Haven't been on social media much today so perhaps this has been said 100 times over but -wouldn't it be interesting to see @jimmykimmel.com have Ted Cruz on .. As I tell my students, there's a reason it's the FIRST Amendment.

on this week's #WTHealth podcast: @sangerkatz.bsky.social, @alicemiranda.bsky.social, and @joannekenen.bsky.social on the CDC hearing, shutdown countdown, and more. Plus an interview with Troyen Brennan on his new book on primary care: kffhealthnews.org/news/podcast...

"A full year before anyone casts their vote in November 2026 — meaning now, in the fall of 2025 — the American health care system will begin transitioning from an era of unprecedented expansion of coverage to an era of unprecedented cutbacks." Via @politico.com @joannekenen.bsky.social

Wrote this. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Tobacco stocks? Really? (yes she's promising to divest and yes she says her husband bought them but.. Wellness?) www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/h...

"With her steady demeanor, Monarez served as the poised yin to Kennedy’s agitated yang at a similar hearing before the Senate Finance Committee earlier this month — the one where he called her a liar, among other things." www.politico.com/newsletters/...

"Paul Offit, longtime member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee and an outspoken critic of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was recently informed by the Department of Health and Human Services that his services are no longer required." www.biospace.com/fda/offit-ou...

Not sure I'm really smart enough to understand this since I have a Girl Brain. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

A friend was rejoicing in new rule by Chicago Manual of Style regarding colons and was hoping for a rally around the Oxford Comma. Told her not to worry, it's probably going to become the Trump Comma.

"Austin American-Statesman seeks an Elon Musk reporter" Stumbled across this while looking for something utterlly unrelated. Hope it doesn't mean he's also becoming a pop superstar.

NASA isn't a public health agency - but as I wrote for @undark.org it sort of is! It collects and shares huge amounts of data onclimate and environment. Cholera, Asthma, Lyme, even dementia and Preterm Birth-- Naturally it's all in jeopardy now because of Trump's budget. undark.org/2025/08/18/n...

Vacation. And this is before family member # 14 had arrived. No one has needed stitches yet!

Pandemic preparedness in the US has been leveled a crippling blow with the cancellation of multiple #BARDA contracts to help develop mRNA vaccines. No other vaccine platform produces vaccine so quickly; without mRNA, Americans will have a long wait for pandemic vax. www.statnews.com/2025/08/05/m...

Deep Staff Cuts at a Little-Known Federal Agency Pose Trouble for Droves of Local Health Programs - KFF Health News | CBS News kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Latest "What the Health" podcast, we talked preventive care, vaccines, homelessness -- and will dental floss someday replace needes for vaccination? (that's still a Big Fat Maybe) @julierovner.bsky.social @annaedney.bsky.social @shefali.bsky.social and me. kffhealthnews.org/news/podcast...

Monkeys are stealing valuables (including phones) from tourists in Bali and swapping them for mangoes. Story, alas, is behind paywall but you get the drift. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/mo...

Found myself referring unintentionally today to the "Magabill" instead of the "Megabill" and realized maybe we all should...

It is of course good to see bipartisan support for science funding. Unfortunately OMB has said the administration will continue with rescissions and funding cuts despite what Congress does...

It's "Froot Loops" folks, not "Fruit Loops." We really have to get our food and science medical terminology right.

Days after a Grok antisemitism scandal rocked X, tech billionaire Elon Musk’s AI chatbot has introduced two animated characters that try to pressure users into sexually explicit or violent conversations.

Big shakeup at HHS, our new colleague @adamcancryn.bsky.social reports - RFK Jr fires chief of staff Heather Flick Melanson and deputy chief of staff for policy Hannah Anderson. Melanson had worked in first Trump admin Kennedy "lost confidence in them," sources say www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/h...

A senior NIH leader hired by the Trump admin was fired Monday amid an investigation into a sole-source contract on autism and other topics that could have benefited his spouse. An exclusive led by @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social wapo.st/4nMhcs5

"Just a week had remained before scientists in South Africa were to begin clinical trials of an HIV vaccine, toward limiting one of history’s deadliest pandemics. Then the email arrived. Stop all work, the U.S. was withdrawing all funding." apnews.com/article/sout...

"Influence Muscle." Big #Wellness is a $6.3 Trillion global business. It's largely unregulated. And RFK and his allies have financial ties Good overview by @stephaniearmour.bsky.social @kffhealthnews.org kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

without any prompting of any kind whatsoever from me, an AI program popped up on my screen and asked if I wanted to know the main points of a certain article. Thanks but....I wrote the article.

Beyond Thom Tillis! North Carolina gets a lot of health policy attention because it is innovative and - amazingly enough -- quite bipartisan on health including Medicaid. But NC Medicaid - including its expansion - is about to get hit hard. www.politico.com/newsletters/...

really interesting --how the Supreme Court ruling on lower court injunctions isn't the end of the story.. at least not yet. via @kyledcheney.bsky.social @hassankanu.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Um. Google. Really. No. Pop Up ads with dance music about HOTELS AND RESORTS are not OK when I'm catching up on news about "Alligator Alcatraz" (PS the alligators are native but weren't those invasive pythons brought here as illegal immigrants?" abcnews.go.com/US/florida-t...

I talked with ProPublica about the rise in severe morbidity among people diagnosed with pregnancy loss at TX hospitals. Check out their important reporting about the increase in blood transfusions: www.propublica.org/article/texa...

Though the West Texas #measles outbreak has slowed down, the nationwide number of confirmed cases this year is still climbing. The number of recorded cases in the first 6 months of 2025 is close — 8 shy — to surpassing the 2019 total to become the highest yearly tally since measles elimination.

"21 pills when only 8 were needed: [Too many meds can cause] confusion, [falls] & blood pressure problems." The solution? #Pharmacists. @joannekenen.bsky.social spoke with Academy members from @umaryland.edu, UCSF, Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Hawaii for @washingtonpost.com.

17. Million. People.

wrote about overprescribing (aka polypharmacy) for the Washington Post. It's dangerous (especially for older people). Period. It's a problem that sounds simple to solve - but it's another health care challenge that persists, even though we know better. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Raise your hand if you're surprised. Hmm, don't see any raised hands. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

A trillion cut can buy a lot of "worse cases."

Update: Latest estimate confirms between Medicaid cuts and ACA rollback, total health care cuts in the Republican budget bill are now OVER $1 trillion.

Just sayin'.... Deposed Shah's son says he's ready, willing and able... www.politico.eu/article/iran...

RFK JR's 2-part plan to crack down on drug ads ..potential big hit to media ad revenue. Others have tried to limit over the years -- so far without success. Via @rachelcohrs.bsky.social www.seattletimes.com/business/rfk...

The main difference between my wonderful Yoga teacher who is a multitasking working mom and the equally wonderful one who is not— one never says “hips” when she means “elbows”

The most important words of our Constitution are the first three: We the People. We have no Kings here, no monarchs, no slaves and no subjects. We the People.

Missed this earlier today but wow - RFK Jr claims Cassidy's version of their agreement on vaccine panel is "not true." www.reuters.com/business/hea...

This week's KFF "What the Health" podcast. Vaccines. NIH. Vaccines. Medicaid. Vaccines. Medicare. and as usual, some other interesting health talk. @julierovner.bsky.social @annaedney.bsky.social @sarahkarlin-smith.bsky.social and me. kffhealthnews.org/news/podcast...

ozempic osmosis!! (the reverse may also be true - some studies have found spouses of people with diabetes have a higher risk of developing it)

great read on the politics of Les Miz in the Time of Trump. Valjean or Javert? also "crazy radical lefties" via @meganmesserly.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Hadn't seen this coming -- but probably should have: Some patients needing transfusions are demanding blood from unvaccinated donors. via @jwjacobs12.bsky.social‬ in @statnews.com www-statnews-com.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/2025/06/11/u...

on this week's #WTHealth podcast: Trump's "one big beautiful bill" moves forward with lots of Medicaid cuts; and RFKjr testifies in the House and Senate. Join me, @alicemiranda.bsky.social, Julie Appleby, and @joannekenen.bsky.social for this and more. kffhealthnews.org/news/podcast...

new #WThealth podcast up! this week, @sangerkatz.bsky.social, @alicemiranda.bsky.social, and @joannekenen.bsky.social on 100 days of dramatic change at HHS, plus the latest on the GOP efforts to find $880 billion in Medicaid savings: kffhealthnews.org/news/podcast...

Republicans are struggling to find ways to reduce Medicaid spending without cutting benefits. Meanwhile, confusion continues to reign at HHS. @joannekenen.bsky.social, @alicemiranda.bsky.social, and @sangerkatz.bsky.social join host @julierovner.bsky.social to discuss these stories and more.

A European health policy expert, for whom English is a 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) language emailed me that “healthcare is always on turmoil.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.