First Edition: Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: Wary Of RFK Jr., Colorado Started Revamping Its Vaccine Policies In The Spring
As Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s dismantling of federal vaccine policy continues to roil the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some Democratic-led states have struck out on their own, setting up new systems to help them assess the science and maintain immunization access for their residents. Four western states — California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington — have created a collaborative to preserve access to vaccines. Several northeastern states have done the same. (Daley, 10/7)

KFF Health News: Why Democrats Are Casting The Government Shutdown As A Health Care Showdown
Hours into the federal government shutdown, Julio Fuentes stood steps from the U.S. Capitol to deliver an urgent message about the Hispanic voting bloc that helped the GOP sweep into power last year. Those votes, he cautioned, are at risk if Congress doesn’t pass a law to preserve lower premiums on Affordable Care Act marketplace plans for the roughly 4.7 million people living in his home state of Florida who are enrolled in the coverage. (Seitz, 10/6)

VACCINES

NBC News: Acting CDC Director Calls To 'Break Up' The Measles, Mumps And Rubella Vaccine Into Three Shots
Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill on Monday called on vaccine manufacturers to develop separate shots for measles, mumps and rubella instead of the current vaccine, which combines the three. O’Neill wrote in a post on X that manufacturers should replace the MMR vaccine with “safe monovalent vaccines,” which only target one virus. His statement referenced a recent comment from President Donald Trump, who advised people last month on Truth Social to “break up the MMR shot into three totally separate shots.” (Bendix, 10/6)

The Washington Post: CDC Recommends Covid Vaccine With New Eligibility Rules
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday said it had officially recommended updated coronavirus vaccines, creating a new system to get a shot that’s slightly more complicated than in previous years. The agency approved a federal vaccine advisory panel’s recommendation last month urging people to first consult a clinician before getting the coronavirus shot. The move marked a shift from previous CDC policy that made vaccines widely available to nearly all Americans without question or cost. (Ovalle, 10/6)

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

AP: Trump Says He's Open To Shutdown Deal With Democrats
President Donald Trump cracked the door slightly to negotiations with Democrats on the health care subsidies they’ve made central to the shutdown fight, then abruptly closed it Monday, leaving the two sides once again at a seemingly intractable impasse. ... But Trump later followed up those comments on his social media site to reinforce what GOP leaders in Congress have been saying: The shutdown must end. And work on extending the enhanced tax credits for health insurance would take place separately. (Freking and Min Kim, 10/7)

The Hill: Mike Johnson Says House Has Time To Negotiate Affordable Care Act Subsidies
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) argued Monday the end-of-year deadline to extend subsidies offered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is an “eternity” away.“ We have effectively three months to negotiate. In the White House and in the halls of Congress, that’s like an eternity,” Johnson told MSNBC’s Ali Vitali. The subsidies ... expire at the end of December. But open enrollment in most states begins Nov. 1, and insurers could increase premiums if they anticipate the subsidies will expire. (Rego, 10/6)

The Hill: Greene ‘Disgusted’ If Health Care Tax Credits Expire And Premiums Double
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) signaled a willingness to negotiate with Democrats on their health care demands, breaking with her party on an issue at the core of the government shutdown standoff. In a lengthy post on the social platform X, Greene said she’s “absolutely disgusted” that health insurance premiums could double if the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits expire, even as she stressed her strong opposition to the Obama-era legislation and to health insurance in general. (Fortinsky, 10/6)

Fierce Healthcare: CMS Could Ease Rising ACA Premiums, But Only If Gov Reopens
The looming expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies is at the center of the ongoing government shutdown, with Republicans now pushing to reopen and negotiate a potential extension afterward. Mehmet Oz, M.D., administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, echoed that sentiment in an appearance at the Aspen Institute on Monday afternoon, calling the government shutdown a "public health emergency." (Minemyer, 10/6)

PHARMACEUTICALS

Bloomberg: Amgen Offers Cash Discounts On Drugs Following Trump’s Price-Cutting Push
Amgen Inc. is the latest drugmaker to offer its medicines at a discount for cash-paying patients, following President Donald Trump’s demands that pharmaceutical companies slash their prices in the US. Patients are now able to buy the cholesterol-lowering shot Repatha for $239 a month, a discount of nearly 60%, directly through a new, online platform called AmgenNow, the company said Monday. It also plans to make AmgenNow accessible via the newly announced TrumpRx website. (Muller, 10/6)

CIDRAP: US Relies Heavily On China, Other Nations For Antibiotics
A new analysis by researchers at Johns Hopkins University shows the United States has become increasingly reliant on other countries for antibiotics over the past 30-plus years. The study, published late last week in JAMA Health Forum, found that annual importation of antibiotics increased approximately 26-fold from 1992 through 2024. (Dall, 10/6)

Bloomberg: Eli Lilly To Invest $1 Billion In India Contract Manufacturing
Eli Lilly and Co. plans to invest more than $1 billion in India over the next few years to build new contract manufacturing capabilities in the South Asian nation, underscoring the US drugmaker’s push to bolster its global supply network. The Indianapolis-headquartered firm will also establish a new manufacturing and quality center in the southern city of Hyderabad, Eli Lilly said in a statement Monday. (Sanjay, 10/6)

The Washington Post: Trump Slashed Funding For Universities That Helped Create These Vital Drugs
For most people, medicines are a bottle of pills on a shelf — made by drug companies, stocked by pharmacies, prescribed by doctors. But drugs that people take for serious illnesses — to prevent HIV, shrink tumors and treat seizures — have years-long backstories that often trace to basic science experiments in university laboratories. That foundation is now under threat. The Trump administration has abruptly frozen billions in research grants to universities it accuses of antisemitism or bias unrelated to the research. (Johnson, Douglas-Gabriel and Brasch, 10/6)

MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

NPR: Psychiatrists Call For RFK Jr. To Be Replaced As Health Secretary
Psychiatrists have joined other public health groups in calling for the removal of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary. Two psychiatry organizations — the Southern California Psychiatry Society and the recently formed grassroots Committee to Protect Public Mental Health — have released statements saying that the actions of the leader of the Department of Health and Human Services have increased stigma, instilled fear and hurt access to mental health and addiction care. (Chatterjee, 10/6)

Wired: As EPA Ends Emissions Data Program, Who Will Step Up?
The Clean Air Act requires states to collect data on local pollution levels, which states then turn over to the federal government. For the past 15 years, the EPA has also collected data on carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases from sources around the country that emit over a certain threshold of emissions. This program is known as the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, or GHGRP. ... Like a myriad of other data-collection processes that have been stalled or halted since the start of this year, the Trump administration has put this program in the crosshairs. (Taft, 10/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: Santa Clara, Calif., Voters Will Weigh Measure A, A Sales Tax Hike Billed As An Anti-Trump Move
Democrats are pitching California’s Nov. 4 special election as a means to oppose President Donald Trump’s agenda. But in Santa Clara County, voters will face an additional measure being sold the same way. Not only will voters there be asked to weigh Prop 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting plan — a direct response to a Trump-driven congressional map change in Texas meant to favor Republicans — but also whether to raise local sales taxes. That tax hike, county leaders say, is crucial to countering Trump’s Medicaid cuts that will affect Santa Clara’s public hospital system. (DiNatale, 10/6)

LGBTQ+ HEALTH CARE

AP: Supreme Court Hears LGBTQ Case On Conversion Therapy Bans
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in its latest LGBTQ+ rights case Tuesday, weighing the constitutionality of bans passed by nearly half of U.S. states on the practice known as conversion therapy for children. The justices are hearing a lawsuit from a Christian counselor challenging a Colorado law that prohibits therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity. (Whitehurst, 10/7)

AP: New York Judge Upholds Nassau County's Transgender Athlete Ban
A New York judge on Monday upheld a Long Island county’s law banning transgender women from playing on female sports teams at county-run parks and recreational facilities. In a decision in a suit brought by a roller derby league, Judge R. Bruce Cozzens wrote that Nassau County’s ban is designed “to protect women and girls” and that transgender athletes can still play in coed sports leagues at the county’s facilities. (10/6)

THE NOBEL PRIZE

The Guardian: Nobel Committee Unable To Reach Prize Winner Who Is ‘Living His Best Life’ Hiking Off Grid
The Nobel committee has been unable to reach a winner of this year’s prize for medicine who is “living his best life” on an “off the grid” hiking foray. Fred Ramsdell shared Monday’s prestigious prize with Mary Brunkow of Seattle, Washington and Shimon Sakaguchi of Osaka University in Japan for their discoveries related to the functioning of the immune system. But the laureate’s digital detox means the Nobel committee has been unable to reach him and break the news. (10/6)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Modern Healthcare: Physician Pay Trends: On-Call Requirements Becoming Nonnegotiable
Physician pay is increasing, largely through sign-on bonuses, but higher salaries alone often aren’t enough to retain physicians or attract top-tier talent. Advanced technology, paid time off and compensation for on-call requirements are just a few of the demands incoming physicians have for potential employers, according to respondents to Modern Healthcare’s 2025 Physician Compensation Survey. This year’s results reflect data from nine staffing and consulting firms, indicating that the trend of rising physician compensation isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon. (DeSilva, 10/6)

MedPage Today: These Physicians Are More Likely To Leave Clinical Practice
Physician attrition increased across the board from 2013 to 2019, but some physician and patient characteristics were linked to higher rates, a longitudinal study found. The unadjusted rate of clinical practice attrition increased from 3.5% in 2013 to 4.9% in 2019 (rate difference 1.4 percentage points, 95% CI 1.3-1.4 percentage points), reported Lisa Rotenstein, MD, MBA, MSc, of the University of California San Francisco, and colleagues. (Robertson, 10/6)

Phys.org: Health Care Workers Turn To AI To Reduce Electronic Paperwork Burnout
A Yale School of Medicine-led research group, working with six US health systems, reports an association between a single ambient AI scribe platform and lower short-term burnout among ambulatory clinicians. ... Among 186 participants included in the burnout models, the proportion meeting the burnout threshold fell from 51.9% to 38.8% after 30 days. ... A sensitivity analysis using a severe burnout cutoff of four showed a reduction from 18.4% to 12.2%. (Jackson, 10/6)

Stat: Telehealth Growth Fueled By Doctors With 50 State Licenses 
Jonah Mink started racking up medical licenses during the Covid-19 pandemic. The family medicine doctor, who finished his residency at the University of Pennsylvania in 2016, was already working for a digital health company as the virus took root in the United States. But when doctors’ offices started shutting down, physicians like him saw the writing on the wall: Telehealth was the future. At the end of 2019, Mink had licenses in just four states. Over the next three years, he accumulated 47 more — one for every state, plus the District of Columbia. (Palmer, 10/7)

Modern Healthcare: Atlantic Health, Saint Peter's Call Off Merger
Atlantic Health and Saint Peter’s Healthcare System have called off plans to combine. The New Jersey health systems said in a joint Monday news release they mutually agreed to end discussions due to the impact of a “rapidly evolving healthcare landscape nationally” on providers. (Hudson, 10/6)

Becker's Hospital Review: An Effective Approach To Cut Wasteful Pre-Surgery Testing: Study
A customized, team-based strategy significantly reduced unnecessary pre-operative testing for common elective surgeries, according to a new study led by researchers at Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine. The intervention, called Right-Sizing Testing Before Elective Surgery, or RITE-Size, was piloted at three hospitals. It focused on reducing low-value testing for patients undergoing gallbladder removal, hernia repair or breast lump removal, which are considered low-risk procedures for healthy individuals. (Cerutti, 10/6)

ProPublica: How To Fight Your Health Insurance Denial With An External Appeal
When a health insurance company refuses to pay for treatment, most people begrudgingly accept the decision. Few patients appeal; some don’t trust the insurer to reverse its own decision. But a little-known process that requires insurers and plans to seek an independent opinion outside their walls can force insurers to pay for what can be lifesaving treatment. External reviews are one of the industry’s best-kept secrets, and only a tiny fraction of those eligible actually use them. (Eldeib, 10/7)

CANCER

ABC News: New York Law Will Give Breast Cancer Patients A Chance To Keep Their Hair 
When Maureen Green was diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago, the finance professional and mom-of-two decided to try scalp cooling, a treatment that helps preserve hair during chemotherapy. ... The price tag for hair preservation has long forced breast cancer patients like Green to make tough choices. ... Starting next year, New York will become the first state in the nation to ease that burden with a new law requiring private insurance companies to cover scalp cooling for chemotherapy patients. (Neporent, 10/6)

MedPage Today: FDA Says Yes To Cryoablation For Early Breast Cancer
The FDA granted marketing authorization for the ProSense Cryoablation System for small, early-stage breast cancer in older women not suitable for surgery, maker IceCure announced. A minimally invasive tool that destroys tumors by freezing them, the device is indicated for women 70 years and older who have biologically low-risk tumors, no larger than 1.5 cm, and who are being treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy. (Bassett, 10/6)

PUBLIC HEALTH

CNN: Climate Pollution From Inhalers Has The Impact Of Half A Million Cars Per Year, Study Finds 
The people who are most vulnerable to the hard-to-breathe air that comes with climate change may inadvertently be adding to the problem, new research finds. About 34 million Americans have a chronic lung disease, including 28 million who have asthma, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America – and the number is expected to grow as higher temperatures bring more weather phenomena that trigger breathing issues like droughts, floods and wildfires. (Christensen, 10/6)

ABC News: Exposure To Mining Fossil Fuel Linked To ALS, New Research Finds
A major pollutant from mining fossil fuels has been linked to an increased risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to new research. Longterm exposure to sulfur dioxide, a component produced by the combustion of oil-based fuel and coal, is associated with the development of the neurodegenerative disease, a paper published in Environmental Research found. (Jacobo, 10/7)

Newsweek: Scientists Achieve ‘Striking Reversal Of Alzheimer’s’ In Mice
Scientists have achieved a “striking” reversal of Alzheimer’s disease in mice by restoring the normal function of the brain's vasculature—the network of blood vessels that supplies it with oxygen and nutrients. Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and West China Hospital of Sichuan University (WCHSU), working with partners in the UK, showed this was possible using nanotechnology. (Millington, 10/6)

MedPage Today: Parkinson's Risk May Rise With Restless Legs Syndrome
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) appeared to be associated with a subsequent Parkinson's disease diagnosis, data from a Korean retrospective cohort study suggested. In a case-control analysis, the incidence of Parkinson's disease was 1.0% in the control group and 1.6% among people with RLS, said Jong Hun Kim, MD, PhD, of Korea University Ansan Hospital in South Korea, and co-authors. (George, 10/6)

CIDRAP: Nearly 1 In 3 Adults With Severe Long COVID Have Rare Heart-Rhythm Disorder, Data Suggest
An uncommon heart-rhythm disorder occurs in nearly 1 in 3 adults with severe long COVID, most of them middle-aged women, Swedish researchers write in Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. In contrast, the condition affected less than 1% of the Swedish population before the pandemic. (Van Beusekom, 10/6)

CIDRAP: Cidara Announces Funding For Non-Vaccine Flu Preventive, CD388
Cidara Therapeutics, Inc announced it has received up to $339 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to fund work on CD388, a non-vaccine preventive for both pandemic and seasonal flu. (Soucheray, 10/6)

AP: Federal Health Officials Warn Against Hello Fresh Meal Kits Over Listeria Risk
Federal health officials late Monday warned people not to eat certain Hello Fresh subscription meal kits containing spinach that may be contaminated with listeria. The U.S. Agriculture Department issued a public health alert for the meals, which were produced by FreshRealm, the San Clemente, California-based company linked to an expanding listeria outbreak tied to heat-and-eat pasta meals. (Aleccia, 10/7)

NBC News: IV Hydration Spas Are Largely Unregulated Despite Growing Popularity, Study Finds
The booming IV hydration spa industry operates with virtually no oversight or data backing up its claims, according to the first comprehensive national analysis of hydration clinics. At clinics nationwide, people pay hundreds of dollars to have vitamins and minerals dripped directly into their veins as a detox, to ease headaches or boost immunity, “almost completely without evidence,” said Dr. Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest and co-author of the study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Edwards, 10/6)

WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST

World Food Programme: War In Gaza Two Years On: Humanitarian Access Improves But Acute Hunger Persists 
Humanitarian conditions in Gaza remain horrific two years since the start of a war that has decimated lives, homes and livelihoods. A lack of access to food, shelter, water and medicine has taken an unfathomable toll on entire communities. WFP has seen some progress in food security in the past few weeks: Just a few months ago people were going for days without eating. Now more families are eating daily. A 25 kg bag of wheat flour costing US$340 in July was down to US$50 by the end of August. However, new, forced relocations jeopardize the progress made. More than 450,000 people have fled from northern Gaza to the south since August, but many of the most vulnerable remain trapped without means to leave. (10/6)

Mondoweiss: ‘Our Children Are Wasting Away Before Our Eyes’: Starvation Deaths On The Rise In Gaza As Famine Continues 
Since the beginning of September alone, over 92 people have starved to death in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. This indicates a rapid increase in starvation-related deaths — in July, the toll stood at 122 people, and now it has reached 447, including 147 children. The Health Ministry confirms that in September, deaths from malnutrition “notably increased” due to Israel’s closure of the crossings, which prevented food aid, including baby formula, from reaching those in need. “Our children are wasting away before our eyes,” said one mother whose child died of malnutrition. “And what is coming will be much worse, because the situation is deteriorating. We see no solutions — only a merciless blockade, deprivation, and death.” (Hajjaj, 10/3)

The New York Times: This Is What Malnutrition Does to Children’s Bodies
When children are deprived of sufficient food, a cascade of health failures can quickly follow. Critical illness and death threaten, and even those who survive may face a lifetime of health challenges. Young Palestinians, particularly those under age 5, are especially vulnerable in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has imposed restrictions on the entry of aid throughout the war, at times shutting crossings entirely. The highest levels of malnutrition since the war began were reported this summer, and its largest city has been officially declared under famine by a panel of food-security experts. (Robles, Nolen and Boxerman, 9/14)

Health Policy Watch: If And When The Guns Fall Silent - Gaza Faces Overwhelming Rehabilitation Task 
Gazans with serious, long-term rehabilitation needs represent about one-quarter of the 167,376 people injured since the war began, according to the new WHO report.  Over 5,000 people have faced amputation. Other severe injuries, include damage to limbs (over  22,000); spinal cord (over 2,000); brain (over 1,300), and major burns (more than 3,300). WHO has previously estimated that some $3 billion would be needed over just the next 18 months to rebuild Gaza’s shattered health system. Costs could be as high as $10 billion over the next several years. (Fletcher, 6/10)