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The opioid overdose reversal medication commercially known as Narcan saves hundreds of thousands of lives a year and is routinely praised by public health experts for contributing to the continuing drop in opioid-related deaths. But the Trump administration plans to terminate a $56 million annual grant program that distributes doses and trains emergency responders in communities across the country to administer them, according to a draft budget proposal. In the document, which outlines details of the drastic reorganization and shrinking planned for the Department of Health and Human Services, the grant is among many addiction prevention and treatment programs to be zeroed out. (Hoffman, 4/25)

Federal health officials have reversed the decision to fire a few dozen scientists at the Food and Drug Administration’s food-safety labs, and say they are conducting a review to determine if other critical posts were cut. A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the rehirings and said that several employees would also be restored to the offices that deal with Freedom of Information requests, an area that was nearly wiped out. (Jewett, 4/25)

The funding geyser that propelled US medical advances for much of the past century may be drying up as the Trump administration pulls back federal research money from Harvard University and other New England institutions that have been reliable engines of discovery and innovation. Yet as labs scramble for alternative funding sources — from foundations, industry, even their university hosts — there’s little hope, in the short term, that those players can fill the gaps resulting from White House rollbacks. (Gokee, Saltzman and Weisman, 4/28)

A global race to recruit US scientists is heating up as President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts to research funding and federal agencies trigger an exodus from the country’s research institutions. Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Australia are among nations offering incentives — including funding, streamlined immigration pathways and competitive relocation packages — to entice scientists facing mounting uncertainty at home. (Gale, 4/27)

More than 23 years after the Twin Towers collapsed, blanketing lower Manhattan in toxic dust and debris, the number of people diagnosed with 9/11-related illnesses is still growing. Since 2011, the main resource for people exposed to the fumes has been the World Trade Center Health Program, which covers treatment for cancer, asthma and post-traumatic stress disorder, among other health conditions. (Bendix, 4/26)

President Trump’s tariffs are adding hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to individual medical device firms and diagnostic companies. The biggest manufacturers are relatively unbothered by it. (Herman, 4/28)

At the Department of Health and Human Services, 10,000 jobs are gone. Billions of dollars in research sent to scientists and universities was shut off. Public meetings to discuss flu shots and other vaccines have been canceled. Fluoride in drinking water may be the next to go, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy has done a blitz of his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign at day cares, schools and health centers around the country where he has promised to work with Trump’s other agency leaders to prohibit soda from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, limit dyes in the food supply and call for fluoride to be removed from drinking water. (Seitz, 4/27)

Three children who are US citizens were deported to Honduras with their mothers last week, including a 4-year-old receiving treatment for metastatic cancer, according to the families’ attorneys and civil rights and immigration advocacy organizations. (Andone, 4/27)

Many LGBTQ+ parents don’t feel safe in the United States, according to a new survey. A third of LGBTQ+ parents in the U.S. recently surveyed by the market research company Kantar, in partnership with DIVA Charitable Trust and The Curve Foundation, don’t feel like they have the same legal rights as other families. Although 63 percent of those parents are legally married, the many benefits of a legal union still don’t outweigh the hurdles that LGBTQ+ parents face when raising a family. (Rummler, 4/25)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: RFK Jr. Exaggerates Share Of Autistic Population With Severe Limitations

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attracted notice — and in some quarters, outrage — for remarks about autism, a topic he’s clashed with scientists about for years. Kennedy held an April 16 press conference pegged to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that found the prevalence of autism rising to 1 in 31 among 8-year-olds, the latest in a series of increases in recent decades. Kennedy said “autism destroys families” and is an “individual tragedy as well.” (Jacobson, 4/28)

Sara Busse needed to make a hot meal for 40 needy seniors. She had promised a main dish, a starch, a vegetable, a fruit and a dessert. In the past, she had gotten many of those ingredients for free from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This time, she had dried cranberries, crackers and vegetable soup. “What am I supposed to do?” she said. “What am I supposed to cook?” (Fahrenthold, 4/28)

As you add more ultraprocessed foods to your diet, your risk of a premature death from any cause rises, according to a new meta-analysis of research involving more than 240,000 people. (LaMotte, 4/28)

As pressure grows to get artificial colors out of the U.S. food supply, the shift may well start at Abby Tampow’s laboratory desk. On an April afternoon, the scientist hovered over tiny dishes of red dye, each a slightly different ruby hue. Her task? To match the synthetic shade used for years in a commercial bottled raspberry vinaigrette — but by using only natural ingredients. ... Tampow is part of the team at Sensient Technologies Corp., one of the world’s largest dyemakers, that is rushing to help the salad dressing manufacturer — along with thousands of other American businesses — meet demands to overhaul colors used to brighten products from cereals to sports drinks. (Aleccia, 4/28)

Social media can be a great source of fitness, nutrition and wellness tips — but it also has some potentially harmful content. Enter "SkinnyTok," a popular weight-loss trend making the rounds on TikTok. Creators are pairing the hashtag with videos that share various ways to lose weight, many of them based on the goal of getting as thin as possible in a short amount of time. (Rudy, 4/27)

A Maryland man who took Ozempic and then became legally blind is suing the drug’s manufacturer, arguing it had an obligation to warn patients that loss of sight could be a possible side effect. Todd Engel, 62, was prescribed Ozempic in 2023 to manage his Type 2 diabetes. The lawsuit said about four months later, Engel was diagnosed with nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION, a condition in which a loss of blood flow to the optic nerve causes sudden and irreversible vision loss. (Chuck, 4/26)

As a social worker for older adults, Robyn Golden, 67, preached the importance of staying active as you age. In her early career, Golden was often inspired by the way her clients tackled new challenges. “I found it very enriching,” she said, to see that “they can change, and they can grow.” As she has gotten older, she has tried to embrace that openness to new experiences. But she didn’t realize how hard it could be for an older person. Last year, for example, she took up pickleball. She wasn’t expecting to play professionally, but she assumed she would improve alongside the younger students in the class she joined. (Erickson, 4/26)

A new “smart insole” system that transmits data based on a person’s gait could one day provide earlier warnings of dementia, orthopedic issues and lumbar disc problems, a recent study says. Writing in Science Advances, researchers called the system “a practical solution for improving clinical assessments, personalized treatments, and biomechanics research.” (Blakemore, 4/27)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: When They Don’t Recognize You Anymore

It happened more than a decade ago, but the moment remains with her. Sara Stewart was talking at the dining room table with her mother, Barbara Cole, 86 at the time, in Bar Harbor, Maine. Stewart, then 59, a lawyer, was making one of her extended visits from out of state. Two or three years earlier, Cole had begun showing troubling signs of dementia, probably from a series of small strokes. “I didn’t want to yank her out of her home,” Stewart said. (Span, 4/28)

House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said Sunday that President Trump “does not want” the “one big, beautiful bill” encompassing his agenda “to be a health care bill.” “Medicaid … all falls underneath the Energy and Commerce Committee, not Ways and Means,” Smith said when asked about cuts to Medicaid via the bill on “The Hill Sunday” by NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt. (Suter, 4/27)

Soon after returning from their spring break, congressional Republicans will have to start making some tough choices. How will they pay for up to $5 trillion in tax cuts? How much health spending will they cut? And just when are they going to drag Health and Human Services Department Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the hill to testify? (Wilkerson, 4/28)

America’s largest anti-hunger program could be transformed under proposals now being debated by congressional Republicans, with some of the costs for the safety-net program potentially pushed onto states for the first time. But White House officials are urging caution as GOP lawmakers move to finalize their massive domestic policy bill, with concerns mounting about benefit cuts hitting President Donald Trump’s own voters. Lawmakers are discussing more than a dozen iterations of the still-tentative plan to scale back federal spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by forcing states to split at least some of the cost, according to five people granted anonymity to describe the private deliberations. Governors would have to decide whether to foot the bill or put new limits on who would be eligible for food aid in their states. (Hill, 4/27)

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is facing a threat of political backlash if the state is hit hard by looming federal cuts to Medicaid. With Congressional Republicans on the hook to realize $880 billion in savings by Sept. 30, the Democratic governor is now forced to look for ways to compensate for the anticipated hit to the state’s $124 billion Medicaid budget — one of the largest in the country. Hochul would be on the hook to contend with the fiscal fallout from the potential cuts, forcing her to consider contingencies that come with their own political risks. (Cordero, 4/28)

In a speech Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said 35 states have agreed to participate in a federal pilot program aimed at helping Medicaid patients access costly gene therapies for sickle cell disease. The states represent about 84% of Medicaid patients with the blood disorder, Kennedy said in an address to the National Council of Insurance Legislators, according to a person who attended the meeting but was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. (Cohrs Zhang and Smith, 4/25)

In keeping with the Trump administration’s quest to slash spending at the federal health department, it’s hired a famously thrifty technology entrepreneur to lead Medicare. As the CEO of health IT company Collective Medical, Chris Klomp flew bargain-priced Frontier Airlines and once boasted about sleeping in rental cars and crummy motels on business trips. (Aguilar, 4/28)

Blue Cross of Idaho’s net loss ballooned in 2024 as it continued to hemorrhage money in Medicare Advantage. President and CEO Paul Zurlo said these woes will continue through this year and next as the nonprofit insurer adapts to an influx of members discarded by rivals fleeing unprofitable markets. Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies in other states are in similar binds. (Tepper, 4/25)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: When Hospitals Ditch Medicare Advantage Plans, Thousands Of Members Get To Leave, Too

For several years, Fred Neary had been seeing five doctors at the Baylor Scott & White Health system, whose 52 hospitals serve central and northern Texas, including Neary’s home in Dallas. But in October, his Humana Medicare Advantage plan — an alternative to government-run Medicare — warned that Baylor and the insurer were fighting over a new contract. If they couldn’t reach an agreement, he’d have to find new doctors or new health insurance. (Jaffe, 4/28)

Confusion over the Food and Drug Administration’s delay in granting full approval to Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine deepened over the weekend when the agency’s commissioner, Marty Makary, took to social media to defend the FDA’s controversial handling of the company’s submission. (Branswell, 4/27)

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported 84 more measles cases, boosting the national total to 884, keeping the nation on pace to experience its worst year since the nation eliminated the disease in 2000. So far, 30 jurisdictions have reported cases, up 5 from the previous week. One more outbreak was reported, bringing that total to 11, the largest one centered in West Texas. The CDC said 820 (83%) of the cases so far are part of outbreaks. (Schnirring, 4/25)

Colorado on Friday reported its fifth incidence of measles this year, and, for the first time in the spate of cases, the infection was in a person who had been vaccinated against the disease. The person, an adult living in Denver, had recently traveled to the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which is seeing an outbreak of measles. Two other cases identified in Colorado — one in a baby in Denver and another in a Pueblo resident — were also connected to travel to Chihuahua. (Ingold, 4/25)

Amid ongoing clade 1 mpox outbreaks in Africa, 58% of US adults say they would be willing to be vaccinated against the viral illness if their physician or health authority were to recommend it, up 12 percentage points since 2022, a University of Texas survey finds. Published yesterday in Vaccine, the study compares the results of an online survey conducted during the 2022 global outbreak of clade 2b mpox with those of a September 2024 survey of 828 participants fielded during the African clade 1b mpox outbreaks and scattered cases reported elsewhere, including the United States. (Van Beusekom, 4/25)

A University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill modeling study suggests that wild-habitat disruption may be contributing to the increasing US prevalence of Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a tick-borne allergy to animal meat. The study team used a dataset of 462 AGS patients with confirmed AGS from UNC Health and models based on environmental factors, such as landcover and topography, to assess whether the risk of AGS is linked to the habitat fragmentation often seen in open spaces and areas of low-density development in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. (Van Beusekom, 4/25)

A Kansas City firefighter-paramedic has died after he was stabbed in an ambulance by a patient he was transporting Sunday morning, city officials announced. (Alviz-Gransee, 4/27)

Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty Friday to a federal murder charge in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Prosecutors formally declared their intent to seek the death penalty, and the judge warned Justice Department officials to refrain from making public comments that could spoil his right to a fair trial. Mangione, 26, stood between his lawyers and leaned toward a tabletop microphone as he entered the plea in Manhattan federal court. (Sisak, 4/25)

Since 2021, Mission Hospital has released at least 111 bodies to funeral homes before a legally required medical examiner’s review, according to a list of issues related to the hospital’s handling of deaths compiled by Buncombe County medical examiners and obtained by Asheville Watchdog. The list includes people who died of gunshot wounds, drug overdoses, choking and falling bricks. Some of the bodies had to be returned to the hospital from funeral homes as far away as Georgia. Some were already buried. (Jones, 4/26)

Texas hospitals incurred $121.8 million in health care costs in November from patients who were not “lawfully” permitted to be in the country, according to data released by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission on Friday. Hospitals throughout Texas reported to the state health agency the cost of more than 30,000 hospital visits by undocumented immigrants after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered Texas hospitals to ask all patients starting Nov. 1 to disclose whether they were “lawfully in the United States.” (Simpson, 4/25)

Maryland nonprofit hospitals spend more on their communities than they receive in tax breaks, according to a new report by the Lown Institute, a Boston-based independent health care think tank. (Karpovich, 4/26)

A charity known for its barbecue fundraisers is donating $1 million to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg to turn apartments into housing for patients’ families. Hogs for the Cause, a New Orleans-based nonprofit, said its third “Hogs House” will provide free quarters for families while their child undergoes extended hospital care. (Mayer, 4/25)

The CEOs of HCA Healthcare, Tenet Healthcare, Universal Health Services (UHS), Community Health Systems (CHS) and public market newcomer Ardent Health Services received compensation packages ranging from $6.9 million to $24.7 million, according to annual proxy statements filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This was a wider range than the $8.3 million to $21.3 million reported last year. (Muoio, 4/28)

WellSpan Health canceled a mentorship event designed to introduce Black youth to medical careers, citing concerns about potential federal backlash over diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The Black Men in White Coats summit was set to take place at the end of May at the York College of Pennsylvania. The York, Pennsylvania-based system previously held the event in May 2024 and March 2023. Other healthcare organizations including Johns Hopkins Medicine, Summa Health and Kaiser Permanente have also held Black Men in White Coats mentorship events. (DeSilva, 4/25)

Hoodie-clad hippies from Eugene, Ore., emerged as the unlikely solution to violent police encounters that sparked protests across America five years ago. Riding in vans, these unarmed counselors and medics had a knack for defusing mental-health crises that too often ended in shootings by police. After the 2020 killing of George Floyd, cities rushed to replicate the program dubbed “Cahoots,” sending teams of mental-health workers to calls instead of armed officers. National media spotlighted Cahoots as a beacon. Congress even included the “Cahoots Act” in the 2021 stimulus bill, increasing funding for mobile crisis units. (Elinson, 4/27)

Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis has resigned her position as director of the St. Louis Department of Health. The high-profile infectious disease physician took over during the Omicron wave of the coronavirus pandemic in 2021 and made increased access to behavioral health resources and community outreach centerpieces of her tenure. Hlatshwayo Davis announced Friday that the decision was made after “prayer, reflection and deep conversation with those I trust most.” (Fentem, 4/25)

Atrium’s is the first hospital-at-home initiative in the nation designed specifically for children, the hospital system said. Modeled after similar programs for adults, it combines home visits from paramedics, remote monitoring and virtual check-ins from doctors and nurses to deliver hospital-like care while patients heal at home. (Crouch, 4/28)

Six months ago, Washington Regional Medical Center in Plymouth declared bankruptcy for the second time in five years. Now, hospital leadership hopes that the facility will emerge from this latest financial hardship by late May. That’s good news to the 10,713 residents of Washington County who need the hospital to stay in business. It’s the only one around. (Sartwell, 4/27)

The Wyoming Supreme Court is currently considering the legality of banning most abortions in the state. This issue has been debated by the courts nationally for decades. At one point in 2007, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy speculated that women can be depressed after getting an abortion and regret their decision, but said there was no reliable data to prove this. That perked Diana Greene Foster’s ears. “It really was time to not just assume and to actually collect rigorous data,” the University of California San Francisco professor said. (Merzbach, 4/25)

The drinking water in the Maries County town of Vienna is contaminated with high amounts of a chemical called PFOS, or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. It’s a type of “forever chemical” – man-made compounds known for not naturally breaking down that research has linked to health and environmental risks. (Ratanpal, 4/28)

Dr. Stephen Hauser was a young resident at Harvard when he met his first patient with multiple sclerosis, a woman with a thriving professional life who’d been completely wiped out by her condition, paralyzed on one side and unable to speak. It was heartbreaking, he recalled. He was struck by how cruel the disease seemed, how it could crush the lives of young patients. He pledged to tackle a disease that at the time had almost no treatment options. (Allday, 4/26)

Michael Wolff spent 18 months undergoing intensive treatment for follicular lymphoma, a slow-growing blood cancer. Despite the strict regimen, he was only getting sicker. Wolff's oncologist didn't understand it and sent the then 54-year-old to Dr. Mrinal Gounder at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Wolff underwent another biopsy. ... Gounder estimated Wolff had two months to live. That was 10 years ago. Now, Wolff is considered cured after technology that he said "seemed like science fiction" was used to find an effective treatment for the rare cancer. (Breen, 4/26)

When a person develops solid tumors in the stomach or esophagus or rectum, oncologists know how to treat them. But the cures often come with severe effects on quality of life. That can include removal of the stomach or bladder, a permanent colostomy bag, radiation that makes patients infertile and lasting damage from chemotherapy. So a research group at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, using a drug from the pharmaceutical company GSK, tried something different. (Kolata, 4/27)

Emily Kramer-Golinkoff can’t get enough oxygen with each breath. Advanced cystic fibrosis makes even simple things like walking or showering arduous and exhausting. She has the most common fatal genetic disease in the U.S., which afflicts 40,000 Americans. But her case is caused by a rare genetic mutation, so medications that work for 90% of people with cystic fibrosis won’t help her. The same dynamic plays out in other genetic conditions. Stunning advances in genetic science have revealed the subtle, insidious culprits behind these brutal diseases and have started paving the way for treatments. (Ungar, 4/26)

Vanellope Hope Wilkins made medical history when she was born with her heart outside of her body in 2017. Described by experts as "one of a kind", Vanellope had three operations to place her heart back in her chest due to an extremely rare condition called ectopia cordis. The hospital where she was born - Glenfield Hospital in Leicester - says it knows of no other case in the UK where the baby has survived. Now seven years old, Vanellope has undergone groundbreaking surgery to reconstruct a protective cage around her heart - using her ribs. (Hawley, 4/22)

Ed McLaughlin, 94, noticed one of his neighbors riding an electric bicycle, and he wanted one, too. Just months after undergoing a hip replacement, McLaughlin got one for himself. “You need to exercise every day,” said McLaughlin, now 96, adding that he prefers cycling to indoor fitness activities. “It’s a lot more interesting to see the wildlife and feel the wind and sun and fresh air.” He said it’s never too late to take up a new hobby. (Page, 4/22)

I am a family physician with 39 years experience caring for patients and teaching medical students and family medicine residents. Donald Trump’s executive orders and election have removed the sense of stability and security that many, but not all Americans had become accustomed to — much in the same way that a child relies on the safety provided by his or her parents in a home that feels safe and secure. (Howard A. Selinger M.D., 4/28)

A lawsuit in late March that awarded Georgia man John Barnes $2.1 billion in damages looked like another piece of good news for one of the tens of thousands of litigants against Bayer, the agrochemical giant that since 2018 has owned Monsanto, maker of the popular weedkiller, Roundup. (John Klar, 4/27)

As the Trump administration downplays climate change and its harms, a transformative shift is underway that is reshaping how we use energy and offering extraordinary health benefits. Regardless of what happens in Washington, here in New England we should embrace clean-energy technologies — not only because it’s good for the planet, but for the immediate health benefits in our communities. (Dr. Ashish K. Jha, 4/28)

Dear Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Autism hasn’t and won’t ever stop me from reaching my goals. Your start as director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been incredibly toxic, specifically to the autism community. You have aggressively pushed a narrative about a so-called autism “epidemic” that simply isn’t there. You have compared this supposed epidemic to COVID-19, claiming that people with autism cannot work, play sports, write poems or function in day-to-day life. It even led to ideas to create an autism registry, which your agency walked back on Friday. (Madden Rausch, 4/27)

There’s absolutely room for new research and new debate about the causes of chronic illness or autism or obesity — all areas where the official understanding of things doesn’t have definite answers for a lot of people. And there’s always good reason for skepticism about the medical-industrial complex writ large. But Kennedy seems committed to his own set of low-evidence theories — the vaccine-autism link being the most prominent example — and he seems to be working backward from the outsider perspective, rather than trying to genuinely create dialogue between the establishment and its critics. (Ross Douthat, Jessica Grose and David Wallace-Wells, 4/27)

Who’s on the couch here? The psychiatrist or the poet? The poem or the practice of psychiatry? As a poet and a psychiatrist/therapist, I exist in both practices, and the worlds of each enrich the other. Each speaks with abandon, and each interrogates the other, and there are many ways in which each discipline supports the other, some obvious, some not so obvious. (Owen Lewis, 4/28)