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President Donald Trump said Sunday he may veto a bill to extend Obamacare subsidies if Congress sent one to his desk. Trump’s remark to reporters on Air Force One comes after nine swing-district House Republicans joined Democrats Wednesday in advancing legislation to revive expired Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years. The Senate has yet to vote on the measure. It’s unlikely that Democrats will be able to overcome Republican opposition in that chamber, but the GOP will face additional pressure following the House vote. (Mijares Torres and Subramanian, 1/11)

If the Senate is going to strike a deal to revive a signature Democratic policy, it will be in part because of an unlikely broker: a freshman Republican from the party’s MAGA wing. Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio is, on paper, an odd fit in the core group of about a dozen senators in talks to extend Obamacare credits that lapsed on Jan. 1. Most are well-known bipartisan dealmakers, such as Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. (Carney, 1/12)

President Donald Trump plans to call health insurers to the table and demand lower prices as he seeks to allay voters’ concerns over affordability. But health policy experts, researchers and even some GOP members say it won’t be so simple. Even if a deal materializes, there are reasons to be skeptical that voluntary cuts by insurance companies could bring significant, lasting health care savings for Americans. (Haslett, 1/10)

On the ACA affordability crisis —

When he stops to think about it, Mathew says, his situation feels kind of ridiculous. "I find myself in the middle of some sort of rom-com plot," he says. "For me to be able to see my doctor to tend to my autoimmune disease, I had to marry my best friend — it's like some weird twisted plot of 'Will and Grace.'" Mathew asked NPR not to use his full name because he fears repercussions from his health insurance company if they find out he got married to obtain coverage. (Simmons-Duffin, 1/12)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Millions Of Americans Are Expected To Drop Their Affordable Care Act Plans. They’re Looking For A Plan B
It’s feeding time for the animals on this property outside Nashville, Tennessee. An albino raccoon named Cricket reaches through the wires of its cage to grab an animal cracker, an appetizer treat right before the evening meal. “Cricket is blind,” said Robert Sory, who is trying to open a nonprofit animal sanctuary along with his wife, Emily. “A lot of our animals come to us with issues.” ... The Sorys are passionate about their pets and seem to put the animals’ needs before their own. Both Robert and Emily started 2026 without health insurance. (Farmer, 1/12)

Healthcare providers are experiencing an “existential crisis,” said Angel Greer, CEO of Coastal Family Health Center, which serves 36,000 patients a year in seven South Mississippi counties, including those on the Coast. More Mississippians will be pouring into emergency rooms for primary care and untreated chronic conditions, she and other providers said.. “That’s unsustainable for our communities and for our hospitals,” Greer said. (Lee, 1/12)

A processing error has potentially left several hundred Connecticut residents who enrolled in 2026 Affordable Care Act health insurance plans without their selected coverage, state exchange and insurance officials said. (Golvala, 1/9)

Minnesotans are facing a lot of health care challenges right now, especially in rural parts of the state. Costs are skyrocketing, clinics are closing, and even finding a provider or specialist to get the care you need can be difficult. So as state lawmakers prepare for the upcoming legislative session that begins next month, some of them are meeting with rural Minnesota residents to hear from them directly about their health care needs, and how the crisis of rural healthcare affordability and accessibility is impacting them. (Work, 1/12)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: �鶹Ů�� Health News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Update Listeners On Expiration Of Insurance Subsidies And New Rural Health Funding
�鶹Ů�� Health News senior correspondent Julie Appleby discussed changes to the Affordable Care Act in 2026 and how enrollees may be affected on WUNC’s Due South on Jan. 7. (1/10)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) childhood vaccine schedule are making school vaccination requirements an open question for the future. While state health departments typically take their cues from the CDC, with schools following suit, the politicization of vaccines under Kennedy means states may increasingly forge their own paths. (Cochran, 1/9)

Dr. Molly O’Shea has noticed growing skepticism about vaccines at both of her Michigan pediatric offices and says this week’s unprecedented and confusing changes to federal vaccine guidance will only make things worse. One of her offices is in a Democratic area, where more of the parents she sees are opting for alternative schedules that spread out shots. The other is in a Republican area, where some parents have stopped immunizing their children altogether. She and other doctors fear the new recommendations and the terminology around them will stoke vaccine hesitancy even more, pose challenges for pediatricians and parents that make it harder for kids to get shots, and ultimately lead to more illness and death. (Ungar, 1/10)

Comments by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allies suggest the revised schedule may presage an approach to immunization that prizes individual autonomy and downplays scientific expertise. (Mandavilli, 1/11)

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) expressed further frustration Sunday with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changing the childhood vaccine schedule. The CDC, overseen by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., reduced the number of recommended vaccines for children from 17 to 11 on Monday, putting it in line with Denmark. “Let’s just take care of people and move beyond your ideology,” Cassidy, a medical doctor, told host Jacqui Heinrich on “Fox News Sunday.” (Rego, 1/11)

The German government has sharply rejected accusations by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claiming that it has been sidelining patient autonomy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The statements made by the US Secretary of Health are completely unfounded, factually incorrect, and must be rejected,” German Health Minister Nina Warken said in a statement late Saturday. Kennedy said in a video post earlier on Saturday that he had sent the German minister a letter based on reports coming out of Germany that the government was “limiting people’s abilities to act on their own convictions when they face medical decisions.” (Grieshaber, 1/11)

On measles, flu, RSV, bird flu, and meningitis —

A person with an infectious case of measles passed through Maryland this past week, potentially exposing passengers on Amtrak trains and shuttle buses serving BWI Airport, the Maryland Department of Health said Sunday. (Pryce, 1/11)

At least 99 new measles cases are being reported in South Carolina amid the state's outbreak. This brings the total number of cases in the state to 310. There are currently 200 people in quarantine, according to health officials. The outbreak has been ongoing as state health officials continue to push for vaccinations. The majority of cases are located around Spartanburg County. (Benadjaoud, 1/9)

The flu is hitting children especially hard this season. “This is really one of the worst flu seasons we’ve been seeing,” said Dr. Suchitra Rao, an infectious diseases physician at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday that the rate of kids and teenagers hospitalized with flu nationwide is the second highest in 15 years for this point in the season. Rao said her hospital has seen “record-breaking numbers of children with influenza.” (Edwards, 1/9)

Respiratory virus activity across the United States has climbed to high levels, driven by increases in influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) weekly respiratory illness update. Meanwhile, COVID-19 levels remain relatively low but show signs of an uptick. (Bergeson, 1/9)

In the United States, the term bird flu has become synonymous with a particular virus that has devastated poultry and dairy farms over the past few years. But that virus, called H5N1, is not the only form of bird flu in circulation. Concerned scientists are keeping a close eye other types, including a fast-changing flu virus called H9N2.In a study published in November, researchers in Hong Kong showed that over the last decade, this virus has acquired mutations that allow it to spread more efficiently among people and to cause more severe disease. (Mandavilli, 1/10)

The last survivor of the 1925 Alaska diphtheria epidemic has died —

Jirdes Winther Baxter, the last known survivor of a 1925 diphtheria epidemic in Nome, Alaska, which prompted a legendary sled dog relay of nearly 700 miles that delivered a lifesaving serum to the isolated frontier town, died in Juneau, the capital, on Jan. 5. She was 101. Her death, in a hospital, was confirmed by a son, Fred J. Baxter. (Longman, 1/11)

A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot block federal money for child care subsidies and other programs aimed at supporting low-income families with children from flowing to five Democratic-led states for now. The states of California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York argued that a policy announced Tuesday to freeze billions of dollars in funds for three grant programs is having an immediate impact on them and creating “operational chaos.” In court filings and a hearing earlier Friday, the states contended that the government did not have a legal reason for withholding the money from them. (Mulvihill and Schoenbaum, 1/10)

Congress is racing to undo thousands of cuts to federal science programs that President Trump called for last year when planning the government’s current budget. If enacted, the president’s bid for an overall cut in scientific funding to $154 billion from $198 billion — a plunge of 22 percent — would have been the largest reduction in federal spending on science since World War II, when Washington and the seekers of nature’s secrets began their partnership. (Broad, 1/10)

Health providers across Massachusetts are noticing a troubling ripple effect from stepped-up immigration enforcement: Immigrant families are skipping medical appointments, choosing to forgo care, canceling their limited state-provided health insurance, and weighing health risks against fears of detention or deportation. Providers worry the situation will worsen because of a Dec. 29 court decision that allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to access personal information Medicaid has on undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants aren’t eligible for full Medicaid coverage through the state-run plan, called MassHealth, but they are among 247,500 noncitizens in the state who receive a limited version that covers emergency medical care. ICE now can access many of those records. (Rahal and Laughlin, 1/12)

On the food pyramid and MAHA —

Testosterone is having a moment at the Department of Health and Human Services. Late last year, the Food and Drug Administration convened an expert panel to discuss easing access to testosterone replacement therapy, including the prospect of removing the hormone from the list of scheduled, or restricted, substances and taking the black box warning off testosterone products. (Merelli, 1/12)

Beef tallow, a fat that both cardiologists and the federal government told Americans to avoid for nearly half a century, has become an unexpected breakout star in the new federal dietary guidelines. The rendered beef fat has been quietly growing in popularity over the past few years among cooks who like how it crisps fries and doughnuts, beauty influencers who smooth it on their skin and others who favor it for high-fat diets or believe it’s healthier than oil pressed from seeds. (Severson, 1/10)

New dietary guidelines from the Trump administration have some big asks of Americans, from prioritizing protein to avoiding highly processed food. The most onerous directive, though, was probably for moms and dads. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins want them to stop giving their kids sugar until they turn 11. That, says Keri Rodrigues, a mother of five boys and the president of the National Parents Union, is “completely unrealistic.” (Paun and Yarrow, 1/10)

When Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released his MAHA Report in May, a who’s who of the wellness world convened at the White House for the occasion. There was the influential physician Mark Hyman, who co-founded the direct-to-consumer testing company Function Health, recently valued at $2.5 billion. Also in attendance: Alex Clark, the host of the popular Turning Point USA podcast “Culture Apothecary.” Longevity influencer Gary Brecka, who’d recently had Kennedy over to get intravenous drips and use Brecka’s hyperbaric chamber, was present, along with the “medfluencers” Dr. Will Cole and Dr. Paul Saladino. (Ashley O’Brien, 1/10)

Nearly 15,000 nurses are walking out of their hospital jobs early Monday morning and onto the picket line, in what their union says is the largest nursing strike in New York City history. New York State Nurses Association members working for Montefiore Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian and the Mount Sinai Health System are demanding salary increases to account for inflation while fighting to maintain protections against understaffing that they won after a three-day strike three years ago. They are also calling for new contract provisions on artificial intelligence and workplace violence. (Kaufman, 1/12)

Like many internationally trained physicians in the United States, it took years before Duncanville surgeon Anil Tibrewal could call Texas home. Fifteen years of medical training to be exact. While the U.S. usually requires international medical graduates to complete a second medical residency in this country, Tibrewal completed three: one in India, another in England and the third in New York and Cleveland. (Langford, 1/9)

The federal government approved $60 billion worth of extra Medicaid funds for hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, and other medical providers in the closing months of 2025 — money that will gradually get cut under Republicans’ tax law. (Herman, 1/12)

Also —

“I want to thank the first responders and healthcare workers, who are the real heroes who inspire us,” shared creator, showrunner, and executive producer R. Scott Gemmill, while accepting the group accolade for Best Drama Series. “Debora Kahn from The Diplomat reminded me I have to thank all the civil servants, as well,” he added. Actor Noah Wyle also tipped his hat to healthcare workers during his acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Drama Series earlier in the evening. (Cordero, 1/11)

Geoff Bennett visited the actual “Pitt,” the real Pittsburgh hospital that doubles as a key location in the show. (Bennett and Fecteau, 1/8)

When cardiac arrest occurs, every second counts—but, according to a new study out of the University of Pittsburgh, the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) techniques shown on television are misleading people about best practice and risking them waste precious time in the event of a real-world emergency. The study, published in the journal Circulation: Population and Outcomes, is the first to analyze how TV shows portray bystander CPR, highlighting the need for more accurate depictions to better instruct the public in cases of emergency. (Azzurra Volpe, 1/12)

More health care industry news —

The Chesapeake Center, a Bethesda-based mental health clinic specializing in ADHD and learning differences, closed at the end of 2025 after more than three decades in operation, according to a letter sent to patients. (Karpovich, 1/10)

Tucked into the heart of Keefe Memorial Hospital, less than 18 miles from the Kansas border, a chapel sat silent on a recent afternoon, an enduring reminder of the institution’s faithful origin, while activity animated the health care space around it. (Simpson, 1/11)

Young adults are the most likely age group to skip dental care, with a recent study finding that 1 in 3 didn’t see a dentist during the previous year. (McDaniel, 1/11)

Longevity medicine has exploded into the mainstream, but the fervor has outpaced rigorous scientific evidence and federal regulations. (Thadani, 1/12)

Healthcare IT buyout deal count has steadily increased the last few years as the sector remains attractive to private equity investors. Private equity-backed healthcare IT buyout transactions saw an increase while overall deal value for the sector doubled in 2025, according to a report from management consulting company Bain & Company published on Thursday. This increase contrasts with other parts of healthcare that saw declines in private equity deal activity. (Famakinwa and Broderick, 1/9)

More than a year after Planned Parenthood sued to overturn Missouri’s abortion ban, the issue finally heads to trial this week in Kansas City. Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang will preside over the case in Jackson County. The outcome could shape access to abortion services and any restrictions on the procedure that remain. (Fentem, 1/12)

An Ohio court will have to reconsider the viability of several provisions in the state’s “heartbeat” abortion law after an appeals panel overturned parts of an injunction granted to abortion providers. Preterm-Cleveland and several others won their legal battle against Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in October 2024, nearly a year after voters enshrined the right to an abortion in the state Constitution by passing Issue 1 in 2023. (Koeninger, 1/7)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: ‘Abortion As Homicide’ Debate In South Carolina Exposes GOP Rift As States Weigh New Restrictions
When a trio of Republican state lawmakers introduced a bill last year that would subject women who obtain abortions to decades in prison, some reproductive rights advocates feared South Carolina might pass the “most extreme” abortion ban in the United States. Now, though, it seems unlikely to become state law. In November, a vote to advance the bill beyond a legislative subcommittee failed. Four out of six Republicans on the Senate Medical Affairs Committee subpanel refused to vote on the measure. (Sausser and Sable-Smith, 1/12)

The fund's demise comes after a new law banning government-supported funds that help people travel out of state for an abortion. (Langford, 1/9)

On IVF and menopause —

Laura Terry dreamed of having kids — a family she could call her own. But there was one challenge: She wasn't interested in dating, marriage, or partnering up. So, she came up with an idea for an unusual present to give herself. "For my 39th birthday, I bought a vial of donor sperm," says Terry, who lives in Nashville, Tenn., and works at a top management consulting firm. (Gogoi and Lee, 1/12)

Medical experts say strength training keeps bones and muscles healthy after menopause when estrogen loss speeds up a reduction in bone density and contributes to the gradual loss of muscle mass. This type of exercise — which involves working against resistance — also helps women maintain a healthy weight and stay on track with New Year’s resolutions about fitness. (Ungar, 1/10)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

A drug marketed as "pink cocaine" is turning up more often in U.S. nightclubs and busts, alarming health officials because it's usually not cocaine at all. And no two batches are the same. (Contreras, 1/10)

Three people in California have died and more than two dozen others have been poisoned by wild mushrooms, prompting state health officials to discourage foragers from consuming them. A resident of Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, died last weekend after consuming wild mushrooms, the county’s Department of Health Services said on Thursday. It was the latest death in an unusually active season for mushroom poisonings in Northern California. (Ziegler, 1/10)

Rather than provide clarity on how to reduce racial bias in pulse oximeter readings, a long-awaited study commissioned by the Food and Drug Administration has muddied the path forward. (Oza, 1/12)

More pharma and tech developments —

Food and Drug Administration commissioner Marty Makary's flagship effort to overhaul how the agency reviews drugs is facing intensifying scrutiny from Congress and the medical establishment over whether it's putting politics over science. (Sullivan, 1/12)

Stoke Therapeutics and the Food and Drug Administration were unable to reach agreement on an expedited submission for the company’s severe epilepsy treatment, the company said Sunday. Feuerstein, 1/11)

Veradermics Inc. filed for an initial public offering to help commercialize its hair re-growth pill. Led by dermatologist co-founders Reid Waldman and Tim Durso, Veradermics is developing an oral, non-hormonal treatment for men and women with pattern hair loss, a condition that affects 80 million people in the US, according to a filing Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. (Hughes, 1/10)

This past spring, a biotech company announced the first use of a new gene-editing technology in people to fix an errant gene that causes a severe immune disorder. In June, a baby born with a life-threatening metabolic disorder was allowed to leave the hospital after a six-month sprint by scientists to create a bespoke treatment for him. And increasingly, a generation of “bubble babies” born without immune defenses are nearing their teenage years after receiving a one-time experimental gene therapy in early childhood. Therapies that target genetic illnesses at their root are no longer on the horizon. They are here. (Johnson, 1/11)

Lucas Hoffman has been burdened by anxiety for about as long as he can remember. But for a few weeks in 2024, after being treated as part of a clinical trial, the weight didn’t lift, exactly, but it became much more bearable. The treatment was LSD. The effects didn’t last, but even two years later, Hoffman, 23, said some benefits have lingered. In particular, he was able to understand, for the first time, that the anxiety doesn’t have to stop everything — that he will be OK, even when his mind and body are screaming the opposite. (Allday, 1/10)

After lawmakers blunted expansion for years, Texas’ medical marijuana industry is slated to see more marijuana operators coming online, current ones opening more facilities and more Texans enrolling in the program this year. (Simpson, 1/12)

In obituaries —

Dr. Joel Habener, an American endocrinologist who discovered GLP-1, the protein fragment that became the basis of Ozempic, Wegovy and other blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs that are transforming 21st-century medicine, died on Dec. 28 in Newton, Mass. He was 88. His death, in a retirement community, was confirmed by his brother, Stephen, who said the cause was a heart attack. Researchers and drug companies long tried and failed to find an effective treatment for obesity, and many companies gave up on what they viewed as a lost cause. (Kolata, 1/9)

I went through medical school, residency, and a fellowship in the United States in an era when vaccine-preventable diseases were treated as history. Measles, tetanus, pertussis, and mumps appeared on exams, not in hospital wards. Vaccines — a victim of their own success — have worked so well that most clinicians in my generation have never seen these illnesses firsthand. But I have. (Krutika Kuppalli, 1/12)

The problem isn’t just a matter of social awkwardness. Talking is important brain exercise, a desirable difficulty that enhances our cognition — in the moment of talking, and over our lifetimes. Young adults frequently listen to other people’s speech via podcasts, YouTube, TikTok and the like, but these activities don’t provide the same cognitive stimulation. The mental effort required to speak is much greater than what’s needed to understand someone else, and the cognitive benefits of talking exceed those of listening. (Maryellen MacDonald, 1/11)

We are National Institutes of Health scientists and administrators with more than 50 years of collective civil service. Or, more accurately, we were NIH scientists and administrators. (Sylvia Chou, Paul Grothaus, Alexa Romberg and Vani Pariyadath, 1/10)

Recently, politicians at the federal level have decided to delay the birth dose of hepatitis b vaccine unless there is maternal hepatitis b blood test evidence that the baby needs the vaccine at birth. Physician groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the Infectious Diseases Society of America have agreed that this policy change is bad for children and that all children need to receive hepatitis b vaccine at birth if we are to prevent this uniformly fatal disease in at-risk children who might slip between the cracks under this new proposal. (David T. Tayloe, Jr., MD, 1/12)

Whether cannabis is used for recreation or to treat conditions ranging from chronic pain to sleep disorders, President Trump’s executive order initiating the process to reschedule cannabis is a pivotal step toward maximizing the benefits of cannabis while minimizing its risks. (Julie K. Johnson and Shannon O'Brien, 1/12)