The Week in Brief: Feb. 14, 2025
Urgent CDC Data and Analyses on Influenza and Bird Flu Go Missing as Outbreaks Escalate
Amy Maxmen
Delays in urgent CDC analyses of seasonal flu and bird flu, and the agency’s silence, will harm Americans as outbreaks escalate, doctors and public health experts warn.
As States Mull Medicaid Work Requirements, Two With Experience Scale Back
Renuka Rayasam and Sam Whitehead
As Republicans consider adding work requirements to Medicaid, Georgia and Arkansas — two states with experience running such programs — want to scale back the key parts supporters have argued encourage employment and personal responsibility.
House Cats With Bird Flu Could Pose a Risk to Public Health
Sarah Boden
The current strain of bird flu is spreading from wildlife and livestock to house cats. To keep pets healthy, many virologists and veterinarians say, house cats shouldn’t eat raw food and should be kept indoors. Despite no known cases of H5N1 transmission between cats and people, some public health agencies and virologists are warning cat owners to be mindful of the theoretical risks to the health of humans in their households if a pet gets sick.
Montana Looks To Regulate Prior Authorization as Patients, Providers Decry Obstacles to Care
Mike Dennison
Patients and providers say health insurers’ preapproval requirements lead to delays and denials of needed medical treatments. Insurers argue that prior authorization keeps costs down.
Doctor Wanted: Small Town Offers Big Perks To Attract a Physician
Daniel Chang
The town of Havana, Florida, is seeking a family doctor to practice in the rural community. Incentives include rent-free office space with medical equipment owned by the town. With a physician shortage hitting small communities hard, town leaders put want ads in newspapers and on social media.
Blood Transfusions at the Scene Save Lives. But Ambulances Are Rarely Equipped To Do Them.
Michelle Andrews
More than 60,000 people bleed to death every year in the United States. Many of those deaths occur before the patient reaches a trauma center where blood transfusions can be given.
Kaiser Permanente Back in the Hot Seat Over Mental Health Care, but It’s Not Only a KP Issue
Bernard J. Wolfson
Mental health workers on strike in Southern California say Kaiser Permanente is woefully understaffed, its therapists are burned out, and patients are often denied timely access to care. The insurer says it has largely fixed the problem. But across California and the nation, mental health parity is still not a reality.
Top California Democrats Clash Over How To Rein In Drug Industry Middlemen
Christine Mai-Duc
Frustrated by spiraling drug costs, California lawmakers want to increase oversight of pharmaceutical industry intermediaries known as pharmacy benefit managers. It’s unclear whether they can persuade Gov. Gavin Newsom to get on board.
How Do You Deal With Wild Drug Prices?
Dan Weissmann
“An Arm and a Leg” is collecting stories for a new series about how Americans get the medicine they need when faced with sticker shock.
Republican States Claim Zero Abortions. A Red-State Doctor Calls That ‘Ludicrous.’
Sarah Varney and Oona Zenda
In several red states, officials say few or no abortions happened in 2023, raising alarm among researchers about the politicization of vital statistics.
Courts Try To Curb Health Cuts
Some of the Trump administration’s dramatic funding and policy shifts are facing major pushback for the first time — not from Congress, but from the courts. Federal judges around the country are attempting to pump the brakes on efforts to freeze government spending, shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, eliminate access to health-related webpages and datasets, and limit grant funding provided by the National Institutes of Health. Meanwhile, Congress is off to a slow start in trying to turn President Donald Trump’s agenda into legislation, although Medicaid is clearly high on the list for potential funding cuts. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Maya Goldman of Axios News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Mark McClellan, director of the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy and a former health official during the George W. Bush administration, about the impact of cutting funding to research universities.