First Edition: Thursday, May 15, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Prisons Routinely Ignore Guidelines On Dying Inmates’ End-Of-Life Choices
Brian Rigsby was lying with his right wrist shackled to a hospital bed in Montgomery, Alabama, when he learned he didn’t have long to live. It was September 2023, and Rigsby, 46, had been brought to Jackson Hospital from an Alabama state prison 10 days earlier after complaining of pain and swelling in his abdomen. Doctors found that untreated hepatitis C had caused irreversible damage to Rigsby’s liver, according to his medical records. (Rayasam, 5/15)

KFF Health News: Newsom’s Pitch As He Seeks To Pare Down Immigrant Health Care: ‘We Have To Adjust’
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday proposed that California roll back health care for immigrants without legal status, saying the state needed to cut benefits for some to maintain core services across the board. It’s a striking reversal for the Democrat, who had promised universal health care and called health coverage for immigrants the moral and ethical thing to do. But a $12 billion state budget deficit, potential federal spending cuts, and larger-than-expected Medi-Cal enrollment have forced him to dial back. (Mai-Duc and Sánchez, 5/15)

KFF Health News: Mental Health And Substance Misuse Treatment Is Increasingly A Video Chat Or Phone Call Away
More Californians are talking to their therapists through a video screen or by phone than in person, marking a profound shift in how mental health care is delivered as record-setting numbers seek help. While patients and providers say teletherapy is effective and easier to get than in-person services, experts in the field noted that teletherapy often requires a skilled mental health practitioner trained to pick up subtle communication cues. (Reese, 5/15)

KFF Health News: RFK Jr.’s Hearing With Senate HELP Committee: A Live Discussion
In his first public testimony on Capitol Hill since taking office, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on May 14 appeared before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and a House Appropriations subcommittee. Lawmakers questioned the secretary about the mass layoffs at HHS, funding cuts, and other changes. (5/14)

KFF Health News: The GOP’s Trying Again To Cut Medicaid. It’s Only Gotten Harder Since 2017
It has been nearly eight years since Sen. John McCain’s middle-of-the-night thumbs-down vote torpedoed Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and make drastic cuts to Medicaid. With Donald Trump back in the White House and the GOP back in control of Congress, Republicans again have their eyes on Medicaid, the government health program for those with low incomes or disabilities. (Galewitz, 5/14)

WHAT RFK JR. IS SAYING

ABC News: RFK Jr. Says People Should Not Take Medical Advice From Him, Defends HHS Cuts During Congressional Hearings
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the nation's most publicly recognized vaccine skeptics, took a softened approach on vaccines when he answered questions before a House committee Wednesday morning, saying, "I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me." Kennedy, who also testified before a Senate committee the same day, defended the massive cuts to the department's workforce and laid out his priorities for the Trump administration's proposed budget. (Kekatos, McDuffie, Haslett, and Hensley, 5/14)

The New York Times: RFK Jr. Defends HHS Overhaul As Democrats Denounce ‘War On Science’ 
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a defiant defense on Wednesday of his drastic overhaul of federal health agencies, insisting to members of Congress that he had “not fired any working scientists” and was “not withholding money for lifesaving research" despite evidence to the contrary. In back-to-back appearances before House and Senate committees, Mr. Kennedy, a longtime critic of vaccination, also made clear that he did not think the health secretary should be in the business of making vaccine recommendations. (Gay Stolberg, 5/14)

AP: Kennedy Assures Congress Funding For Head Start Will Not Be Cut
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday told Congress the Trump administration would not cut funding for Head Start, after layoffs at the agency and funding freezes raised fears the six-decade-old program would be radically downsized. In an appearance before a Senate subcommittee, Kennedy said the administration would “emphasize healthy eating in Head Start, and ensure the program continues to serve its 750,000 children and parents effectively.” (Balingit, 5/14)

FEDERAL BUDGET CUTS AND FUNDING FREEZE

NBC News: HHS Reinstates Hundreds Of Health Workers
The Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday reinstated 328 federal employees who faced terminations, including those involved in screening for “black lung” disease in coal miners and for health issues in 9/11 first responders. The reinstated employees are part of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is focused on preventing and responding to work-related illnesses. (Bendix and Soboroff, 5/14)

The New York Times: U.S. Charges Russian Scientist With Smuggling
The Trump administration announced criminal smuggling charges on Wednesday against Kseniia Petrova, a Harvard scientist who was detained three months ago after failing to declare scientific samples she was carrying in her luggage. In a hearing in federal district court earlier in the day, a government lawyer told a federal judge that the Trump administration intends to deport Ms. Petrova back to Russia, a country she fled in 2022, despite her fear that she will be arrested there over her history of political protest. (Barry, 5/14)

Bloomberg: Harvard To Fund $250M For Research After Trump Scraps Federal Money
Harvard University said it will free up an extra $250 million of school money to help pay for research during the coming year after the Trump administration scrapped multiyear federal funding of more than $2.6 billion. School leaders will also work with researchers to make “prudent decisions” about adjusting their programs amid the funding pressure, Harvard President Alan Garber and Provost John Manning said in a letter Wednesday to the university community. They described the federal freeze as “part of a broader campaign to revoke scientific research funding” by the US government. (Lorin, 5/14)

Bloomberg: Harvard President Garber Takes 25% Pay Cut Amid Trump Fight
Harvard University President Alan Garber will take a voluntary 25% pay cut for the academic year that starts July 1, a school spokesman said. The reduction in compensation comes as the oldest and richest US university grapples with the fallout from its standoff over federal funding with the Trump administration, which has faulted Harvard’s handling of antisemitism and alleged discrimination on campus. (Lorin and Ryan, 5/14)

MEDICAID AND THE GOP 'MEGABILL'

MedPage Today: House Committee Holds Marathon Markup For Bill That Includes $715B In Medicaid Cuts
House Energy & Commerce Committee members finished a marathon markup session late Wednesday afternoon for their reconciliation bill, which among other provisions included an estimated $715 billion in cuts to Medicaid and other health programs over a 10-year period. Committee Chair Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) opened the hearing at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, arguing that the Biden administration was largely responsible for Americans' current healthcare difficulties. (Frieden, 5/14)

Politico: House Agriculture Committee Approves $300 Billion In Nutrition Spending Cuts 
The House Agriculture Committee voted 29-25 along party lines to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 billion in food aid spending to pay for Republicans’ domestic policy megabill and some farm bill programs. The Wednesday vote sends the measure to the House Budget Committee for consideration before a full floor vote in the chamber on the bill. (Yarrow, 5/14)

The 19th: House Panel Advances Measure To Cut Off Planned Parenthood From Medicaid
A key House panel on Wednesday advanced legislation that includes a provision aimed at cutting off Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, a longtime goal of congressional Republicans. (Panetta, 5/14)

Politico: ‘First Time We Were Hearing Of Them’: The GOP Megabill Is Packed With Surprises For Some Republicans
The House Energy and Commerce Committee was 16 hours into a nearly 27-hour markup when it became clear that top Republicans on the panel weren’t clear on what key Medicaid provisions in the legislation they were actively debating would actually do. Couple that with confusion from moderates over the committee’s complex and controversial proposal ... and it spells possible troubles ahead for the domestic policy megabill central to enacting President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda. (Leonard and Lee Hill, 5/14)

OPIOID CRISIS

AP: US Overdose Deaths Fell 27% Last Year, The Largest One-Year Decline Ever Seen
There were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the largest one-year decline ever recorded. An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday. That’s down 27% from the 110,000 in 2023. The CDC has been collecting comparable data for 45 years. The previous largest one-year drop was 4% in 2018, according to the agency’s National Center for Health Statistics. (Stobbe and Mulvihill, 5/14)

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

AP: South Carolina Supreme Court Decides Heartbeat Definition Allows Six-Week Abortion Ban
The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Wednesday the state can keep banning abortions around six weeks after conception by agreeing with the earliest interpretation offered of when a heartbeat starts. The justices unanimously ruled that while the medical language in the 2023 law was vague, supporters and opponents of the law all seemed to think it banned abortions after six weeks until Planned Parenthood lost its challenge to the entire law two years ago. The law says abortions cannot be performed after an ultrasound can detect “cardiac activity, or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart, within the gestational sac.” (Collins, 5/14)

News Service of Florida: Florida Appeals Court Strikes Down Abortion 'Waiver' Law For Minors 
Citing parental rights, a Florida appeals court Wednesday ruled that a law that can allow minors to have abortions without their parents’ consent is unconstitutional. (Saunders, 5/14)

Kansas City Star: Missouri Voters Face New Abortion Ban Question In 2026 
Missouri voters will decide whether to reimpose an abortion ban next year, after a landmark statewide vote last year that enshrined the right to the procedure in the state constitution and overturned a previous ban. The Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday approved a proposed constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would overturn a November vote that legalized abortion access. (Bayless and Shorman, 5/14)

AP: Judge To Hear Arguments To Louisiana Law Listing Abortion Pills As Controlled Dangerous Substances
Arguments surrounding first-of-its-kind legislation that categorizes two widely used abortion -inducing drugs as “controlled dangerous substances” in Louisiana are scheduled to take place before a state judge Thursday morning. In a lawsuit against the state, plaintiffs say the reclassification of misoprostol and mifepristone — which have critical reproductive health care uses in addition to being used as a two-drug regimen to end pregnancies — could cause needless and potentially life-threatening delays in treatment during medical emergencies. (Cline, 5/15)

The Washington Post: Abortion Abolitionists Urge States To Charge Women Seeking Abortions
An emboldened fringe movement is breaking with the antiabortion establishment by pushing for women who get abortions to face criminal charges, a departure from decades of “pro-life” tradition. The “abortion abolitionist” movement wants to see the procedure eradicated and supports changing the law to grant personhood to embryos, making their destruction an act of homicide that would be punishable by death in some states. (Bellware, 5/14)

The 19th: How A New Generation Of Birth Control Skepticism Is Shaping MAGA Politics
Cara Stanton didn’t get her period until she was 22. For years, doctors — including her pediatrician — recommended taking hormonal birth control to kickstart it. But Stanton was hesitant. “If something doesn’t make sense to me, I question it,” said Stanton, now a 32-year-old nurse practitioner based in Michigan. “It was just one of those things where I thought, ‘I don’t know that my ovaries are broken, so quit trying to put a bandaid on them.’ (Gerson and Padilla, 5/14)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

MedPage Today: Suicide Top Cause Of Death For Residents, Especially During Transition Periods
Suicide was the top cause of death for medical residents and fellows, though the rate was significantly lower than age- and gender-matched rates in the general population, according to a cross-sectional study. From 2015 to 2021, 161 of over 370,000 residents and fellows died during training, with the top cause of death being suicide (29.2%), followed by neoplastic diseases (17.4%), other medical and surgical diseases (13.7%), accidents (13.7%), and accidental poisoning (13%), reported Nicholas Yaghmour, MPP, of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in Chicago, and colleagues. (Robertson, 5/14)

Bloomberg: UnitedHealth Said To Be Under Investigation For Medicare Fraud
UnitedHealth Group Inc. is under criminal investigation for possible Medicare fraud, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. The Justice Department has had a probe into the company’s Medicare Advantage business since at least last summer, according to the people. (Tozzi, 5/14)

Bloomberg: ‘Boiler Room’ Operator Quick Health Charged By US With Fraud
Quick Health, a Pennsylvania call center, was indicted along with its former chief executive and three other leaders, accused of signing up tens of thousands of customers for cheap, bare-bones health plans using “false, misleading, and deceptive sales practices.” Alan Redmond, 42, identified by prosecutors as the “de facto” boss of Quick Health, and Arthur Walsh, 65, the former CEO, were among those charged with wire fraud and conspiracy in an indictment unsealed in federal court in Philadelphia on Wednesday. (Mider, 5/15)

Becker's Hospital Review: 25% Of Rehab Facilities Exceed National Patient Fall Rate
Almost 25% of inpatient rehabilitation facilities in the U.S. exceeded the national rate of patient falls between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, according to CMS data released March 26. The majority of facilities reported a fall rate at or below the national rate of 0.2, with 56.18% reporting a fall rate of zero. Inpatient rehabilitation facilities are required to report to CMS the number of patients who experience one or more falls resulting in a major injury during their stay. CMS publishes the data online at both the provider and national level, and makes it available to consumers through the Medicare website. (Gregerson, 5/14)

The New York Times: A.I. Was Coming For Radiologists’ Jobs. So Far, They’re Just More Efficient
Nine years ago, one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence scientists singled out an endangered occupational species.“ People should stop training radiologists now,” Geoffrey Hinton said, adding that it was “just completely obvious” that within five years A.I. would outperform humans in that field. Today, radiologists — the physician specialists in medical imaging who look inside the body to diagnose and treat disease — are still in high demand. A recent study from the American College of Radiology projected a steadily growing work force through 2055. (Lohr, 5/14)

PHARMACEUTICALS

The Wall Street Journal: Novo Nordisk Strikes $2.2 Billion Deal With Septerna To Develop New Obesity Pills
Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk and U.S. biotech Septerna agreed to collaborate on the development of pills to treat obesity, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic conditions. Under the terms of the agreement, Septerna is eligible to receive around $2.2 billion from Novo Nordisk, including more than $200 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments. (Chopping, 5/15)

The New York Times: Benzo Withdrawal Symptoms Can Be Life-Threatening
Prescriptions for benzodiazepines like Xanax, Ativan and Valium have been trending down since 2016, in part because of doctors’ concerns. Even so, these medications are considered quick and efficacious, and they remain among the most commonly prescribed drugs in the country to treat conditions including anxiety and sleep disorders. In 2019, an estimated 92 million benzodiazepine prescriptions were dispensed in the United States, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Current guidelines recommend prescribing the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible duration, usually less than four weeks. But patients tend to stay on them longer than that. (Caron, 5/14)

Fortune Well: Mark Cuban Launched Cost Plus Drugs After Republican Friends Asked For An Alternative To Obamacare
What inspired Shark Tank star and billionaire Mark Cuban to launch his pharmaceutical company, Cost Plus Drugs, was conversations with politicians about a contentious topic: Obamacare. “Going back to 2018 or 2017, being here in Texas, I had some Republican friends who were asking me questions like, ‘Do you have any ideas how the Republicans can replace the ACA, Obamacare?'” Cuban told the hosts of the “Hims House” podcast on Tuesday. (Freedman, 5/14)

STATE WATCH

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Senate Repeals Voter-Approved Earned Sick Leave 
Missouri Senate Republicans voted Wednesday to repeal portions of a voter-approved law that allowed employees to earn paid sick leave and a higher minimum wage. Members of the Senate voted 22-11 to pass legislation that repeals parts of Proposition A, which Missouri voters approved in November with 57.6% of the vote. (Kellogg, Rosenbaum and Lewis, 5/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom Wants Cuts To Health Care For Undocumented Californians
Undocumented adults would not be allowed to join the state’s health insurance program for low-income people next year under cuts proposed Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a $12 billion budget deficit and deepening political pressure. Newsom and the state Legislature expanded eligibility for Medi-Cal to undocumented immigrants of all ages in 2024. But the program, which offers free or low-cost care, has exceeded cost projections. Newsom now wants undocumented people in the program to pay $100 per month in premiums and to freeze their new enrollment starting next year. (Bollag, 5/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Scammed Seniors In California Could Get $50,000
A state appeals court says 100 or more senior citizens in California, scammed into making medical payments to a company that later went bankrupt, are entitled to payments of up to $50,000 from a state fund for victims of fraud. A company called Senior Care Advocates told elderly Californians 20 years ago that it could qualify them for the Medi-Cal program for a fee — the state actually accepts applicants without any cost — and charged them thousands of dollars for access to nonexistent health care benefits, according to Tuesday’s court ruling. A filing in their case said they were also told they would have access to a skilled nursing home if they paid the fee. (Egelko, 5/14)

AP: Gov. Ivey Signs A Bill Regulating The Sale Of Hemp Products
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday signed legislation putting new regulations on gummies, drinks and other products containing cannabinoids from hemp, a legal variety of the marijuana plant. The law would allow gummies, drinks and other consumable products to continue to be sold, but limits the amount of psychoactive compounds in the products. It also puts restrictions on where the products can be sold. The governor signed the legislation Wednesday, Ivey spokeswoman Gina Maiola said. (Chandler, 5/15)

CIDRAP: Kansas Measles Total Grows To 56, With Most Cases Part Of Outbreak
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) today announced 8 more measles cases, bringing the state's total to 56, of which 54 are part of an outbreak in the southwestern part of the state. The outbreak cases—like those in New Mexico and Oklahoma—have been linked to the large outbreak in West Texas. Kansas's outbreak cases are in eight counties. So far, two people have been hospitalized. (Schnirring, 5/14)

PUBLIC HEALTH

CNN: Arsenic And Cadmium Levels Dangerously High In Store-Bought Rice, Report Finds. What You Can Do 
Samples of store-bought rice from more than 100 different brands purchased in the United States contained dangerously high levels of arsenic and cadmium, according to a new report released exclusively to CNN. (LaMotte, 5/15)

CIDRAP: Lower Fitness Levels Before Infection Linked To Long COVID
A study conducted in Dallas of 1,666 COVID-19 patients, of which 80 (5%) had long COVID, reveals that those with long COVID, on average, had lower pre‐COVID fitness. The study was published yesterday in the Journal of the American Heart Association. (Soucheray, 5/14)

MENTAL HEALTH

CBS News: Men More Likely To Die Of "Broken Heart Syndrome" Compared To Women, Study Finds
Men are twice as likely to die from the stress-related heart condition commonly called "broken heart syndrome" compared to women, according to new research. The condition, formally known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is associated with severe emotional distress or stressful events, such as the death of a loved one. Symptoms typically include chest discomfort, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat. A study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association analyzed nearly 200,000 U.S. adults with data from 2016 to 2020. It found that despite the condition being more common among women, the death rate among them was 5.5%, compared to 11.2% for men. (Moniuszko, 5/14)

Fierce Healthcare: Survey Highlights Unique Mental Health Needs Across Generations
More than half of Americans say their mental health became important to them in the last five years, a new survey found. Conducted in April by Rula Health, a virtual behavioral health company, the survey reached more than 2,000 U.S. adults and aimed to understand the current state of mental health. The findings revealed more than half of Americans have accessed mental health services at some point in their lives. Of those, more than a quarter are currently in therapy and another quarter sought therapy within the past year. (Gliadkovskaya, 5/14)

GLOBAL WATCH

Stat: WHO Trims Top Management Ranks Amid Financial Crunch
The World Health Organization, which faces an extraordinary financial crunch in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from the agency, has dramatically trimmed its top management. (Branswell, 5/14)

Bloomberg: Covid-19 Spikes In Hong Kong, Singapore As New Wave Spreads
Health authorities in densely-populated Hong Kong and Singapore have warned that Covid-19 cases are spiking, as a resurgent wave spreads through Asia. The virus’ activity in Hong Kong is now “quite high,” Albert Au, head of the Communicable Disease Branch of the city’s Center for Health Protection, told local media this week. The percentage of respiratory samples testing Covid-positive in Hong Kong recently reached its highest in a year. (Wan and Tong, 5/15)

Bloomberg: Trump’s Trade War Spares An Industry Europe Dominates: Hearing Aids
Just northwest of Copenhagen, a cluster of small towns surrounded by trees and lakes is home to three of the world’s biggest hearing-aid makers. The area’s outsize control of the market, which has helped Denmark earn the moniker “Silicon Valley of Sound,” seems set to endure after devices for chronic disabilities were among the rare segments to escape the Trump tariff burn. ... This small yet sensitive medical-care segment was shielded from tariffs during President Donald Trump’s first term and spared again from the barrage of levies he unleashed last month. (Pham, 5/15)