of tax cuts is already hitting snags. The House budget resolution, which sets broad plans for GOP efforts to cut taxes, directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut government spending by $880 billion over a decade. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said hitting that target would require significant cuts to Medicaid. (Wilkerson, 3/26)

NBC News: Hidden Heart-Shaped Notes Were Found In Luigi Mangione's Socks, Prosecutors Say
Lawyers for the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City gave him clothes for a hearing last month that included a hidden heart-shaped note touting his public support, prosecutors said Tuesday. The note was found in a pair of argyle socks given to Luigi Mangione for his appearance in a Manhattan courtroom on Feb. 21 on state murder and terrorism charges, according to a letter from the Manhattan district attorney’s office. “Know there are thousands of people wishing you luck,” the note said, according to the letter, which was addressed to the judge overseeing the case. (Stelloh and Reiss, 3/26)

Stat: CalPERs Claims UnitedHealth Cheated Investors By Hiding Upcoding Scheme
The country’s largest public pension fund claims in an amended lawsuit that UnitedHealth Group’s leaders have hid the company’s illegal behavior for years — even as damning media reports and government investigations emerged as recently as last month — so they could continue to make millions from selling stock. (Bannow, 3/26)

AP: Kansas Measles Cases Double To 23 And New Ohio Outbreak Sickens 10 
A measles outbreak in Kansas doubled in less than a week to 23 cases and has “a possible link” to outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico that have sickened more than 370, the state health department said Wednesday. And health officials in Ohio say a single case identified in Ashtabula County has spread to nine others. Even before these two growing clusters were reported, the number of measles cases in the U.S. had already surpassed the case count for all of 2024, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Shastri, 3/26)

NBC News: Measles Vaccination Rates May Be Lower Than Thought, Risking U.S.’ 'Elimination Status'
Measles vaccination rates for young children may be far lower than publicly reported, a troubling development that could mean the United States is closer than expected to losing its “elimination status” for the extremely contagious disease. “We are experiencing an extremely concerning decline in measles vaccination in the very group most vulnerable to the disease,” said Benjamin Rader, a computational epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the author of a recent study that looked at children’s vaccination rates.  (Sudhakar, 3/27)

The Texas Tribune: Federal Pandemic Funding Cut To Affect Lubbock Measles Outbreak
The Lubbock public health director said Wednesday local efforts to fight a measles outbreak will be affected by the federal government’s announcement that it’s pulling $11 billion in COVID-era funding for public health departments. (Langford, 3/26)

Stat: Soleno Therapeutics' 'Life-Changing' Rare-Disease Drug Approved 
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the first medicine to treat people with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disease that causes an insatiable desire to eat. The drug, a once-daily pill called Vykat XR, was developed by Soleno Therapeutics. (Feuerstein, 3/26)

AP: Chinese Researchers Report A Pig Kidney Transplant And A First-Step Liver Experiment 
Chinese researchers are reporting new steps in the quest for animal-to-human organ transplants – with a successful pig kidney transplant and a hint Wednesday that pig livers might eventually be useful, too. A Chinese patient is the third person in world known to be living with a gene-edited pig kidney. And the same research team also reported an experiment implanting a pig liver into a brain-dead person. (Neergaard, 3/26)

Stat: Lyme Disease Researchers Eye 'Tick Cement' In MRNA Vaccine Study
Ticks, once latched onto a fleshy target with their barbed, needle-like mouths, are ready for almost anything. They glue themselves to the skin using a complex, cement-like substance. And then, like a “little pharmacological company,” they dole out proteins to keep the blood flowing, make it relatively painless, and hamper any immune response that might reveal their parasitic presence, Yale University researcher Erol Fikrig says. (Cueto, 3/26)

Modern Healthcare: FBI Finds No Credible Terror Threat To Hospitals: AHA
The American Hospital Association on Wednesday said the FBI found no specific, credible threats after investigating a potential terror risk to hospitals in several cities. The FBI said if it received any further, credible information on the possible threat it would immediately contact potential targeted hospitals and make a broader announcement through the AHA and Health-ISAC if necessary, according to a news release. (DeSilva, 3/26)  

Modern Healthcare: Penn Medicine Cuts 300 Jobs
The University of Pennsylvania Health System said Tuesday it is cutting about 300 positions. The cuts equate to less than 1% of the system's total workforce. More than 100 of the affected positions were either vacant or held by employees looking to retire in the coming months, a spokesperson said. (Hudson, 3/26)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Mercy Liable For Child's Brain Damage After Botched Delivery
A St. Louis County jury has awarded $48.1 million to the family of a child who suffered brain damage after his parents claimed Mercy Hospital botched his delivery. Staff at Mercy Hospital St. Louis, in Creve Coeur, allowed Sarah Anyan to keep pushing for 12 hours during labor despite warning signs that her baby was in distress. Anyan’s baby was in the wrong position and monitors displayed warning signs about his vitals, her lawyers said. (Kull, 3/26)

Modern Healthcare: Mental Health Startup Two Chairs To Expand Into 19 States
Two Chairs, a mental health startup, is planning to expand its services into 19 states, the company said Wednesday. Two Chairs founder and CEO Alex Katz said the company will be immediately launching in multiple states including Texas, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Illinois. The company, which offers both virtual and in-person therapy, will be live in all of the new states by the end of June, he said. (Turner, 3/26)

AP: A Bill Proposing A Near-Total Abortion Ban Causes An Uproar At Georgia's Capitol 
A crowd of protesters on each side of the abortion debate flooded a windowless Georgia Capitol hallway Wednesday with chants and signs as lawmakers held a hearing on a bill that would ban the procedure in almost all cases. Although the bill will not go anywhere this year because a deadline has passed for consideration by both chambers, the hearing granted by the House’s Republican leadership gave anti-abortion activists a chance to speak out on an issue near and dear to their constituents. The bill would make most abortions a crime from the point of fertilization, at which point one would be considered a person, and classify the procedure as a homicide. (Kramon, 3/26)

ProPublica: Texas GOP Lawmakers Propose Amending Abortion Ban
Texas Republicans have proposed changes to the state’s strict abortion ban they say would make clear that doctors can terminate pregnancies for serious medical risks without having to wait until a patient’s condition becomes life-threatening. The legislation comes in response to a ProPublica investigation last fall that revealed how three Texas women died after they did not receive critical procedures during miscarriages. (Surana and Jaramillo, 3/27)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Family Planning Program For Low-Income Granite Staters Could Be On The Budget Chopping Block
A House budget panel is recommending that lawmakers eliminate funding for a family planning program for low-income Granite Staters. That funding allows certain health centers to provide contraception, STI testing and other reproductive and sexual health care at no cost. (Cuno-Booth, 3/26)

NBC News: A 66-Year-Old Woman Gives Birth To 10th Child, And She Says She Conceived Without IVF
A 66-year-old woman in Germany gave birth to her 10th child on March 19. Alexandra Hildebrandt, the mother, tells TODAY.com that she did not use fertility drugs, and had no difficulty conceiving. The baby, a boy named Philipp, was delivered through a cesarean section at Charité Hospital in Berlin. Hildebrandt says he weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces, and was “healthy.” (Abrahamson, 3/27)

The Washington Post: South Korea Admits To Adoption Fraud And Babies Taken Without Consent
The findings of a government probe confirm what many adoptees attested to for years: Babies were sent abroad for profit, often with falsified backstories. (Cho, 3/27)

News Service of Florida: Florida House Passes Medical Malpractice Change
The Florida House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a proposal that could lead to more medical malpractice lawsuits, while a similar bill cleared a major hurdle in the Senate. (Saunders, 3/27)

ABC News: LA County Has Been Using Potentially Faulty DNA Test Kits For Months
Los Angeles County has been using potentially faulty DNA test kits in criminal investigations for months. According to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, on Wednesday, a supervisor became aware on Monday of a notice from a DNA testing kit manufacturer indicating that a specific lot of kits was prone to poor performance with the potential to cause incomplete results. The maker of those kits recommended that the department stop using the kits. (Stone, 3/26)

AP: Judge Says Extreme Heat In Texas Prisons Is Unconstitutional But Doesn't Order They Install AC
A federal judge on Wednesday found the extreme heat in Texas prisons is “plainly unconstitutional,” but declined to order the state to immediately start installing air conditioning, which could cost billions. The judge affirmed claims brought by advocates of people incarcerated in the state, where summer heat routinely soars above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). But they will have to continue pressing their lawsuit later in a trial. (Vertuno, 3/26)

NBC News: Michigan Patient Dies After Contracting Rabies Through Transplanted Organ
A Michigan resident who received a transplant in December died after having been infected with rabies from the new organ, the state health department said Wednesday. The patient received the transplant at a hospital in Ohio in December, then died in January, the department said. The statement did not include information about identity of the recipient or the type of organ that was transplanted. The donor was not a resident of Michigan or Ohio, it said. (Richardson, 3/26)