Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Tuesday, May 19, 2026
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
KFF Health News: Eroding ACA Enrollment Portends Higher Insurance Rates
Enrollment in the Affordable Care Act continues to erode as some customers struggle to make premium payments, with the declining numbers churning market uncertainty for insurers. In response, insurers are likely to raise rates again next year, following this year’s larger-than-typical hikes. Sign-ups were already down in January by about 1.2 million from last year’s record enrollment. For this year, enrollees then faced premiums that increased, on average, by 26%. On top of that, subsidies that help people purchase coverage shrank or vanished. (Appleby, 5/19)
KFF Health News: Efforts To Understand The Nation’s Drugged Driving Problem Stall Under Trump
Two state transportation workers were replacing a sign on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 6 in western Colorado one morning when a Jeep Grand Cherokee swerved off the road and struck them. The workers, Nathan Jones and Trent Umberger, died in the September 2024 crash, as did a passenger in the Jeep. Tests found that the driver, Patrick Sneddon, then 59, had oxycodone and six times Colorado’s presumed impairment threshold for THC — the psychoactive compound in cannabis — in his blood. He pleaded guilty and is serving 30 years in prison on three counts of vehicular homicide and other charges. (DiCola, 5/19)
PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS
Stat: SCOTUS Rejects Pharma Challenge To Medicare Drug Price Negotiations
The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a major blow to the brand drug industry’s legal campaign against the Medicare drug price negotiation program. The court declined to take up lawsuits against the program by AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Janssen, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. The justices did not give a reason for their decision. (Wilkerson, 5/18)
Stat: Generic Drugs Added To TrumpRx Via Amazon, Mark Cuban Deals
The White House announced an expansion of its prescription drug discount platform, TrumpRx, on Monday, adding more than 600 generic drugs to the website. The expansion comes via a partnership with entrepreneur Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company, as well as Amazon Pharmacy and GoodRx, which both also provide drug savings or low-cost prescription medicines. (Cirruzzo and Payne, 5/18)
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Bloomberg: HHS Rescinds Vaccine Panel Charter After Administrative Error
The US Department of Health and Human Services has rescinded the committee charter for a key vaccine advisory panel after previously changing the rules to allow Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to remake the group. In a notice posted on Monday, the agency said it is returning the group to its original framework for the next two years following an administrative error. HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn’t provide the appropriate amount of time for public comment before issuing the new charter on April 6, the notice said. (Nix, 5/18)
MedPage Today: HHS Panel That Aims To Reshape U.S. Healthcare Holds Its First Meeting
A new HHS health advisory committee met very briefly Monday to introduce its members and outline its broad goals for reshaping large parts of the healthcare system. The Healthcare Advisory Committee, whose existence was announced on March 26, says on its website that its purpose is to "advise HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator [Mehmet Oz, MD, MBA] on ways to improve how care is financed and delivered across Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program [CHIP], and the [Affordable Care Act] Health Insurance Marketplace. The committee will provide non-binding recommendations to inform federal healthcare policy and program administration." (Frieden, 5/18)
The Hill: Trump Proposes Partial Rollback Of ‘Forever Chemical’ Drinking Water Protections
The Trump administration on Monday moved to partially roll back drinking water protections from toxic “forever chemicals.” The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to allow some delays for water systems to regulate these chemicals. It also said it would rescind four of the six types of forever chemicals covered under a Biden-era rule. (Frazin, 5/18)
AP: AP Fact Check: Trump Distorts Recent Revisions Of Scientific Projections Of Global Warming
President Donald Trump recently blasted the accuracy of global warming projections in a Truth Social post that itself painted a distorted view of the science, projections and how the international community discusses climate policy. Every several years, the United Nations produces massive scientific reports on what’s happening and likely to happen with human-caused global warming. Scientists update some of the scenarios used to make future projections. One key control knob, which determines the amount and impact of future climate change, is carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. The more carbon pollution, the more global warming, so scientists base their projections on a buffet of potential scenarios. (Borenstein, 5/18)
EBOLA OUTBREAK
BBC: American Doctor Who Contracted Ebola In DR Congo Evacuated For Treatment
Medical missionary group Serge said Monday that one of its US doctors, Peter Stafford, had tested positive for Ebola. He was exposed while treating patients at Nyankunde Hospital in Bunia, where he has worked since 2023, said the charity. Two other doctors from the group who were exposed while treating patients, including Stafford's wife, Dr Rebekah Stafford, did not have symptoms and were following quarantine protocols, the group said in a statement. The Staffords met in medical school at Ohio State University. (Halpert, 5/19)
The New York Times: W.H.O. Chief Is ‘Deeply Concerned’ By Speed And Scale Of Ebola Outbreak As Cases Rise
The head of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday that he was “deeply concerned about the scale and speed” of the Ebola outbreak spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, as the suspected death toll in Congo climbed to over 130 people. (Zhuang, 5/19)
Stat: WHO Ebola Experts Weigh Trying Old Vaccine In New Outbreak
The latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was only confirmed to be underway at the end of last week, is already the fourth largest on record. The deadly virus is spreading in a conflict zone where recent Ebola experience has shown containment will be a challenge. There is no vaccine that targets the species of the virus that is spreading there, Bundibugyo. (Branswell, 5/18)
AP: The Ebola Virus Spreading In Congo Is A Rare Species With No Vaccines Or Treatments
The species of Ebola virus causing an outbreak in Congo that has killed nearly 120 people is less common than other Ebola viruses, which is complicating the response because there are no specific treatments or vaccines. “There’s nothing even close to ready for clinical trials,” said Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist who treated patients in West Africa during the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic. “And so that means responders, healthcare workers and other aid workers are really back to the basics.” (Shastri, 5/19)
HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK
AP: Hantavirus-Stricken Ship Docks In Netherlands For Disinfection
The cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has docked at the Dutch port of Rotterdam for disinfection, wrapping up a troubled journey that put international health authorities on alert. The MV Hondius was still carrying 25 crew members and two medical personnel as it reached Europe’s largest port on Monday morning, after its passengers disembarked on the Spanish island of Tenerife last week. (Quell, 5/18)
GUN VIOLENCE AND MENTAL HEALTH
The Washington Post: Mother’s Call To Police Sparked Search Before San Diego Mosque Shooting
Three men were fatally shot at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday morning, and two teenage suspects were found dead nearby shortly after, authorities said. The attackers’ motive was not immediately clear, and San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said they had made no known threat to the mosque. But he said “hate rhetoric was involved,” and investigators are treating the shooting as a hate crime. ... The police department received a call Monday morning about a runaway juvenile from the mother of one of the suspects, Wahl said. She reported that she believed her son was suicidal, and that he had taken three of her weapons and departed in her car with a companion, both of them clad in camouflage clothing. (Alfaro and Brulliard, 5/19)
AP: Luigi Mangione Trial: Gun And Notebook Admitted As Evidence
A gun and notebook that prosecutors say link Luigi Mangione to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson can be used as evidence at his murder trial, a judge ruled Monday, rejecting a defense argument that they were seized illegally. Judge Gregory Carro’s decision, five months after he held a hearing to examine how police came upon the items, is a major win for prosecutors, enabling them to show jurors a possible murder weapon and motive. That mirrors an earlier ruling in Mangione’s federal case. (Sisak, 5/18)
Fierce Healthcare: Study Examines U.S. Hospital Shootings Over Past 25 Years
Hospital-based shootings across the U.S. have “increased steadily” over the past 25 years, a new study published in JAMA Network Open found. Between 2000 and 2024, shootings increased from six to 34 per year—or a 6.4% increase per year. And, from 2012 to 2024, incidents rose 8.4% year-over-year from 14 to 34 shootings. (Gleeson, 5/18)
REPRODUCTIVE AND SEXUAL HEALTH
The New York Times: Abortion Pill Lawsuit Leaves Trump In A Political Bind Ahead Of The Midterms
With the midterm elections less than six months away, Republicans are facing challenging political headwinds, including an unpopular war, escalating inflation and President Trump’s sinking approval ratings. Now another issue is putting the administration in a political bind. Abortion. Four years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which established a national right to abortion in 1973, it remains widely available, and the number of abortions per year has actually increased slightly. ... But a lawsuit against the F.D.A. now threatens that access, and the Trump administration has remained strikingly silent about it, even as the case reached the Supreme Court this month. (Belluck and Stolberg, 5/18)
The 19th: The Word ‘Black’ Has Disappeared From A Set Of Bills Aimed At Addressing Black Maternal Health
The word “Black” has been almost completely removed from a package of bills that have long been viewed as Congress’ main legislative vehicle to address the Black maternal health crisis, frustrating some advocates who feel Black women are being erased from the policy. (Rodriguez, 5/18)
Stat: Why Doctors Are Alarmed By The Rise Of Drinking During Pregnancy
The idea of drinking during pregnancy sounds like a generational punchline: Someone’s grandmother drank beer to fatten her fetus, another had a nightly martini to get a healthy amount of sleep — presumably unthinkable behavior in today’s America. Yet after precipitous declines in the last 50 years, rates of alcohol use in pregnancy in the U.S. started climbing upward a decade ago. (Cueto, 5/19)
MedPage Today: Erectile Dysfunction May Predispose Older Men To Multiple Types Of Substance Abuse
Older men with erectile dysfunction (ED) have an increased risk of substance abuse, including sedatives, opioids, and cocaine, according to a large retrospective study. ED had the strongest association with sedative abuse, more than twice as likely as a matched cohort without ED. The risk was at least 50% greater for other psychoactive substances (such as ketamine), cocaine, and opioids. The risk of cannabis abuse was 45% greater in men with ED. An ED diagnosis was associated with a reduced risk of nicotine dependence in men of all ages. The analysis did not include alcohol abuse. (Bankhead, 5/18)
The New York Times: Silicon Valley’s Answer To Declining Male Fertility? Sperm Racing.
A San Francisco biotech start-up races sex cells on tiny tracks. Can an internet joke become a serious business? (Penny, 5/19)
CIDRAP: Mpox Infections May Outnumber Diagnosed Cases 33 To 1, Study Suggests
Asymptomatic mpox infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) may be far more common than previously recognized and could be playing a role in ongoing transmission, according to a study published last week in Nature Communications. Researchers estimate that actual infections may outnumber diagnosed cases by 33 to one. The findings challenge the assumption that most mpox cases are spread by people with symptoms. (Bergeson, 5/18)
CIDRAP: Most Teens Don't Know They Can Receive Confidential STI Treatment
Roughly half of new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) every year are among young adults and teens, and all states, to varying degrees, allow minors to independently access STI testing and treatment without a guardian's consent. But a new study published today by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) shows that most adolescents don't know they have the legal right to access this confidential treatment. (Boden, 5/18)
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Chicago Tribune: Nurses At Rush University Medical Center Vote To Unionize
Nurses at Rush University Medical Center have voted to unionize, a vote that will make Rush one of the largest Chicago hospitals with unionized nurses. (Schencker, 5/18)
Modern Healthcare: Oregon Approves Compassus-Providence Home Health Joint Venture
Oregon gave the green light for Compassus to acquire a 50% stake in Providence’s home health and hospice operations across the state. After more than a year of review, Oregon Health Authority’s Health Care Market Oversight program said in a Friday news release it approved the joint venture with conditions. The Oregon deal is expected to close in the fall, Providence said in an email. (Eastabrook, 5/18)
Modern Healthcare: RWJBarnabas Health Launches Food-Is-Medicine Hub In Newark
RWJBarnabas Health has opened a $7 million food-is-medicine hub to take on chronic disease, making it a potential standard bearer in the Make America Healthy Again movement. Last week, the New Jersey academic health system opened Harvest — an 8,000-square-foot facility in Newark that is a combination food bank, commercial kitchen and classroom. The center is designed to teach people living in nearby food deserts how to eat healthier and provide them with the food to do it. (Eastabrook, 5/18)
The New York Times: Insurers’ Delays In Approving Medical Care Persist, Despite Promises
Nearly a year after the nation’s health insurers pledged to overhaul their much-criticized practice of prior approval for medical care, patients and doctors say there is little evidence that delays and denials for necessary treatment have eased. Just ask Candace Rond. She tried for weeks to get medication for her 15-year-old daughter, Gabby, who has two autoimmune diseases. “The whole prior authorization experience is a nightmare,” Ms. Rond said. (Abelson, 5/18)
MENTAL HEALTH
The New York Times: Children’s Mental Health Visits Have Shot Up, Research Shows
A study of insurance claims for 1.8 million children found that the number of families raising mental health issues at visits to general practitioners rose sharply over a decade, with anxiety by far the fastest-growing complaint. The study, which was published on Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open, found that the number of pediatric visits rose to 9.7 percent in 2023 from 5.7 percent in 2014. (Barry, 5/18)
The Washington Post: Nearly Half Of Teens Are Losing Critical Sleep To Phone Use After Midnight
A new study from the University of California at San Francisco shows the extent to which school-night phone use could be disrupting vital sleep for adolescents. Teens averaged over 50 minutes of smartphone use between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. on school nights, researchers found, and nearly half of the teens used their phones between midnight and 4 a.m. The majority of that phone use was spent on social media apps like YouTube, Instagram or TikTok, the study found. Others were looking at streaming apps or playing games like Roblox or Clash Royale. (Gibson, 5/19)
The Washington Post: Surprising Drug Combo Could Reshape Treatment For Suicide Risk
A study to be presented Tuesday at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting found that a surprising combination of drugs — a single ketamine infusion followed by low-dose buprenorphine — significantly sustained reductions in suicidal ideation in adults with major depressive disorder. (Cha, 5/19)
PHARMACEUTICALS
Fox News: Pancreatic Cancer Drug Achieves 90% Disease Control, Heads To Phase 3
A new drug for pancreatic cancer is showing promise in early testing. Daraxonrasib is a daily pill designed to block cancer signals linked to the RAS gene. It has now finished an early-stage clinical trial — the first time it was tested in people — to evaluate both its safety and effectiveness. (Stabile, 5/18)
MedPage Today: Leucovorin Scripts Surged Even Before White House Autism Push
Prescriptions for leucovorin for children with autism rose sharply after widespread media attention early in 2025, and again after a White House briefing last fall promoted unproven claims about the drug, an analysis of national electronic health record data showed. (George, 5/18)
CIDRAP: Early Antiviral Use May Lower Risk Of Long COVID In Mildly Ill Patients, Aid Recovery From Infection
A pair of new observational studies by the same research group links early oral antiviral drug use to both a 14% lower risk of long COVID in nonhospitalized patients with Omicron infections and better patient-reported and functional outcomes after infection. (Van Beusekom, 5/18)
STATE WATCH
The Colorado Sun: Colorado Supreme Court Sides With Transgender Youth On Gender Care
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday that Children’s Hospital Colorado should resume providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth. In a 5-2 decision, the state’s highest court concluded there is sufficient evidence that Children’s violated state antidiscrimination law when it suspended gender-affirming care earlier this year in the face of mounting federal threats. (Ingold, 5/18)
Stat: Maryland State Affordability Board Places A Price Cap On Ozempic
The Maryland Prescription Drug Affordability Board agreed to set an upper payment limit for the Ozempic diabetes treatment, marking the second time that the state panel has taken such a step in recent weeks. (Silverman, 5/18)
Honolulu Civil Beat: Requiring Judges To Consider Past Trauma Of Youth Offenders Aim Of New Hawaii Law
Hawaiʻi is poised to become one of the first states in the nation to require a judge to consider a child’s exposure to trauma before charging the youth as an adult. Senate Bill 2108, which would also bar minor victims of trafficking or sexual assault from being charged as adults for going after their abuser, is the state’s latest juvenile justice reform. The move reflects research that shows most youth in the criminal justice system have experienced significant trauma – something experts, judges and even wardens say can be better addressed through a more rehabilitative approach on the juvenile side rather than a punitive one on the adult side. (Thompson, 5/18)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Audit: St. Louis County Has No Plan To Pay For $19M System
The St. Louis County health department purchased a new patient record-keeping system that will cost nearly $19 million over the next five years, but the county has no long-term plan to pay for it, according to a recent audit. (Landis, 5/18)
Mountain State Spotlight: OSHA Has 6 Inspectors To Keep 60,000 West Virginia Workplaces Safe
When two workers died last month in a violent chemical reaction at Ames Goldsmith Catalyst Refiners near Charleston, federal records showed the facility had previously been cited for safety violations in 2018. But that doesn’t mean inspectors had regularly checked on the operation in the years between. In fact, the facility had not been inspected again before the fatal incident, highlighting a problem with workplace safety in West Virginia and across the country: federal inspectors do not regularly inspect the most dangerous workplaces. (Spencer, 5/18)
AP: New Mexico Wildfire Sparked By Medical Plane Crash Spurs Evacuations
A fast-growing wildfire sparked by the fatal crash of a small medical plane outside Ruidoso, New Mexico, has triggered evacuations for a rural area north of the Capitan Mountains and closures in the Lincoln National Forest, officials said Monday. The plane was en route from Roswell Air Center to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport when it crashed before dawn Thursday, killing the four people aboard. They were identified as pilots Keelan Clark and Ali Kawsara with the company Generation Jets and flight nurses Jamie Novick and Sarah Clark with Trans Aero MedEvac. (Peters, 5/18)
AP: Officer Charged In Fatal Shooting Of A Black Man In Mental Distress
A white police officer in Connecticut who fatally shot a Black man suffering a mental health crisis has been charged with manslaughter after a state investigation found he failed to de-escalate the confrontation. The officer, Joseph Magnano, was fired by the Hartford Police Department following the Feb. 27 shooting of Steven Jones, a 55-year-old man with a history of mental illness who had been walking through the street holding a large knife. (Offenhartz, 5/19)
VTDigger: Vermont Officials Respond To Ongoing PFAS Contamination Concerns
The state of Vermont is offering well testing, free water and other support for southern Bennington and Shaftsbury in the wake of research last year that found PFAS contamination in the Bennington area has spread and worsened over time. The state is also in active negotiations with the current corporate owner of the now shuttered ChemFab factory in Bennington, which produced Teflon-coated fiberglass fabrics, containing PFOA, perfluorooctanoic acid. (Solsaa, 5/18)
The Frontier, ProPublica: Oklahoma Family Fights Regulators Over Oily Sludge Flooding Their Home
The Frontier and ProPublica’s reporting on oil and gas pollution in Oklahoma over the last year has shown how old oil wells abandoned by the industry pose severe public and environmental health risks. Officially, the state lists 19,000 orphan wells that state regulators are responsible for cleaning up, but the true figure is likely over 300,000, according to federal researchers. State records suggest that the Merediths’ house may have been built on top of an improperly plugged oil well drilled in the 1940s. ... State regulators, according to the family, have done little to help them. (Bowlin and Campbell, 5/18)
LIFESTYLE AND HEALTH
The Washington Post: Analysis Of Sports On TV Detected An Excess Of Gambling Ads
A Washington Post analysis of 50 hours of televised football, basketball and hockey games found that betting references have become a ubiquitous part of the viewing experience. A gambling reference, promotion or commercial occurred every four minutes on average during the segments of professional and college games examined by The Post. Every one of the sporting events had a reference to betting. (Merrill, O'Connell and Connors, 5/19)
Roll Call: US Overlooks Drug Treatment Centers In Hepatitis C Fight
Alison Starkie spends her days tracking down people who need testing or treatment for hepatitis C, especially those who are unhoused or actively using drugs. Starkie, an intervention worker for a drug treatment service, recalled the difficulty of treating a man living in a tent in northwest England. Each time he started treatment for the disease, his medication was lost or stolen. (Hellmann, 5/18)
