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The FDA signed off on a second generic option for the abortion pill mifepristone on Tuesday, hours before most of the federal government shut down and despite Republican opposition to the drug. Evita Solutions applied to make another generic mifepristone on Oct. 1, 2021, according to the FDA’s Sept. 30 approval letter. (Gardner, 10/2)

More about the federal government shutdown —

Funding for a program that helps millions of women and children with neonatal care and nutrition could soon run out as the federal government plunges deeper into a shutdown, according to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. During a conversation with House Republicans on Wednesday, Vought warned that the federal government probably can only support the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — commonly known as WIC — for another week. Other experts, including those at the National WIC Association, predict federal support for WIC could last up to two weeks. After those funds run out, states will have to reach into their own coffers to cover the costs. (Choi and Alfaro, 10/3)

Your Medicare, Medicaid or Affordable Care Act coverage won’t vanish during the government shutdown, but changes to some benefits and fewer government workers to help could still disrupt care for millions. ... Fortunately for everyday people, core programs like Medicare and Medicaid will keep running because their funding is built into law. But a popular Medicare benefit — telehealth — has already ended for many, and so-called discretionary programs, such as Community Health Centers (CHCs), may be at risk unless Congress acts soon. (Lovelace Jr., 10/2)

While most integral veterans’ services remain intact, other aspects have been affected and some concerns are emanating within veteran communities. (Mordowanec, 10/1)

The US government’s shutdown is shaking the nation at a time when public health staffing has already been reduced, the threat of disease outbreaks looms, and both the respiratory virus season and hurricane season are upon us. (Howard, 10/2)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Health Centers Face Risks As Government Funding Lapses
About 1,500 federally funded health centers that serve millions of low-income people face significant financial challenges, their leaders say, as the government shutdown compounds other cuts to their revenue. Some of these community health centers may have to cut medical and administrative staff or reduce services. Some could eventually close. The result, their advocates warn, may be added pressure on already crowded hospital emergency rooms. (Andalo, 10/3)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Democrats Make This Shutdown About The ACA
As long predicted, much of the federal government shut down on Oct. 1, after Congress failed to agree on spending bills that keep most programs running. Republicans need at least a handful of Democratic votes to pass spending bills in the Senate. In exchange, Democrats demanded Republicans renew expanded premium subsidies for Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, which were passed during the pandemic — effectively forcing their own shutdown over ACA policies, as Republicans did in 2013. (Rovner, 10/2)

In related news on the Affordable Care Act —

A federal judge has denied a request from 20 Democratic attorneys general to delay the implementation of a significant overhaul to the Affordable Care Act's exchanges. The Trump administration finalized a rule in June that it says will address a "surge of improper" enrollments on the insurance marketplaces. The agency argues that millions of people may have been signed up for coverage potentially without their knowledge, with data from right-wing think tank Paragon Health Institute projecting as many as 5 million improper enrollments. (Minemyer, 10/2)

Three weeks after a leading scientist at the National Institutes of Health filed a whistle-blower complaint against the Trump administration, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy fired her, according to her lawyer and a copy of the termination letter. Her dismissal was the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken against government scientists and environmental experts after they warned that administration policies were endangering public health and safety. (Mueller, 10/2)

Earlier this week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a 7-minute video on X in which he promised to "shred" a chart displayed during his Senate hearing last month. Kennedy proclaimed that deaths due to some of the most common infectious diseases fell dramatically during the 20th century long before vaccines were widely used. But experts said Kennedy is comparing apples to oranges. The chart focused on infections, not deaths -- and infections have been substantially reduced by vaccination. (Fiore, 10/2)

On drug prices and tariffs —

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. has stopped airing a TV commercial for its new heart medicine, a sign that the Trump administration’s crackdown on the industry’s ubiquitous drug ads is having an impact on the media landscape. Alnylam was one of many companies to get letters last month from the US Food and Drug Administration calling out what the agency believes are misleading commercials. (Smith, 10/2)

President Donald Trump celebrated a long-promised victory Tuesday, announcing that he had used the threat of tariffs to prod pharmaceutical giant Pfizer into cutting U.S. drug prices. But the deal, under which the company would sell some drugs in the U.S. at the same low cost as in other countries, delivered a win for Pfizer, too. In the two days since the announcement, the company’s stock jumped 14 percent as investors realized the new U.S. prices posed little threat to profits. (Whoriskey and Gilbert, 10/2)

The Trump administration is delaying a proposal to crack down on a loophole that allows drugmakers to avoid Medicare price negotiation on some of their products by making minor tweaks. (Wilkerson, 10/3)

On transgender care —

The Canadian government has updated its travel advice to warn citizens with gender-neutral passports that their documents may no longer be accepted at the U.S. border. “While the Government of Canada issues passports with a ‘X’ gender identifier, it cannot guarantee your entry or transit through other countries,” Canada’s new travel advisory for the United States reads. “You might face entry restrictions in countries that do not recognize the ‘X’ gender identifier.” (Bisset, 10/2)

Also —

Google appears to have blocked AI search results for the query “does trump show signs of dementia” as well as other questions about his mental acuity, even though it will show AI results for similar searches about other presidents. When making the search about President Trump, AI Overviews will display a message that says, “An AI Overview is not available for this search.” (Peters, 9/30)

The Trump administration is planning to ease rules governing the phaseout of planet-warming hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in cooling equipment, it said Thursday. HFCs are a family of chemicals that are used in cooling, including in refrigerators and air conditioners. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a press release a Biden-era rule governing the phaseout of these chemicals led to “an increase in consumer costs and shortages.” (Frazin, 10/1)

Exposure to ambient trichloroethylene (TCE) -- a common chemical used in degreasing and dry cleaning -- correlated with a higher risk of Parkinson's disease, an analysis of over a million Medicare beneficiaries showed. Exposure to outdoor TCE was associated with a new diagnosis of Parkinson's disease approximately 14 years later in a dose-dependent manner, reported Brittany Krzyzanowski, PhD, of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, and co-authors. (George, 10/2)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Nuclear Missile Workers Are Contracting Cancer. They Blame The Bases
At a memorial service in 2022, veteran Air Force Capt. Monte Watts bumped into a fellow former Minuteman III nuclear missile operator, who told him that she had non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Watts knew other missileers with similar cancers. But the connection really hit home later that same January day, when the results of a blood test revealed that Watts himself had chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. (Kime, 10/3)

A new study indicates the potential health impacts of wildfires don’t end when wildfire season does. Researchers at the University of Washington found that wildfire smoke exposure could reduce key aspects of sperm quality in men. (Plante, 10/2)

Changing how the world eats could reduce premature deaths, save trillions of dollars and slow the impacts of climate change, according to a new landmark report released Thursday by the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission, a coalition of experts in nutrition, climate, economics, health and agriculture from more than 35 countries. ... The researchers said that if people worldwide adopted their "Planetary Health Diet" (PHD), up to 15 million premature deaths could be avoided annually. (Glasser, 10/2)

On biosecurity —

In October 2023, two scientists at Microsoft discovered a startling vulnerability in a safety net intended to prevent bad actors from using artificial intelligence tools to concoct hazardous proteins for warfare or terrorism. Those gaping security holes and how they were discovered were kept confidential until Thursday, when a report in the journal Science detailed how researchers generated thousands of AI-engineered versions of 72 toxins that escaped detection. The research team, a group of leading industry scientists and biosecurity experts, designed a patch to fix this problem found in four different screening methods. But they warn that experts will have to keep searching for future breaches in this safety net. (Johnson, 10/2)

Nebraska officials missed a deadline this week granting licenses to marijuana growers as part of a voter-approved measure that legalized medical marijuana, offering the latest example of pushback in Republican-led states against efforts to legalize the drug. “How many times do we have to go down this road of fighting for our lives?” Lia Post asked through sobs Tuesday to the newly formed Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission as it became clear the body would not meet the Wednesday deadline. (Beck, 10/2)

In related news about cannabis —

When Jarred Shaw, an American basketball player in Indonesia, stepped down to the lobby in his apartment complex earlier this year to collect a package containing illegally imported cannabis gummies, he thought that the medicine to ease his Crohn’s disease had arrived. It had – but so too had 10 undercover police officers. A video on social media shows Shaw, wearing a black T-shirt and shorts, shouting for help as the swarm of officers move to apprehend him. (Busby, 10/3)

More health news from across the U.S. —

Firearm-related injuries drove $7.7 billion in healthcare spending over six years, with $1.6 billion attributable to 2021 alone, according to a study published in JAMA Health Forum on Sept. 26. More than half the costs were billed to Medicaid. The study estimated how much U.S. hospitals spent on firearm injuries between 2016 and 2021 by evaluating emergency department and inpatient visits across six states. (Casolo, 10/2)

Oula and Stamford Health have opened a new clinic in Norwalk, Connecticut. The practice is the result of a partnership between the maternity care provider and the health system and is Stamford’s first midwifery offering. The clinic offers care from preconception through postpartum, with babies to be delivered at Stamford Hospital, as well as gynecology services. A second clinic in Connecticut is slated to open in 2026. Oula provided by Stamford Health accepts most major payers, including Medicaid. (Gliadkovskaya, 10/2)

Planned Parenthood locations across Florida are offering free breast exams and cervical screenings on Monday, Oct. 6, as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The event is for one day only, at 13 Planned Parenthood locations across the state, including Tampa, Lakeland and Sarasota. (Sheridan, 10/3)

Most people likely know pertussis by its more common name — whooping cough, which comes from the “whoop” sound made as the person tries to catch their breath in between violent coughing spells. The Corbin family in Chapel Hill is well acquainted with the other nickname for pertussis — the “100-day cough.” Earlier this year, 11-year-old Alex Corbin spent at least two months struggling with a cough that made him vomit, kept him up at night and left him breathless. (Fernandez, 10/3)

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed two more H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in poultry, both in backyard flocks. One detection involves a flock in Montana’s Broadwater County that has 8 birds, and the other affects a flock in North Carolina’s Guilford County with 6 birds. (Schnirring, 10/2)

NeueHealth closed on its agreement to be acquired by venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates for an estimated $1.47 billion. The company is now privately held under the agreement. The care management firm, formerly known as Bright Health Group, signed a definitive agreement in December 2024 to be acquired by its majority owner New Enterprise, pending regulatory and stockholder approval. Stockholders approved the deal in May. (DeSilva, 10/2)

Pennant Group acquired 54 home health and hospice locations for $146.5 million from UnitedHealth Group as part of the insurer’s recent acquisition of Amedisys. Pennant Group closed the deal with the insurer on Wednesday, according to a news release. The company said the locations are spread across Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. They are among 164 home health and hospice operations UnitedHealth Group agreed to sell in a settlement with the Justice Department in its bid to buy Amedisys. (Eastabrook, 10/2)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services previewed the Medicare Advantage options available for 2026 on Tuesday. The Medicare Plan Finder tool that beneficiaries use to select coverage is live with the policies and prices health insurance companies offered for the coming plan year. The annual enrollment period runs from Oct. 15-Dec. 7. (Tepper, 10/2)

Humana Inc. shares jumped after the company affirmed its earnings guidance for 2025, reassuring investors who have been blindsided by insurance companies’ outlook cuts this year. The company said its preliminary view of Medicare quality ratings are in line with its assumptions in a filing Thursday. (Tozzi, 10/2)

UnitedHealth Group has tapped a Duke University artificial intelligence expert to be its chief AI scientist as the health care giant ramps up the use of the technology across its sprawling network of businesses, according to a memo obtained by STAT. (Ross, 10/2)

A new study led by University of California, Irvine's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory researchers found that aging changes the brain's overall shape in measurable ways. Instead of focusing only on the size of specific regions, the team used a new analytic method to see how the brain's form shifts and distorts over time. The analysis revealed substantial alterations in brain shape, which were closely associated with declines in memory, reasoning and other cognitive functions. This suggests that the shape of the brain can serve as a reliable indicator of its overall health. The study appears in Nature Communications. (10/1)

People who sleep poorly are more likely than others to have brains that appear older than they actually are. ... Poor sleep has been linked to dementia, but it is unclear whether unhealthy sleep habits contribute to the development of dementia or whether they are rather early symptoms of the disease. In a new study, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have investigated the link between sleep characteristics and how old the brain appears in relation to its chronological age. (10/2)

A new study in npj Dementia using data from the UK Biobank shows that COVID-19 survivors aged 50 and older had a higher likelihood of developing new-onset dementia (NOD) compared to uninfected controls. ... According to the authors, compared with matched non-COVID controls, prior COVID-19 infection was associated with a 41% increased risk of all-cause dementia. ... Men, unvaccinated participants, those with high blood pressure, and those with frequent alcohol use had the highest association with NOD. (Soucheray, 10/2)

The Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience, or GUIDE, Model is designed to benefit people with traditional Medicare health insurance who want to age in place at home while living with dementia. GUIDE pays participating local health and home care organizations to provide dementia patients and their unpaid caregivers with an array of services that include respite care, education and training programs, 24/7 access to a care team of professionals, medication reviews and more, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. All services offered through the program are fully covered by Medicare. (Leonard, 10/3)

More health and wellness news —

Amgen said Thursday that its cholesterol-lowering shot, Repatha, prevented a composite of heart disease death, heart attack, and the most common type of stroke in a 12,000-patient trial. (Herper, 10/2)

People with certain bacteria and fungi in their mouths may face a dramatically higher risk of pancreatic cancer — more than three times greater — according to new research from NYU Langone Health and and Perlmutter Cancer Center. In the study, which was published in JAMA Oncology, researchers identified 27 types of bacterial and fungal species in the mouth’s microbiome that may contribute to the disease. (McGorry, 10/2)

Investigations into human and animal infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria in Massachusetts reveal genetic links that hint at potential transmission between pets and their owners, researchers reported last week in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The paper describes two separate investigations that were ultimately linked through epidemiologic and molecular detective work. (Dall, 10/2)

Four people are dead and 19 more have been hospitalized following a listeria outbreak connected to recalled ready-to-eat pasta meals sold at grocery stores across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced. As of Sept. 30, there have been 20 confirmed cases of listeria poisoning in connection with the outbreak across 15 states. The outbreak is linked to recalled ready-to-eat pasta meals sold at Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Kroger and Albertsons stores. (Kaplan, 10/2)

ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cuts. (Talbot and Santa Cruz, 10/3)

Most people will be familiar with the huge impact cancer has as a disease, on patients and their loved ones, but the vast effect the disease also has on society more broadly is less recognized. In the United States, more than 1.8 million new cancer cases were reported in 2022, and more than 600,000 people in the country died of cancer in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), making it one of the biggest killers in America. (Laws, 10/2)

A growing body of evidence suggests that women’s relative longevity may be linked to having double X chromosomes. (Grandoni, 10/1)

For decades, Charlotte Chopin has been bending and stretching in Léré, a village in France. Here’s how she keeps moving. (Friedman, 9/29)

The villain of this new documentary is a worm — but not just any worm. "We have known monsters, all kinds of monsters," Waleed Eltayeb declares. "Then there's the dragon, this fiery serpent, this terror, this ill, this parasite, this worm." (Ruprecht, 10/1)

On Wednesday, Oct. 1, patients across America lost access to care they had the day before not because medicine changed, but because politics did. When the government shut down, so did federal telemedicine flexibilities tied to pandemic-era waivers. (Ryan Nadelson, 10/3)

Every day, millions of patients and families do their best to make the right health care decisions for themselves and their loved ones. This cannot happen without the freedom to choose from a wide array of treatments. However, recent changes to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) vaccine policies have significantly limited access for patients across the country. (Ross Marchand, 10/2)

President Trump and health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have characterized the rise in autism diagnoses in recent years as an epidemic requiring emergency intervention. This approach is factually wrong: The broadening definition of autism and the improvement in diagnosis in the same time period is largely responsible for the rise. But it’s worse than a simple factual error. (Shoumita Dasgupta, 10/3)

Autism isn’t a disease; it’s a neurotype, a variation in the brain. It’s part of one’s identity, just like gender, sexuality or race. And, similar to people with identity differences who are perceived as outside the “norm,” the uninformed and fearful feel the need to find a fix, a cure or ways to make people “normal.” (Erin Kuhn-Krueger, 10/2)

A new academic year is a marker of time and transitions, for young people and families. Puberty, peer groups, achievement, anxiety —it’s a lot for adolescents in particular. Consider a 10-year national Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, funded by the federal National Institutes of Health (NIH) and partners. My son is in his eighth year as a study participant. (Josiah H. Brown, 10/2)