First Edition: Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Trump Required Hospitals To Post Their Prices For Patients. Mostly It’s The Industry Using The Data
Republicans think patients should be shopping for better health care prices. The party has long pushed to give patients money and let consumers do the work of reducing costs. After some GOP lawmakers closed out 2025 advocating to fund health savings accounts, President Donald Trump introduced his Great Healthcare Plan, which calls for, among other policies, requiring providers and insurers to post their prices “in their place of business.” (Tahir, 2/17)

KFF Health News: Listen: Why Do I Need Prior Authorization?
Listen in as “Life Kit” host Marielle Segarra and health reporter Sarah Boden untangle the red tape that can make the prior authorization process frustrating. When the doctor says you need a prescription or treatment, sometimes you need approval from your health insurance first. That’s called prior authorization. Without that sign-off, insurance won’t pay. What triggers the need for prior authorization is not fully clear. It’s another “black box” part of the health care system. (Boden, 2/17)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Unpack Impact Of ICE Arrests On Families And Caffeine's Effect On Dementia Risk
KFF Health News Southern California correspondent Claudia Boyd-Barrett discussed how families of detainees by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency are struggling to find those who have been hospitalized on KQED’s The California Report on Feb. 10. Céline Gounder, KFF Health News’ editor-at-large for public health, discussed a new study linking daily coffee or caffeinated tea intake to lower dementia risk on CBS News’ CBS Mornings on Feb. 10. (2/14)

VACCINES

Bloomberg: Moderna Blames FDA For Threatening US Leadership In Medicine
Moderna Inc. lashed out at the US Food and Drug Administration for making it harder for companies to create new medicines, escalating a dispute between the vaccine maker and the regulator. In a call with analysts on Friday, Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel said the agency had become unpredictable. If the FDA keeps it up, it “threatens US leadership in innovative medicines.” (Smith, 2/13)

The New York Times: Vaccine Makers Curtail Research And Cut Jobs
In Massachusetts, Moderna is pulling back on vaccine studies. In Texas, a small company canceled plans to build a factory that would have created new jobs manufacturing a technology used in vaccines. In San Diego, another manufacturing company laid off workers. When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was picked in November 2024 to become the next health secretary, public health experts worried that the longtime vaccine skeptic would wreak havoc on the fragile business of vaccine development. (Robbins, 2/16)

CIDRAP: WHO Criticizes CDC-Funded Vaccine Study In Africa As Unethical
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement Friday criticizing a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded study of the hepatitis B vaccine in Guinea-Bissau. CIDRAP News broke the news of the study in December, shortly after the single-blinded clinical trial was announced in the Federal Register. Since then, the trial has been widely criticized for proposing to provide a life-saving birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine—as endorsed by the WHO— to only half of the 14,000 babies to be studied, while allowing the other half to be vaccinated at six weeks of age, the current policy in Guinea-Bissau. (Szabo, 2/16)

The New York Times: RFK Jr. Allies Target States To Overturn Vaccine Mandates For Schools
Longtime allies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, have launched a new effort to repeal laws that for decades have required children to be vaccinated against measles, polio and other diseases before they enter day care or kindergarten. A newly formed coalition of vaccine activists is targeting laws that are considered the linchpin of protection from deadly diseases. States have long mandated childhood immunizations before children can start day care or school, though some exemptions are available. (Jewett, 2/13)

Politico: RFK Jr.’s Allies Are Trying To Free Anti-Vaccine Doctors To Speak Their Minds
Doctors who give health advice to their patients or community that runs counter to the medical establishment face a rare but very real risk of state sanctions, including losing their license to practice. That could soon change if anti-vaccine activists succeed in getting the Supreme Court to weigh in on how broadly the First Amendment protects doctors’ rights to free speech — an issue that is central to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement. (Gardner, 2/15)

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Military.com: VA Launches Plan To Expand Dental Care Access For Veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking to overhaul how dental care is delivered to eligible veterans through the community care program. The VA posted a request for proposals Feb. 10 for a new dental care administrator to build and manage a nationwide network of community dental providers. The contract, once awarded, is intended to expand access to general and specialty dental care, preventive services and pharmacy support for the roughly 2.3 million veterans who currently qualify for VA dental benefits. (Wile, 2/16)

AP: Indian Health Service To End Use Of Mercury Dental Fillings
The federal agency that provides health care to Native Americans and Alaska Natives has announced it will phase out the use of dental fillings containing mercury. The Indian Health Service has used fillings, known as dental amalgams, that contain elemental mercury to treat decayed and otherwise damaged teeth for decades. Native American rights and industry advocates have called for an end to the practice, arguing it exposes patients who may not have access to private dentistry to a harmful neurotoxin. The use of mercury-containing amalgams, also known as “silver fillings” due to their appearance, has declined sharply since 2009 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reclassified the devices from low to moderate risk. (Lee Brewer and Peters, 2/15)

CIDRAP: NIAID Staffers Ordered To Remove Biodefense, Pandemic Preparedness Language On Website
Staff members at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have been told to delete the words “biodefense” and “pandemic preparedness” from the institute’s website, a move that experts say will hobble the United States’ ability to respond to future infectious disease threats, Nature reported late last week. The journal said the directives were outlined in emails it obtained, but it didn’t name the person who sent them. It said four NIAID staffers spoke to Nature on the condition of anonymity because the institute didn’t authorize them to speak to media. (Van Beusekom, 2/16)

NBC News: At National Institutes Of Health, Many Director Positions Sit Open
The National Institutes of Health has, in large part, managed to withstand the Trump administration’s attempts to slash its budget and upend how it distributes grants, thanks to decisions from the courts and Congress. But the agency now faces a growing vacuum in leadership in its top ranks — one that offers the administration a highly unusual opportunity to reshape NIH to its vision. Of the 27 institutes and centers that make up NIH, 16 were missing permanent directors as of Friday, when staff received news of the latest departure. (Bendix, 2/15)

Bloomberg: Cost Of Trump's Coal Push Plays Out In Dollars, Noise And Health
Chad Schmucker, 71, lives in Port Sheldon Township on the East shore of Lake Michigan, an area where dunes meet forest and water draws boaters in summer. It would be his dream retirement spot except that it’s just south of the J.H. Campbell coal plant, which spews pollutants and makes so much noise that at times his wife can’t sleep. Summer brings the sound of tractors pushing coal, the mechanical churn carrying across the shoreline. Then there’s the grit. (Kaufman, Roston and Green, 2/14)

'MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN'

Stat: RFK Jr. Will Act On Legal Challenge To Ultra-Processed Foods 
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the starting gun in a challenge to the food industry on Sunday, announcing on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that he plans to act on a plan outlined by former Food and Drug Administration chief David Kessler to overhaul ultra-processed foods. (Todd, 2/15)

The Wall Street Journal: RFK Jr.’s Next Overhaul: America’s Baby Formula Guidelines
When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. summoned infant-formula executives to Washington last spring, he arrived with a list of questions about seed oils, heavy metals and how U.S. formula stacks up against Europe’s. Kennedy’s concerns echoed those of parents aligned with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement as he prepared to launch “Operation Stork Speed,” the Trump administration’s sweeping review of U.S. formula ingredients. (Siddiqui, 2/16)

The Hill: GOP Farm Bill May Face MAHA Movement Backlash Over Pesticides
Republicans are using the farm bill to take another swing at passing legislation to protect pesticides, something sure to anger their allies in the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement. A House Republican iteration of the farm bill released on Friday includes a provision that prevents states and courts from penalizing pesticide makers for failing to include warnings on their label about health effects that go beyond those formally recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (Frazin, 2/13)

ON CAPITOL HILL

The Guardian: Limited Government Shutdown Likely To Linger For At Least 10 Days As Congress Takes Break
The latest shutdown is unlikely to be lifted soon – US lawmakers have left Washington DC for a 10-day break. However, Republican leaders in Congress have said that negotiations would continue, and that members should be ready to return to Washington subject to an agreement. (Helmore, 2/14)

Roll Call: After Stalled Health Deal, Voters Want Congress To Deliver 
As Congress spent months arguing over COVID-19-era enhanced premium tax credits that many people on the Affordable Care Act used to subsidize their health insurance, a relatively narrow debate over a single policy grew into a much broader and more complicated discussion about how to lower health care costs. Concerns about those costs are a top issue for voters ahead of this year’s midterms. But whether Congress can meaningfully address the issue and how candidates communicate that idea to voters depends on the type of cost increases and what is driving them. (Raman and DeGroot, 2/13) 

NBC News: Five Months After Sen. Bill Cassidy Asked RFK Jr. To Testify, It Still Hasn't Happened
Five months after Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy invited Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to appear before the powerful health committee he chairs, the hearing has not happened, and the senator continues to say there is no date set for it to take place. Cassidy, a Louisiana doctor who is supportive of vaccines, publicly requested Kennedy testify before the Senate Health Committee on Sept. 18 for an oversight hearing to “share his side of the story” after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez was abruptly ousted from her job. Monarez’s lawyers said at the time that she was fired for refusing to “rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.” (Leach, Thorp V and Nobles, 2/13)

CELEBRITIES AND POP CULTURE

The New York Times: Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Leader Who Sought the Presidency, Dies at 84
The Rev. Jesse Jackson's death was confirmed by his family in a statement, which said that Mr. Jackson “died peacefully,” but did not give a cause. Mr. Jackson was hospitalized in November for treatment of a rare and particularly severe neurodegenerative condition, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), according to the advocacy organization he founded, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. In 2017, he announced that he had Parkinson’s disease, which in its early stages can produce similar effects on bodily movements and speech. (Applebome, 2/17)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

The Colorado Sun: Judge Won't Force Children’s Hospital To Resume Gender-Affirming Care
A Denver judge late Friday sided against several families of transgender kids in a lawsuit challenging the decision by Children’s Hospital Colorado to suspend gender-affirming care for youth in the face of federal threats. (Ingold, 2/13)

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Broward's Two Public Hospital Systems Face Legislative Setback 
Legislation that would have allowed two taxpayer-funded hospital systems in Broward County to collaborate more freely and bypass certain antitrust laws was “temporarily postponed” in a key Florida Senate committee. (Goodman, 2/17)

The New York Times: 2 Strikes In 3 Years: N.Y.C. Nurses Awaken As A Major Labor Voice
It should have been a triumphant moment for Nancy Hagans. A nurse at a Brooklyn hospital, she is the president of the state’s largest nursing union. Three years ago, she had led 7,000 health care workers on a strike that resulted in major gains, and now she had done it again — this time with nearly 15,000 nurses. But this winter’s walkout had been a far bigger gamble, with far less upside and considerably more peril. There were fewer protections for striking workers, and hospitals were better prepared than in 2023. Still, after a monthlong strike, the hospitals offered the nurses better pay and working conditions than they had been likely to get without striking. (Goldstein, 2/17)

Modern Healthcare: Humana Acquires MaxHealth, Adds Dozens Of Clinics To CenterWell
Humana completed its acquisition of the primary care clinic operator MaxHealth from private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners. The deal adds 54 primary care clinics, four specialty sites and 24 affiliated facilities to Humana’s CenterWell healthcare services arm. The companies did not disclose financial details of the acquisition, and Humana declined to comment. (Tepper, 2/13)

Modern Healthcare: Inpatient Hospital Projects Grow As Sutter, Novant Plan Expansion
Health systems are investing billions of dollars into inpatient facilities, driven by an aging population and increasing demand for specialized care. In recent years, providers have largely focused their investing on extensive outpatient projects. They also face ongoing cost pressures and regulatory uncertainty. Still, several are looking to add to their inpatient footprint. (Hudson, 2/13)

Modern Healthcare: Ambulatory Surgery Centers Drive Demand For New Medical Devices
The rapid growth of ambulatory surgical centers by health systems and physician groups has captured the attention of medical device makers, which see an opportunity to grow their own businesses. Companies are developing products specifically for the facilities or adapting existing ones to fit within the spaces, budgets and training constraints. It’s not much of a gamble, as hospitals move procedures to the lower-cost settings and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approves reimbursement for procedures within the facilities. (Dubinsky, 2/13)

Modern Healthcare: HRSA Restarts 340B Rebate Pilot Model Work, Seeks Feedback
The Health Resources and Services Administration is restarting its work on a controversial 340B Drug Pricing Program pilot program. In a Friday request for information, HRSA asked providers, drugmakers and other interested parties for feedback on whether it should implement a pilot program that would require hospitals, community health centers and other 340B program participants to pay full price for covered medications up front, then receive a rebate from manufacturers later. The solicitation represents HRSA’s second attempt to roll out a 340B rebate pilot, after the first stalled in court. (Early, 2/13)

PHARMACEUTICALS

Bloomberg: Drug For Rare Genetic Disorder Goes From FDA Priority To Reject In Four Months
The rejection of Disc Medicine Inc.’s experimental compound for a rare and devastating disorder by the US Food and Drug Administration, just months after it received a voucher intended to speed US reviews for breakthrough treatments, is the latest example of the growing uncertainty at the nation’s top drug regulator. On Friday, the development-stage drugmaker said the FDA rejected its application for bitopertin, a treatment for the rare genetic disorder erythropoietic protoporphyria, which causes severe sensitivity to light. It’s the latest medical product that’s been delayed or rejected by the agency based on questions about development plans that were allowed by previous administrations. (Langreth, 2/13)

Bloomberg: Stallergenes To Drop Former Nestlé Peanut Allergy Pill Palforzia
The owner of the peanut allergy treatment Palforzia will abandon it less than three years after buying it from Nestlé, underscoring the disappointment of a product once billed as a potential blockbuster. Commercialization will end on July 31, with production winding down in phases, closely held Stallergenes Greer said on the Palforzia website. The plan is voluntary and unrelated to safety or efficacy, the company said. It did not immediately return an email and a call seeking comment. (Pham and Kinzelmann, 2/16)

The New York Times: Should Drug Companies Be Advertising To Consumers?
Tamar Abrams had a lousy couple of years in 2022 and ’23. Both her parents died; a relationship ended; she retired from communications consulting. She moved from Arlington, Va., to Warren, R.I., where she knew all of two people. “I was kind of a mess,” recalled Ms. Abrams, 69. Trying to cope, “I was eating myself into oblivion.” As her weight hit 270 pounds and her blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels climbed, “I knew I was in trouble health-wise.” What came to mind? “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic!” — the tuneful ditty from television commercials that promoted the GLP-1 medication for diabetes. (Span, 2/16)

STATE WATCH

CBS News: Los Angeles County Public Health Set To Close 7 Clinics Due To Significant Funding Cuts
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced it will be closing seven clinics due to significant cuts in funding. The department said it has faced more than $50 million in federal, state and local funding cuts. A statement from the department said the cuts, along with the increase in operational costs, have led to the consolidation and reduction of services. "While public health clinics offer important services and the closures are deeply upsetting, underscoring the real consequences of disinvestment in public health, clinic patients will be connected to appropriate services that meet their needs," said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Director of the LA County Department of Public Health. (Hylton, 2/13)

The Colorado Sun: Cuts To Outings, Cleaning Are Latest Round Of Medicaid Slashes For Colorado’s Disability Community
Medicaid benefits that pay for people with disabilities to go on community outings and cover household cleaning, cooking and laundry are the latest services facing cuts as Colorado deals with a major budget shortage. (Brown, 2/16)

New Hampshire Public Radio: NH Lawmakers Consider Shield Law, Repealing Buffer Zones And Other Abortion Bills 
Several bills moved through the State House last week that addressed abortion access and legal protection, as lawmakers again considered a repeal of patient buffer zones outside of abortion facilities, and whether to protect New Hampshire abortion providers from out-of-state legal action. New Hampshire is the only state in New England that lacks such shield laws. (Richardson, 2/15)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri S&T Develops An ‘Organ On A Chip’ For Medical Research 
Medical research includes a lot of testing on tissues and cells, so a professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla is developing a way to do that cheaper and easier by making a better “organ on a chip.” It’s a device about the size of a playing card that lets researchers test how human tissues and cells respond to new medicines or treatments without testing on animals or people. (Ahl, 2/16)

The New York Times: 2 Killed In Shooting At High School Hockey Game In Rhode Island 
The shooter was also dead, apparently by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the authorities said. The shooting, which the police described as a “targeted event,” happened at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket. (Vigdor and Gibbons-Neff, 2/16)

The Boston Globe: New York Man Sentenced In $70M Brain Scan Kickback Scheme
A former New York operations manager has been sentenced for conspiring to offer and pay kickbacks to physicians in exchange for ordering medically unnecessary brain scans, prosecutors said. Timothy Doyle, 45, of Selden, New York, was sentenced to 14 months in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release, according to a Feb. 13 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Doyle was also ordered to pay $27,225,434 in restitution and $1,102,725 in forfeiture, prosecutors said. (Goeke, 2/16)

MEASLES

The Hill: UW-Madison Requires Vaccine Status Amid Measles Rise
The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced Thursday it is requiring its students to disclose their vaccination status for certain diseases after a measles case was discovered on campus last month amid a spike nationally. The new policy states students must tell the university their vaccination status for measles, mumps, rubella (MMR); tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap); chicken pox; meningococcal; and hepatitis B, though they aren’t required to be vaccinated against the diseases. (Cochran, 2/13)

The Hill: Philadelphia Airport Warns Of Measles Case
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health is warning of a potential measles exposure at Philadelphia International Airport. Health officials say a person infected with measles traveled through Terminal E on Feb. 12 between 1:35 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. The traveler was passing through Philadelphia at the time. Anyone who was in Terminal E during that time may have been exposed, officials said. The health department is urging those individuals to check their vaccination status and monitor for symptoms, especially if they are not fully vaccinated against measles. (Cole, 2/16)

CBS News: Riverside County Health Officials Report Second And Third Measles Cases
Riverside County health officials have reported the second and third measles cases of the year, which they say could be connected to the county's first case that was reported last week. In a news release, the Riverside University Health System said that an adult and a child both tested positive, marking a "localized outbreak of three total confirmed cases." They said that the adult provided a verbal report of previous measles vaccination, but said that the child was not vaccinated against the virus. (Fioresi, 2/14)