Politico: White House To Pitch A Trump Obamacare Extension With Limits 
The White House expects to soon unveil a health policy framework that includes a two-year extension of Obamacare subsidies due to expire at the end of next month and new limits on eligibility, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the unannounced plans. The proposal would mark President Donald Trump’s foray into Capitol Hill negotiations over how to address health care premium spikes set to hit Affordable Care Act enrollees if Congress lets the premium subsidies expire. (Guggenheim, 11/23)

Roll Call: Bipartisan Health Subsidy Bill Adds Income Caps, Anti-Fraud Measures 
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers released text of legislation Friday aimed at avoiding the health care subsidy cliff by extending Affordable Care Act tax credits for two years while installing income caps and anti-fraud measures. (Raman and Cohen, 11/21)

The Washington Post: Some Republicans Want To Try To Pass Another Mega-Bill On Health Care 
President Donald Trump and some congressional Republicans are mulling a second round of party-line legislation — like Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act — to pursue GOP health care goals and other priorities if a bipartisan effort fails. Such a proposal, known as a reconciliation bill, would require near-unanimity among Republicans in both chambers, and some say there’s little appetite for another partisan policy battle ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. But others argue that now is the time to try for a second GOP law — while Republicans still control the House, Senate and the White House and as the party splinters over extending expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. (Beggin and Bogage, 11/24)

Also —

Bloomberg: Americans Googling Obamacare Are Finding Junk Health Insurance Instead
Over the next few weeks, millions of Americans will shop for health insurance online. Many will find comprehensive plans through Affordable Care Act marketplaces like HealthCare.gov. Others will be steered elsewhere — toward insurance products that sound great but don’t provide much coverage. For many buyers, the trouble starts with a Google search, where the first click on a results page can be the difference between getting the coverage they need — and getting ripped off. (Bengani, Mider and Meghjani, 11/22)

The Washington Post: More States Are Offering Cheap Health Plans To Farmers, With A Catch
More and more states are allowing their farm bureaus to sell low-cost health plans to farmers. The catch is that they don’t comply with Affordable Care Act requirements. (Cooley, 11/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Calls Obamacare Insurers Fat And Rich. Investors See Them As Vulnerable.
Healthcare politics and investing might as well be living in alternate universes. President Trump and some Republicans have been describing Obamacare as a gravy train for insurers. Trump’s latest broadside slammed “big, fat, rich insurance companies who have made trillions,” and he urged Congress to send healthcare subsidies directly to patients instead. (Wainer, 11/23)

AP: Abortion Is Illegal Again In North Dakota After High Court's Ruling
Abortion is again illegal in North Dakota after the state’s Supreme Court on Friday couldn’t muster the required majority to uphold a judge’s ruling that struck down the state’s ban last year. The law makes it a felony crime for anyone to perform an abortion, though it specifically protects patients from prosecution. Doctors could be prosecuted and penalized by as much as five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Three justices agreed that the ban is unconstitutionally vague under the state constitution. The other two justices said the law is not unconstitutional. (Dura, 11/22)

More reproductive health news —

The Hill: States Challenge FDA Approval Of Generic Mifepristone
Three Republican-led states have challenged the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of a generic form of the abortion pill mifepristone earlier this year, arguing the agency’s decision had ignored the “dangerous effects of mifepristone on pregnant women and girls.” The attorney generals for Missouri, Kansas and Idaho earlier this week filed an amended complaint in their ongoing lawsuit against the FDA to restrict mifepristone usage. In the complaint, the generals moved to revoke the FDA’s September approval of a new generic form of mifepristone. (Venkat, 11/21)

Post-Tribune: Franciscan Fires Two Employees After Dolton Woman Turned Away While In Labor
Less than one week after a woman reported that she was turned away while in active labor, Franciscan Health Crown Point has taken corrective action, including firing the nurse and physician directly involved. (Wilkins, 11/21)

The New York Times: These Hospitals Figured Out How To Slash C-Section Rates 
When Dr. Elizabeth Bostock took over the obstetrics department at Rochester General Hospital in New York in 2019, she was alarmed by its high rate of C-sections: 40 percent of healthy, first-time mothers were delivering in operating rooms. The figure was far higher than the 24 percent recommended by the federal government. When needed, the procedure can be lifesaving, but its overuse can prolong recovery, complicate future births and sometimes risk the mother’s life. (Kliff and Pallaro, 11/24)

On infant health —

The New York Times: Botulism Bacteria Found In Infant Formula, ByHeart Confirms 
ByHeart, the company linked to an outbreak of botulism from infant formula, said late Wednesday that a private lab had found the bacteria that causes the illness in samples of its product. So far, 31 babies in 15 states have been hospitalized, many in intensive care units, after becoming weak and unable to swallow. No deaths have been reported. (Jewett, 11/20)

Bloomberg: 2024-25 Baby Botulism Cases Under Investigation In California
The California Department of Public Health is investigating six additional cases of botulism in the state in infants who were given ByHeart formula before the start of the current outbreak in August, a department spokesperson told Bloomberg. Those babies became ill between November 2024 and June 2025, said Brian Micek, a CDPH spokesperson. The department hasn’t linked the cases to the babies’ consumption of ByHeart. (Edney, 11/22)

NBC News: More Families Sue Infant Formula Maker ByHeart Over Botulism Outbreak
At least four families have sued infant formula maker ByHeart saying their babies contracted botulism from contaminated formula, as the company faces ongoing scrutiny from federal investigators and a separate class action lawsuit filed last week. In the lawsuits, affected families described harrowing days or weeks in the hospital with their babies, who were placed on IVs and feeding tubes. Many said they had chosen ByHeart’s formula because it contained organic whole milk and minimal additives, making it seem like the healthiest option. (Bendix, 11/22)

Reuters: Exclusive: DOGE 'Doesn't Exist' With Eight Months Left On Its Charter
President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate, ending an initiative launched with fanfare as a symbol of Trump's pledge to slash the government's size but which critics say delivered few measurable savings. "That doesn't exist," Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Reuters earlier this month when asked about DOGE's status. (Rozen, 11/24)

The Center for Law and Social Policy: Tracking The Harm Of DOGE Cuts 
The Center for Law and Social Policy's DOGE Tracker shows how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bore the brunt of cuts. (11/24)

Newsweek: DOGE Is Dead: What Did It Actually Save? 
According to its website, DOGE terminated 13,440 contracts, 15,887 grants and 264 leases—estimates that have fluctuated dramatically over its 10-month existence. DOGE was also the driving force behind many of the headcount reductions made within the federal government this year. In a blog post on Friday, OPM Director Kupor said the government had hired around 68,000 people in 2025, with some 317,000 employees having departed. (11/24)

In CDC news —

Stat: CDC Moves To Ends Telework For Employees, Including Those With Medical Needs
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ended full-time telework agreements for reasonable accommodations for many employees, according to multiple employees familiar with the policy. Supervisors in some centers have been told in recent days that they can no longer approve temporary 90-day agreements for full-time telework, even requiring people with existing agreements to come into the office. (Broderick, 11/21)

CIDRAP: While No One Was Watching: Tenuous Status Of CDC Prion Unit, Risk Of CWD To People Worry Scientists
Nine months ago, Janie Johnston, 73, left her home in the Chicago suburbs to drive to her doctor's office for routine care. She made it as far as the side of the street opposite the clinic but couldn't figure out how to get there, so she returned home, where she struggled to remember the abbreviation "GPS." That was the first sign that something was seriously wrong. Soon, the semi-retired geologist couldn't speak in full sentences or feed herself. Within 2 months, the woman who had been reviewing proposals for the National Science Foundation in the weeks leading up to symptom onset was dead of a terrifying neurological disease her family had never heard of: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). (Van Beusekom, 11/21)

More administration news on the EPA and FDA —

The Washington Post: EPA Moves To Approve New ‘Forever Chemical’ Pesticides
The Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with approvals for pesticides containing “forever chemicals” as an active ingredient, dismissing concerns about health and environmental impacts raised by some scientists and activists. This month, the agency approved two new pesticides that meet the internationally recognized definition for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or fluorinated substances, and has announced plans for four additional approvals. The authorized pesticides, cyclobutrifluram and isocycloseram, which was approved Thursday, will be used on vegetables such as romaine lettuce, broccoli and potatoes. (Ajasa, 11/22)

Politico: The White House Has Asked For The Resignation Of A Top Aide To FDA Chief
The White House on Thursday emailed HHS leadership asking for the resignation of a top aide to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary whom he had sought to promote, according to two administration officials granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive personnel matter. Makary pushed back on the request to force policy and research staffer Sanjula Jain-Nagpal out of the agency, officials told POLITICO. (Gardner, 11/21)

The Washington Post: New Top FDA Drug Regulator Raises Legal Concerns About Expediting Approvals
The newly installed top U.S. drug regulator has raised concerns about the legality and pace of initiatives to expedite drug decisions, arguing they could threaten Americans’ safety, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private deliberations. Richard Pazdur, an oncologist and longtime Food and Drug Administration official who was announced for his new role on Nov. 11, has questioned several plans developed by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, warning that they could pose a risk to public health, the people said. (Diamond and Roubein, 11/21)

The New York Times: RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC To Change Vaccines And Autism Language On Website
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in an interview that he personally instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to abandon its longstanding position that vaccines do not cause autism — a move that underscores his determination to challenge scientific consensus and bend the health department to his will. (Gay Stolberg, 11/21)

KFF Health News: What To Know About The CDC’s Baseless New Guidance On Autism
The rewriting of a page on the CDC’s website to assert the false claim that vaccines may cause autism sparked a torrent of anger and anguish from doctors, scientists, and parents who say Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is wrecking the credibility of an agency they’ve long relied on for unbiased scientific evidence. Many scientists and public health officials fear that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, which now baselessly claims that health authorities previously ignored evidence of a vaccine-autism link, foreshadows a larger, dangerous attack on childhood vaccination. (Allen, 11/21)

KFF Health News: Kennedy Sharpens Vaccine Attacks, Without Scientific Backing
As the federal government prepares for the next meeting of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has intensified his attacks on aluminum vaccine components used in many shots to boost the body’s immune response. Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist before seeking public office, claims that aluminum adjuvants are neurotoxic and tied to autism, asthma, autoimmune disease, and food allergies. But science and medicine advances a different view. (Gounder, 11/24)

The Hill: Bill Cassidy Reiterates Push For Trust In Vaccine Efficacy After CDC Shift
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.) said that the science on vaccine efficacy should not be undermined, days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) contradicted its long-standing position that vaccines do not cause autism. “Anything that undermines the understanding, the correct understanding, the absolute scientifically based understanding that vaccines are safe and that, if you don’t take them, you’re putting your child or yourself in greater danger, anything that undermines that message is a problem,” Cassidy, a physician, told host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.” (Rego, 11/23)

MedPage Today: 'Dangerous': Medical Groups Slam CDC Changes On Vaccines And Autism
The American Medical Association (AMA) and other groups warned that recent changes to the CDC website may ignite a dangerous surge in vaccine misinformation and erode public trust. (George, 11/21)

AP: Experts Question Trump And RFK Jr.'s 'Gold Standard' Science
The message is hammered over and over, in news conferences, hearings and executive orders: President Donald Trump and his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., say they want the government to follow “gold standard” science. Scientists say the problem is that they are often doing just the opposite by relying on preliminary studies, fringe science or just hunches to make claims, cast doubt on proven treatments or even set policy. This week, the nation’s top public health agency changed its website to contradict the scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism. The move shocked health experts nationwide. (Shastri, 11/22)

RFK Jr.'s cousin announces she has terminal cancer —

The New York Times: Tatiana Schlossberg, John F. Kennedy’s Granddaughter, Reveals Terminal Cancer Diagnosis 
Tatiana Schlossberg, the 35-year-old daughter of Caroline Kennedy and a granddaughter of John F. Kennedy, revealed in an essay published in The New Yorker on Saturday that she is fighting a rare and aggressive blood cancer, acute myeloid leukemia. Ms. Schlossberg, an environmental journalist, said in the essay that her cancer was discovered in May 2024, while she was in the hospital for the birth of her second child. ... Ms. Schlossberg, a former science writer for The New York Times, lashes out at her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for policy decisions and budget cuts that put the nation’s well being, and her own fragile health, at risk. (Russell, 11/22)

Vaccine news on hepatitis B, HPV, and covid —

CIDRAP: CDC Outlines New Initiatives Such As Expanded Hepatitis B Screening With Potential Vaccine Policy Impacts
This week, leaders at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) circulated a list of 16 strategic initiatives that offer the clearest view yet of the Trump administration's plans for the agency under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The list, shared in an internal memo obtained by STAT, includes initiatives such as decreasing animal testing, advancing diagnostic preparedness, and "invigorating the CDC workforce." (Bergeson, 11/21)

Bloomberg: HPV Research Bolsters Case For Vaccine In Misinformation Battle
Vaccination against a common virus that causes cervical cancer is highly effective, new research shows, providing welcome evidence for health-care providers as they try to counter misinformation around the shots. HPV vaccination reduces the incidence of cervical cancer by about 80% in people vaccinated at or before the age of 16, according to findings published Monday in two Cochrane reviews, which combine evidence from multiple studies and are considered the gold-standard of research.Protection remains significant when the vaccine is given later, though the reduction in cancer risk is lower, according to the research. (Ahmadi and Furlong, 11/24)

Newsweek: COVID Vaccine Tech May Reduce Disabilities In Snakebite Victims
COVID vaccine technology could help reduce disabilities in people caused by injuries from snakebites. Researchers at the University of Reading, England, found that the same mRNA tech used in coronavirus vaccinations could help to prevent muscle damage in snakebite victims and the knock-on impacts that linger even after treatment. (Millington, 11/24)

Axios: Long COVID Systems Can Start And Stop 8 Different Ways. Here They Are
There are eight different ways people experience long COVID symptoms, according to a new study from the National Institutes of Health's research initiative. The new study represents one of the most substantive findings on long COVID from the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) project, launched by the NIH in 2021. (Scribner, 11/22)

CNBC: Eli Lilly Hits $1 Trillion Market Value, First For Health Care Company
Eli Lilly reached a $1 trillion market capitalization on Friday, the first health-care company in the world to join the exclusive club dominated by tech firms. Eli Lilly briefly hit the $1 trillion mark in morning trading before retreating. It was last trading around $1,048 a share. Eli Lilly is the second nontechnology company to reach the coveted $1 trillion mark in the U.S. after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. (Constantino and Pramuk, 11/21)

Bloomberg: Bayer Drug Cut Stroke Risk After First Hitting Roadblock 
Bayer AG said an experimental stroke-prevention drug showed positive results in a late-stage study, a boost for the German company as it seeks to counter sales declines from aging blockbuster medicines. Patients who took a 50-milligram dose of asundexian once a day, along with standard antiplatelet therapy, had a significantly lower risk of another stroke occurring compared with those who took a placebo, the drugmaker said Sunday. The news is positive for Bayer, which is struggling with dwindling sales for some of its blockbuster drugs and litigation over its Roundup herbicide. (Wind and Schroers, 11/23)

More health industry developments —

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 'Micro-Hospital' To Open In North St. Louis
A Houston-based for-profit health care company says it will restart emergency care at a "micro-hospital" on the site of the short-lived Homer G. Phillips Memorial Hospital at Jefferson and Cass avenues. Archview ER & Hospital plans to open before the end of the year in the 15-bed healthcare facility completed in 2023 as part of North St. Louis landowner Paul McKee's 15-year-old NorthSide Regeneration plan. (Barker, 11/21)

Minnesota Public Radio: University Of Minnesota To Restart Negotiations With Fairview And M Physicians 
After several weeks of turmoil over funding the state’s largest medical school, all parties will soon return to the negotiating table. Last week, Fairview Health Services and University of Minnesota Physicians, a nonprofit clinical practice for the faculty of the University of Minnesota Medical School, announced they had reached a deal to support physician training and academic health programs and fund the medical school for the next 10 years. (Zurek, 11/21)

Modern Healthcare: CMS' TEAM Model Leaves Hospitals Scrambling Before 2026 Launch
Hospitals are running out of time to prepare for a new mandatory Medicare bundled payment model, and there’s lots left to do. Starting in January, more than 700 hospitals will be held accountable for coordinating care and constraining costs for five common procedures under a five-year bundled payment demonstration called the Transforming Episode Accountability Model, or TEAM. The model, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized last November, will test bundled payments for 30-day episodes of care in fee-for-service Medicare. (Early, 11/21)

NPR: The U.S. Relies On Immigrant Physicians. What If They No Longer Want To Come?
Michael Liu grew up in Toronto, Canada, then moved to the U.S. for college and medical school because, to him, America was the premiere destination for fulfilling his aspirations to become a physician and researcher. "You know, in chase of the American Dream, and understanding all the opportunities — that was such a draw for me," says Liu, who attended Harvard University. He is now 28 and has deep personal and professional roots in Boston, where he's an internal medicine resident at Mass General Brigham. (Noguchi, 11/24)

The Washington Post: Bird Flu Patient Dies, Marking Second U.S. Fatality In 2025 
A Washington resident who was the first human case of bird flu in the U.S. since February died on Friday, state health officials said. The person was an older adult with underlying conditions and had been hospitalized since early November with a strain that was previously reported in animals but never before in humans. The person had been undergoing treatment for infection with H5N5 avian influenza, the health department said in a news release. State epidemiologist Scott Lindquist said last week that the person, who was hospitalized after developing high fever, confusion and respiratory distress, was “a severely ill patient.” (Sun, 11/21)

On cancer —

The Washington Post: Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines Should Change, New Study Finds 
A new study reveals that current lung cancer screening guidelines may be missing most cases, prompting calls for changes to detect the disease earlier. (Chiu, 11/24)

Axios: Nearly 1 In 10 U.S. Adults Have Had Cancer: Gallup
Nearly one in ten U.S. adults have been diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, a new high in Gallup's surveys dating back nearly two decades. Cancer death rates have declined in recent decades, along with incidences of certain types of cancer like lung cancer. But other cancers, notably those associated with obesity, have seen an uptick. (Lotz, 11/24)

More health and wellness news —

The New York Times: U.S. Introduces New Female Crash-Test Dummy Standards
When a woman gets behind the wheel of a vehicle today, she is protected by safety features — from seatbelts to airbags — that have largely been designed to protect the average man from about 50 years ago. But female drivers in the United States are 73 percent more likely than a male driver to be severely injured in vehicle crashes, and they are 17 percent more likely to die, according to government data. (Hassan, 11/23)

KFF Health News: Kids And Teens Go Full Throttle For E-Bikes As Federal Oversight Stalls
E-bike of Colorado sales manager Perry Fletcher said his sales and repair shop saw an increase in back-to-school sales to young riders and families this fall as the popularity of the battery-powered bicycles revs up. But the kids’ excitement for their new rides is tempered by a recurring question from worried parents: Are they safe? That can be a difficult question to answer. The federal government’s e-bike regulations are sparse, and efforts to expand them have stalled, leaving states and even counties to fill the void with patchwork rules of their own. (Ruder, 11/24)

Fox News: More Adults Suddenly Developing Food Allergies, Baffling Experts
More adults are suddenly developing allergic reactions later in life — and experts aren't sure why. Nearly 50% of adults developed at least one food allergy in adulthood, according to a 2019 investigation published in JAMA. Illana Golant, founder and CEO of the Food and Allergy Fund (FAF) in New York City, told Fox News Digital that she developed allergies in her 40s. (DiMella, 11/23)

CNN: What Is MASLD: Millions Of Americans Have This Liver Disease And Don’t Know It 
A health condition many people have never heard of has become one of the most common liver diseases in the United States. Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, often develops quietly, so many people do not realize they have it until it is more advanced and signs show up in blood tests or ultrasounds. Even then, the disease can be hard to detect. (Hetter, 11/21)

In celebrity news —

The Washington Post: Donald Glover Says He Had Stroke, Surgeries For Hole In Heart In 2024 
Donald Glover, the multitalented creative known as Childish Gambino, addressed last year’s world tour cancellation during a weekend concert, telling fans he had suffered a stroke and doctors discovered a hole in his heart. Glover recalled performing in Louisiana in 2024 with “a really bad pain” in his head. “So when we went to Houston, I went to the hospital, and the doctor was like, ‘You had a stroke,’” he said during a Saturday performance at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival in Los Angeles. (Masih, 11/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Celebrities Are Making Smoking Cigarettes Cool Again
The stars are lighting up again. “Need a cigarette to make me feel better,” crooned pop star Addison Rae on her 2025 single “Headphones On,” while Lorde sang “this is the best cigarette of my life” in her own 2025 release, “What Was That.” Sabrina Carpenter was recently photographed wearing a corset made of Marlboro Gold packages, and sells shirts with song names emblazoned on mock-ups of cigarette boxes and lighters. (Cooper and Wright, 11/23)

The New York Times: America’s Caregivers Are In Crisis 
Caring for an aging loved one is a journey — and not a low-key pleasure trip with a clear itinerary you can plan and pack for. The road is constantly dipping and turning to accommodate the vagaries of aging. I, for instance, have lost count of how many bones my mother has broken in recent years. (Michelle Cottle, 11/24)

Stat: Can A Smart Home Fill In Caregiving Gaps? 
As Peter strode across 20th Street, his mother’s apartment building came into view. Her one-bedroom home in Philadelphia’s historic Rittenhouse Square area was a four-minute walk from the three-story row house where he lived with his wife and two children. (Jason Karlawish, 11/24)

The Boston Globe: Bernie Sanders: Republican Health Care Ideas Are Absurd
Their proposals would take our already broken health care system and make it even worse. Here’s what we should do instead. (Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., 11/20)

Stat: The Problems With The Neurodiversity Movement’s Language 
Watching the neurodiversity movement gain traction online and in real life has given me hope that a more inclusive and informed future isn’t too far away. In social media videos, people discuss the daily experience of being neurodiverse or how they have learned to observe and respect these traits in loved ones and family. I have watched many videos of adults with ADHD and/or autism in the workplace or at school that mirror parts of my own life. (Jack Pemment, 11/24)

The New Yorker: Tatiana Schlossberg On Being Diagnosed With Leukemia After Giving Birth
The daughter of Caroline Kennedy writes about receiving a terminal diagnosis following the birth of her daughter, and watching Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., cut funding for the health-care system she relies on. (Tatiana Schlossberg, 11/22)