Morning Briefing for Tuesday, May 20, 2025
May 20, 2025
Morning Briefing
We’d like to speak with personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services or its component agencies about what’s happening within the federal health bureaucracy. Please message us on Signal at (415) 519-8778 or get in touch here.
Medicaid Work Requirements Could Be Instituted In Early 2027
May 20, 2025
Morning Briefing
As GOP leadership works to mend internal divisions to get its One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed, President Trump plans to visit Capitol Hill to shore up support. Wall Street’s worries over a burgeoning debt might complicate their efforts, Politico reported.
Bipartisan Take It Down Act That Bans ‘Revenge Porn’ Becomes Law
May 20, 2025
Morning Briefing
It is now illegal to publish or threaten to publish real or AI-generated intimate images of a person without their consent. Tech sites and companies also must take down such images within 48 hours of notice from a victim and try to delete duplicate content.
First Edition: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
May 20, 2025
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Trump Exaggerates Speed and Certainty of Prescription Drug Price Reductions
By Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact
May 20, 2025
KFF Health News Original
According to the timeline in the May 12 executive order, prescription drug price reductions would not happen “almost immediately,” but rather could take months or years. And extending the savings to Americans outside federal health insurance programs such as Medicare would likely require congressional action.
This News Might Ruin Your Appetite — And Summer
By David Hilzenrath
May 20, 2025
KFF Health News Original
Fresh studies expose a gap in the FDA’s assessments of foods: Widely used additives could damage the mix of bacteria in your gut, causing health problems.
How Trump Aims To Slash Federal Support for Research, Public Health, and Medicaid
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
May 20, 2025
KFF Health News Original
One thing experts agree on: The damage from the funding cuts will be varied and immense.
Judge Indefinitely Halts Trump’s Effort To Nix $11B In Public Health Funds
May 19, 2025
Morning Briefing
Judge Mary McElroy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island on Friday extended a temporary restraining order she had issued in April regarding pandemic-era funding. Other Trump administration news is on layoffs, research cuts, the GAO, and more.
Authorities Say Alleged Calif. IVF Clinic Bomber Was Critical Of Procreation
May 19, 2025
Morning Briefing
Suspect Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, was killed in Saturday’s blast outside the American Reproductive Centers clinic in Palm Springs. Bartkus left behind writings that indicated “anti-pro-life” sentiments and anti-natalist views, law enforcement officials said. Four others were hurt in the attack, but no patients were at the clinic that day. All embryos were saved, the FBI said.
First Diagnostic Blood Test For Alzheimer’s Cleared By FDA
May 19, 2025
Morning Briefing
This new test gives a less-invasive option to aid in diagnosis and makes it more available because patients will not have to wait for a neurologist to start the process. The FDA warns that blood tests are prone to false results. Also: the danger of an undiagnosed ministroke; food recalls; and more.
Novavax’s Covid Jab Wins FDA Backing For People 65 And Older, Those At Risk
May 19, 2025
Morning Briefing
In other vaccine news, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has officially ordered placebo testing on new vaccines, a change that experts claim will be costly and — harkening back to polio vaccine trials in the 1950s — unethical. Plus, news about long covid, bird flu, measles, and more.
Compounding Pharmacies Again Skirt Crackdown On GLP-1 Knockoffs
May 19, 2025
Morning Briefing
As the government tries to end the sale of compound diabetes and weight loss drugs, some drugmakers and telehealth companies are finding new ways to keep them on the shelves by tweaking the dosage or delivery method. Plus, a Rite Aid deal, a UnitedHealth insurance denial, and more.
A Dose Of Upbeat And Inspiring News
May 19, 2025
Morning Briefing
Today’s stories are on mental health, an in-flight emergency, cancer, organ transplants, and more.
Joe Biden And His Family Are Reviewing Cancer Treatment Options
May 19, 2025
Morning Briefing
Former President Biden’s office announced Sunday that he has prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. The statement said his cancer is “hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management.” Politicians on both sides of the aisle reached out to send well-wishes.
After Medicaid Concessions, House GOP Hardliners Let Megabill Advance
May 19, 2025
Morning Briefing
The tax bill survived a committee vote Sunday night. It would make Medicaid work requirements happen “as soon as possible,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said. The measure still faces uncertainty as it comes up for votes in the full House and the Senate. Plus, the effects this “big, beautiful bill” would have on health care providers and patients.
Morning Briefing for Monday, May 19, 2025
May 19, 2025
Morning Briefing
We’d like to speak with personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services or its component agencies about what’s happening within the federal health bureaucracy. Please message us on Signal at (415) 519-8778 or get in touch here.
First Edition: Monday, May 19, 2025
May 19, 2025
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Trump’s DOJ Accuses Medicare Advantage Insurers of Paying ‘Kickbacks’ for Primo Customers
By Julie Appleby
May 19, 2025
KFF Health News Original
The Department of Justice alleges that several major health insurers paid brokerages “hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks” to get agents to steer consumers into their Medicare Advantage plans, allegations the insurers strongly dispute.
