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The Senate is set to kick off what's expected to be a marathon session Monday, after the chamber debated President Trump's massive tax package into the wee hours of the morning as Republicans work to pass the centerpiece legislation of Mr. Trump's second term agenda. (Hubbard, 6/30)

The House could vote on the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill” as early as Wednesday morning, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s (R-Minn.) office announced Sunday, officially notifying members that they will have to return to Washington, D.C., to vote on the megabill. (Schnell, 6/29)

Republicans’ marquee domestic policy bill that is making its way through the Senate would result in deeper cuts and more Americans losing health insurance coverage than the original measure that passed the House last month, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. According to a report published late Saturday night, the legislation would mean 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034. Federal spending on Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare would be reduced by more than $1.1 trillion over that period — with more than $1 trillion of those cuts coming from Medicaid alone. (Sanger-Katz, 6/29)

Senate Republican leaders substantially increased the size of a rural hospital relief fund and rewrote controversial language freezing health care provider taxes in a late-night bid to keep President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on track for a vote Saturday afternoon. Republican leaders increased the size of the proposed rural hospital relief fund from $15 billion to $25 billion, with the money to be distributed over five years. (Bolton, 6/28)

Hours after announcing his retirement, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis went to the Senate floor and slammed the GOP’s plans for drastic Medicaid cuts — warning Republicans they are about to “make a mistake on health care and betray a promise” if their sprawling domestic policy bill passes.“ It is inescapable this bill will betray the promise Donald Trump made,” Tillis said. “I’m telling the president that you have been misinformed. You supporting the Senate mark will hurt people who are eligible and qualified for Medicaid.” (McCarthy and Carney, 6/29)

Sen. Markwayne Mullin is insisting President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic megabill doesn’t break his promise not to cut Medicaid, even as the Congressional Budget Office estimates 7.8 million people would lose access if it passes. Instead, Mullin (R-Okla.) told NBC’s Kristen Welker on Sunday, the “Big Beautiful Bill” is eliminating fraud, waste and abuse that Republicans say is rampant in the program. “What is so hard about having a work requirement there with someone that has no medical conditions and no dependents?” he said on “Meet the Press.” (Svirnovskiy, 6/29)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: In A First, Trump And GOP-Led Congress Prepare To Swell Ranks Of U.S. Uninsured

Last September, Alton Fry went to the doctor concerned he had high blood pressure. The trip would result in a prostate cancer diagnosis. So began the stress of trying to pay for tens of thousands of dollars in treatment — without health insurance. “I’ve never been sick in my life, so I’ve never needed insurance before,” said Fry, a 54-year-old self-employed masonry contractor who restores old buildings in the rural Appalachian community he’s called home nearly all his life. (Rayasam and Whitehead, 6/30)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: �鶹Ů�� Health News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Break Down Reconciliation Bill, Vaccine Panel Meeting, And 'Dobbs' Anniversary

�鶹Ů�� Health News senior correspondent Phil Galewitz discussed Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cuts on “CBS Morning News” on June 26. ... �鶹Ů�� Health News senior correspondent Arthur Allen discussed the first Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory panel meeting under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on “CBS News 24/7” on June 25. (6/28)

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the structure of a federal health task force that recommends preventive medical services that must be provided to patients at no cost under the Affordable Care Act. The ruling from the Supreme Court in the case known as Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc. leaves intact the 16-member U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The task force is part of the Department of Health and Human Service and has for decades been making recommendations on preventive medical services to avoid serious health conditions. (Quinn, 6/27)

Healthcare advocates, trade group leaders and elected government officials are applauding the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold preventive services coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act. In a 6-3 vote, the court ruled Friday that insurers will still be required to cover preventive care, such as cancer screenings, at no cost to enrollees. (DeSilva, 6/27)

The U.S. DOGE Service has lost the power to control the government’s process for awarding billions of dollars in federal funds, the latest sign of the team’s declining influence following Elon Musk’s high-profile exit from Washington, according to two people familiar with the situation and emails obtained by The Washington Post. Three months ago, DOGE employees wrested control of a key federal grants website, grants.gov, which serves as a clearinghouse for more than $500 billion in annual awards, The Post reported. For most of the program’s existence, federal agencies including the Defense Department posted their funding opportunities directly to the site, where thousands of outside organizations could see and apply for them — until April, when DOGE staffers changed the website’s permissions to give themselves power to review and approve all grants across the government. (Diamond and Natanson, 6/27)

A nonprofit in North Kingstown is an example not only in how DOGE disrupted the federal government, but how long it is taking to undo its mistakes. (Kopan, 6/28)

The 3-year-old boy darted among the mourners, his giggles rising above the soft cadence of condolences. Women with somber faces and bright scarves hugged his weeping mother, patting her shoulders as she stooped to pick up her remaining son. Marwan didn’t yet know that his twin brother was dead. Omran shouldn’t have died, doctors said. The physician at his clinic outside the Sudanese capital said basic antibiotics probably would have cured his chest infection. The International Rescue Committee, which received a large amount of its funding from the United States, had been scheduled to deliver the medicines in February. Then the new U.S. administration froze foreign aid programs, and a stop-work order came down from Washington. (Houreld and Haroun, 6/29)

Many of the world’s nations are gathering starting Monday in Spain for a high-level conference to tackle the growing gap between rich and poor nations and try to drum up trillions of dollars needed to close it. The United States, previously a major contributor, pulled its participation, so finding funding will be tough. The four-day Financing for Development meeting in the southern city of Seville is taking place as many countries face escalating debt burdens, declining investments, decreasing international aid and increasing trade barriers. (Wilson and Lederer, 6/30)

When this city’s largest university launched a program earlier this year to offer U.S. scientists three-year postings, it didn’t take long for the applications to roll in. Within weeks, there were nearly 300. Those applications detailed researchers’ grants and publication records, but in the view of the president of the school, they also brought to life the very real fears American academics are facing as the Trump administration axes funding for scientific research in the United States. (Joseph, 6/30)

US health officials met with with Walmart Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and other retailers [last] week as part of an effort to help Americans get their medicines more directly from companies that make them, according to people familiar with the talks. The conversations between the Trump administration and experts from the nascent straight-to-consumer drug industry are intended to explore streamlining the way Americans get their medicines and therefore lower costs, said the people, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. (Cohrs Zhang and Kang, 6/27)

The Army is preparing to roll out a new policy that could lead to soldiers diagnosed with a chronic skin condition that causes painful razor bumps and scarring to be kicked out of the service -- an issue that disproportionately affects Black men. The new guidance, expected to take effect in the coming weeks, would bar permanent shaving waivers and require medical personnel to craft formal treatment plans for affected troops, according to multiple service officials and internal documents reviewed by Military.com. (Beynon, 6/27)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will test a new model that adds prior authorization requirements to some services for traditional Medicare. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation unveiled the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction, or WISeR, demonstration Friday. (Tepper, 6/27)

Blue Shield of California will end commissions for new enrollments in some of its wider network Medicare Advantage plans next week. The nonprofit insurer will cease paying brokers who sign up new members in its preferred provider organization, or PPO, plans in Alameda, Orange and San Diego counties effective July 1, the company wrote in a notice to third-party sellers Thursday. “This was a difficult business decision but one we believe is necessary in the current climate,” the insurer said in the notice. (Tepper, 6/27)

The North Carolina Senate proposed budget released in April would cut state funds for a popular program that helps seniors make better choices for their Medicare plans. For now, the program stands, as state lawmakers are at a standstill on budget negotiations and don’t expect to come to an agreement before the new fiscal year starts on July 1. (Vitaglione, 6/30) 

The Social Security Administration, which overpays billions in benefits annually, will start withholding some benefits sent to overpaid recipients. (Snider, 6/29)

New Hampshire lawmakers on Thursday gave final approval to bills that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors in the state, sending the measures to Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who has not yet said whether she will sign them. State lawmakers voted to pass House Bill 377, which would prohibit doctors from administering puberty blockers and hormones to transgender youth beginning next year. The measure includes a “grandfather clause” that would allow minors already receiving care to continue doing so even after the law takes effect. (Migdon, 6/27)

The Trump administration is weighing cutting off funds to hospitals that it says provide gender-related treatments for children and teenagers, a move that would sharply escalate officials’ scrutiny of such programs. The potential for increased federal scrutiny on gender-related healthcare comes after a 30-day deadline passed Saturday for nine children’s hospitals to respond to letters from Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator and celebrity physician known as Dr. Oz. The former heart surgeon and television host demanded data related to sex-reassignment surgeries, hormone therapy and puberty blockers. (Essley Whyte, 6/30)

In response to reports of Texas officials using Mount Prospect’s automatic license plate reading (ALPR) technology to track a woman who traveled to Illinois for an abortion, Evanston officials passed an ordinance that would limit data sharing in similar cases to protect the privacy of individuals seeking sensitive healthcare procedures. (Requena, 6/27)

A North Texas man charged with capital murder this month after he allegedly slipped his girlfriend abortion-inducing medication and caused a miscarriage marks the first time a murder charge has been brought in an abortion-related case in Texas. The case tests a new method for reining in abortion pills — by threatening to prosecute individuals who provide them with the most severe criminal charge — while advancing the longstanding legal provision that defines an embryo as a person, legal experts say. The latter could raise serious implications about the legality of fertility treatments and in other legal realms such as criminal and immigration issues. (Yu and Betts, 6/30)

A new Florida law taking effect Tuesday will mandate that all high school student-athletes take an electrocardiogram (EKG) before they can compete on school sports teams. The Second Chance Act is the first of its kind – Florida is the first and only state to require high school student-athletes to get at least one EKG. (Prieur, 6/29)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Friday a budget that pares back a number of progressive priorities, including a landmark health care expansion for low-income adult immigrants without legal status, to close a $12 billion deficit. It’s the third year in a row the nation’s most populous state has been forced to slash funding or stop some of the programs championed by Democratic leaders. Lawmakers passed the budget earlier in the day following an agreement of a $321 billion spending plan between Newsom and Democratic leaders. But the whole budget will be void if lawmakers don’t send him legislation to make it easier to build housing by Monday. (Nguyễn, 6/28)

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed on Friday a bipartisan budget that boosts pay for first responders and increases spending on social services, capping a quarrelsome session of the Republican-led Legislature that brought the state to the brink of a government shutdown. (Govindarao, 6/28)

A Minneapolis pediatrician said he felt pressured to “fall in line” with child abuse specialist Dr. Nancy Harper and her team. Then he was given a choice: resign or be fired. (Lussenhop, 6/30)

An expert group charged by the World Health Organization to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic started released its final report Friday, reaching an unsatisfying conclusion: Scientists still aren’t sure how the worst health emergency in a century began. At a press briefing on Friday, Marietjie Venter, the group’s chair, said that most scientific data supports the hypothesis that the new coronavirus jumped to humans from animals. (Cheng, 6/27)

The World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) on June 25 added the XFG to its SARS-CoV-2 variants under monitoring (VUM) list, as global proportions increase rapidly. In its initial risk assessment, the experts said the public health risk is currently low. XFG is one of many offshoots of the JN.1 subvariant, and the earliest sample was collected at the end of January. (Schnirring, 6/27)

They may also have to brush up on best practices for spinal taps in infants and toddlers, an invasive diagnostic tool that is seldom used today but can quickly turn up telltale signs such as inflamed membranes, said Adrianna Cadilla, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Nemours Children's Health in Orlando. "When I trained, I would hear my attendings tell us about how often they had to do lumbar punctures because that was when Hemophilus influenza type B was running rampant," Cadilla said. "I only got to do probably one every ER shift, but that was a lot in comparison to now." (Reed, 6/30)

A startling new vision of vaccination in America is becoming clearer — one likely to involve fresh scrutiny of established science and practices, and limits on vaccines that have been studied for decades. (Goodman, Koda, Dillinger and Gumbrecht, 6/27)

In the wake of US defunding of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, world leaders this week at the "Health and Prosperity through Immunisation" global summit in Brussels pledged €7.7 billion ($9 billion US) to support the group, according to a joint press release posted by the European Commission (EC). Gavi's target budget for 2026 through 2030 is €10.2 billion ($12 billion). (Wappes, 6/27)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: A Texas Boy Needed Protection From Measles. The Vaccine Cost $1,400

In the early days of the West Texas measles outbreak, Thang Nguyen eyed the rising number of cases and worried. His 4-year-old son was at risk because he had received only the first of the vaccine’s two doses. So, in mid-March, he took his family to a primary care clinic at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. By the end of the visit, his son, Anh Hoang, had received one shot protecting against four illnesses — measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox. (Appleby, 6/30)

Michigan has its second measles outbreak of the year, Utah has seven cases and health workers in New Mexico are rushing to contain an outbreak in a county jail. But for the first time in months, Texas confirmed no additional measles cases this week tied to a major outbreak that raged through the late winter and spring. There have been 1,227 confirmed measles cases this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. (Shastri, 6/27)

In the time before widespread vaccination, death often came early. Devastating infectious diseases ran rampant in America, killing millions of children and leaving others with lifelong health problems. These illnesses were the main reason why nearly one in five children in 1900 never made it to their fifth birthday. Over the next century, vaccines virtually wiped out long-feared scourges like polio and measles and drastically reduced the toll of many others. Today, however, some preventable, contagious diseases are making a comeback as vaccine hesitancy pushes immunization rates down. (Ungar, 6/28)

Amy Acton oversaw public health for Ohio during Covid. Can she become governor? (Skalka, 6/28)

After 18 years of infertility, a couple could finally have a baby thanks to artificial intelligence. The father had a rare condition that left him with almost no detectable sperm. Then fertility specialists found a novel path to the mother’s pregnancy. A tiny camera captured millions of images in a semen sample. AI scoured them for viable sperm in hours — a process that might have otherwise taken days. The result was a speedy extraction of the sperm that could at last fertilize an egg. Researchers at the Columbia University Fertility Center say this procedure, conducted in March, amounts to the first-known use of AI-enabled conception using this particular technology. (Malhi, 6/27)

In our daily lives, the use of artificial intelligence programs such as ChatGPT is obvious. Students employ them to churn out term papers. Office workers ask them to organize calendars and help write reports. Parents prompt them to create personalized bedtime stories for toddlers. Inside our brains, how the persistent use of AI molds the mind remains unclear. (Ovalle, 6/29)

A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool analyzing short smile videos achieved high accuracy in screening for Parkinson's disease (PD), according to research published by Tariq Adnan, M.Sc., and colleagues in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Thursday. The model was trained on the largest known video dataset of facial expressions to date, enrolling 1,452 participants, including 391 living with PD. (Silverman, 6/28)

J.M. Smucker Co. plans to remove artificial colors from its products by the end of 2027. Orrville, Ohio-based Smucker said Thursday it will also remove synthetic dyes from foods sold to K-12 schools by the 2026-2027 school year. Smucker said the majority of its products – including its Uncrustables sandwiches – are already free of synthetic dyes. But some products still have them, including sugar-free jams and ice cream toppings. (Durbin, 6/27)

Turning wobbly blobs of clear gelatin red or orange using natural ingredients takes beet juice and a touch of annatto from the seeds of a tropical tree. But making gelatin green? That one is difficult for Simple Mixes, a company that makes naturally flavored and colored gelatin. Its founder, Malathy Nair, uses a blend of yellow turmeric extract with spirulina, an extract from algae that produces shades of green and blue. (Creswell, 6/29)

Research points to paternal leave as good for both dads and babies — yet just 36 percent of fathers reported taking more than two weeks of leave when their child was born, and 64 percent said they took two weeks or less, according to a new analysis. Published in Pediatrics, the study is part of a first-of-its kind initiative that measured fathers’ behavior and health in the months before and after their children’s birth. (Blakemore, 6/28)

After decades as a physician studying the factors that determine our risks of getting sick and how long we live, I am convinced that the actions of the Trump administration will cost lives. Researchers like me know the data. For years we have warned that Americans have shorter life expectancies and higher disease rates than people in other high-income countries. Now, the poor health of Americans is about to get worse. (Steven H. Woolf, 6/30)

After decades as a physician studying the factors that determine our risks of getting sick and how long we live, I am convinced that the actions of the Trump administration will cost lives. Researchers like me know the data. For years we have warned that Americans have shorter life expectancies and higher disease rates than people in other high-income countries. Now, the poor health of Americans is about to get worse. (Steven H. Woolf, 6/30)

We’re not political activists. We’re not wealthy. We’re just parents from Salem, Missouri, who did what anyone would do when their child needed help. Without Medicaid, we would have lost far more than our family farm. (Suzie and Richard Wilson, 6/27)

Even after six years in Brazil as The Washington Post’s Rio de Janeiro bureau chief, I confess one of my first thoughts was stubbornly American. Out of the murkiness, it came with sudden clarity: How much is this going to cost me? Six hours later — after an ambulance ride, CT scan, X-ray cranial imaging and six stitches in my head — I had my answer: $0. (Terrence McCoy, 6/29)

Clinical data shows that ibogaine has the potential to interrupt substance dependence, reduce trauma symptoms and promote neurological repair. I first heard about the drug from Morgan Luttrell, a Navy SEAL and combat veteran who was elected to Congress in 2022. He learned about other SEALs traveling to Mexico to undergo an alternative treatment for trauma and addiction — something called ibogaine. (Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 6/27)