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President Donald Trump and Republicans pledged not to touch Medicare, but the massive tax law enacted over Democratic objections set up more than $500 billion in Medicare cuts — unless Democrats bail the GOP out. Because Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” is projected to balloon the federal budget deficit by $3.4 trillion over 10 years, it triggered automatic spending cuts under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, known as the PAYGO Act. The White House Office of Management and Budget must find $340 billion a year in spending reductions. (McAuliff, 7/10)

Two regional Planned Parenthood affiliates have stopped accepting Medicaid, citing a provision in the GOP’s massive tax-and-spending bill signed into law by President Trump earlier this month. The move has sparked legal challenges, patient confusion and warnings of widespread health care disruption. Planned Parenthood locations in Washington, D.C., and Colorado posted notices this week alerting patients that Medicaid coverage is no longer accepted at their health centers. (Kaplan, 7/11)

Republicans’ first major policy bill this year was a partisan affair: They cut Medicaid funding by some $1 trillion to help fund tax cuts prized by President Trump. (Wilkerson, 7/11)

�鶹Ů�� Health News’ ‘What The Health?’ Podcast: Digesting Trump’s Big Budget Law

As he had wanted, President Donald Trump signed his big budget bill into a big budget law in a White House ceremony on July 4, cementing, among other things, billions of dollars in cuts to health programs such as Medicaid. The new law will also reshape rules for the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and other health programs. Meanwhile, the threat of layoffs continues to hang over the heads of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services, and funding for health-related contracts and grants remains stalled. (Rovner, 7/10)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: The Foster Care System Has A Suicide Problem. Federal Cuts Threaten To Slow Fixes

Elliott Hinkle experienced depression and suicidal thoughts even before entering the foster care system in Casper, Wyoming, at age 15. At the time, Hinkle, who is transgender, struggled with their sexual identity and gender issues, and their difficulties continued in foster care. They felt like they had no one to confide in — not their foster parents, not church leaders, not their caseworker. (Platzman Weinstock, 7/11)

As Congressional Republicans wrangled final votes for the federal budget that became law last week, a harsh reality was setting in for Molly De Marco, a research scientist at the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education, or SNAP-Ed, was one of the federally funded initiatives on the chopping block. (Blythe, 7/11)

Typically, the FDA sends the letters, or CRLs, to drugmakers whose treatments are not approved, detailing reasons and whether additional data is required, but companies have historically exercised discretion on what information from the CRL is shared with investors. The letters published on Thursday were issued in response to applications the FDA had received between 2020 and 2024, the agency said, adding it was in the process of sharing additional letters. (Satija, 7/10)

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary said his agency may fast-track new drugs from pharmaceutical companies that “equalize” the cost of their medicines between the US and other countries, an unusual proposition from the regulator that’s long avoided contentious pricing debates. The comments, made in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s Wall Street Week with David Westin, offer insight into an idea floated to help the administration achieve one of President Donald Trump’s main health-care goals: ensuring foreign countries aren’t getting a better deal on drugs. Trump demanded that Americans get similar or lower prices as consumers in other countries in an executive order signed in May. (Cohrs Zhang and Hornblower, 7/11)

Vaccine maker Moderna announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted full approval of its Spikevax (mRNA-1273) COVID vaccine for children 6 months to 11 years old. But, because federal officials in May restricted its recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines to adults 65 and older and to people of all ages who are at increased risk for severe disease, Spikevax will be available only to kids in that age range who are at higher risk. (Wappes, 7/10)

The Food and Drug Administration rejected a marketing application from Capricor Therapeutics for a cell therapy to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the company said Friday. In its letter to Capricor, the FDA said the company’s application “does not meet the statutory requirement for substantial evidence of effectiveness” and requested additional clinical data, the company said. (Feuerstein, 7/11)

The Department of Health and Human Services has rescinded a policy from 1998 that gave undocumented immigrants access to certain federal health benefits, such as Head Start and mental health programs. Issued by President Bill Clinton, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 was passed into law and deemed a major welfare reform. (Tong, 7/10)

The NIH plans to cap how much researchers can pay to have NIH-funded work published in major journals, the agency announced this week. The exact amount of that cap, however, has yet to be determined. In an email to MedPage Today, the agency said the "specific reasonable cost allowance is still under consideration," but it's expected to be set by October at the start of the 2026 fiscal year. (Fiore, 7/10)

California is one of the most affordable states for buying health insurance through marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as "Obamacare," according to a new analysis. ... That's among the best rates in the United States.California ranked 42nd out of 50 in the company's "States Where People Spend the Most and Least on Health Insurance" report, which took the average cost of a "silver" tier health insurance plan in each state and compared it to the median household income. Vermont ranked 1st, with about 20% of a household's income going to health insurance. (Byik, 7/10)

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has claimed that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine contains "fetal debris" and "DNA particles" -- but experts say this is just not true. Kennedy's claim refers to the rubella component of the MMR vaccine, developed in the 1960s using a human cell line derived from fetal tissue obtained through elective abortion. However, experts say there is no fetal "debris" in the final vaccine product. (Salem, 7/10)

House Democrats on the Oversight Committee are calling for an urgent briefing with staff from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), demanding answers over recent moves that have taken place among the agency's vaccine advisory panel, ABC News can exclusively report. (Kekatos, 7/10)

Years of American-led investment into AIDS programs has reduced the number of people killed by the disease to the lowest levels seen in more than three decades and provided life-saving medicines for some of the world’s most vulnerable. But in the last six months, the sudden withdrawal of U.S. money has caused a “systemic shock,” U.N. officials warned, adding that if the funding isn’t replaced, it could lead to more than 4 million AIDS-related deaths and 6 million more HIV infections by 2029. (Cheng, 7/11)

A new federal estimate shows a rise in prediabetes among American adolescents, a finding that is spurring concerns about the health of U.S. children — and the way Trump administration health officials are conducting research and communicating information, experts said. In 2023, nearly 1 in 3 U.S. youngsters ages 12 to 17 had prediabetes, according to recently released data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is far higher than a previous estimate that the condition affects about 1 in 5 kids. (Aleccia, 7/10)

Barbie is expanding its repertoire with the launch of a doll that has Type 1 diabetes and is outfitted with medical devices, such as a wearable insulin pump, commonly used by people with the condition. Mattel announced the newest member of its Barbie Fashionistas line on Tuesday, saying that it not only lets children see themselves in the doll, but also encourages play "that extends beyond a child’s own lived experience." The doll has a continuous glucose monitor attached to her arm and an insulin pump attached to her waist. (Madani, 7/9)

Jerry Abrams, a 64-year-old marketing strategist in Minneapolis, used to run marathons. But two decades of degenerative spine disease have left him unable to run — and he's grieving. For Abrams, losing running felt like "the loss of a loved one – that friend who's been with you every day you needed him. "You know, having that taken away from you because of pain is the hardest thing of all," he says. (Lupkin, 7/10)

A scroll through Aurora McCausland’s wildly popular social media accounts — she has more than 300,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram — shows an active young mom dancing, cleaning and tackling major renovation projects in her Utah home. Behind the scenes, though, is a painful reality: McCausland has lipedema, a progressive and debilitating disease that causes fat in connective tissue to build up disproportionately, most often in the legs, ankles and hips. (Edwards, Patterson, Herzberg and Gilbard, 7/10)

Doing exercises that increase your heart and breathing rate on a regular basis may reduce your risk of an early death across all causes by up to 40%, according to a new meta-analysis of 85 studies that looked at 7 million people worldwide. (LaMotte, 7/10)

A commonly prescribed pain medication — gabapentin — often considered a safer alternative to opioids for those who suffer from low back pain is now under scrutiny after being linked to increased risks of dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). According to a large-scale observational study published in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine, patients who received frequent gabapentin prescriptions were significantly more likely to develop dementia and/or MCI. (Azzurra Volpe, 7/10)

A new randomized clinical trial conducted at three US emergency departments (EDs) concludes that screening all adults for hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing identifies significantly more cases than screening based on individual patient risk, although low proportions sought treatment. (Van Beusekom, 7/10)

Camrelizumab, an investigational immunotherapy, on top of adjuvant capecitabine (Xeloda) and radiotherapy, improved survival outcomes in patients with resectable biliary tract cancers (extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma [EHC] and gallbladder cancer [GBC]) in a randomized phase II Chinese study. (Bassett, 7/10)

The newly published results of two small clinical trials suggest that two novel antibiotics could provide safer alternatives to a highly toxic antibiotic currently used in drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) treatment regimens. (Dall, 7/10)

Seven months after voters endorsed a plan requiring Missouri employers to provide paid sick leave benefits to workers, Gov. Mike Kehoe signed legislation overturning the initiative. The measure, which will go into effect in August, was among a handful of bills acted upon by the Republican chief executive Thursday, including a plan to cut the state’s capital gains tax that will reduce state revenues by an estimated $400 million annually. (Erickson, 7/10)

A Michigan judge rejected a challenge to the state’s longtime ban on taxpayer-funded abortions for low-income residents. The lawsuit argued that the ban had no standing after Michiganders voted in 2022 to pass a constitutional amendment ensuring the right to an abortion. Judge Brock A. Swartzle ruled the group that filed the lawsuit had no standing to file the challenge. The Michigan American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), along with the law firm Goodwin Procter, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the YWCA Kalamazoo, which provides financial help to people seeking abortion care. (O’Connell-Domenech, 7/10)

New Mexicans impacted by the Trinity Test are getting closer to receiving compensation after eight decades of health problems and rare cancers stemming from the world's first atomic explosion. (Contreras, 7/10)

A pediatrician who is no longer working for a chain of clinics affiliated with a prominent Houston hospital system after a social media post that wished voters in a Donald Trump-supporting county of central Texas “get what they voted for” amid flash flooding that killed nearly 120 – including many children – has publicly apologized. “I speak to you as a mother, a neighbor, a pediatrician, and a human being who is deeply sorry,” Dr Christina Propst wrote after Blue Fish Pediatrics announced on Sunday she was no longer an employee there because of a social media post that the clinic said did “not reflect the value, standards or mission” of the chain. (Vargas, 7/10)

Two days before torrential rains turned the Guadalupe River into a raging flood, a veteran official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency told The Washington Post that one of the main concerns for this disaster season was the agency’s ability to quickly deploy specialized search and rescue teams. The Trump administration’s new rules mean disaster specialists can no longer “make decisions” on their own. (Sacks and Natanson, 7/10)

A proposed $228.5 million class action settlement could mean cash payments for thousands of Northern California residents and employers who paid for health insurance premiums between 2011 and 2021. The case stems from claims that Sutter Health used unfair contract terms that forced insurance companies to overpay for hospital services. Plaintiffs argue that this resulted in inflated premiums for individuals and businesses. (Vaziri, 7/10)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Who’s Policing Opioid Settlement Spending? A Crowdsourced Database Might Help

After years of legal battles, state attorneys general won billions of dollars in opioid settlements from drug companies accused of fueling the addiction crisis. They declared victory at press conferences, and some touted the deals during their gubernatorial campaigns. But now that the windfall is being spent, are attorneys general doing enough to ensure it’s used for the intended purposes? (Pattani, 7/11)

Clasp, a recruitment tool for health systems, announced $100 million in no-cosigner education loan repayment from major health systems. The commitments were made by Boston Children’s Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Northwestern Medicine, Novant Health, Ohio Health and additional national organizations in the eye care and veterinary space. (Gliadkovskaya, 7/10)

A coalition of academic organizations has finalized a proposed alternative to the Trump administration’s plan to cut billions of dollars in research overhead payments. The 10 groups that represent universities, medical centers, and other organizations that are part of this effort, known as the Joint Associations Group, or JAG, haven’t yet presented their finalized model to the academic community. (Wosen, 7/10)

Dentists are proving no match for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the battle over fluoride. Utah and Florida have this year banned the cavity-fighting mineral from drinking water and several other Republican-led states are considering it. Oklahoma has dropped its recommendation that localities fluoridate. Net effect: The nearly three-quarters of Americans who drank fluoridated water before Kennedy became secretary of Health and Human Services is set to plummet. (Nguyen, 7/10)

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has for a decade owned a human stem cell biobank that was once the largest of its kind in the world. But the agency and its partners are now racing to sell off thousands of precious samples in a massive fire sale before many of them are discarded. (Wosen, 7/11)

Direct-to-consumer telehealth companies will soon face competition from a legacy health system. Chicago-based Rush University System for Health is launching a nationwide telehealth service for primary, urgent and specialty care. The service, dubbed Rush Connect+, will begin as a direct-to-consumer offering that accepts insurance. (Turner, 7/10)

Nursing home operator Genesis HealthCare filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday as part of a financial restructuring. Genesis plans to use $30 million of debtor-in-possession financing, cash on hand and cash flow from operations to satisfy ongoing obligations, according to the filing made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Texas Dallas Division. (Hudson, 7/10)

Best Buy Co. plans to lay off 161 employees from its healthcare division, according to a worker adjustment and retraining notification in California. The layoff notification was filed on Tuesday, only two weeks after Best Buy announced it was selling Current Health, the at-home care company it acquired nearly four years ago, back to founder Christopher McGhee. The cuts will be effective in September. (Turner, 7/10)

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” is now law. On its surface, the law is framed as a sweeping fiscal package — tax reform, debt ceiling adjustments and regulatory rollbacks. But nestled within its thousands of pages are the most consequential changes to U.S. healthcare in more than a decade. For those of us delivering healthcare in rural America, the effects will be severe and deep. (Dr. Holland Haynie, 7/10)

Medicaid isn’t a welfare program, it’s a health insurance program. The money being spent on Medicaid recipients isn’t money going to dudes loafing on their couches; it’s money going to doctors treating those dudes for medical conditions. (Philip Bump, 7/10)

So far this year, 1,288 measles cases have been confirmed. In Texas, the epicenter of the largest outbreak, 753 people have been infected. If cases keep climbing, the U.S. risks forfeiting its measles elimination status. This is consequential for many reasons. (Leana S. Wen, 7/10)

It was a typical afternoon at the nursing home. I had just finished with a patient and was catching up on notes at the nurse’s station when I heard a crash and someone yelling. When I arrived, I found one of my frail, elderly patients on the floor, injured, with a much younger resident nearby, visibly agitated and shouting. Resident-on-resident altercations are not new in long-term care, but they are disturbingly common. A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that 20 percent of nursing home residents experience some form of mistreatment from other residents. (Asif Merchant, 7/11)

Recently, a long-standing patient came in for her routine office follow-up appointment for management of hypertension and arthritis. After a warm greeting, she told me there was a matter she needed to discuss before we began. She said that I did not seem to be listening as attentively as usual during her last visit and explained the specific instance. I said I was grateful for her feedback and, going forward, would be more mindful of things that may sometimes cause distraction. (Jeffrey Millstein, 7/11)

I was 5 when I decided I wanted to become an OB-GYN, captivated by shows like “Bringing Home Baby” and “Deliver Me” on the Discovery Health Channel. In my young mind, birth looked beautiful, peaceful, and supported. (Timberly Washington, 7/11)