Latest Morning Briefing Stories
White House Calls This 9/11-Era Fund ‘Wasteful.’ Red and Blue States Rely on It.
States from California to Texas say they rely on tens of millions in federal funding to help them prepare for the next pandemic, cyberattack, or mass-casualty catastrophe. The Trump administration wants to cut it.
Is Covid During Pregnancy Linked to Autism? What a New Study Shows, and What It Doesn’t
Massachusetts researchers examine how growth and learning are subtly shaped among children whose mothers had covid while pregnant.
Cuando hay un brote de una enfermedad prevenible con vacunas, funcionarios habitualmente alertan a los residentes, difunden actualizaciones sobre la amenaza creciente, y promueven las dosis.
Louisiana Took Months To Sound Alarm After Two Babies Died in Whooping Cough Outbreak
Louisiana health officials appear to have deviated from the usual steps for public health communications amid a whooping cough outbreak after it killed two infants.
From Narcan to Gun Silencers, Opioid Settlement Cash Pays Law Enforcement Tabs
Local governments have received hundreds of millions of dollars from the opioid settlements to support addiction treatment, recovery, and prevention efforts. Their spending decisions in 2024 were sometimes surprising and even controversial. Our new database offers more than 10,500 examples.
Sock Hops and Concerts: How Some Places Spent Opioid Settlement Cash
States, counties, and cities are receiving millions in opioid settlement money to address the addiction crisis. The ways they spent the dollars in 2024 sometimes drew criticism from advocates and at least one state official, who alleged misuse.
At The Hollow in Florida, the ‘Medical Freedom’ Movement Finds Its Base Camp
Florida’s surgeon general, spiritual healers, and Trump allies push their cures in a swampy outpost of anti-government absolutism and mystical belief.
What the Health? From KFF Health News: Happy Open Enrollment Eve!
A standoff in Congress is keeping much of the government shut down as open enrollment begins in most states for Affordable Care Act plans. Democrats are demanding Republicans agree to extend ACA tax credits, but there has been little negotiating — even as customers are learning what they’ll pay for coverage next year. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is telling states they can’t pass their own laws to keep medical debt off consumers’ credit reports. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more.
Médicos, callados mientras Florida busca terminar con décadas de mandatos de vacunación infantil
Sin embargo, si las tasas de vacunación bajan, aumentan los casos de enfermedades como sarampión, hepatitis, meningitis y neumonía e incluso podrían regresar enfermedades como la difteria y la poliomielitis.
Para quienes tienen en su agenda de otoño vacunarse contra enfermedades respiratorias —covid, gripe y, para algunas personas, virus respiratorio sincitial (VRS) — este año puede resultar sorprendentemente normal.
Doctors Muffled as Florida Moves To End Decades of Childhood Vaccination Mandates
Florida has announced plans to end mandatory vaccination. Now scientists are assessing which of several diseases deadly to children — whooping cough, measles, polio, rubella, mumps, diphtheria, and tetanus — are likely to make a resurgence and when.
As Sports Betting Explodes, States Try To Set Limits To Stop Gambling Addiction
Some advocates and lawmakers want to impose national regulations on the gambling industry but would settle for reining in excessive betting at the state level.
What the Health? From KFF Health News: Nutrition Programs Face Their Own Shutdown
Two major nutrition programs — SNAP and WIC — are likely to exhaust their funding in November, and the furloughs and firings at the CDC have left the agency unable to perform some of its major functions. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s new IVF policy is being met with dissatisfaction from both sides. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Katheryn Houghton, who wrote the latest “Bill of the Month” feature.
Despite the Hoopla, Vaccines Should Be in Reach This Cough-and-Cold Season
Recommendations surrounding covid vaccinations and other such shots have been confusing. Ultimately, though, little has changed. Here’s what you need to know.
‘Cancer Doesn’t Care’: Citizen Lobbyists Unite To Push Past Washington’s Ugly Politics
Despite a poisonous political climate, hundreds of volunteer advocates put partisan differences aside and pressed Congress to help people with cancer.
RFK Jr. Misses Mark in Touting Rural Health Transformation Fund as Historic Infusion of Cash
The health secretary’s statement doesn’t consider the impact that the Medicaid cuts advanced in the same law will have on health care in rural America.
Trump Called Digital Equity Act ‘Racist.’ Now Internet Money for Rural Americans Is Gone.
President Donald Trump called the Digital Equity Act unconstitutional, racist, and illegal. Then the $2.75 billion program for rural and underserved communities to gain internet access disappeared.
University of California Researchers, Patients Wary of Trump Cuts Even as Some Dollars Flow Again
Biomedical researchers and patients are caught in the middle as the Trump administration continues its campaign to strip grants from universities accused of bias. Courts have restored some frozen funds to California universities, but academics studying brain tumors, lung cancer, and strokes worry their grant dollars remain a bargaining chip.
This Geriatrics Training Program Escaped the Ax. For Now.
The Trump administration has restored promised funds to a program that teaches people in health care how to work with aging Americans.
Receloso del secretario de Salud, RFK Jr., Colorado comenzó a renovar sus políticas de vacunación
Cuatro estados del oeste —California, Hawaii, Oregon y Washington— han formado una alianza para proteger el acceso a las vacunas. Varios estados del noreste han tomado medidas similares.
