Tuesday, June 09, 2026
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Morning Briefing
In This Edition:
- KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES
- 1. Trivia Nights, Valentine’s Cards: Overlooked Social Connections Can Prevent Suicide
- 2. Could Your Kid Benefit From Counseling? Experts Offer 3 Questions To Help You Decide
- PHARMACEUTICALS
- 8. South Africa Begins Giving Out Twice-Yearly Shot That’s 100% Effective At Preventing HIV
- EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS
- 9. Viewpoints: Former HHS Chief Becerra Has Been On A Lucky Streak; Banning Federal Funding Of Animal Testing Would Stifle Organ Transplant Research
From KFF Health News:
KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES1. Trivia Nights, Valentine’s Cards: Overlooked Social Connections Can Prevent Suicide The research is clear: Among the various complex issues that contribute to suicide, loneliness is a big one. Now, there’s a growing push to address loneliness not just through personal choices but also through public policy. (Aneri Pattani, 6/9)
2. Could Your Kid Benefit From Counseling? Experts Offer 3 Questions To Help You Decide Anxious kids can benefit from counseling, but therapy demands a commitment of money and time. Therapists recommend using three criteria to help determine when challenging behavior rises to the level of needing professional help. (Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio and Cara Anthony, 6/9)
Here’s today’s health policy haiku:
SELF-INFLICTED SCARS
ICE detention is
a festering infection
wounding our country.
– Philippa Barron
If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Usand let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to an original story.
Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions of KFF Health News or KFF.
Summaries Of The News:
ADMINISTRATION NEWS3. Judge Tosses $100K H-1B Visa Fee That Wreaked Havoc On Healthcare Industry
Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts ordered the fee to be voided “in its entirety.” In March, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation that would waive the fee for foreign health care professionals, The New York Times reported, but the measure has not been adopted by either chamber.
The New York Times: Judge Throws Out Trump Administration’s Policy Imposing $100,000 Fees For H-1B Visas A Trump administration initiative to impose $100,000 fees on employers seeking visas for skilled foreign workers amounts to an unlawful tax on those companies and must be voided “in its entirety,” a federal judge ruled on Monday. The decision by Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts nullified one of a series of tactics the Trump administration has used to restrict legal immigration, even in fields in which foreign skilled labor helped address severe shortages. … About 85,000 new visas have been provided annually to hire so-called high-skilled foreign workers at companies through the program’s lottery process. Technology, finance, hospitals and universities have all made ample use of those visas. (Montague, 6/8)
In other news about the immigration crisis and U.S. sanctions —
AP: ICE Facility In Louisiana Reports Its Second Death In 2 Months A second detainee has died in less than two months at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana where a recent inspection report found insanitary conditions, problems with medical care and the use of excessive force. Mamuka Artmeladze, a 43-year-old from the country of Georgia, was found unresponsive June 4 at Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, ICE announced in a press release Sunday. ICE said staff began lifesaving measures before he was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where a doctor pronounced him dead less than an hour later. (Foley, 6/8)
AP: Attorneys: Wisconsin Mosque Leader Denied Diabetes Care In ICE Detention, Down 30 Pounds Attorneys for the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque say he is being denied basic medical care for diabetes and has lost 30 pounds in the two months since he was detained by immigration officers. Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in April. His attorneys say he is being detained on baseless claims that he is a foreign policy threat, but they believe he was actually targeted for speaking out against Israel and for a conviction as a minor by Israeli military courts. (Boone, 6/9)
Bloomberg: UN Says Children Are Dying In Cuba Because Of Strict US Sanctions Tighter US sanctions on Cuba have led to a spike in infant mortality and plummeting survival rates for child cancer patients, the United Nations warned in one of its strongest rebukes of Washington’s pressure campaign against the island. US President Donald Trump’s push to force change in Cuba by cutting off almost all fuel shipments to the government is depriving the nation of 10 million people of access to water, food and healthcare, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Monday in a statement. (Wyss, 6/8)
On Medicaid changes —
Stat: Affordability Czar Targets Medicaid ‘Gimmicks’ At Hospital Conference Hospital finance leaders rolled out the red carpet for the Trump administration’s new health care affordability czar at an industry conference on Monday. He promptly took the main stage to champion Medicaid cuts that threaten their bottom lines. (Bannow, 6/9)
Healthcare Dive: Over Half Of Medicaid Enrollees Say They’re Unaware Of Upcoming Work Requirements Many enrollees don’t know they’ll need to report work, education or volunteer hours starting in less than six months in order to stay covered, according to a recent survey from the Health Management Academy. (Olsen, 6/8)
More news about the Trump administration —
The Hill: Medical School Organizations Sign On To RFK Jr.’s Nutrition Requirements The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Monday that numerous medical school accrediting organizations and assessors have agreed to increase nutrition requirements for U.S. medical education. HHS said in a release that eight medical school organizations had agreed to “increase nutrition requirements at every level of U.S. medical education, competency-evaluation, training, and residency.” (Choi, 6/8)
The New York Times: RFK Jr. Appears Disengaged On Many Health Department Matters Beyond Vaccines Shortly after the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in Africa a public health emergency, a reporter asked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if he was worried about the virus. Six Americans had already been exposed. His response was brief: “Yeah, we’re working on it.” In the nearly three weeks since, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention imposed travel restrictions to keep the virus from coming to the United States, Mr. Kennedy has made no public comments about the spreading outbreak. (Gay Stolberg, 6/7)
ProPublica: Trump DOJ Killed Criminal Probe Of Sen. Jim Justice’s Southern Coal Trump administration officials earlier this year killed a federal criminal investigation into the coal empire owned by Sen. Jim Justice, a Republican from West Virginia and a close ally of the president’s. The investigation examined potential criminal violations of the Clean Water Act by the multistate mining operations largely run by Justice’s son, Jay, according to current and former officials familiar with the matter. (Redden and Asher-Schapiro, 6/8)
Military.com: How VA’s Telehealth Kidney Program Saves The Lives Of Rural Veterans Kidney disease is a leading cause of death in the United States, and it is getting worse. For veterans living in rural areas, a national shortage of nephrologists — along with the reality that the nearest kidney specialist may be hours away — compound the problem. Rural veterans with chronic kidney disease and refractory hypertension are hospitalized more frequently and die at higher rates than veterans in urban or suburban areas. Many go years with their kidney care managed exclusively by a primary care provider who may not have the training or time to adjust the specialized medications these patients need. (Wile, 6/8)
OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS4. New World Screwworm Cases Rise And Expand Into New Mexico
A dog in New Mexico is confirmed to be infected with the flesh-eating fly larva. There are also four cases in animals in Texas. Plus: Ebola cases climb in Africa, but the World Health Organization says contact tracing is improving.
AP: A Flesh-Eating Cattle Parasite Spreads Beyond Texas As New Screwworm Cases Are Found Two more cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed, including one outside the main cluster in Texas, demonstrating the difficulty of stopping a pest that could potentially devastate the nation’s cattle industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Monday. So far, there are four confirmed cases: three calves in Texas and a dog from neighboring Lea County, New Mexico. The dog, which the USDA initially reported as a Texas case, lives in New Mexico and was reclassified as the first in that state. The animal’s travel history is being investigated. (Collins, 6/8)
On the Ebola outbreak —
Axios: White House Pre-Blames Europe For Any World Cup Ebola The Trump administration, fearing that international travel could accelerate the spread of Ebola as the World Cup hits America, is pressuring Europe to dramatically shift its strategy for preventing infections, sources tell Axios. (Isenstadt, 6/9)
BBC: Kenya Police Fire Tear Gas At Protest Against US Ebola Quarantine Centre Plan In Nanyuki Police in Kenya have fired tear gas to break up a protest in the central town of Nanyuki against the construction of an Ebola quarantine centre for US citizens. Small groups of demonstrators, who were waving Kenyan flags, carrying placards and holding a coffin with the word “Ebola” written on the side, were demanding the plan be reversed. (Rukanga, 6/9)
Reuters: Congo Ebola Contact Tracing Is Below Target But Has Improved, WHO Says Efforts to trace contacts in the Democratic Republic of Congo to try to contain the country’s Ebola outbreak have improved but are below target, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. There have been 550 confirmed cases of Ebola, including 101 deaths, according to the WHO’s latest figures, as well as 94 suspected cases. (Le Poidevin, 6/9)
NPR: USAID ‘Whistleblower’ Assesses U.S. Response To Ebola In March 2025, Nicholas Enrich was the top U.S. official for global health when two major events were happening at the same time: The Trump administration was dismantling USAID, and an Ebola outbreak was spreading in Uganda. It was Enrich’s job to manage the U.S. response. He says he was stymied at every turn. (Tanis, 6/8)
On mpox and covid —
The New York Times: Dutch Scientist Charged With Conspiring to Smuggle Mpox Virus Into U.S. A Dutch virologist who has been honored for helping to advance the development of the Covid vaccine now finds himself under the microscope of U.S. federal investigators. The virologist, Dr. Vincent Munster, has been charged with conspiring to smuggle vials full of deactivated mpox and other biological materials into the United States in January, according to a criminal complaint unsealed last week. Dr. Munster, 53, leads the virus ecology section at Rocky Mountain Laboratories, a National Institutes of Health center in Montana. (Livni, 6/8)
CIDRAP: Survey Highlights Greater Burden Of Long COVID In Native Americans From 2021 to 2023, American Indian and Alaska Natives (AIANs) reported higher rates of COVID-19 and long COVID than their non-AIAN counterparts, according to a non–peer-reviewed study published on the Research Square preprint platform. Led by a researcher from the US National Bureau of Economic Research, the study team surveyed more than 20,000 adult respondents, including public-use files (datasets stripped of identifying information) and an oversample of AIANs, to the California Health Interview Survey from 2021 to 2023. (Van Beusekom, 6/8)
CIDRAP: Another Pandemic Repercussion: Remote Work Tied To Isolation, Mental Distress For many people, the ability to work from home is one of the COVID-19 pandemic’s most enduring changes. Remote work has increased significantly since the start of the pandemic, rising from roughly 7% of US workers in 2019 to 28% in 2023. But a new study suggests that the shift away from the office may have come with a cost: more time spent alone and poorer mental health. (Bergeson, 6/8)
PUBLIC HEALTH5. Experts Say Smartphone Use In Kids Younger Than 13 Linked To Depression, Obesity
In a new study published yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics, scientists say that the earliest a child should receive a smartphone is age 13. They found that use from that age, while still linked to poor sleep, is not associated with an increased risk of depression or obesity. Plus: Apple expands tools to protect kids online; the U.K. will announce a social media ban for kids; and more.
Bloomberg: Scientists Say Age 13 Is Safest For Kids To Get A Smartphone, Study Finds Thirteen. At the earliest. That’s when parents should consider getting their child a smartphone, according to a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics. Parents are often told to wait until their children hit the teen years to give them their first phone, as research continues to roll in showing health worries tied to young people’s social media habits. The new findings back up conventional wisdom, showing a delay of even one year can lead to measurably better mental and physical health. (Inampudi, 6/8)
Bloomberg: Apple Expands Child Safety Tools As Social Media Bans Grow Apple Inc. is expanding tools for parents to protect children online, a move that comes as governments around the world increasingly ban social media for young people. The iPhone and iPad maker at its Worldwide Developers Conference Monday previewed new features that will let parents better control on devices when kids can use apps, what content they can access and with whom they can communicate. (Purnell, 6/9)
Bloomberg: Starmer To Unveil UK Ban On Social Media Use For Under-16s Within Days UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is preparing to announce a ban on under-16s using social media within days after his position hardened following parents’ response to a government consultation. Nine in ten parents who responded to the consultation said they wanted to see such a ban, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall told Sky News on Tuesday morning. She said she’s considering two broad options: a “blanket” ban on under-16s using social media, or age restrictions on key features of social networks and apps. “A ban is on the table,” she said. (Wickham, 6/9)
AP: Sweden Plans To Ban Mobile Phones In Schools Long championed as a leader in adopting digital technology, Sweden is set to ban mobile phones in schools beginning in the fall for the next academic year as part of a broad, international reversal on the use of screens in classrooms. (Brooks, 6/9)
More public health news —
Stat: Suppressed Federal Report Found No Net Health Benefit From Alcohol A report on alcohol’s health effects, commissioned by the federal government but unreleased under President Trump, came out Tuesday — in a scientific journal. The study finds even low levels of drinking may increase the risk of various diseases or even death. (Cueto, 6/9)
CNN: Childhood Egg Allergies Fall As Early Introduction Becomes More Common, New Study Finds Parents used to be advised to keep allergenic foods like eggs away from babies, especially if allergies ran in the family. But based on recent and evolving evidence, the advice is now almost the opposite – and new research suggests the shift in guidance is paying off. (Howard and Anos, 6/8)
San Francisco Chronicle: UCSF Study: 1 In 3 Adults Living Alone With Dementia Is Undiagnosed On Memorial Day, D. locked himself out of his East Bay apartment. It was the fourth or fifth time he’d done this recently. When a neighbor saw him sitting in front of his locked door sometime later, on a chair he’d dragged over from the communal patio, she invited him inside her unit, where he spent the night until he found someone who could let him back into his own home. (Allday, 6/8)
KFF Health News: Trivia Nights, Valentine’s Cards: Overlooked Social Connections Can Prevent Suicide Nearly every Tuesday for a decade, Steve Siple attended a bar trivia night with friends in Birmingham, Alabama. After moving to North Carolina, he developed a new ritual — joining other Charlotte locals on Saturdays to pick up trash along the city’s light rail. These are more than fun outings to Siple. They help keep him alive. Siple has battled suicidal thoughts in the past. He lost his father to suicide, and one of his sons has struggled with thoughts of hurting himself. That’s made Siple vigilant about protecting himself and his family. (Pattani, 6/9)
KFF Health News: Could Your Kid Benefit From Counseling? Experts Offer 3 Questions To Help You Decide HealthQ’s Cara Anthony and Blake Farmer share know-how for parents navigating the decision to seek out mental healthcare for a child. Divorce rocked the lives of Marcela Cabay and her daughter, who was a preschooler at the time. But counseling didn’t come until years later, when Cabay noticed her daughter was tensing up every time a storm rolled through or whenever they were preparing to be apart. “She was experiencing just a lot of anxiety, really starting to think worst-case scenarios all the time, just really struggling in her daily life,” said Cabay, who is a life insurance broker outside Austin, Texas. (Farmer and Anthony, 6/9)
If you need help —
Dial 988 for 24/7 support from the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It’s free and confidential.
HEALTH INDUSTRY6. 2 Leaders Resign From ADA In Wake Of Scuffle At Louisiana Conference
President-elect Jennifer Green and Scientific Sessions Planning Committee Chair Mark Atkinson have left their positions with the American Diabetes Association, sources told MedPage Today. In other news: Health insurance exchange and Medicare brokerage GoHealth has filed for Chapter 11.
MedPage Today: Leaders Resign From ADA After Experts Booted From Meeting In the wake of clinicians and researchers being kicked out of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) meeting here, at least two of the organization’s leaders have resigned. President-Elect Jennifer Green, MD, and Scientific Sessions Planning Committee Chair Mark Atkinson, PhD, have both left their positions with ADA, several sources confirmed to MedPage Today. Reports of at least two additional experts abdicating their positions with ADA could not be confirmed as of press time. (Fiore and Monaco, 6/8)
More health industry developments —
Modern Healthcare: GoHealth Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Reorganization GoHealth has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the health insurance exchange and Medicare brokerage announced Sunday. A voluntary and prepackaged plan filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has the support of all lenders and more than 60% of common stockholders, GoHealth said in a news release. Operations will continue as the company carries out its reorganization, which it aims to complete in time for the Medicare annual enrollment period, which begins Oct. 15, GoHealth said in a court filing. (Tong, 6/8)
Iowa Public Radio: UnityPoint Nurses Say Hospital Objections Are Delaying Union Vote Results UnityPoint nurses marched across downtown Des Moines Monday to call attention to the months-long delay in getting the results on their vote to unionize. Nurses voted in early December, but they’re still waiting on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to review the validity of ballots that were challenged by Teamsters Local 90. The initial vote was 871 to 666 in favor of forming the union, but it doesn’t include the 251 ballots that are under review. (Krebs, 6/8)
Cardinal News: State To Reorganize Nursing Scholarship Programs After More Than $10 Million In Funding Was Left Unused The administration of Virginia’s nursing scholarship programs will be moved to a new agency after a state study found that money for those programs has not been fully used each year because the state Health Department doesn’t have the capacity to effectively manage them. (Beyer and Schabacker, 6/9)