First Edition: Tuesday, June 17, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: ‘MAGA’ Backers Like Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ — Until They Learn Of Health Consequences
Nearly two-thirds of adults oppose President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” approved in May by the House of Representatives, according to a KFF poll released Tuesday. And even Trump’s most ardent supporters like the legislation a lot less when they learn how it would cut federal spending on health programs, the poll shows. (Galewitz, 6/17)

KFF Health News: The Price You Pay For An Obamacare Plan Could Surge Next Year
Josefina Muralles works a part-time overnight shift as a receptionist at a Miami Beach condominium so that during the day she can care for her three kids, her aging mother, and her brother, who is paralyzed. She helps her mother feed, bathe, and give medicine to her adult brother, Rodrigo Muralles, who has epilepsy and became disabled after contracting covid-19 in 2020. “He lives because we feed him and take care of his personal needs,” said Josefina Muralles, 41. “He doesn’t say, ‘I need this or that.’ He has forgotten everything.” (Chang, 6/17)

MEDICAID

The New York Times: Senate Bill Would Make Deep Cuts To Medicaid, Setting Up Fight With House
Senate Republicans on Monday released legislation that would cut Medicaid far more aggressively than would the House-passed bill to deliver President Trump’s domestic agenda, while also salvaging or slowing the elimination of some clean-energy tax credits, setting up a fight over their party’s marquee policy package. (Edmondson, Sanger-Katz, Romm and Plumer, 6/16)

Stat: 16,000 Deaths Tied To Medicaid Cuts In GOP Budget Bill, Study Warns
Key health care provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, especially the proposed Medicaid cuts and Affordable Care Act marketplace reforms, would lead to 16,642 preventable deaths every year if implemented, according to a new analysis published Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine. (Russo, 6/16)

AP: Americans Want Medicaid And Food Stamps Funding Maintained Or Increased, AP-NORC Poll Shows 
As Republican senators consider President Donald Trump’s big bill that could slash federal spending and extend tax cuts, a new survey shows most U.S. adults don’t think the government is overspending on the programs the GOP has focused on cutting, like Medicaid and food stamps. Americans broadly support increasing or maintaining existing levels of funding for popular safety net programs, including Social Security and Medicare, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. They’re more divided on spending around the military and border security, and most think the government is spending too much on foreign aid. (Sanders, 6/16)

MedCity News: How Badly Would Medicaid Cuts Hurt Healthcare Access In Rural America? 
The American Hospital Association (AHA) estimates that the passage of this legislation would result in a $50.4 billion reduction in federal Medicaid spending on rural hospitals over the next decade, as well as 1.8 million people in rural communities losing their Medicaid coverage. This scenario is especially troubling because rural hospitals are already experiencing severe financial challenges, the AHA noted in a report it released last week. It is often more expensive to deliver healthcare in rural areas because of smaller patient volumes and higher costs for attracting staff. (Adams, 6/16)

CPR News: Colorado Leaders, Hospitals Paint Bleak Picture Of Medicaid Cuts If GOP Bill Becomes Law
Gov. Jared Polis said Medicaid cuts in the Republican budget bill will throw hundreds of thousands of Coloradans off their health care, drive up costs for everyone and put providers like hospitals and community health at risk. “Many rural health care providers, hospitals won't be able to make it. We're going to lose rural providers with this,” Polis, a Democrat, told a small group of health care leaders at a roundtable discussion Monday about Medicaid at UCHealth Broomfield Hospital in Broomfield. “We're going to shift the cost of care onto everybody who buys insurance, gets insurance through their employer. We'll pay more, employers will pay more. Bad for business and bad for workers.” (Daley, 6/16)

The Hill: Mental Health Group Launches Ad Campaign Against Medicaid Cuts
A leading bipartisan mental health advocacy group launched a $1 million targeted TV and radio advertising campaign Monday, calling on senators to protect Medicaid. The Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act proposes implementing deep cuts to Medicaid and imposing new restrictions on the program’s beneficiaries, like work requirements and more eligibility checks. (O’Connell-Domenech, 6/16)

MEDICARE

Fierce Healthcare: Dems Introduce Bill To Establish Medicare 'Part E' Public Option
Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced new legislation that would establish a "Part E" for Medicare, which would allow people to opt into the program. Reps. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., and Don Beyer, D-Va., on Monday put forward the Choose Medicare Act. Under the proposal, a potential Medicare Part E would have the program compete with private insurance. Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley, of Ore., and Chris Murphy, of Conn., introduced a companion bill in that chamber. (Minemyer, 6/16)

FUNDING FREEZE AND DEI

The New York Times: Trump’s Cuts To N.I.H. Grants Focused On Minority Groups Are Illegal, Judge Rules
A federal judge on Monday declared some of the Trump administration’s cuts to National Institutes of Health grants “void and illegal,” accusing the government of racial discrimination and prejudice against L.G.B.T.Q. individuals. Ruling from the bench, Judge William G. Young of the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts delivered a damning assessment of the Trump administrations’ motives in targeting hundreds of grants that focused on the health of Black communities, women and L.G.B.T.Q. people. (Montague, 6/16)

Politico: ‘My Duty Is To Call It Out’: Judge Accuses Trump Administration Of Discrimination Against Minorities
A federal judge appointed by Ronald Reagan on Monday accused the Trump administration of “appalling” and “palpably clear” discrimination against racial minorities and LGBTQ+ Americans. “I’ve never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable. I’ve sat on this bench now for 40 years. I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this,” said U.S. District Judge William Young, a Massachusetts-based jurist who took the bench in 1985. (Cheney and Nguyen, 6/16)

The 19th: Domestic Violence Nonprofits Sue Over Anti-DEI Funding Rules
The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) filed a lawsuit on behalf of 17 state domestic violence and sexual assault organizations on Monday, arguing that restrictions the Trump administration has placed on grants are illegal and conflict with requirements laid out in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). (Gerson and Mithani, 6/16)

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The Hill: Trump Administration Denies Report Of New VA Hospital Rules
The Trump administration on Monday denied reporting by The Guardian that said new Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals could refuse care to veterans based on factors like marital status and political affiliation due to an executive order by President Trump. The Guardian earlier Monday published a report saying VA hospitals are implementing new rules in response to Trump’s executive order in January, which would permit workers to deny care to veterans based on characteristics not protected by federal law. (Choi, 6/16)

The Guardian: ‘Extremely Disturbing And Unethical’: New Rules Allow VA Doctors To Refuse To Treat Democrats, Unmarried Veterans
Doctors at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals nationwide could refuse to treat unmarried veterans and Democrats under new hospital guidelines imposed following an executive order by Donald Trump. The new rules, obtained by the Guardian, also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers. Medical staff are still required to treat veterans regardless of race, color, religion and sex, and all veterans remain entitled to treatment. But individual workers are now free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not explicitly prohibited by federal law. (Glantz, 6/16)

The New York Times: E.P.A. Plans To Reconsider A Ban On Cancer-Causing Asbestos
The Trump administration plans to reconsider a ban on the last type of asbestos still used in the United States, according to a court filing on Monday. The move, which could halt enforcement of the ban for several years during the reconsideration, is a major blow to a decades-long battle by health advocates to prohibit the carcinogenic mineral in all its forms. (Tabuchi, 6/16)

Politico: Energy Department Seeks To Roll Back Title IX Protections For Women’s, Education Programs
The Trump administration is seeking to rescind key civil rights protections for sex discrimination in sports and education programs through a swift regulatory process at an unlikely agency: the Department of Energy. Buried in a list of more than three dozen regulation changes published in May, the DOE is moving to rescind regulations that oversee sports participation and sex discrimination protections for students in education programs. (Quilantan, 6/16)

Bloomberg: Trump’s Migrant Crackdown Threatens To Make Hiring Home Health Aides Harder
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown threatens to shrink the workforce for one of America’s fastest growing jobs: Home health and personal care aides. Demand for such care is expected to swell as the US population ages, and the industry has increasingly relied on immigrants to fill home health positions. Foreign-born people comprise roughly one in five US workers, yet they account for more than 40% of home health aides and nearly 30% of personal care employment, according to US government data. (Saraiva and Caldwell, 6/16)

The Hill: Donald Trump's Ex-Surgeon General Jerome Adams Moves From Friend To Critic
Jerome Adams, President Trump’s first-term surgeon general, is becoming one of the most prominent voices speaking out against the public health policies and decisions carried out in the president’s second term. Adams, known as a relatively low-profile member of the Trump administration during his tenure, has in recent weeks gone on something of a media campaign against the White House’s health care choices. During the pandemic, Adams at times broke from Trump, such as when the president downplayed the death toll of COVID-19 or suggested injecting bleach to combat infections.  But now that he’s on the outside looking in, the criticism is becoming more frequent. (Choi, 6/16)

VACCINES

MedPage Today: Removed ACIP Members Say 'U.S. Vaccine Program Critically Weakened'
The dismissal of all 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel and their quick replacement, along with cuts to CDC staff, have "left the U.S. vaccine program critically weakened," all of the ousted members wrote in a Viewpoint in JAMA. They charged that the actions may "roll back the achievements of U.S. immunization policy, impact people's access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put U.S. families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses." (Fiore, 6/16)

CBS News: CDC Official Overseeing COVID Hospitalization Data Resigns After RFK Jr.'s Vaccine Orders
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who led the agency's network to study hospitalization trends from infectious diseases like COVID-19 has resigned in protest following Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s orders to change the agency's vaccine recommendations and the committee that makes them. Dr. Fiona Havers' last day at the CDC was Monday, according to an announcement sent by an agency official to her branch within the agency's Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division. They received the notice shortly after Reuters first reported on the resignation. (Tin, 6/16)

NBC News: Poll: RFK Jr.'s Food Agenda Finds Appeal Across Partisan Lines, But Vaccines Are A Different Story
New polling about Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and elements of his policy agenda shows how his “Make America Healthy Again” push doesn't break down along the same neat partisan lines as other issues, creating some political vulnerability and some opportunity. A significant majority of U.S. adults support using vaccines to prevent diseases, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents, according to the NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey. (Kamisar and Edwards, 6/16)

PHARMACEUTICALS

The Wall Street Journal: Attorneys General Sign $7.4 Billion Purdue Pharma Opioid Settlement
All 55 attorneys general signed onto a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family for their role in the opioid crisis. The attorneys general, who represent all eligible U.S. states and territories, finished signing the settlement on Monday after it was reached in principle in January. The deal ends the Sacklers’ control of Purdue, bars them from selling opioids in the U.S. and delivers funding across the country to support opioid-addiction treatment and prevention. (Hamilton, 6/16)

Axios: DOGE Cuts Cause FDA To Delay Decision On Hereditary Disease Drug
The Food and Drug Administration will miss a deadline this week deciding whether to approve a drug for a potentially life-threatening genetic disorder because of "heavy workload and limited resources," manufacturer KalVista Pharmaceuticals said. It appears to be the first time an FDA review had to be extended because of DOGE-directed cuts to staff at the agency. (Reed, 6/16)

Los Angeles Times: Lilly's Experimental Obesity Drug Shows Promise In Early Studies
An experimental weight loss drug from Eli Lilly & Co. helped patients lose weight with few side effects, according to the summary of a small study that suggests the company has another foothold in the obesity market. The drug, called eloralintide, helped some patients lose more than 11% of their body weight in three months, according to an abstract posted Friday ahead of the American Diabetes Assn. conference in Chicago. The drug is moving to the next stage of development and researchers will present details on dosing and safety at the conference next week. (Muller, 6/16)

ProPublica: The Secret Gamble At The FDA That Exposed Americans To Risky Drugs
On a sweltering morning in western India in 2022, three U.S. inspectors showed up unannounced at a massive pharmaceutical plant surrounded by barricades and barbed wire and demanded to be let inside. For two weeks, they scrutinized humming production lines and laboratories spread across the dense industrial campus, peering over the shoulders of workers at the tablet presses, mixers and filling machines that produce dozens of generic drugs for Americans. (Cenziper, Rose, Roberts and Hwang, 6/17)

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

The Hill: Abortion Providers Devastated By Political Killings, Hit List  
Abortion providers and reproductive rights advocates are devastated by the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband over the weekend by a suspect who allegedly planned to also target abortion providers. Former state Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband were shot and killed in their home just outside of Minneapolis on Saturday. Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife were wounded in a shooting by the same suspect. (O’Connell-Domenech, 6/16)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Bloomberg: UnitedHealth Cuts Commissions on Some Medicare Advantage Plans
UnitedHealth Group Inc. is cutting commissions for brokers on some Medicare Advantage plans, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News, a move that appears designed to discourage agents from selling those plans. The decision comes as UnitedHealth grapples with high costs in Medicare Advantage that derailed its financial outlook and sent its share price tumbling. By steering brokers away from selling some of these plans, the insurance giant could ultimately lower its costs. (Swetlitz and Tozzi, 6/16)

Stat: To Boost Medicare Advantage Profitability, Humana Turns To Old Tactic: The Annual Wellness Visit
A central theme in Humana’s plan for boosting Medicare Advantage profitability in the future is a strategy its peers have relied on for over a decade: coaxing members in for their annual wellness visits. (Bannow, 6/16)

Bloomberg: Samsung Building Hub For Patients To Share Data With Doctors
Samsung Electronics Co. plans to develop a hub for users to share health data directly with doctors in between visits, stepping up competition in the technology-driven health care race. During appointments, doctors often share recommendations or fitness suggestions — but it’s not always easy to remember the guidance. In an interview, Samsung health executive Dr. Hon Pak said the company is working on tools to cut down that disconnect, port data collected on watches into a central location and nudge users to stay on top of goals provided by doctors. (Kelly, 6/16)

Modern Healthcare: Pacs Group To Re-Release 2024 Financial Reports
Nursing home operator Pacs Group is re-releasing its financial reports from the first half of 2024 after an audit delayed results for several months. Pacs Group said Monday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that additional scrutiny, including an independent audit committee’s investigation and Medicare Part B billing uncertainties, led management to reconsider compliance of claims for respiratory and other services. (Hudson, 6/17)

STATE WATCH

North Carolina Health News: NC Lawmakers Seek To Define Biological Sex, Dismiss Gender Identity
State lawmakers at the North Carolina General Assembly are pondering another bill that would affect transgender people — the latest in a string of legislation targeting this population that has been introduced in recent years. Some of it has become law. (Vitaglione and Crumpler, 6/17)

The Baltimore Sun: University Of Maryland Medical System Sues Over Denied Medicaid Claims
The University of Maryland Medical System filed a lawsuit Monday against a company it claims “improperly denied” more than $15 million in Medicaid payments for services the hospital group provided to more than 15,000 lower-income patients. (Parker, 6/16)

WUSF: Florida's AG Sues Chinese Maker Of Patient Monitors, Alleging Cybersecurity Risks 
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a lawsuit against a Chinese medical device manufacturer and its Miami-based reseller, alleging deceptive business practices and citing cybersecurity risks. Patient monitors made by Contec Medical System contain a hidden “backdoor” that could allow unauthorized access and manipulation of medical data, according to a Monday press release from Uthmeier’s office. (Mayer, 6/17)

AP: Judge Tosses Defamation Case Brought By Ohio Doctor Who Was Acquitted Of Killing Patients
A former Ohio doctor who was fired before being found not guilty on murder charges in the deaths of 14 patients lost a defamation lawsuit against his former employers on Monday, after a judge stepped in for a jury on grounds the evidence presented by the defendants was incontrovertible. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Stephen McIntosh issued his directed verdict against former doctor William Husel, whose attorneys accused Michigan-based Trinity Health and Mount Carmel Health System in Columbus of orchestrating a campaign to destroy his reputation. Husel was seeking more than $18 million from the health care companies. (Carr Smyth and Seewer, 6/17)

The New York Times: Doctor Who Gave Matthew Perry Ketamine Will Plead Guilty, U.S. Says
A doctor who illegally supplied the “Friends” actor Matthew Perry with the drug ketamine in the weeks leading up to Mr. Perry’s death in 2023 — traveling to his home and a parking lot to inject him — has agreed to plead guilty, according to court documents. The doctor, Salvador Plasencia, could face up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine on four criminal counts of distributing of ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, under the agreement, which was filed on Monday in federal court in Los Angeles. (Vigdor, 6/16)

AP: Trial Opens For Suit Against Pardoned Capitol Rioter Over Officer's Suicide
Nine days after he helped defend the U.S. Capitol from a mob of Trump supporters, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith shot and killed himself while driving to work. Over four years later, Smith’s widow is trying to prove to a jury that one of the thousands of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is responsible for her husband’s suicide. The trial for Erin Smith’s wrongful death lawsuit against David Walls-Kaufman started nearly six months after President Donald Trump torpedoed the largest investigation in FBI history. (Kunzelman, 6/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: New California Laws Taking Effect July 1: What You Need To Know
Beginning July 1, a new wave of California laws will go into effect, impacting everything from court access and student mental health to pet insurance regulations and local minimum wage hikes. Enacted as part of a broader legislative agenda approved by state lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom, these measures aim to enhance consumer transparency, expand public health protections and improve access to the judicial system. (Vaziri, 6/16)

PUBLIC HEALTH

CIDRAP: Salmonella Outbreak Tied To Pistachio Cream Sickens People In 2 States
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on June 13 announced a Salmonella Oraneinburg outbreak linked to pistachio cream that has so far sickened four patients in two states, Minnesota and New Jersey. One of the patients was hospitalized. Pistachio cream is a sweet spread that typically contains pistachios, sugar, and oil. (Schnirring, 6/16)

CNN: Fathers’ Mental Health Important For Child Development, Study Says 
Mothers bear much of the burden for a child’s healthy development, from pregnancy through their teen years. But a large, new study adds to the growing body of evidence saying fathers, too, are responsible for the types of development that help children grow physically, emotionally and cognitively. (Rogers, 6/16)