SCOOP from @by-cjewett.bsky.social & me: Markwayne Mullin urged the Department of Health and Human Service to remove warnings from the FDA website about the health risks of the gas station drug kratom. Mullin owns equity in a leading kratom company called Botanic Tonics that could have benefited.

Should insurers start lending their customers money so they can cover the plans’ high deductibles? It’s one idea being floated by the Trump administration. Here’s my story: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/b...

My latest: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/b...

Many Americans can’t afford the higher health insurance premiums that resulted from Congress’s refusal to extend federal tax credits. Via @reedabelson.bsky.social and @sangerkatz.bsky.social (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/b...

Affordable Care Act enrollment has dropped across the United States since the enhanced federal subsidies expired. But New Mexico has record numbers of people signing up. Via @reedabelson.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/h...

I talked with @reedabelson.bsky.social for this important story about some states taking steps to mitigate the expired federal tax credits: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/h...

A Third of Americans Have Cut Spending or Borrowed Money for Health Care www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/h...

Amitabh is a coauthor on arguably the best paper on high-deductible health insurance that we have (link to thread from a few months ago to follow)

My latest: New A.C.A. Plans Could Increase Family Deductibles to $31,000 www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/h...

Per enrollee spending by private insurers almost doubled from 2008 to 2024 — much faster than both Medicare and Medicaid spending growth per enrollee (59.5% and 51.6%, respectively.) More in our chart collection: https://on.kff.org/4r7rQKA

SCOOP: Nursing home companies donated $4.8M to Trump's super PAC in Aug-Sept. Their executives landed a lunch in Aug. with Trump at his NoVa golf club where they asked him to revoke a rule to increase staffing to prevent patient neglect. His administration revoked the rule a few months later.

Perhaps more importantly, grocery prices are up 30% since the start of the pandemic. That cumulative inflation is a big part of why things feel so expensive. #NumbersDay

House Votes to Restore Health Subsidies, Raising Hopes of a Deal www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/u...

BREAKING: Federal health officials on Monday announced dramatic revisions to the slate of vaccines recommended for American children, reducing the number of diseases prevented by routine shots to 11 from 17. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/h...

I can’t believe I used the wrong link! Here’s the story www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/h...

I interviewed people who are affected by the loss of enhanced subsidies for 2026. Many are faced with tough decisions about what to do. Here’s the story: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/o...

Millions of Americans are confronting the highest health insurance costs in years. @reedabelson.bsky.social son explains why. Obamacare subsidies expire in 3 weeks. The clock is ticking on Capitol Hill. Congress may push the issue off until next year. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/h...

SCOOP: CDC officials on Monday linked for the first time the measles outbreak that began in Texas with another in Utah and Arizona, a finding that could end America’s status as a nation that has eliminated measles. (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/h...

Next year's A.C.A. health prices are now available in about a dozen states, giving Americans their first look at the sharp increases many will pay for coverage if Congress does not extend subsidies. Via @reedabelson.bsky.social and @sangerkatz.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/h...

The A.I. companies they contract to review pre-authorizations will have a strong incentive to deny care. Medicare plans to pay them a share of the savings generated from rejections. My story with @reedabelson.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/h...

As Aatish Taseer and his husband built a life together in New York, their anchor was Zinc, an 85-pound shepherd-lab mix. The last lesson he taught them was about loss and renewal. 🔗 Read more: on.wsj.com/4mGA766

A look at the broad challenges facing UnitedHealth — and the U.S. health system www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/h...

Children with complex medical needs and their families were on Capitol Hill this week lobbying senators against Medicaid cuts. From Megan Mineiro and @sangerkatz.bsky.social:

My latest: Kennedy said he has to go to Antigua to get stem cells for his vocal condition. He'd like such treatments to come to the U.S., despite the scams and bad outcomes they might bring. (why? he basically says pharma is just as bad) GIFT: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/h...

“In many ways, it’s sort of repeal by paper cut." www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/u...

Here's a complete list of *everything* in the GOP megabill, thanks to heroic efforts from @aliciaparlap.bsky.social @emmbadger.bsky.social and Josh Katz. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The Medicaid work requirement in the House bill is a lot stricter than work requirements in previous legislation. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u... with Sarah Kliff

Valerie, the miniature dachshund, disappeared in 2023, slipping out of her pen and into the bush on Australia’s Kangaroo Island. For the next 529 days, she eluded capture. Now, she is “safe and sound” and is being re-acclimated to domestic life in preparation for a reunion with her owners.

A tiny agency that supports programs like Meals on Wheels and Centers for Independent Living is being dismantled by the Trump administration— and concerns are increasing over the future funding of these initiatives. Here’s my story www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/h...

A bankruptcy judge in Dallas on Tuesday approved the closures of Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park.

Even as President Trump— with Musk and DOGE— says he’s rooting out fraud, he’s backing a skin substitute, basically an expensive bandaid, that is costing Medicare billions of dollars. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/h... A must read by @bykatiethomas.bsky.social @sarahkliff

...when public health works it's invisible...

A recession with job losses, combined with Medicaid cuts, combined with an end to enhanced ACA premium aid, would be quite a triple whammy for health coverage.

HHS doctors, scientists and tobacco control staff, rare disease experts, cancer drug wizards -- all fired today or leaving in recent weeks. Yet. 🚨 At HHS, staff make up less than one percent of the overall agency budget. 🚨 www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/h...

One way to get rid of senior health officials: reassign them to the Indian Health Service territories, like Alaska. This is how the Trump administration is forcing out top leaders at NIH, CDC, FDA and other health agencies. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u...

Tariffs get all the attention, but ask economists what they're really worried about and many will point to the Trump administration's cuts to federal support for the sciences, including canceling grants and revoking student visas. #EconSky www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/b...

Have any of these people read a single story from the healthcare.gov days? “How hard is it to build a website?” some idiots asked.

Yesterday: $12 billion in public health spending to states cut: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/h... Today: 10,000 HHS Staff from CDC, FDA etc to be cut: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/u... We'll be documenting what it means at @nytimes.com. Don't be strangers. My Signal is 916.202.0886. Be well.

Amid 20,000 HHS jobs lost, here's one new hire: A fixture of the anti-vaccine movement, brought in to study the link b/t vaccines and autism. Mr. Kennedy has been citing him since '05. w @sherylnyt.bsky.social & Emily Baumgartner GIFT: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/h...

The Trump administration has canceled funding for dozens of studies seeking new vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 and other pathogens that may cause future pandemics. nyti.ms/43Xz77q

As the Texas measles outbreak continues, doctors there are treating some children given so much vitamin A that they have signs of liver damage. Story by @teddyrosenbluth.bsky.social Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/h...

“The violence had rhythm, like a theater of fear.” Hard to imagine a more compelling piece of journalism than this eyewitness account of the Venezuelans thrust into a Salvadoran hellhole prison. And bravo to photojournalist Philip Holsinger/TIME Magazine. time.com/7269604/el-s...

Aside from the illegal, naked power grab, with only 2 commissioners the FTC doesn’t have a quorum and the agency can’t take action.

Lovely story www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/n...

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

One simple way to think about federal cuts to Medicaid is as cuts to state budgets. That reality has consequences for policy--and politics. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/b...

Dr. Oz will have his senate nomination hearing for CMS administrator Friday, March 14 at 10am, Senate Finance Committee says: www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-memb...

SCOOP: Barely two weeks after they were fired, dozens of young scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were reinstated on Tuesday — at least temporarily. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03...