�������ýҕ�l

Surging healthcare costs are walloping U.S. workers, and they will only worsen next year. For 2027, employers may be facing the biggest health-insurance increase in at least two decades. Americans with workplace coverage are expected to spend an average $5,297 this year on healthcare, $388 more than 2025, according to a new estimate from benefits-consulting firm Aon. The spending represents a combination of payroll deductions for premiums and out-of-pocket charges like deductibles and copays. (Wilde Mathews and Loftus, 8/20)

Centene is scaling back its Medicare Advantage presence next year as the health insurance company looks to cut costs. The insurer plans to completely withdraw from Oklahoma, Tennessee and Hawaii, according to a notice the company distributed to third-party marketing organizations last week. (Tepper and Broderick, 8/20)

EmblemHealth issued New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System’s independent practice association a cease-and-desist letter regarding its decision to stop accepting new patients from some of the insurer’s government-backed plans. The insurer sent Vincent Tammaro, Mount Sinai’s executive vice president and CFO, the letter Aug. 19. Politico first reported that an archived version of Mount Sinai’s website said the health system stopped accepting some new patients with government-backed health plans — including EmblemHealth’s Medicaid plan, Essential Plan, Health and Recovery Plan and Child Health Plus offering — Aug. 1. (Casolo, 8/20)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Watch: Mark Cuban Says You Can’t Fix Healthcare Until Every Price Is Known

The ongoing debate over the U.S. health system shouldn’t be based on whether the government or the private sector is the dominant player, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban said this week. The bigger issue, he said, is whether the system’s participants are transparent about what they charge and what they pay. “I’m not opposed to single-payer or universal healthcare at all,” Cuban said Aug. 18 in an interview with �������ýҕ�l Health News. But “when you don’t know all the costs, when there’s no transparency, it’s impossible to determine if it’s a better solution or not,” he said. (Rovner and Norman, 8/21)

Tennessee authorities are investigating after a drug mix-up at a Nashville hospital caused patients to experience complications during what should have been routine surgeries. The error occurred at Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown on Friday, Aug. 14. CBS affiliate WTVF reported that four patients had received doses of potassium instead of standard pain drugs while undergoing joint replacement operations. All of the operations were supposed to be outpatient procedures, WTVF reported. (Breen, 8/20)

Cityblock Health said it plans to acquire a rural provider in Michigan and has raised another $116 million to fund its growth. The longtime Medicaid-focused provider has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Homeward Health in an all-stock transaction. The deal is expected to close in the next few weeks, a Cityblock spokesperson said Thursday. Financial terms were not disclosed. (Hudson, 8/20)

The Minnesota Department of Human Services is suspending payments to all group home companies affiliated with a high-ranking government official in Liberia, citing “credible allegations of Medicaid fraud,” following an MPR News and APM Reports investigation this week. The Department of Health says it will shut down three group homes he managed and will transfer their residents to other facilities. The investigation published Monday found that Sekou Dukuly, the managing director of Liberia’s National Port Authority, had been the director at three Golden Touch Health Care group homes since 2025. (Peak, Roth, Lu and Euzet, 8/20)

Thousands of health system executives came together this week for Epic Systems’ annual user group meeting, as the electronic health record vendor faces numerous obstacles, including high-profile leadership changes and a reported antitrust investigation. The four-day event offered attendees a look at Epic’s research and development road map, insight into the role artificial intelligence will continue to play at the company, the vendor’s regulatory wish list and more. (Famakinwa, 8/20)

A physician group filed a lawsuit against HHS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), alleging that the government botched the most recent dietary guidelines. The suit was brought by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit founded in 1985 that advocates for plant-based diets and alternatives to animal-based research. The group has a long history of using legal pressure to further their goals. (Robertson, 8/20)

The USS Abraham Lincoln — which has been participating in U.S. military operations in the war with Iran — is now on its way home. The roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard that ship have spent a grueling nine months at sea with little relief. Reports have emerged of deteriorating conditions — and of deteriorating mental health, including apparent attempts by crewmembers to jump overboard. The Navy has not confirmed those reports and NPR has not independently verified them. "A small number of mental health cases were treated with no loss of life," Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said in a statement last week. (Riddle, 8/21)

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. toured the University of Nebraska Medical Center on Thursday, praising its response to the Hantavirus outbreak that brought 18 Americans to quarantine there in May. (Grinvalds, 8/20)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: �������ýҕ�l Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: Headless FDA Gets A New Nominee

Heidi Overton, a physician and White House domestic policy adviser, is President Donald Trump’s choice to be the next head of the Food and Drug Administration. Overton, an abortion opponent and supporter of Trump’s proposed changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, has made enemies while working on health policy from the White House and could face some tough questioning from senators. (Rovner, 8/20)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: New DOJ Guidance Could Give States Cover To Cut Disability Services

People with disabilities have long fought for the right to live at home rather than in institutions. Now, the Department of Justice says states don’t have to help make that happen. The decision by the Trump administration comes amid massive cuts in federal funding for Medicaid. Advocates worry this could be a one-two punch for disabled Americans who want to live independently. (8/21)

Minnesota health officials are warning consumers not to eat certain brands of alfalfa sprouts that have been tied to an unusual outbreak involving different disease-causing bacteria. Officials say 23 people in Minnesota have become ill with either E. coli or salmonella infections, with two of them hospitalized. Three had salmonella, and one of them also had a strain of E. coli bacteria called STEC O168:H8. Seven other people were sickened with a different version of E. coli, called STEC O103:H25. Thirteen more had yet another strain, STEC O26:H11. (Stobbe, 8/20)

The Food and Drug Administration has upgraded a recall of frozen blueberries and mixed berries to its highest-level risk warning. Last month, Publix grocery stores recalled all lots of GreenWise Organic Whole Blueberries and Whole Mixed Berries because of potential E. coli contamination, which can cause stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting, and in some cases more serious complications. This week, the FDA elevated the notice to a Class 1 recall because of a “reasonable probability” the product could cause serious health consequences or death. (Wang, 8/20)

The Food and Drug Administration previously confirmed distribution to 31 states. On Thursday, the FDA said recalled lettuce also may have been distributed to California, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Washington state, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. (Sun, 8/21)

An expert on migrant farmworker health describes how this population has been blamed and put at risk, but seldom understood. (Garza, 8/20)

After Taylor Farms de Mexico’s lettuce was identified as a potential source for a multi-state cyclospora outbreak, the company’s political dealings and contributions came under scrutiny. (Tuquero, 8/20)

Environmental health expert Bob Custard spent four decades working with local governments on things like clean water, rabies prevention and food safety. He also represents 160 others doing that kind of work as president of the West Virginia Association of Sanitarians. With the largest-ever cyclosporiasis outbreak concentrated in nearby states, Custard – now a public health consultant – said federal funding cuts have left local food safety programs across the state grossly understaffed. Health officials are unable to keep pace with the interviews and investigations needed to track and contain the diarrhea-causing bug. "It's like we have a house, and we decided to take smoke detectors out," Custard said of the current approach to foodborne illness. (Noguchi, 8/20)

Replacing today’s one-dimensional UPC labels with two-dimensional QR-code-like alternatives could unlock some serious advantages for stores, manufacturers and consumers. Among them: It could help prevent the kind of outbreaks of deadly foodborne illnesses we’ve seen in recent months. (Goldman, 8/18)

The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) yesterday confirmed Naegleria fowleri infection in a Louisiana resident. The resident most likely acquired the infection while swimming in Lake Claiborne, located in Claiborne Parish in the northern part of the state. (Soucheray, 8/20)

For weeks, dozens of men at Neuse Correctional Institution, a medium-custody prison in Goldsboro, have experienced intense itching and pimple-like bumps appearing all over their bodies. Many of the men believe they have scabies, a skin condition caused by microscopic mites that burrow into the skin and lay eggs. (Crumpler, 8/21)

If humans touch the bait they should immediately wash the contact area with warm soap and water. (Mehler, 8/19)

Africa’s worsening Ebola outbreak is displaying several of the characteristics that health authorities consider when assessing whether a disease should be escalated to a pandemic-emergency status, according to the continent’s top public-health authority. Yap Boum, head of emergency preparedness and response at Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, stopped short of saying the outbreak should formally be designated a pandemic emergency, a decision that rests with the World Health Organization. Still, he pointed to Ebola’s severity, complex transmission and impact on health systems as among the criteria raising concern. (Kew, 8/20)

Today the World Health Organization (WHO) announced it has allocated 70,000 Ervebo doses for use in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to help combat its fast-growing Ebola outbreak. (Soucheray, 8/20)

Are you coughing, hacking or feeling feverish? It may not be just a summer cold; you might want to consider taking a Covid test. Although the autumn respiratory illness season hasn’t kicked off, and flu and RSV activity remain low, there’s a growing summer wave of Covid-19. (Christensen, 8/20)

The team compared antibody patterns recorded before and after COVID-19 vaccination. They discovered that elevated levels of several preexisting antibodies were associated with stronger responses to the vaccine, including common microbes like Staphylococcus aureus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and human respirovirus 3. The scientists suggest these are “sentinel” antibodies because they are not necessarily helping the body attack the vaccine’s intended target. Instead, they may serve as signals of how prepared the antibody-producing portion of the immune system is to spring into action. (Edwards, 8/20)

Two Indigenous groups in Bolivian Amazon had the lowest COVID-19 death rates ever reported in the height of the pandemic—less than one-tenth of 1%—despite high rates of infection and severe disease—a finding that researchers say has implications for disease-mitigation efforts in future pandemics. For the study, published in Social Science & Medicine, a team led by researchers from the Universita di Corsica in France interviewed and took blood samples from members of the Tsimane and Moseten communities aged 17 years and older in July and December 2020 and March through May 2021. (Van Beusekom, 8/20)

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said it will stand its ground on childhood vaccines, leaving its recommendations unchanged despite the executive order President Donald Trump signed Aug. 10, declaring that the federal government now recognizes "gold-standard" guidelines that seek to trim the immunization schedule for kids by seven vaccines, from 18 to 11. (Shamus, 8/20)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: How Louisiana’s New Surgeon General Wants To Transform Public Health

Evelyn Griffin had led a life out of the spotlight until she testified at the Louisiana Statehouse five years ago and experienced what she called her “great awakening.” The state health department wanted to add covid vaccines to the school immunization schedule, a move no state has ever implemented. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then known as a leading vaccine skeptic, had already claimed the covid shot was “the deadliest vaccine ever made” during a poster board presentation at the legislative hearing. (Westwood, 8/21)

Each measles case in the 2025 US outbreak—the largest since the disease was eliminated from the country in 2000—cost $43,200, rising to $58,600 when including the public health response, Johns Hopkins researchers estimate in Vaccine. (Van Beusekom, 8/20)

The company’s fortunes cratered as demand for Covid-19 vaccines plummeted. But it was busy working on something else. (Robbins, 8/20)

Ob/gyns should routinely remove fallopian tubes during hysterectomy and recommend opportunistic bilateral salpingectomy (OBS) to patients undergoing other surgical procedures, according to a clinical practice update from the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG). Published in Obstetrics and Gynecology, this update strengthens ACOG's support for OBS, which has a strong evidence base. Data from multiple studies have shown that removing the fallopian tubes is safe and can reduce a patient's lifetime risk of ovarian cancer by as much as 78%. (Bankhead, 8/20)

A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a ruling that permanently bars the state of Indiana from penalizing Planned Parenthood for pointing pregnant minors to states in which abortion is legal. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Appeals Court for the Seventh District found that providing factual information on abortions, as well as referrals for the procedure, is speech protected by the First Amendment — and that the state’s arguments aren’t strong enough to overcome that. (Bonilla Muñiz, 8/19)

Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Thursday signed legislation strengthening protections for both patients and providers of reproductive and gender affirming healthcare during a press conference outside of Montclair’s Planned Parenthood facility. Sherrill, joined by a host state lawmakers and advocates, said the bill creates a “legal firewall” around patients and providers of reproductive and transgender healthcare in New Jersey by expanding existing shield law protections to include gender-affirming care. (McDonald, 8/20)

Two years after falsely linking reproductive rights to gender transition care for minors, GOP lawmakers have packaged the two issues into one amendment in an effort to strip away the right to abortion. (Kohler, 8/21)

Hundreds of Lindsay Clancy supporters, many wearing pink clothing emblazoned with phrases such as “Believe,” “She Needed Help” and “Peace For Lindsay,” gathered Thursday outside the courthouse where she is on trial in the killings of her three children. Several of the 300 women, and a few men, said Clancy’s story resonated with them and that they wanted to raise awareness about how the mental health system treats women. Clancy’s lawyer does not dispute that she killed the children, but says she should not be held criminally responsible because she was mentally ill. (Casey, 8/20)

The rising popularity of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic have become such a hazard for New York City’s strongest that officials are cracking down on people who throw loose injector pens in the trash. The sanitation department on Wednesday announced plans to raise the fine for throwing uncovered syringes or medical needles out with household trash from $100 to $250. At least 49 sanitation workers have been stuck by needles so far this year — up from 25 who got pricked on the job in all of 2019, according to the agency. Over the last three years, 140 workers have suffered on-the-job needle injuries, data shows. (Quigley, 8/19)

Just eight months after it introduced its oral version of semaglutide for obesity, also known as the Wegovy pill, Novo Nordisk is testing the GLP-1 in smaller doses in the late-stage OASIS 5 study. The company has not made public the strength of the doses being tested in the placebo-controlled trial, which is underway in the United States and Europe. A starter dose of the Wegovy pill comes in at 1.5 mg, with the titration schedule ramping up in increments of 4 mg, 9 mg and then a maximum dose of 25 mg. (Dunleavy, 8/20)

Researchers surveyed 114 sports medicine physicians from 38 countries, covering 93 different sports, to explore their views on athletes' use of GLP-1 drugs. Twelve percent said they were aware of athletes using the medications despite having no medical need for them. (Clark, 8/20)

The blockbuster success of GLP-1 weight loss drugs has caused major ripple effects across healthcare and pharma, representing a significant growth engine for drugmakers but a cost challenge for payers. GLP-1s are also potentially disrupting a healthcare system built around treating obesity-related complications, forcing providers, insurers and investors to rethink where future revenue and growth will come from, according to a new report from Wells Fargo. (Landi, 8/20)

Eight months after more than doubling down on its construction of a $2 billion drug manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, Roche is making a similar move on the other side of the United States. At the campus of its Genentech unit in Hillsboro, Oregon, Roche will invest $750 million to double the size of its existing production facility. The new outlay will support the construction of a fill-finish plant that will produce drug-delivery devices, such as prefilled syringes and auto-injectors, which largely allow patients to administer drugs by themselves at home. (Dunleavy, 8/20)

For four generations, Rome’s Angelini family has built a $2.5 billion operation with drugs for depression and epilepsy in Europe. Now it’s bought its way into the U.S. market. (Feldman, 8/20)

The FDA on Wednesday granted accelerated approval to pariglasgene brecaparvovec (Genglycos) as the first treatment for glycogen storage disease type Ia (GSDIa), an inherited metabolic disorder that requires frequent consumption of cornstarch to prevent severe or life-threatening hypoglycemia. (Ingram, 8/20)

When Juan Rivera was in college, he noticed that the activities he loved, such as going out with friends, had stopped making him happy. “I would be with my friends but not enjoying it fully and just sort of feeling flat,” he said. On bad days, he could barely get out of bed, much less summon the motivation to leave the house. Mr. Rivera, now 35, discussed his struggles with a psychiatrist. She evaluated him, diagnosed him with depression and prescribed an antidepressant. (Wenner Moyer, 8/20)

The birth of a baby boy with a life-threatening heart condition has sparked a complicated legal battle involving surrogacy, abortion and parental rights across three states. (Bonn, 8/18)

Perfect Pair matches student volunteers with older adults. The results have paid dividends on both sides. Plus, there’s music. (Simpson, 8/16)

Do you know the revolting things a tick actually does after scurrying up your body? Once the bug has nestled in a warm, damp, often hidden spot where skin is thin and blood vessels are plentiful, two of its mouthparts saw through your skin to obtain an initial grip. Next, a third mouthpart, a barbed straw called the hypostome, bores into you and begins oozing spit. (Wallace, 8/20)

Rats weren't to blame for bringing plague to a Spanish island in 1820, new research argues. Instead, the epidemic was likely fueled by pneumonic or septicemic plague. (Boden, 8/19)

The longevity guru intensely monitors his diet and health. At a dinner party, he was asked about his quest for immortality. There was silence. (Hortocollis, 8/21)

We need safeguards so long-term survivors don't lose benefits. (Ali Ahmed, Jeff Taylor, and Jeff Berry, 8/21)

Scientists are on the cusp of fulfilling a decades-long quest: to use vaccines to teach the immune system to spot and destroy cancer cells. (Lisa Jarvis, 8/21)

The Moderna-Merck breakthrough reflects advances in genomics and computing. (8/20)

Helping patients and making money are not mutually exclusive. (Tom Price, 8/21)

We continue to romanticize the symptoms of mental health problems, especially when we talk about achievement. (Rachel Docekal, 8/21)