Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
From KFF Health News - Latest Stories:
KFF Health News Original Stories
A GOP Congressman Backed Medicaid Work Requirements. His Voters Might Be Exempt.
A California congressman voted for the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which is projected to reduce Medicaid spending by $900 billion. Now Rep. David Valadao, whose House race will help decide control of Congress, is telling his constituents they may not have to follow the new rules.
Georgia Helped Inspire the Medicaid Work Rules. Its Own Rules Could Soon End.
For years, Georgia was the only state to require some Medicaid enrollees to work to obtain and keep coverage. Those rules could expire just as the federal Medicaid work requirements they helped inspire roll out across most of the country.
Here's today's health policy haiku:
PSYCHOSIS IN THEIR 20s
Petitioned my child.
— Anonymous
Diagnosis and treatment.
The future looks bleak.
If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Us and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.
Opinions expressed in haikus are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of KFF Health News or KFF.
Note To Readers
Join us today for an Ask Me Anything on Reddit's r/politics. Sam Whitehead and Renuka Rayasam will be discussing their reporting for our Priced Out series and answering your questions about healthcare costs. You can start submitting questions at 10 a.m. ET, and we'll start answering them at 1 p.m.
Summaries Of The News:
Healthcare Costs
ACA Policies To See Another 13% Rise On Average For Premium Costs In 2027
The New York Times: Obamacare Policies Hit Again With Steep Premium Increases For 2027
Millions of Americans who depend on Obamacare for their health insurance face another double-digit price increase next year, adding to the financial toll that has already driven millions of others to drop coverage since last year. The price increases largely reflect higher medical costs across the country. But they also are a signal of the latest blow to Obamacare under the Trump administration, which has overseen the expiration of tax credits that helped Americans pay for coverage and has erected new barriers to enrollment in an effort to root out what it describes as widespread fraud. (Abelson and Sanger-Katz, 10/30)
Fortune: Soaring Health Insurance Costs Are Quietly Preventing Wages From Rising Higher
Open enrollment season for health care plans is about to begin, and many Americans may get sticker shock after seeing how much premiums will rise. (Ma, 11/1)
On the high cost of prescription drugs —
Bloomberg: GLP-1 Weight-Loss Drugs Will Be Covered For Fewer US Employees
As American workers enroll in health plans this fall, fewer will find that their employers cover GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. The share of US companies covering the medications for weight loss in their employee health insurance plans fell to 53% this year, according to a survey of nearly 500 companies by consultancy WTW. That marks the first decline in coverage since the drugs became widely used for weight loss three years ago. And the pullback may not be over: 30% of the companies that still cover the pricey medications are considering dropping them, the survey found. (Rogers, 10/30)
Politico: The Trust-Busters Going After CVS Are Republicans
A burgeoning crackdown on pharmacy monopolies that could force CVS to sell off hundreds of its stores is coming from an unexpected place. The deep red South. A number of red states, as well as some blue ones, are poised to crack down on pharmacy conglomerates, following Tennessee and Arkansas, where GOP governors Bill Lee and Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed laws to bar companies from owning both pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers, which negotiate drug prices on behalf of insurance plans. (Hooper, 11/1)
In related news —
The Washington Post: The New Sign Of The Top 1 Percent In America? It Could Be Having A Third Kid.
In an analysis of the Federal Reserve’s recent Survey of Consumer Finances, Mike Konczal, vice president of policy and research at the left-leaning nonprofit Economic Security Project, found that 49 percent of U.S. families in the top 1 percent of incomes had three or more children, compared with 40 to 43 percent for most other income groups. (Osaka, 11/2)
Elections
Still All-In On RFK Jr., MAHA Activist Endorses Dems Who Champion Movement's Policy Priorities
Politico: Why A MAHA Mom Who Loves RFK Jr. Is Backing Democrats Who Don’t
One of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s most prominent supporters is making good on her threat to endorse some Democrats just days before the midterm elections. The Democrats on Zen Honeycutt’s list aren’t just any Democrats. Her Moms Across America Movement is backing progressive firebrands such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, as well as candidates in crucial battlegrounds, like Rep. Chris Pappas, who’s running for Senate in New Hampshire. (Haslett and Friedman, 11/1)
AP: Top Healthcare Worries Weigh On Older US Adults Before The Midterms
Barbara Weigand could not have prepared more for retirement. She stayed healthy and saved diligently for years. This year, though, a shoulder surgery and a bladder cancer diagnosis have really tested her finances. She recently withdrew $4,000 from her retirement account to cover medical expenses associated with her cancer treatment. (Hussein, 10/31)
Stat: The 4 Biggest Ways The Midterms Could Change Health Policy, According To Policymakers, Lobbyists, And Experts
No matter what happens on Election Day, the midterms will have sweeping implications for American health care. The future of essential health policies, the politics surrounding health issues, and insight into the inner workings of the remade federal health infrastructure will all be affected by Tuesday’s outcomes. (Payne, 10/31)
The Wall Street Journal: Investors Are Betting A Blue Wave Will Help Hospitals. Don’t Count On It.
Healthcare investors have found their favorite election wager: hospital operators. But they would do well to remember what happened the last time an opposition party won the House vowing to roll back a president’s healthcare agenda. (Wainer, 11/1)
CNN: A Record Number Of Health Professionals Are Running For Office. Could They Help Heal US Politics?
At least 125 doctors, nurses and public health experts are on the ballot for Tuesday’s midterm elections — an unprecedented number from fields that historically offered fewer paths to elected office than boardrooms and courtrooms. (Christensen, 11/1)
Also —
Stat: Election Stress May Raise The Risk Of Heart Attacks. Here's How
The reminders to vote in Tuesday’s midterms are ubiquitous. Some health scholars have another reminder: that elections, especially divisive ones, can stress the heart. Studies have found a significantly higher chance of arrhythmias in the weeks just before and after elections, and an increased rate of hospitalizations for heart attacks right after voting day. (Cooney, 10/30)
In other news from Capitol Hill —
NBC News: Sen. Chris Murphy Hospitalized After Stroke
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. is “awake and alert,” his team said, after being hospitalized following a stroke on Saturday. The senator “started experiencing numbness in his arm while at his son’s hockey game,” Allison Herwitt, Murphy’s chief of staff, said in a statement on Sunday. (Thorp V and Marquez, 11/1)
Outbreaks and Health Threats
Florida Governor Could Pass New Vaccine Rules Before He Leaves Office In January
Florida Phoenix: ‘Ambitious’ Timeline Means DeSantis Could Pass New Vax Rules Before He Leaves Office
Gov. Ron DeSantis’s efforts to pare back the number of vaccines children must receive to enter school or daycare could pay off for him before he leaves office on Jan. 5 in light of a state administrative judge’ agreement Thursday to expedite a hearing on challenges to them. (Sexton, 10/30)
Military Times: Air Force Again Requires Flu Vaccine For Select Personnel
The Air Force restored the annual influenza vaccine mandate for select personnel once again, following the service’s exception request from the Pentagon’s optional policy. ... Effective immediately, recruits, healthcare and child center personnel are required to be vaccinated, while deploying forces will adhere to pre-deployment timelines, per the guidance. Other personnel included in the policy must be vaccinated no later than Dec. 15 annually. (Stassis, 10/29)
On dengue in Florida —
The New York Times: How A Tax Cut Could Threaten A Florida Necessity: Mosquito Control
As Florida fights a dengue outbreak, a ballot proposal to cut property taxes has raised concerns about local governments’ ability to pay for sufficient mosquito control. (Ovalle, 11/2)
Tampa Bay Times: Amid Dengue Outbreak, St. Pete Residents Wonder: Is A Tire Shop Spreading It?
The city of St. Petersburg filed an injunction against a local tire shop this week, arguing that it is a public health hazard amid the rise of dengue, a mosquito-borne illness, and citing multiple confirmed cases within a few blocks. (Mulligan, 10/30)
On the spread of measles —
CIDRAP: US Measles Cases Top 4,800 As The Disease Surges In Multiple States
It used to be that 200-plus US measles cases would reflect the total for the year or even for two years, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed 264 new cases in just the past seven days, raising the country’s total to 4,852 cases, by far the highest yearly total in 35 years. (Wappes, 10/30)
CIDRAP: 7% Of Measles Cases Misdiagnosed, Study Finds, Raising Concerns About Disease Spread
Measles is highly contagious, and quickly identifying who is infected is critical from a public health perspective: Delays lead to additional cases since patients, caregivers, and clinicians won't know to take precautions to prevent viral spread. Yet an estimated 6.9% of patients with measles who sought medical care were misdiagnosed at least once in the two weeks before an accurate diagnosis, according to a study published this week in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. (Boden, 10/30)
On bird flu and Zika —
The Colorado Sun: Avian Flu Found Again In A Weld County Dairy
Avian flu has been detected at a Weld County dairy, the first time in more than two years that a case of the flu spread by birds has been found at a dairy in Colorado. (Brown, 10/30)
CIDRAP: 60% Of Kids With Zika-Related Microcephaly Hospitalized By Age 5, Data Reveal
Nearly 60% of children with Zika-related microcephaly were hospitalized during their first five years of life, with many experiencing respiratory problems, difficulty swallowing, and seizures, according to a study published yesterday in Pediatrics. The findings highlight the severity of Zika-related microcephaly, a neurologic condition marked by an abnormally small head and undersized brain. (Bergeson, 10/30)
Health Industry
Sutter Revises Plan To Replace California Hospital After Red Tape Prompts It To Seek New Site
Modern Healthcare: Sutter Health Drops Emeryville Hospital From $1B Project
Sutter Health will not build a hospital as part of its construction project in Emeryville, California, because of regulatory hurdles, the nonprofit health system said Friday. The $1 billion project, as outlined in a February 2025 announcement, included plans for an outpatient hub and a 200-bed replacement hospital for the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. But the lack of a clear regulatory path for the hospital leaves the health system vulnerable to litigation that could delay construction, Sutter said in a statement. (Kacik, 10/30)
San Francisco Chronicle: SF Hospitals Are Rethinking Emergency Care For Older Adults
When Maggie Lawlor had chest pain and trouble breathing this past September, she quickly got herself to the emergency room at UCSF Medical Center. Because her condition was not immediately life-threatening, Lawlor waited 11 hours on a gurney in the hallway — the chaos around her making her feel increasingly claustrophobic and anxious. (Ho, 11/1)
And in pharmaceutical industry news —
HealthDay: Study: Over A Quarter Of Americans Lie To Get Antibiotics
More than a quarter of Americans have exaggerated or invented symptoms to try to get antibiotics from their doctor, a new study says. The main reason cited by these folks is that they or their kids feel very sick, and they think antibiotics are the only treatment that will work, researchers reported Oct. 30 in JAMA Network Open. (Thompson, 11/2)
Axios: Pharma's Next Cash Cows Could Be Specialized Treatments
Pharmaceutical companies facing a steep patent cliff are concluding the key to future profits may be customized treatments tailored to patients' genes and lifestyles — not blockbusters aimed at large patient populations. (Bettelheim, 11/2)
Stat: Coming Readout Of Kymera Eczema Trial Is A High-Stakes Moment In A Bid To Rival Dupixent
Over the past decade, Sanofi and Regeneron’s Dupixent has become the top-selling drug in immunology, bringing in tens of billions in revenue while transforming outcomes for the 1.4 million patients currently on the therapy for conditions including eczema, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. But investors and doctors are intensely following an experimental therapy positioned to rival the pharma blockbuster, with results from a key study fast approaching. (Wosen, 11/2)
State Watch
Treasury Secretary Accuses Blue States Of Poor Healthcare Fraud Prevention
The Hill: Scott Bessent: Fraud Prevention 'Loosest' In Blue States
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused Democratic-led states Friday of having poor fraud prevention mechanisms while at a Minnesota press conference. The state has been at the center of a healthcare fraud scandal for much of this year after the Justice Department indicted more than a dozen people on accusations of defrauding taxpayers, using funds for improper billing and childcare fraud, among other allegations. (McCracken, 10/30)
Other Medicaid news from Georgia, California, and Wyoming —
KFF Health News: Georgia Helped Inspire The Medicaid Work Rules. Its Own Rules Could Soon End
After years of searching for affordable health insurance, Trey Wright discovered Georgia Pathways to Coverage. The state’s limited Medicaid expansion program allowed the 27-year-old living in the rural city of Jesup in southeastern Georgia to finally visit a primary care doctor regularly. It also covered weekly shots to manage an array of allergies, saving him more than $1,700 a year in out-of-pocket costs, he said. (Lumpkins and Whitehead, 11/2)
KFF Health News: A GOP Congressman Backed Medicaid Work Requirements. His Voters Might Be Exempt
When U.S. Rep. David Valadao defended voting for a bill aimed at reducing Medicare spending by billions, the Republican noted his role in securing a key provision that will require some adult beneficiaries to work — a mandate he called “not an unreasonable ask.” But the voters in his California Central Valley district, home to one of the most competitive House races in the nation, might get a pass from the Medicaid work rules in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last summer. (Fortiér, 11/2)
Wyoming Public Radio: More States Are Reimbursing Doulas Through Medicaid. But Not Wyoming
Doulas can be a lifeline for new moms, but the emotional and physical support they provide is often not covered by insurance. While many states have made doula care more accessible, Wyoming has yet to get on board. (Merzbach, 10/30)
More health news from across the U.S. —
The New York Times: Halloween Shootings Leave At Least 24 Dead And 94 Wounded Nationwide
Experts on violence say Halloween is one of the most dangerous days of the year. (Mokan, Jiménez and Gee, 11/1)
The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Board To Take Up $19M In Health Contracts, Some 2 Years Old
More than $19 million in emergency health service procurements — some involving contracts dating back to 2023 — will come before Baltimore’s Board of Estimates on Wednesday, with no item scheduled for public discussion. (Pryce, 11/2)
Verite News New Orleans: Sewerage & Water Board Still Doesn’t Do Enough To Protect New Orleans From Toxic Lead Exposure: Report, Advocates
Nearly a decade after the New Orleans Office of the Inspector General found that the city’s Sewerage & Water Board failed to notify residents of the risk of toxic lead exposure through drinking water, a new report shows the utility neglected to implement several recommendations to protect public health. The 2017 report by former Inspector General Edouard Quatrevaux found thousands of New Orleans residents may have been unknowingly exposed to elevated levels of lead as the local agency replaced parts of its service lines. (Parker, 11/1)
Chicago Tribune: At Least 14 People Died In Cook County This Summer From Heat
At least 14 people have died in Cook County this summer from heat-related causes, with July marking the area’s deadliest month for heat-related deaths in more than a decade, according to data from the medical examiner’s office. Successive heat waves in late June and early-to-mid-July this year pushed the heat index, a combination of temperature and humidity, above 100 degrees for several days. (Perez, 11/1)
North Carolina Health News: As Mental Health Needs Grow In NC Prisons, State Leaders Look To Improve Care After Release
More than one-quarter of North Carolina’s state prison population — just over 9,000 people — has a mental health diagnosis requiring treatment. The percentage of the prison population on the mental health caseload has more than doubled since 2014, from 12 percent to 26.9 percent now, according to N.C. Department of Adult Correction data. (Crumpler, 11/2)
The New York Times: He Was A Rising Star At West Point. Then He Got His Girlfriend Pregnant.
Caleb Suh, a former West Point cadet and current Columbia student, pleaded guilty in June to forcing an abortion on another cadet in 2022. His ex-girlfriend is now suing him for assault and battery. (Nerkar and Meko, 10/31)
Public Health
Research Sheds Light On Why Colon Cancer Is Trickier To Treat In People Under 50
The Washington Post: Clues Emerge On Why Colon Cancer May Be Harder To Treat In Young People
The rise of colorectal cancer in patients under 50 continues to stump researchers, who are still trying to work out why, in younger people, the cancer is more aggressive and carries a worse prognosis even with more intensive treatment. A study last week shed light on a possible answer: tumors in younger people are different on a cellular level, displaying traits that might explain why they are more resistant to treatment and more likely to metastasize and spread throughout the body. (Wu, 11/1)
Knowable Magazine: Can Odors From Our Bodies Signal Alzheimer’s, Cancer And Other Diseases?
When social anthropologist Hanna Marie Ihlebæk interviewed nurses at a Norwegian cancer ward for her PhD dissertation, she was surprised to learn that many of them relied on their sense of smell in their work. “Urine infection is really distinct, I can recognize that smell in the corridor!” one of the nurses said. Another claimed to be able to pick out digestive bleeding and cell necrosis. “I don’t know what I would have done without my ability to smell,” said a third. (Zaraaska, 11/1)
More health and wellness news —
HealthDay: Heated Tobacco: A New Trend That Is Raising Heart Health Concerns
Heated tobacco is gaining popularity around the world, marketed as a less harmful alternative to cigarettes. But new research is raising red flags — finding that just one session can affect cardiovascular function. These devices heat processed tobacco instead of burning it and produce an inhalable nicotine aerosol. (10/30)
Fox News: Walking Speed May Predict Longevity Risk In Older Adults, Study Finds
The speed a person normally walks could offer a simple clue about their overall health and longevity, new research suggests. A study published in JAMA Network Open followed 4,067 adults in the U.K., who were about 69 years old on average, to see whether their usual walking pace was linked to their risk of death over time. (McGreal, 11/1)
The Hill: New Autism Study Complicates Trump Administration’s Search For Cause
A recently published found associations between certain maternal health conditions during pregnancy and autism diagnoses across racial and ethnic groups, underscoring how much remains unknown as the Trump administration searches for a cause of autism. Researchers from the New York University Grossman School of Medicine and the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine published a study earlier this month that included 224 ,353 children born at Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals between 2010 and 2017. (Choi, 10/31)
The Washington Post: Are GLP-1s Leading To Divorce? The Answer Is Complicated.
Taken for weight loss, the drugs can dramatically change people’s marriages, for better and worse. (Izadi, 11/1)
The New York Times: F.D.A. Warns Of Tractor Wheels Snack Bar Linked To Choking Hazard
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday warned parents not to buy a soft-baked snack bar after receiving reports that it had completely blocked toddlers’ airways. The bars, sold as Tractor Wheels by Once Upon a Farm, were linked to episodes in which toddlers ages 18 to 30 months experienced what the agency called “the inability to breathe.” The F.D.A. did not specify how many reports it had received. (Walker, 10/31)
Editorials And Opinions
Viewpoints: We Could Slow Antibiotic Resistance With Just Two Steps; The US Needs A National Office Of Healthcare Affordability
The Washington Post: Antibiotic Resistance Threatens The U.S. Why Aren’t We Addressing It?
There are two steps the U.S. could take to preserve the lifesaving drugs that underlie most health care. (Ara Darzi, 11/2)
Stat: American Health Care Needs To Get On A Budget
On my recent travels, I met a healthy, active man in his early 60s who runs a small business. This year, his family’s monthly premium reached nearly $5,000 — more than a quarter of his pre‑tax income. He made the difficult choice to keep coverage only for his wife and two children, hoping to stay healthy until he is eligible for Medicare. (Paul Markovich, 11/2)
Stat: What A Mother’s 1834 Letter About Measles Tells Us About MAHA
Jane Butt's document reveals that ordinary people’s ideas have often been part of medicine, but medical authority has grown in ways that make them appear as dissenting. (Jim Downs, 10/30)
The New York Times: Could My Patients Benefit From Psychedelics?
Medicine has developed many tools for suppressing suffering, but fewer for cultivating meaning or peace. (Daniela J. Lamas, 11/2)
Stat: Pregnant Cancer Patients Can Often Still Get Effective Treatment
Early in my career as a maternal fetal medicine specialist, I met two pregnant women who had ovarian cancer. One of them was expecting twins. They were introduced to be each other’s support network during and after the pregnancy, often meeting for coffee with their newborns and comparing wigs after hair loss from the chemotherapy they received. (Elyce Cardonick, 11/2)