Modern Healthcare: House Spending Bill Sets Up Fight Over ACA Subsidies
House Republican leaders Tuesday unveiled a bill to keep government and key healthcare programs running through Nov. 21, but declined to heed calls to address expiring tax credits for federal marketplace insurance plans. The proposal emerged as Democrats complain Republicans have refused to negotiate with them at all. A growing number of Democrats have also said extending the enhanced tax credits under the Affordable Care Act of 2010 is a requirement for them to vote to keep government funded. (McAuliff, 9/16)

The Washington Post: The GOP Cut Parts Of Obamacare. Now It’s At The Center Of A Funding Fight.
Voters across the country are already beginning to feel the impact of the recent ACA rollbacks. They could also see their premiums rise when enhanced tax subsidies to purchase ACA marketplace insurance plans — which Democrats passed under President Joe Biden — expire at the end of the year. Insurers have already started sending notices to consumers that their premiums will rise significantly in 2026. Without the enhanced tax credits in place, ACA marketplace consumers’ out-of-pocket premium payments will rise by more than 75 percent on average, according to an analysis from KFF, a health policy research organization. (Abutaleb and Meyer, 9/17)

KFF Health News: Team Trump’s Answer To Ballooning Obamacare Premiums: Less Generous Coverage
Trump administration officials, looking at the possible impact of large insurance premium increases for millions of next year’s Obamacare customers, want more people to consider plans with less generous benefits and high deductibles. The agency that oversees the ACA announced early this month that it would expand eligibility for “catastrophic” plans sold in Affordable Care Act online marketplaces. The plans require people to spend more than $10,000 a year on deductibles before the policies pay most medical costs but carry lower monthly premiums than other Obamacare policies. (Appleby, 9/17)

In related news about federal funding cuts and the uninsured —

KFF Health News: Projected Surge In Uninsured Will Strain Local Health Systems
Jake Margo Jr. stood in the triage room at Starr County Memorial Hospital explaining why a person with persistent fever who could be treated with over-the-counter medication didn’t need to be admitted to the emergency room. “We’re going to take care of the sickest patients first,” Margo, a family medicine physician, said. (Whitehead and Rayasam, 9/17)

KFF Health News: Montana Advocates Worry About Federal Impacts On Support For Students With Disabilities
Tucker Jette lives for gaming, but like so many other recent high school graduates, he’s had to come to terms with the reality that he can’t make a living playing video games. And while he may not know yet exactly what he wants to do for a living, said Jette’s mother, Jessie Sather, he does know that earning money for a new computer to support his hobby is one of his top priorities as an 18-year-old preparing to step out on his own. (Sakariassen, 9/17)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
Jackie Fortiér reads the week’s news: Federal cuts to food assistance could make it harder for families to stay healthy, and some health insurers are planning to reduce coverage of popular but expensive weight loss drugs. (9/16)

More news from Capitol Hill —

Fierce Healthcare: Nonprofit Hospitals' Community Benefits Face Lawmaker Scrutiny
Nonprofit hospitals weathered a broadside of criticism on their use of tax benefits and exploitation of “anticompetitive” regulations and policies during a Tuesday afternoon House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee hearing. Testimonies given to the Republican-led committee covered a broad swath of grievances with limited or conditional support for tax-exempt hospitals. (Muoio, 9/17)

MedPage Today: Prior Authorization Continues To Bedevil Congress
As congressional Democrats and Republicans battle over how to avert a potential government shutdown, another issue -- reining in prior authorizations -- remains on both parties' radar screens, although it's unclear whether anything will get done on the topic. The latest version of prior authorization legislation, known as the Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act, was introduced in the House in May by Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), and in the Senate by Sen. Roger Marshall, MD (R-Kansas). (Frieden, 9/16)

Politico: Trump Wants GOP Lawmakers To Embrace RFK Jr. They’re Having Trouble
President Donald Trump is betting that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA followers will matter more to Republicans in next year’s elections than people turned off by Kennedy’s vaccine policy moves. But not every Republican lawmaker who has to face the voters is so sure. (Levien and Paun, 9/16)

Stat: CDC Pauses Work-From-Home Permission For Those With Disabilities
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revoked permission for employees with disabilities to work from home, at least temporarily, and paused approving reasonable accommodations for new applicants seeking to work from home, according to a Sept. 15 email obtained by STAT. The agency’s decision stems from the Trump administration’s January directive to mostly end remote work for federal employees and is tied to an August update to a broader Health and Human Services telework policy, which the CDC email said did not include long-term telework as an option for federal employees with disabilities. (Broderick, 9/16)

In other health industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Vital, Penguin Ai Offering Guaranteed ROI To Compete Against Epic
The landscape for companies selling artificial intelligence tools was already crowded before Epic bolstered its offerings. The electronic health record company made it clear last month that it wasn’t going to cede the market to other vendors when it announced new AI tools for patients, for providers and for revenue cycle management functions. For some startups, the competition from Epic and elsewhere has meant adjusting their strategies to attract potential customers. (Perna, 9/16)

The Boston Globe: Colon Cancer In Young People Is One Focus Of New Harvard Center
Is sleep loss contributing to the increasing rate of colon cancer in young people? Can nerve cells in our skin be manipulated to ease hyper-sensitivity to touch for patients with autism? And can the breathtakingly complex layer of protective cells around our brain be unlocked so cancer drugs might be more effectively delivered to tumors? Amid a chaotic and uncertain time for federal funding of scientific research, a $30 million gift to Harvard Medical School for a new Brain-Body Center will fuel cutting-edge research to help answer these and other pressing health questions scientists say. (Lazar, 9/17)

CIDRAP: NIH Funds New Center Focused On Preventing Drug-Resistant Infections
Boston Children's Hospital and Tulane University have received a $25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a center that will focus on strategies to prevent infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria. The Center of Excellence for Translational Research, housed at Boston Children's, will be called IMPACT (Immunization against Multidrug-resistant Pathogens: Activating T Cell Immunity) and will target Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae—three pathogens that are frequently resistant to broad-spectrum antibiotics. (Dall, 9/16)

Stat: Black In Neuro Conference Marks Growth Despite Difficult Times
Last year, when organizers were planning 2025’s Black in Neuro week, the conference was meant to be a celebration. Little did they know that hosting the event at the University of the District of Columbia would put attendees just up the road from an administration that has ordered a wholesale defunding of work to diversify the scientific workforce and terminated training grants that supported many of the group’s scientists. The conference, which took place over three days last week, ended up being something between a victory lap marking the organization’s growth and a sober assessment of the political landscape as the Trump administration works in opposition to Black in Neuro’s goal of creating better support systems for Black neuroscientists. (Oza, 9/17)

Also —

MedPage Today: Consider Anal Cancer Screening In Some Older Women, Study Says
The risk of anal cancer in older women with a history of cervical cancer exceeded a "critical threshold" indicated for screening, a large retrospective cohort study showed. The total number of cases of anal cancer after cervical cancer was small, 64 in 85,524 women, but the incidence increased with age, reaching 17.6 cases per 100,000 person-years in women ages 65 to 74, double the rate for similar-age women in the general population, reported Haluk Damgacioglu, PhD, of the Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston, and coauthors. (Bankhead, 9/16)

The New York Times: Pig Organ Transplants May Pose A Dilemma For Some Jews And Muslims
The sacred texts of Judaism and Islam are in absolute agreement when it comes to the pig: It is taboo, unclean and unfit for human consumption. For Jews, pork is “treyf,” the very opposite of kosher. Pigs have one of the characteristics needed to be kosher (split hooves) but lack the other (they don’t chew their cud). For Muslims, the pig is also forbidden, or “haram,” along with carrion and blood. The Quran mentions the proscription repeatedly. (Caryn Rabin, 9/16)

The New York Times: State Terrorism Charges Against Luigi Mangione Are Dismissed 
Two state terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione, who is accused in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive last year, were dismissed on Tuesday, including one that charged him with first-degree murder. The judge overseeing the case, Gregory Carro, said he had found the evidence behind the charges “legally insufficient.” Mr. Mangione, 27, is still charged with second-degree murder. (Meko, 9/16)

MSNBC: Why A New York State Judge Dismissed Terrorism Charges Against Luigi Mangione
It’s a qualified win for Mangione, 27, that still has him facing the possibility of dying in prison if he is convicted, as he also faces separate federal charges in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Tuesday’s ruling nonetheless cuts against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case in the way that Bragg sought to shape it. (Rubin, 9/16)

More on the gun violence epidemic —

CBS News: Annunciation School Families Testify In Support Of Gun Restrictions At Minnesota Capitol 3 Weeks After Shooting 
Parents of students who survived the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting late last month testified before a panel of state lawmakers on Monday, imploring them to take action on gun control measures in wake of the attack.  It was the first meeting of a Minnesota Senate work group focused on addressing gun violence, which lawmakers established in the days after a gunman opened fire while students and teachers attended Mass to kick off the school year. (Cummings and Leone, 9/15)

CNN: Utah Valley University Students Return To Class One Week After Charlie Kirk Was Killed On Campus 
Students are returning to class Wednesday at Utah Valley University just days after prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at an event on campus, thrusting the community into the national spotlight. Nyasha Paradzai, a UVU junior, said he was lined up in front of Kirk, waiting to debate him at the campus event, when he was killed. Since that day, Paradzai said he’s been navigating “countless reminders of the event, countless things that have made me relive that.” “Right now, I’m working to get that horrific image out of my head, because, you know, it’s almost every time you close your eyes, you see it again,” he said. The somber task of returning to a campus that’s been host to deadly gun violence is an all-too-familiar experience for students in America. (Mascarenhas, 9/17)

The Guardian: Minneapolis Police Say More Than A Dozen Hurt In Homeless Encampment Shootings
Minneapolis police have said over a dozen people have been hurt in two separate shootings at homeless encampments across the city on the same day. The first shooting at a transit station wounded five people, and happened in an area that had seen two prior shootings in the past month. Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara rued the shootings as disturbingly commonplace. (Neff, 9/16)

The New York Times: ‘People Are Losing Hope’: Suicide Risk Is Rife In ICE Detention Centers
Daniel Cortes De La Valle had been in immigration detention for more than seven months — sleeping in dirty cells, being mocked by guards for his weight and being denied his epilepsy medication — when, in July 2023, he tried to hang himself. “‘I can’t anymore,’” Mr. Cortes De La Valle, 35, recalls thinking. “‘I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s like a horror movie.’” (Goldberg, 9/16)

On youth mental health care —

Axios: Exclusive: Half Of Young People Plagued By Loneliness, Family Problems
Half of U.S. youth say that loneliness has a daily disruptive impact on their mental health, according to Hopelab and Data For Progress survey results shared exclusively with Axios. The big picture: The polls shows two different paths, with over half of respondents reporting good mental health, though that state of well-being strongly correlates with income and LGBTQ+ identity. (Rubin, 9/16)

NPR: RFK Jr. Panned Mental Health Screenings In Schools. Here Are 3 Things To Know
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and Education Secretary Linda McMahon want schools to do away with mental health screenings and therapy. Instead, they argue in a Washington Post opinion piece that schools "must return to the natural sources of mental well-being: strong families, nutrition and fitness, and hope for the future." In the op-ed, the two secretaries mention a recent bill signed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, which requires all schools in the state to offer mental health screening tests, starting with third graders. The screenings are standardized questionnaires that ask children about their feelings and well-being. (Chatterjee, 9/16)

WPR: Insurance Company’s School-Based Mental Health Initiative Reaches Students Across Wisconsin
The company that provides health insurance and retirement benefits for Wisconsin teachers has been quietly focusing its charitable efforts on student mental health. The philanthropic arm of WEA Member Benefits has helped facilitate and fund more than $1.6 million for 20 school districts across the state. The money has funded everything from teacher training to co-pays and deductibles for students and educators, said Steve Goldberg, executive director of the WEA Member Benefits Foundation. (Hess, 9/17)

On social media and chatbots —

AP: Parents Of Teens Who Died By Suicide After AI Chatbot Interactions Testify To Congress
Parents whose teenagers killed themselves after interactions with artificial intelligence chatbots testified to Congress on Tuesday about the dangers of the technology. “What began as a homework helper gradually turned itself into a confidant and then a suicide coach,” said Matthew Raine, whose 16-year-old son Adam died in April. “Within a few months, ChatGPT became Adam’s closest companion,” the father told senators. (O’Brien, 9/16)

CBS News: OpenAI Says It Is Rolling Out New Safety Measures For ChatGPT Users Under 18
OpenAI announced Tuesday that it is directing teens to an age-appropriate version of its ChatGPT technology as it seeks to bolster safeguards amid a period of heightened scrutiny over the chatbot's safety. Users of the chatbot identified as under the age of 18 will automatically be directed to a version of ChatGPT governed by "age-appropriate" content rules, OpenAI said in a statement. This under-age edition includes protection policies such as blocking sexual content and — "in rare cases of acute distress" — law enforcement to ensure a user's safety, according to the company. (Cunningham, 9/16)

Becker's Hospital Review: Eli Lilly Plans $5B API Plant In Virginia
Eli Lilly is building a $5 billion manufacturing facility in Richmond, Va. It is the company’s first fully integrated facility for active pharmaceutical ingredients. The site is also intended to support the drugmaker’s bioconjugate platform and monoclonal antibody portfolio, including antibody drug conjugates for cancer, autoimmune diseases and other conditions, according to an Sept. 16 news release from Eli Lilly. (Murphy, 9/16)

In other pharma and tech news —

Fierce Healthcare: Optum Rx Rolls Out New Brand Drug Pricing Model For Pharmacies
Optum Rx, one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the U.S., has increased reimbursement minimums for brand drugs for approximately 2,300 independent pharmacies. The initiative builds on the company's commitment earlier this year to modernize its pharmacy payment model. Optum Rx said in March it would shift to a cost-based model, which will better align with "the costs pharmacies may face due to manufacturer pricing actions." (Landi, 9/17)

Bloomberg: FDA Crackdown Flags Oprah Video And Drug Ad With Morgan Freeman
US regulators issued a flurry of letters calling out pharmaceutical companies for allegedly misleading ads, part of a promised Trump administration crackdown on the industry’s ubiquitous TV spots, and warned Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S about their blockbuster obesity drug marketing. Most of the letters, sent to companies including AstraZeneca Plc, Bristol Myers Squibb Co. and AbbVie Inc., detail concerns with their online, broadcast and print marketing, ranging from hiring actors who appear too healthy to omitting key safety risks. (Garde, 9/16)

AP: Trump FDA Takes Aim At Telehealth Services In Drug Advertising Blitz
For the first time, federal health officials are taking aim at telehealth companies promoting unofficial versions of prescription drugs — including popular weight loss medications — as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on pharmaceutical advertising. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday posted more than 100 letters to various drugmakers and online prescribing companies, including Hims & Hers, which has built a multibillion-dollar business centered around lower-cost versions of blockbuster obesity injections. (Perrone, 9/16)

The Boston Globe: Experimental Narcolepsy Drugs Bring Hope To Patients
When Katelynn O’Connell takes her lunch break at work, she follows a routine that sets her apart from other employees. Each day at noon, she unfolds a cot in her small office, turns on a white noise machine, and takes a 30-minute nap. O’Connell has narcolepsy, a rare disorder that makes it difficult for people to stay awake during the day, disrupts their sleep at night, and, in some cases, causes sudden muscle weakness that makes them collapse. Since narcolepsy was first described in medical literature more than a century ago, people like O’Connell could only hope to treat its symptoms, leaving them vulnerable to the chronic sleepiness, depression, and feelings of isolation that mark the disease. (Saltzman, 9/16)

MedPage Today: Substantial Number Of People Ditch Wegovy Within A Year
Over half of people who started using semaglutide (Wegovy) for weight loss ditched it within the first 12 months, a Danish population-based study found. Among 77,310 adults without diabetes who began taking semaglutide after it was approved for weight loss, 40,262 (52%) were no longer taking it by month 12, reported Reimar Thomsen, MD, PhD, of Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. (Monaco, 9/16)

Becker's Hospital Review: 4 Medical Device Recalls And Corrections
Here are four of the latest recalls and corrections reported to the FDA. Dexcom corrects G7 and One + CGM apps over missed sensor failure alerts: Dexcom is issuing a correction for certain versions of its G7 and ONE+ continuous glucose monitoring apps due to a software design error that may fail to alert users of sensor transmitter failure. Users were instructed to update their apps to restore alert functions. No injuries or deaths have been reported. (Murphy, 9/16)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida’s KidCare Expansion In Limbo As Number Of Uninsured Children Jumps 20%
A state plan to expand subsidized health insurance for kids has remained in limbo for almost two years despite rising demand for coverage as more Florida children lose health insurance. About 8.5% of Florida children — roughly 403,000 kids — had no health coverage last year, according to an analysis of census data from Georgetown. (O'Donnell, 9/16)

NBC News: In West Virginia, A Legal Battle Over School Vaccine Mandates Reflects National Tension
When Marisa Jackson dropped her son Maxwell off at elementary school in St. Albans, West Virginia, in years past, she had the comfort of knowing that most, if not all, of the kids around him were vaccinated. West Virginia was one of just five states in the country that allowed only medical exemptions to school vaccine requirements. (Bendix, Kopf and Castro, 9/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Contra Costa Healthy Checkout Rule Advances, Bans Candy
Contra Costa County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed an ordinance that requires grocery stores to stock only healthy foods and drinks in checkout areas — which will effectively ban the sale of candy, chips, soda and other items high in sugar and salt near the registers, where shoppers often make impulse purchases. The ordinance, slated to take effect in November, will apply to the 42 retail food stores of at least 2,000 square feet in unincorporated Contra Costa County. It does not apply to incorporated cities, including Concord, Antioch and Richmond. (Ho, 9/16)

On the spread of covid, bird flu, and measles —

Los Angeles Times: California's COVID Wave Could Be Waning. Here Are The Latest Numbers
There are some encouraging signs that California’s summer COVID wave might be leveling off. That’s not to say the seasonal spike is in the rearview mirror just yet, however. Coronavirus levels in California’s wastewater remain “very high,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as they are in much of the country. (Lin II, 9/16)

North Carolina Health News: North Carolina Watches For Signs Of Bird Flu As Fall Migration Begins
Mid-September signals the soon-to-arrive familiar fall rhythms: leaves preparing to turn from green to gold and crimson, pumpkin spice flavors reappearing on menus and migratory birds filling the skies. Along with these seasonal markers comes a more troubling one — the likely spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu. (Atwater, 9/17)

CIDRAP: Researchers Introduce Tool Featuring Timely County-Level US Measles Data, Maps
More measles infections have been reported this year in the United States than in any year in more than three decades, with 1,356 confirmed cases from 42 counties by mid-August, notes a report featuring a daily county-level case map and state-level epidemic curves published yesterday in JAMA. Before the measles vaccine became available in 1963, over 90% of US residents were infected by the virus before they were 15 years old, with the 3 million to 4 million annual infections leading to about 48,000 hospital admissions. (Van Beusekom, 9/16)

Stat: Sen. Ron Wyden: RFK Jr. Is 'Delusional' On Chronic Disease In Kids
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent appearance before Congress raised eyebrows across the nation, mostly because of his outlandish statements about the Covid-19 pandemic and his combative denials of the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict vaccine access for children. (Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), 9/17)

Chicago Tribune: Rep. Sean Casten: Pilots Shouldn't Be Grounded For Seeking Mental Health Care
For decades, aviators have had minimal access to mental health care generally. Those who have sought care have often been grounded for extended periods of time. The system was presumably designed to keep our air traffic system safe but, as a practical matter, has served only to prevent people from seeking or receiving the care they need. (Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), 9/17)

Newsweek: House Republican: It's Time To Rein In Pharmaceutical Advertising
Having been a physician for over 35 years, I witnessed the pharmaceutical industry's wild-west days full of using consulting fees, sponsored meals, branded swag, and paid travel to entice doctors. Fortunately, many of those practices have been curbed, but now an army of marketers and advertisers work to win the hearts and minds of patients before they even see their doctor. One cannot watch the evening news without being exposed to endless drug advertisements. (Rep. Greg Murphy, M.D. (R-N.C.), 9/16)

Miami Herald: How Doctors And Patients Can Manage Healthcare Uncertainty
You want answers. Most doctors want to give them to you. But the reality is healthcare is full of uncertainty. (Marleah Dean Kruzel, 9/15)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: The National Kidney Shortage Is The Best Kind Of Problem — Because It’s Solvable 
The kidney shortage is the best kind of problem. It is solvable. And the solution is in Congress right now. (Elaine Perlman and Walter E. Block, 9/14)