Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: Medical Debt Is Crushing Hospital Patients In Los Angeles. Health Officials May Have A Fix
Every Tuesday, Naman Shah sees tuberculosis patients at a small public clinic in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. Shah, a physician and epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, pores over images of battered lungs, listens to labored breathing, and checks medications. It’s part of an initiative dating to the early 20th century to control infections so tuberculosis doesn’t spread. “We like doing things upstream,” Shah said, “meaning before they happen, not after the damage is done.” (Levey, 10/8)
KFF Health News: ‘Medicare For All’ Is Back. Now Comes The Hard Part
As Americans grow increasingly frustrated with their healthcare system, a proposal that has long been kicked around on the Democratic periphery is showing up in debates and on political platforms: “Medicare for All.” According to a 2025 Economist-YouGov poll, nearly 60% of Americans favor a system of Medicare for All, while 85% of Democrats support it. For years, Democrats in Congress have proposed symbolic Medicare for All bills that have had no chance of passage but have been supported by dozens of members. (Rosenthal, 10/8)
KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’
Katheryn Houghton reads the week’s news: Hundreds of thousands of immigrants with legal status have become ineligible for government health insurance. Plus, some states are considering universal coverage to ease consumer health costs. (10/8)
PRISONS AND HEALTH
The New York Times: Christa Pike’s Lawyers Say She Is Angry And Confused After Failed Execution
A week after surviving an execution attempt, Christa Pike is conscious and able to speak, but her mobility and speech are limited, her lawyers said Wednesday, adding that she appeared upset about the botched process. “I think she is angry and confused about everything right now,” said Randy Spivey, one of her lawyers. The details of her condition came during and after a hearing in which a judge in Tennessee said she would order state officials to preserve evidence from the botched execution. (Rubin, 10/7)
OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS
CIDRAP: Measles Can Cast A Long Shadow, Even After An Apparent Full Recovery
Five people have died from measles-associated causes in the United States this year. This fatality rate suggests there may have been 5,000 to 15,000 infections in 2026, since one to three of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will likely die from respiratory and neurologic complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC's current 2026 measles case tally is 3,887. Loss of life in the weeks following an infection is just one of the devastating outcomes of measles. (Boden, 10/7)
The Hill: Rand Paul Raises Alarm Over Mysterious Siberian Anti-Plague Lab Death
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) raised concerns that Russia could be conducting biological weapons research involving the plague as global health officials seek more information about the mysterious death of a worker at a Siberian lab. The 28-year-old worker died Friday after being hospitalized from a severe case of pneumonia, prompting the World Health Organization to seek further information from Russian authorities on her unexplained death and a potential second incident. Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in an interview Tuesday that Russia’s past biological weapons program and the circumstances surrounding the worker’s death warranted closer scrutiny. (Swai, 10/7)
The Washington Post: Trump Says ‘We Don’t Think’ Russian Plague Case Is A Bioweapon
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that U.S. officials did not believe that a Russian lab worker’s reported death, which has attracted global scrutiny, was linked to a bioweapon. “We’re going to find out soon enough, but we don’t think so,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The 28-year-old worker’s death last week has drawn international attention because she worked at an institute in Siberia that studies plague. Russia’s elevated response — including imposing quarantines — and the lack of public information about the case have also raised questions, given that the country’s measures significantly outpace the normal response to a plague-linked death. (Diamond, Sun and Ilyushina, 10/7)
CIDRAP: Kenya: 10 People In Quarantine As Officials Try To Reach 57 More Contacts Of Deceased Ebola Patient
Kenya said 10 people are in quarantine after a Kenyan man died in Nairobi on Monday from the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola currently circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Officials also said they are attempting to trace 57 other case contacts. The man, who had lived in DRC for 11 years, arrived in Kenya over the weekend. He had been sick for one month before traveling to Nairobi via a flight from Uganda. Kenyan officials say they do not know why health screenings failed to detect the man in either the DRC, Uganda, or at the Nairobi airport. (Soucheray, 10/7)
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Stat: Democrats Angle For House Health Care Posts After Midterms
Two powerful House committees with jurisdiction over health care policies are expected to get several fresh faces after the midterms. The combined impact of a potential wave election and multiple departing lawmakers could open up plenty of seats on the Energy and Commerce and Way and Means committees. Similar jockeying is going on for key Senate committee roles, as STAT previously reported. (Wilkerson, 10/8)
Stat: Smaller Biotech Companies Confront Trump's Tariffs On Drugs
A broad tariff on imported pharmaceuticals took effect at the end of September, and some biopharma companies and the industry group that represents them say many are being left in the dark on how to get exemptions. (Cirruzzo, 10/8)
NBC News: Trump Claims World’s Lowest Drug Prices. TrumpRx Discounts Are A ‘Mixed Bag,’ Report Shows
Ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, President Donald Trump has increasingly touted his drug pricing deals, claiming the U.S. is now paying the world’s lowest prescription drug prices. “This one thing alone should win us the midterms,” he recently said at the White House. TrumpRx.gov, the public face of his drug pricing discounts, has grown dramatically since its launch in February. What started as a few dozen brand-name drugs now includes a catalog of more than 800 brand-name and generic medications, offering discounts on everything from popular weight loss drugs to treatments for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. (Lovelace Jr., 10/7)
The Washington Post: Trump Administration Paving Way For Temporary Sale Of Some Unapproved Peptides
The Trump administration is crafting plans that would allow the temporary sale of certain previously restricted peptides as federal health officials hammer out new regulations around the controversial products, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private details. Such a move would allow some compounding pharmacies to dispense certain peptides marketed as new medical treatments and wellness products even as the claims for what they treat have not been fully safety tested. The plan has not yet been announced and timing was unclear, meaning it could still change. (Roubein, 10/7)
The Hill: Watchdog: Trump Administration Violated Impoundment Control Act, Withholding Millions In Federal Research Funds
The Trump administration violated federal law by withholding tens of millions of dollars in research grant funding Congress had appropriated for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), according to a federal watchdog report. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Wednesday found the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) violated the Impoundment Control Act (ICA) by withholding more than $78 million in fiscal 2025 after mass layoffs dismantled the agency’s grantmaking capabilities. The 1974 law regulates how the president can cancel or delay federal funds that Congress has already appropriated. (Weixel, 10/7)
The New York Times: Trump Administration Delays Threaten Funding For HIV Research
The future of four large research networks that test vaccines and treatments for H.I.V., tuberculosis and emerging infectious diseases is in limbo after weeks of delays from the Trump administration in launching the process to renew their funding. Scientists are worried that the delays could foreshadow the end of the networks, at least in their current form. H.I.V. researchers grew more concerned on Friday when they received word from the National Institutes of Health that they should temporarily hold off on launching new studies that had not yet enrolled participants and that would not be complete by Nov. 30, 2027, when their current funding is set to expire. (Mandavilli and Mueller, 10/7)
The New York Times: RFK Jr. Plans Vaccine Injury Initiative, Drawing Wary Eye From Experts
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long questioned the safety of vaccines, is planning a broad federal effort to address vaccine injuries, including a new research clinic at the National Institutes of Health and a new billing code to reimburse doctors for filing reports of serious vaccine side effects, according to multiple people familiar with the initiative. (Gay Stolberg, 10/7)
The Wall Street Journal: New CDC Director Is Eager To Change Its Culture
Newly installed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Erica Schwartz said she wants to change a culture of “paternalism” at her agency. Americans need to be better informed about how and why the CDC makes its recommendations, and the agency needs to be willing to listen to people’s concerns, she said. (Essley Whyte, 10/7)
FDA AND PHARMACEUTICALS
MedPage Today: FDA Warns Amazon Over Herpes Treatments
The FDA hit Amazon with a warning letter for selling unapproved herpes treatments. In July, the agency purchased several of the herpes products available on Amazon's website and found numerous violations, including that these products are considered unapproved new drugs, the agency said in the warning letter. (Robertson, 10/7)
MedPage Today: FDA Expands Indication For Urticaria Drug To Treat Symptomatic Dermographism
The FDA expanded the indication of the Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor remibrutinib (Rhapsido) to treat symptomatic dermographism, the most common form of chronic inducible urticaria, Novartis announced Thursday. (Bankhead, 10/7)
PUBLIC HEALTH
Newsweek: Autism Diagnoses Rose—Then Researchers Found Something In 62,000 Children
For years, rising autism diagnoses have fueled claims that the disorder is becoming increasingly common. But a major study of more than 62,000 children has found that the underlying rate of autism may have remained remarkably stable all along, even as diagnoses have risen dramatically. (Gray, 10/8)
CIDRAP: Raw Milk Poses Serious Infection Risks With No Added Health Benefits, Pediatrician Group Warns
Unpasteurized milk and milk products are the source of preventable, life-threatening infections in both healthy people and those with compromised immune systems, warns the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in an updated policy statement published this week in Pediatrics. Unpasteurized dairy poses particular dangers to children, pregnant women, and those who are breastfeeding, continues the statement. The statement also highlights H5N1 avian flu as an emerging concern. (Bergeson, 10/7)
CIDRAP: Infections With Little-Understood Deadly Fungus Jumped 4-Fold In US From 2023 To 2025
US detections of Cladophialophora bantiana, a rare but dangerous fungus that most often targets the central nervous system (CNS), rose fourfold from 2023 to 2025, write researchers from the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the study, published last week in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the team analyzed all C bantiana cases identified through fungal polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing at UW’s lab from January 2009 to July 2026. (Van Beusekom, 10/7)
ABC News: 1 In 15 Household Cats May Carry 'Beaver Fever' Which Can Infect Humans
Cats live in nearly 80 million American households, but a new study suggests nearly one out of fifteen cats are infected with a common parasite, and one out of five infected cats can transmit it to humans. In the study, published in PLoS One, researchers tested over 150,000 samples from cats in 49 states and five Canadian provinces for Giardia duodenalis, a gastrointestinal parasite found in the United States that can cause frequent diarrhea in both animals and humans. (Chang, 10/7)
SCIENCE AND INNOVATIONS
Military.com: Veterans Experience Major PTSD And Depression Relief From Psychedelic Drug Ibogaine: Study
Veterans who received psychiatric therapy using the substance ibogaine to treat PTSD and other mental health conditions have detailed positive results one year after their treatment, according to a new study. The majority of those who went into remission from their conditions after treatment sustained this remission 12 months on, according to a Stanford Medicine study released Tuesday of 30 special forces veterans suffering with mental health conditions connected to traumatic brain injuries (TBI). (Plummer, 10/8)
CIDRAP: Vaxcyte’s 31-Strain Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Passes Phase 3 Test
Vaccine maker Vaxcyte this week announced positive topline results from a phase 3 trial of its investigational 31-valent (31-strain) pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) candidate, VAX-31. VAX-31 was designed to prevent serious and sometimes fatal infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, including invasive pneumococcal disease IPD and pneumococcal pneumonia. The 31 serotypes covered by the vaccine account for approximately 95% of IPD and 88% of pneumococcal pneumonia cases circulating in adults age 50 and older. (Dall, 10/7)
NBC News: Brain Tumor Vaccine: Experimental Shot Shows Promise Against Glioblastoma In Some Patients
When Tracey Kassman was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2022 at age 64, she thought her life was over. The cancer is one of the deadliest types of brain tumor, and despite treatment with chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, it almost always comes back. (Lovelace Jr., Kopf and Thompson, 10/7)
MedPage Today: LVADs Linked To Concerning Neurologic Events, Strokes Aside
It's not all about stroke: Various neurologic events boded poorly for survival on the contemporary magnetically levitated HeartMate 3 left ventricular assist device (LVAD) in a retrospective registry study. Based on the U.S. INTERMACS database, there was an 8% incidence of both stroke and nonstroke neurologic adverse events (NAEs) over a median 1.4 years among nearly 12,000 people with advanced heart failure who got the contemporary magnetically levitated LVAD. (Lou, 10/7)
MedPage Today: U.S. Hospitals More Proactive At Preventing Catheter-Associated UTIs
A rising share of U.S. hospitals has embraced strategies to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) over the last two decades, according to a cross-sectional survey study. By 2025, significantly more Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals and nonfederal hospitals alike said they were using three key CAUTI prevention practices than they were two decades prior, Sanjay Saint, MD, of Northwell Health in Lake Success, New York, and colleagues reported in JAMA Network Open. (Rudd, 10/7)
Stat: Optogenetics Restores Some Vision In Small Study
Retinitis pigmentosa is a genetic disorder that causes degeneration of the light-sensing cells in the retina. Generally diagnosed in childhood or early adolescence, patients gradually lose peripheral and night vision, often becoming legally blind by young adulthood. (Merelli, 10/7)
Stat: Neil Carleton Is Working To Tailor Breast Cancer Care For Older Women
Of all the factors that can increase a person’s risk of breast cancer, age is among the most significant. Almost half of people diagnosed with breast cancer are at least 65, and about 20% are 75 or older. Despite these rates, older women are frequently excluded from clinical trials; one study of breast cancer trials found that only 9% of participants were 65 or older, leaving physicians with a poorer understanding of how drugs behave in older adults and fewer guidelines with which to treat them. (DiCorato, 10/8)
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Stat: DHS Proposes Fee To Participate In Optional Practical Training
As part of its ongoing bid to more tightly regulate international students, the Trump administration on Wednesday announced a proposed $70,000 fee for a popular work authorization program meant to give students professional experience. (Wosen, 10/7)
Modern Healthcare: No Surprises Act Disputes Drive Up Employer Healthcare Costs
A law created to stop patients from receiving surprise bills may be leading to higher costs for those same people. The No Surprises Act was implemented in 2022 to protect people with employer-sponsored health plans from many types of costly out-of-network billing disputes. The law has delivered on that promise but its baseball-style arbitration system has been unexpectedly overwhelmed with challenges from providers and provider-aligned companies, with all stakeholders asking Congress to pass legislative fixes. (Tong, 10/7)
Becker's Hospital Review: CMS Penalizes 2,334 Hospitals For High Readmissions: 6 Things To Know
CMS is penalizing 2,334 hospitals, about 80% of those evaluated, under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program in fiscal 2027, according to new CMS data. The penalties took effect on Oct. 1. Here are six things to know: On Oct. 1, 244 hospitals (8.4%) began facing penalties of 1% or more under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, up from 240 hospitals (8.1%) in fiscal 2026. (Scheetz, 10/7)
Modern Healthcare: How Holy Name Medical Center Has Stayed An Independent Hospital
Holy Name is holding its own as a rare independent hospital, an increasingly challenging task. Operating the 361-bed Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey, it has remained independent in a market anchored by large health systems. Key to its success is clinician succession planning, coupled with academic affiliations, which has enabled it to grow its physician network, said Brendan Maron, vice president of health partner services. (Kacik, 10/7)
Bloomberg: Hinge Health Sees Hardware Deals Ahead In Digital Health Push
Hinge Health Inc. expects to make more acquisitions, particularly in hardware, as part of a push to automate healthcare and expand beyond its core business of digital physical-therapy service. The digital health company, whose share price has tripled since it went public last year, is planning to use deals along with internal research and development to find new avenues for growth, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Perez said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg News. (Tozzi, 10/7)
Modern Healthcare: Elara Caring’s Ananth Mohan On DaVita Home Care Push
Providing services to dialysis patients is helping Elara Caring carve out a new space in home healthcare. DaVita Kidney Care and private equity firm Ares Management acquired Dallas-based Elara Caring this summer, infusing the company with cash, analytics and access to more patients. DaVita offers services in 46 states and Washington, D.C., while Elara Caring operates in 18 states. (Eastabrook, 10/7)
Modern Healthcare: WellSpan Health Names Laureen Driscoll As New President, CEO
WellSpan Health selected Laureen Driscoll as its new president and CEO, succeeding Roxanna Gapstur who plans to retire next year, the nonprofit health system announced Wednesday. The WellSpan board chose Driscoll after conducting a national search to replace Gapstur, the organization’s leader since 2019, according to a news release. Gapstur announced her retirement in April. (Kacik, 10/7)
Modern Healthcare: Fresenius Medical Care Names Shervin Korangy As CEO
Shervin Korangy will succeed Helen Giza as CEO and chair of the management board of Fresenius Medical Care. The change will go into effect Oct. 12, the company announced Wednesday. Giza has led the dialysis products and services company since December 2022, previously serving as chief financial officer. (Dubinsky, 10/7)
STATE WATCH
CalMatters: What To Know About California’s Clinic Initiative, Prop. 44
The same union that put forward the billionaire wealth tax has another, lesser-known proposal on the ballot: Proposition 44.Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West wants voters to change how community health clinics spend money and penalize those that violate the ballot initiative’s provisions. The union claims too many clinics spend money inappropriately on things like high executive salaries rather than patient care. Clinics say they already prioritize patients and the initiative could bankrupt many facilities. (Hwang, 10/7)
The Marshall Project: Hunger Strike Launched By Immigrants At Texas ICE Camp
Several immigrants are refusing to eat to protest their prolonged detention at a South Texas immigrant camp, according to two of them and an attorney for one of the men. The action is the latest in a rash of hunger strikes by ICE detainees this year. (Villagran, 10/7)
Fierce Healthcare: Fewer ED Visits, More Admissions Of Immigrants After ICE Raids
The increase in federal immigration enforcement and anti-immigration rhetoric during the first several months of the second Trump administration coincided with fewer emergency department visits and increased hospital admissions among foreign-born patients at Los Angeles County hospitals, according to research published this week in JAMA Network Open. The findings are evidence of public health warnings that the policies would push immigrants to avoid or delay needed care, leading to worsened outcomes, affordability barriers and higher costs to the health system. (Muoio, 10/7)
The Colorado Sun: Colorado Medicaid Spending On A Single In-Home Care Company Jumped $21M In A Year
A nationwide company that sends caregivers into people’s homes to help with daily tasks caught the attention of Colorado officials as its Medicaid payments skyrocketed to nearly $22 million so far this year from about $1 million last year. (Brown, 10/7)
