First Edition: Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

KFF Health News: At CDC, Worries Mount That Agency Has Taken Anti-Science Turn
Public health and access to lifesaving vaccines are on the line in a high-stakes leadership battle at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to fire CDC director Susan Monarez is more than an administrative shake-up. The firing marks a major offensive by Kennedy to seize control of the agency and impose an anti-vaccine, anti-science agenda that will have profound effects on the lives and health of all Americans, public health leaders say. (Armour, 9/3)

KFF Health News: Changes At NIH Give Political Appointees Greater Power To Fund Or Block Research
The Trump administration has given notice that political appointees, rather than scientists, will ultimately decide who gets grant money from the world’s largest biomedical research funder — the federal government’s National Institutes of Health. In an Aug. 7 executive order, President Donald Trump announced that political officers would have the power to summarily cancel any federal grant, including for scientific work, that is not “consistent with agency priorities.” Senior officials should not “routinely defer” to recommendations from peer reviewers, who have provided the backbone of federal science funding for eight decades. (Allen, 9/3)

KFF Health News: Do Pediatricians Recommend Vaccines To Make A Profit? There’s Not Much Money In It
It makes sense to approach some marketing efforts with skepticism. Scams, deepfakes, and deceptive social media posts are common, with people you don’t know seeking to profit from your behavior. But should people extend this same skepticism to pediatricians who advise vaccines for children? Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said financial bonuses are driving such recommendations. (Czopek, 9/3)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
Aug. 28: Sam Whitehead reads the week’s news: Emergency rooms with no doctor on staff are becoming more common in rural areas, and higher costs for Affordable Care Act plans could hit early retirees and small-business owners hard next year. Aug. 21: Zach Dyer reads the week’s news: Some doctors are changing how they talk to patients about immunizations because of changes to federal vaccine policy, and 26 is the age with the highest uninsured rate. (Cook, 9/2)

PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS

Becker's Hospital Review: Real-Time Drug Pricing Access Rule To Take Effect
HHS announced prescription drug reforms are set to take effect Oct. 1, designed to give patients and physicians real-time access to prescription drug costs, insurance coverage details and prior authorization requirements. The rule was issued in July as part of CMS Inpatient Prospective Payment System and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System final rule. It will require healthcare providers to use certified health IT systems to electronically submit prior authorization requests, check on drug prices during appointments and share prescription information with pharmacies and insurers, according to a Sept. 2 news release from the agency. (Murphy, 9/2)

Stat: Gilead Wants State AIDS Drug Programs To Pay Big Price Hikes For HIV Meds
Gilead Sciences, the largest maker of HIV medicines, is seeking to boost prices significantly for several treatments that are widely distributed by state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs. And the move is adding to financial uncertainty for the programs on top of concerns prompted by Trump administration funding cuts. (Silverman, 9/2)

Becker's Hospital Review: Court Rules Trump Tariffs Unlawful: 6 Things To Know
President Donald Trump’s imposed tariffs on foreign nations have been ruled unlawful by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court ruled he went too far by declaring national emergencies to justify the duties, CBS News reported Sept. 1. Here are six things to know: The 7-4 decision, rendered Aug. 29, largely sided with a decision made in May by a federal trade court in New York. However, the appeals court decision got rid of a part of the previous ruling that struck down tariffs immediately, allowing time for the Trump administration to appeal to the Supreme Court. (Murphy, 9/2)

FEDERAL REORGANIZATION AND FUNDING CUTS

Axios: Trump Admin Agrees To Restore Public Health Webpages
The Trump administration agreed to restore scores of health agency webpages and datasets that went dark to comply with executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion and gender identity, under a court settlement announced on Tuesday. (Reed, 9/2)

Fierce Healthcare: House Republicans Propose 6% Budget Cut To HHS For FY2026
The House Appropriations Committee is proposing a 6% cut to the budget for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The panel released the proposed budget bill for the 2026 fiscal year that governs the HHS as well as the departments of Labor and Education, suggesting a $108 billion outlay for the HHS. That's $7 billion less than what was set aside for fiscal year 2025, according to a fact sheet. (Minemyer, 9/2)

Stat: NIH Grant Cuts: Federal Judge Offers Time For Settlement Talks
A widely watched case against the National Institutes of Health over the termination of hundreds of grants was poised to enter a new phase of arguments Tuesday, centered on what to do with removed notices of funding opportunities. Instead, the plaintiffs indicated that they may be able to settle the case by the end of this week. (Oza, 9/2)

Politico: Evangelical Christians Are Lobbying Congress To Restore Foreign Aid Trump Cut 
Evangelical Christians who made an alliance with President Donald Trump to end abortion rights are now seeing how much it’s cost one of their other priorities: caring for the poor. Four in five evangelicals voted for Trump in November. But Trump’s decision to pull back hundreds of millions in foreign aid and shutter the agency that dispensed it have proven costly to evangelicals who run some of the many nonprofits that have long partnered with the U.S. government to provide help to countries that don’t have enough food. (Paun, 9/2)

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Axios: Trump Addresses Speculation About His Health
President Trump on Tuesday addressed social media rumors about his health — including that he had died. During a press conference, Trump said he was "very active" over the weekend and called the speculation "fake news." The rumors were fueled by days without official public appearances from Trump and photos of bruises on his hand. (Rubin, 9/2)

Military.com: Pentagon To Begin Screening For 'Magic Mushroom' Use
U.S. service members may be drug-tested for suspected use of “magic mushrooms” under a new policy announced by the Pentagon last week. A memo issued Aug. 18 by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness said that, starting Oct. 1, troops may be screened for psilocin, the hallucinogen in psilocybin mushrooms. (Kime, 9/2)

RFK JR. AND VACCINES

The Hill: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Defends CDC Changes, Cites Measles Success
The largest single measles outbreak the country has endured in more than 30 years is being hailed as a success story by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In a Wall Street Journal opinion article published Tuesday defending his overhaul of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Kennedy said the administration’s response to the outbreak that began in West Texas is a testament to what a “focused CDC can achieve.” (Weixel, 9/2)

The Washington Post: Paul Offit, Prominent RFK Jr. Critic, Blocked From FDA Vaccine Committee
Paul Offit, a pediatrician who has sparred with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over childhood vaccination, has been blocked from participating in a vaccine advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration. An HHS spokesman said Offit was among a dozen members of eight FDA advisory panels who were notified they can no longer participate because their terms as special government employees expired. (Roubein, 9/2)

The Hill: More Than 1,000 HHS Staff Call On RFK Jr. To Resign
More than 1,000 current and former employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are demanding that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resign, following his ousting of the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other actions they say are “compromising the health of the nation.” (Weixel, 9/3)

NBC News: Key GOP Senator Declines To Elaborate On Planned 'Oversight' Of RFK Jr. After CDC Exodus
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the chair of the health committee, is holding his cards close to the vest, declining to elaborate after he said he will conduct “oversight” of the country's top health official and a recent shake-up at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cassidy, a doctor who has been supportive of vaccines, is in a delicate position as the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee who provided a pivotal vote to confirm Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he secured assurances about vaccines. Cassidy is also running for re-election next year. (Kapur, Leach and Thorp V, 9/3)

The Hill: Rand Paul: Gay CDC Director’s ‘Lifestyle’ Disqualified Him From Government
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Tuesday said a gay leader at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who resigned last week in protest of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had “no business being in government” due to the “lifestyle” he led. Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the CDC’s Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, was among the four CDC leaders who resigned last week, saying in their resignations that the changes under Kennedy were preventing them from carrying out the agency’s public health mission. (Choi, 9/2)

The New York Times: Trump Wants Proof That Covid Vaccines Work. It’s Easy To Find. 
In a message on social media that baffled many scientists, President Trump questioned the effectiveness of the Covid vaccines and demanded that the makers prove that they work. It is unclear what data Mr. Trump was referring to. Hundreds of reports have tracked the efficacy of the vaccines since they first debuted in 2021. The shots have saved millions of lives in the United States and elsewhere, dozens of studies have estimated. Still, in some ways, Mr. Trump’s demand for data is a welcome change from what administration officials have been saying recently about vaccines, said John Wherry, director of the Institute for Immunology and Immune Health at the University of Pennsylvania. (Mandavilli and Zimmer, 9/2)

COVID AND FLU

CIDRAP: New Antiviral Application For COVID-19 Preventive Drug Submitted To FDA
Shionogi has submitted its new drug application (NDA) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the approval of its oral pill for COVID (ensitrelvir), the first antiviral drug for the prevention of COVID-19 following exposure to an infected person, according to a company news release today. Ensitrelvir, known as Xocova, is already approved for use in Japan. The drug is also available in Singapore and under review in Taiwan. (Soucheray, 9/2)

NBC News: Covid Infection May Be Prevented With A Common Nasal Antihistamine Spray, Trial Shows
An over-the-counter nasal spray which has been used for years as a safe and effective treatment for seasonal allergies could potentially prevent Covid infections, according to clinical trial results released Tuesday. The antihistamine azelastine works as an antiviral against a range of respiratory infections, including influenza, RSV and the virus that causes Covid, a growing number of studies have shown. (Cox, 9/2)

CIDRAP: Metformin May Reduce Risk Of Long COVID By 36% In Overweight Or Obese Adults
A large UK target trial emulation analysis of data from the COVID-OUT trial suggests that early use of the type 2 diabetes drug metformin reduces the risk of long COVID by 36% at 1 year post-infection among overweight or obese adults. The study was conducted by University College London researchers based on data from a 2023 randomized phase 3 trial led by University of Minnesota investigators. That trial concluded that 14-day outpatient metformin treatment lowered the risk of persistent COVID-19 symptoms at 10 months by 63% in overweight or obese patients aged 30 to 85 years when given within 3 days of symptom onset. (Van Beusekom, 9/2)

MedPage Today: High-Dose Flu Shot May Better Protect Against Heart Inflammation
The high-dose inactivated influenza vaccine may deliver better protection against myocarditis and pericarditis compared with the standard-dose shot in older adults, according to a secondary analysis of the randomized DANFLU-2 trial. (Rudd, 9/2)

MENTAL HEALTH

The Washington Post: ChatGPT To Get Parental Controls After Teen User’s Death By Suicide
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said Tuesday that it will introduce parental controls, a major change to the popular chatbot announced a week after the California family of a teen who died by suicide alleged in a lawsuit that ChatGPT encouraged their son to hide his intentions. OpenAI said in a blog post Tuesday that within the next month it would offer tools that allow parents to set limits for how their teens use the technology and receive notifications if the chatbot detects that they are in “acute distress.” The company said it had been working on the controls since earlier this year. (De Vynck, 9/2)

The War Horse: Veterans' Mental Health Is Being Capped, VA Therapists Say
Mental health providers in five states tell The War Horse that VA medical centers across the country have been instituting similar limits on one-on-one mental health therapy in recent years and transitioning veterans to lower levels of treatment. The trend has led to anxiety—and great debate—among both providers and patients. ... Yet when asked about the therapists’ concerns, a VA spokesperson insisted the claims of widespread caps on individual mental health sessions are untrue. (Rosenbaum, 8/26)

The Colorado Sun: Colorado Suicide Rates: Oldest Residents Three Times Higher Than Teenagers 
Physical decline is a common lead-up to depression among older Coloradans, especially for those who were active on the ski slopes, rivers and hiking trails. It’s also one of the reasons that the suicide rate among older people is higher in Colorado than the rest of the nation, with more than one-third of suicides in Colorado among people age 55 and over. The suicide rate among older Coloradans has not budged in a decade, even as the teen suicide rate has dropped to its lowest in 18 years. It’s a growing concern because Colorado is getting older — by 2050, one-quarter of the population is projected to be over the age of 60. (Brown, 9/2)

MedPage Today: Preschoolers Are Prescribed ADHD Meds Too Soon, Study Suggests
Preschoolers with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were often prescribed medication shortly after diagnosis, despite guidelines that recommend 6 months of behavior therapy before pharmaceutical interventions, according to a retrospective analysis. (Robertson, 9/2)

Phys.Org: Spouses Show Consistent Similarities Across Nine Psychiatric Disorders Over Generations
A multinational collaboration of researchers report that psychiatric spousal resemblance across nine psychiatric disorders appears consistent and persists across birth cohorts for roughly 90 years in a sample of over 14 million. Previous small-scale marriage registry studies have reported spousal similarities for several disorders and related psychiatric traits. A larger, population-based comparison across cultures and generations was needed to assess how widespread the phenomenon extends. (Jackson, 9/2)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

WUSF: Memorial Healthcare, Florida Blue Fail To Reach Deal, Leaving 31,000 In Broward Out Of Network 
Memorial Healthcare is now out of network for about 31,000 Florida Blue members in Broward County after the hospital system and insurer failed to reach a new contract by a Monday deadline. Florida Blue customers must pay higher rates for some services through Memorial's hospitals, urgent care centers, specialty facilities and affiliated physicians. (Mayer, 9/2)

North Carolina Health News: ECU Health, For-Profit Acadia Open New Psych Hospital 
A new psychiatric hospital in Greenville will begin serving patients in eastern North Carolina later this month. ECU Health Behavioral Health Hospital is a new 144-bed facility intended to provide inpatient and intensive outpatient psychiatric services to adults and children; it will open with a 24-bed unit designated for pediatric patients. (Knopf, 9/3)

Chicago Tribune: Nurses At Howard Brown Health Move Toward A Possible Strike
Nurses at Howard Brown Health have voted to allow their bargaining team to call a strike amid contract talks and concerns about staffing and pay, according to their union. (Schencker, 9/2)

Modern Healthcare: Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Sutter See Improved Finances In Q2
Many large health systems are showing strong balance sheets as second-quarter earnings reports roll out, but some analysts say the upswing is likely on a time limit. Talk about major funding cuts related to the new tax law President Donald Trump signed in July are dominating executive board rooms industrywide. However, much of the $1.1 trillion in Medicaid and exchange cuts won’t take effect for a couple of years. (Hudson, 9/2)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna To Sell Evernorth Care Clinics To HonorHealth
Cigna is selling 18 Evernorth Care Group clinics in the Phoenix area to HonorHealth. Upon closing, the Evernorth locations will become part of HonorHealth’s integrated system. The deal is expected to close in January, pending legal and regulatory approvals, according to a Tuesday news release. Evernorth Care Group, formerly Cigna Medical Group, is a subsidiary of The Cigna Group and provides primary care to nearly 80,000 patients. (Hudson, 9/3)

Modern Healthcare: Rural Health Transformation Fund Sees Interest From Home Health
Home healthcare operators are going head to head with health systems and other providers for a portion of the $50 billion in rural healthcare funding that states can start applying for later this month. Home healthcare operators and trade groups from Maine to Utah say they will be lobbying states for a piece of the five-year federal Rural Health Transformation Program funds included in the new tax law. They want the money for workforce development, wage enhancements and technology. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is set to approve state applications by Dec. 31. (Eastabrook, 9/2)

Modern Healthcare: Thermo Fisher Acquires Solventum’s Filtration Unit For $4B
Thermo Fisher Scientific announced Tuesday it acquired Solventum’s purification and filtration business for $4 billion. The unit is now part of Thermo Fisher’s life sciences solutions segment, operating as its filtration and separation business. The business sells purification and filtration technologies used to manufacture medical devices, biologics and industrial products. The technologies are used in devices such as hemodialyzers and blood oxygenators. (Dubinsky, 9/2)

GUN VIOLENCE EPIDEMIC

NBC News: Maine Mass Shooting Survivors To File Negligence Lawsuit Against The U.S. Government
Families of the victims of a 2023 mass shooting in Maine and dozens of survivors intend to file a negligence lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. government, alleging the military and others failed to respond to warning signs and a threat by the gunman, who was an Army reservist. ... The approximately 100 plaintiffs are expected to name the Defense Department, the Army and Keller Army Community Hospital in West Point, New York, in the suit, which a team of four law firms is set to file in federal court in Maine. (Ortiz, 9/3)

AP: Gov. Tim Walz Pushes For Special Session On Gun Laws After Minneapolis School Shooting
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz plans to call a special legislative session to consider tougher gun laws following a shooting last week at a Catholic school in Minneapolis that left two children dead and 21 people injured. The Democrat told reporters Tuesday, after welcoming children back to a public school in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan, that he’ll be making calls to lawmakers and working on a plan over the next couple of days. Walz said he intends to propose a “very comprehensive” package that could include an assault-weapons ban. (Karnowski, 9/3)

Colorado Public Radio: Lawsuit Challenges Colorado Law Banning Manufacture, Drastically Limiting Sale Of Many Semiautomatic Guns 
One of Colorado’s newest and most restrictive gun-control measures is facing a federal lawsuit from the Colorado State Shooting Association, the state’s official National Rifle Association group. (Woods, 9/2)

OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS

CIDRAP: Wisconsin Measles Outbreak Grows As Ohio Reports Family Cluster
In Wisconsin, health officials in Oconto County have confirmed 9 more measles cases, raising the state's outbreak total to 23. The outbreak in Oconto County, located in northeastern Wisconsin, began in early August. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (WDHS) said in an August 29 update that two people have been hospitalized. (Schnirring, 9/2)

CIDRAP: H5N1 Avian Flu Strikes South Dakota Turkey Farm
Marking the first H5N1 avian flu detection at a US commercial poultry farm since early July, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on August 28 confirmed an outbreak at a South Dakota turkey farm. The facility in Faulk County has 55,400 birds. The last detection at a commercial farm occurred in early July at a game bird facility in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. (Schnirring, 9/2)

CANCER

ABC News: US Prostate Cancer Rates Rose Annually Over The Past Decade, New Report Finds
Prostate cancer rates have risen in recent years, with a sharp increase in cases diagnosed in advanced stages, the American Cancer Society said Tuesday. Diagnoses of prostate cancer rose 3% annually starting in 2014, after declining 6.4% per year in the decade before, according to the ACS' annual prostate cancer statistics report. The steepest increases were seen for advanced-stage disease — up to 6.2% annually with the increases varying by age groups, the report said. (El-Naas, 9/2)

Medical Xpress: Plant-Based Nutrient Can Boost Immune Cells' Ability To Fight Cancer
In a new study, researchers from the University of Chicago discovered that zeaxanthin, a plant-derived carotenoid best known for protecting vision, may also act as an immune-boosting compound by strengthening the cancer-fighting activity of immune cells. The findings, which are published in Cell Reports Medicine, highlight the potential of zeaxanthin as a widely available supplement to improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapies. (Abburi, 9/2)

LIFESTYLE AND HEALTH

MedPage Today: Brain Tumor Risk Rises With Birth Control Shot
Meningioma was rare but occurred more frequently among women who used depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (Depo-Provera) versus other forms of contraception, an analysis of more than 10 million women in the U.S. showed. Compared with women who did not use hormonal contraception, women who used depot medroxyprogesterone acetate had a relative risk (RR) of 2.43 (95% CI 1.77-3.33) for meningioma, according to Varun Kshettry, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, and co-authors. (George, 9/2)

Newsweek: Zapping White Blood Cells Makes Them Heal Body Faster
Electrically stimulating key cells in the immune system could "reprogram" them to reduce inflammation and encourage faster and more effective healing in the body. This is the discovery of scientists from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland who say their findings could lead to a powerful therapeutic option to help "boost the body's own repair processes in a huge range of different injury and disease situations." (Millington, 9/2)

Medical Xpress: Dad's Childhood Passive Smoking May Confer Lifelong Poor Lung Health Onto His Kids
A father's exposure to passive smoking as a child may impair the lifelong lung function of his children, putting them at risk of COPD—a risk that is heightened further if they are childhood passive smokers themselves—finds research published online in the respiratory journal Thorax. The findings highlight the intergenerational harms of smoking, say the researchers, who urge fathers to intercept this harmful legacy by avoiding smoking around their children. (9/2)

Newsweek: Scientists Invent Patch That Makes Pimples 'Disappear' Pain-Free
Pimple patches seem to be soaring in popularity—and a newly invented type that makes zits disappear without pain or irrtitation in mere days could soon be all the rage. Researchers have created a two-stage pimple patch set with an array of tiny spikes that grab onto the pimple and deliver antibacterial or anti-inflammatory compounds. Generally, the small, sticker-like bandages used to cover and heal unwanted spots come in all different shapes and sizes with varying degrees of effectiveness. (Millington, 9/2)