*TRUMP'S NYT LAWSUIT DISMISSED FOR NOW FOR BEING TOO LONG It was 85 pages

The Trump admin has pushed a significant amount of health costs to states, where many already need to tighten their budgets due to declining tax revenue, loss of pandemic money+economic uncertainty But I also found examples of them spending to replace federal cuts: kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

House Democratic leaders issue a joint statement calling on FCC’s Brendan Carr to resign, labeling his actions a “corrupt abuse of power.”

Here's a clip from one of the church services — i.e., Prestonwood Baptist in Texas. Reminder: As the pastor, Jack Graham, makes clear, this is not an actual clip of Charlie Kirk. He never said these words. This is an entirely AI-generated fabrication that, nonetheless, garners a standing ovation.

Hepatitis B can lead to cirrhosis, cancer, death We have reduced its incidence among children by 99% — a huge achievement Today RFK Jr’s hand-picked vaccine committee could unravel it www.thebulwark.com/p/rfk-jr-ken...

NEWS: By vaccinating babies at birth, the U.S. nearly eradicated hepatitis-B in children. Kennedy's vaccine advisory panel is expected this week to recommend delaying the shot, opening a window for kids to be infected. Exclusive by @jackie-fortier.bsky.social kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

NEWS: Pretty wild exclusive from @arthurallen202.bsky.social -- Trump's team wants to abandon the whole FDA system of having outside experts review the evidence for new drugs and devices. They maintain releasing "complete response letters" is more transparent. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

“Social media is a cancer on our society right now.” — Cox

Spencer Cox is an impressive guy.

NEWS of the hiring sort: * We've landed Amanda Seitz, an ace health policy reporter for the Associated Press, to help us cover 🙌all of this🙌 in Washington. She helped nail a big scoop in June: RFK Jr. secretly ordered CMS to hand over data to deportation officials. apnews.com/article/medi...

Independent rural hospitals are increasingly joining networks that share resources and bargaining power. The goal is to save money and improve patient care without losing their independence by joining a large health system. Reporting from Bowman, ND: kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

We previously reported that the number of people receiving treatment at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center - known as America's research hospital - declined from February-April. Since then, I obtained newer data through mid-August. And it's gotten worse. youtube.com/shorts/yT5Vc...

"Among some in the military who have worked with them, the SEALs have a reputation for devising overly bold and complex missions that go badly." Incredible story -- including the fact anyone was able to report it at all.

We took the paywall down on this one. defector.com/how-the-fuck...

Barrasso is joining the GOP critics of Kennedy. The majority whip and surgeon hadn’t previously raised concerns about the health secretary’s leadership.

Yesterday the president demanded that evidence about Covid vaccines be shown to the public. Today @apoorvanyt.bsky.social & I run through some of the studies made public over the past 4+ years that show that the vaccines work. Gift link: nyti.ms/46k17Tq

Devices banned in DC schools starting this year, I’m all for it.

My latest, for @latimes.com & @kffhealthnews.org: Social Security has a new AI bot. It got rushed out. Customers don't like its glitches. How the agency's technology push might get sidetracked: www.latimes.com/business/sto...

JUST IN: On X, DHS says that Kilmar Abrego Garcia “will be processed for removal to Uganda.”

A blistering piece by Amy, built on public records obtained from Texas agencies.

After the pardons came the purge: The people who beat police officers and tried to block the democratic transfer of power were spared. The people who did their jobs by prosecuting them for their crimes were punished. Dan Barry @alanfeuer.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/n...

Dangit, @propublica.org out with a strong contender to lead my 2025 jealousy list: projects.propublica.org/federal-heal... Thanks for the nod at our earlier story on the cuts to HRSA, though: kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

NEW: Today we debuted a new collaboration with @npr.org -- Health Care Helpline, a series in which our reporters try to untangle the many knots in the U.S. health system. First up: Their insurance wouldn't cover a hearing test. Why? By @jackie-fortier.bsky.social www.npr.org/2025/08/21/n...

Two autistic adults/parents of autistic kids "advise you to relax. There is no 'epidemic of autism.' Instead, what we face is an epidemic of need. The main reason we are finding more autism is simple: Clinicians are getting better at spotting what was always there." www.statnews.com/2023/03/23/a...

Three of the ESPN stories about our survey with them of 1988 NFL players: 1) Survey: Most NFL retirees would play again despite costs

A major NIH grant to study ways to restore hearing was terminated by the Trump administration bc it was awarded through a DEI initiative—to a researcher who qualified bc of his own hearing loss www.cnn.com/2025/07/29/h... @manorlaboratory.bsky.social

On his first day in office, President Trump signed an order for the name of North America's tallest peak Denali to revert back to Mount McKinley. More than 200 pages of documents obtained by a FOIA request reveal how that could be an uphill battle

Senseless and gruesome www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/w...

"I don't want to be a fraud. But I've been given no other choice." That's life for one able-bodied, *working* young man on Medicaid's "benefit cliff" -- which the Republican-led Congress just made a lot more perilous. Via @kffhealthnews.org kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Sam Whitehead reads the week’s news: President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is threatening nursing home staff, and the country’s largest health insurers say they’ll simplify the process they use to decide whether to pay for doctor-ordered care. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

New: in internal memo we obtained, the military says it will 'continuously' monitor bathrooms to comply with the anti-trans order. Also ordered a stop on "questionable content" at Stars and Stripes, the military's editorially independent newspaper. www.404media.co/pentagon-say...

This is giving me the same kind of uneasy, tingly feeling as the "will be wild!" tweet before Jan. 6. www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

NEWS from me: The Trump administration has decided to destroy almost $10 million worth of contraceptives rather than send them to women in need overseas. The destruction itself will cost $167,000, the state department told me. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I’d prefer our AI chatbots to express no opinions at all, actually.

NEWS: Another looming health crisis for Trump -- insurers in many states seek to jack up their premiums in part because of GOP policies. If Obamacare subsidies also get cut, monthly bills will skyrocket. Via @kffhealthnews.org kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Breaking: Trump is likely to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell soon, a White House official said, and discussed the possible move in a meeting with congressional Republicans on Tuesday night.

do not miss what he is doing here: he is equating these two words.

In partnership with the New York Times, here's our examination of rehab hospitals -- waystations in the U.S. health system where patients are supposed to recover after surgery or injury. Sometimes, it doesn't work out that way. Via @kffhealthnews.org kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

NEWS: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likes to rip pharma, but he and some of his associates have financial ties to an even bigger and largely unregulated industry: wellness. By @stephaniearmour.bsky.social kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

NEWS: The U.S. health care industry has a long track record of revising or killing legislation that would hurt its bottom line. But for the GOP, the priority was delivering the W for a president unabashed about threatening his own party. Via @kffhealthnews.org kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Among the complaints UnitedHealth’s lawyers have leveled: that Optum, its PBM subsidiary, was “doxxed” by someone reporting its corporate address. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/12/b...

Russia launched a major attack on Ukraine overnight on Wednesday, soon after President Trump had criticized President Vladimir Putin of Russia for taking only “meaningless” steps toward peace in settlement talks. The number of Russian drones and missiles in the barrage set a single-night record.

“We’re winning. Why we would let up, I really don’t understand.” Trump's bewildering and unexplained cuts to the National Cancer Institute have put its research in turmoil and risk slowing progress against the nation's no. 2 killer. Via @kffhealthnews.org kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

A chatbot created by Elon Musk’s AI company launched into an antisemitic tirade Tuesday and invoked Adolf Hitler, days after Musk said that updates would reduce its reliance on mainstream media and train it on information that is “politically incorrect.”

Today, a DOJ lawyer confirmed that the U.S. plans to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia if he’s released from pre-trial criminal detention. The lawyer said the government won’t wait until Abrego faces trial. Less than two weeks ago, a White House deputy press secretary decried that as “fake news.”

new phone who this

Our homepage rn -- if you wanna know more about the health implications of this thing: kffhealthnews.org

With this vote, Congress makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history, with more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined.

Another curious tidbit in Trump's megabill: It requires the government to sell at least 250 million more board-feet of timber out of National Forests than the preceding year, every year, from 2026 to 2034. Sounds like a lot of forest chopped down. Sec. 50302 www.congress.gov/amendment/11...

Enough of you asked me about this that I wrote some brief thoughts on Ocean Ramsey's particular brand of pseudoscientific nonsense. I believe this addresses almost all of the frequently asked questions I receive, but as always I am happy to answer serious questions asked in good faith. 🧪🦑🌎🦈