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TheVoiceOfJoyce As long as RFK, Jr remains head of Health and human services, we must be our own health advocate. Both Trump and RFK, Jr propose anti scientific methodology to treat us. There are more stringent Medicaid regulations, if you’re an immigrant you could be denied healthcare, measles cases are climbing and people of dying of childhood diseases that were eradicated with vaccines. We can thank the tobacco co for our processed foods. They purchased the Companies and then marketed them , just like cigarettes?! The good news, follow reputable advice from KFF and get the new Sunscreen from Europe. The Europeans have been using it safely and effectively for 25 years. Just like the morning after pill!

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Wednesday, June 10, 2026
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In This Edition:

From KFF Health News:

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES1. Anguished Parents. Doctors in Tears. Utah’s Long Measles Outbreak Takes a Toll. Measles has been spreading in Utah for nearly a year, straining hospitals, schools, and parents. The state’s outbreak provides a glimpse into a new era in America’s health, in which vaccine-preventable diseases become common again. (Amy Maxmen, 6/10)

2. Looming Medicaid Cuts Supercharge California’s Latest Labor-Industry Fight One of California’s largest healthcare unions is sponsoring two initiatives that would regulate community clinics and cap executive and managerial pay at hospitals and physician groups. In the most recent eruption of a long-standing feud, the measures have drawn fierce opposition from a wide swath of the medical industry. (Bernard J. Wolfson, 6/10)

Summaries Of The News:

OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS3. As Measles Spiked In 2025, So Did Vitamin A Poisonings 

Internet searches for alternative measles treatments surged around the time Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely claimed that the MMR vaccine causes encephalitis, according to a study reported in People.com. America’s Poison Centers noted a 38.7% increase in pediatric vitamin A exposures compared to the same period in 2024.

People.com: Vitamin A Poisonings Increased Around Time RFK Jr. Promoted It As Measles Treatment, Study Shows A study published by the JAMA Network on June 1 suggests that internet searches for ‘vitamin A’ measles peaked in March 2025, around the same time RFK Jr. promoted the nutrient as a treatment. This correlates with America’s Poison Centers’ report of increased vitamin A poisonings issued shortly afterward. (Goldberg and Walcott, 6/9)

KFF Health News: Anguished Parents. Doctors In Tears. Utah’s Long Measles Outbreak Takes A Toll.  SALT LAKE CITY — Ben Dowse hadn’t expected to treat measles when he became a doctor, but there he was, examining a newborn exposed to the virus in the womb. The infected mother had given birth just hours earlier. The hospital had alerted Dowse to the case before delivery, and he’d braced himself for the worst. Dowse wore a full-body protective suit with a plastic face mask. As a pediatrician in southern Utah, he couldn’t risk getting even a mild infection, because many of his patients are babies too young for measles vaccines or children whose parents choose not to protect them with immunizations. “I went in looking like a scientist in E.T.,” he said. (Maxmen, 6/10)

The Sacramento Bee: Measles Found In Wastewater In This California County. Who Is Most At Risk?  The measles virus has been detected in the wastewater of a California county, adding a new warning sign as the state continues to see a rise in cases this year, according to public health officials. The Merced County Department of Public Health said Friday that measles virus material was found in routine wastewater surveillance samples collected in the county. (Rodriguez, 6/9)

More about vaccines —

CIDRAP: Poll Reveals Plunging Trust In CDC Guidance But Broad Backing For Childhood Vaccines  More than a year into President Donald Trump’s second term, poll findings released today show that trust in federal public health agencies has nosedived, with half of US adults skeptical of recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but most Americans are supportive of childhood vaccines. The poll also found that, while over half of respondents are in favor of recent changes to the US food pyramid and dietary guidelines, support for some of the alterations varies sharply by political bent. (Van Beusekom, 6/9)

The Conversation: World’s First AI-Designed Vaccine Explained Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed what they describe as a fundamentally new type of vaccine using artificial intelligence (AI). The vaccine’s key component was designed entirely by AI and has now been tested in people for the first time. The goal is ambitious: a single vaccine that works not just against all known human coronavirus variants, but against related bat viruses that could jump from animals to humans and cause future pandemics. (Mabbott, 6/9)

The latest on the Ebola outbreak —

CIDRAP: Police Shoot, Kill Third Protester At US-Backed Ebola Facility In Kenya  Police shot and killed a man protesting the building of a US-funded Ebola quarantine facility in Kenya on Tuesday. The legality of the Nanyuki facility, which if completed, will have 50 beds, is still up in the air, but locals have protested the construction, saying it’s an unnecessary burden for Kenya to take on for the United States. This is the third death among Kenyan protesters who are angry over the unit, which would be built near the Laikipia Air Base. Two protesters were also killed last week in skirmishes with local police. (Soucheray, 6/9)

Reuters: No Boots, Masks Running Out: Why Congo’s Ebola Medics Are Exposed  Nearly a month into one of the world’s largest ever ​Ebola outbreaks, medics in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are struggling to secure basic equipment to stay safe and prevent further spread of the disease, according to more than ‌a dozen doctors, humanitarian workers and public health officials. While major donors are surging funding, the size of the outbreak, reductions in pre-positioned stocks due to aid cuts, and logistical problems have caused shortages and driven up costs for personal protective equipment. (Farge, Rigby, Le Poidevin and Ross, 6/9)

Reuters: Congo Says Number Of Confirmed Ebola Cases Rises To Nearly 600  The Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday said confirmed Ebola cases ​had climbed to nearly 600, raising awareness within the local ‌population about the importance of safety measures. (6/9)

ADMINISTRATION NEWS4. Feds Are Denied Access To California Hospital Records For Transgender Minors 

A federal judge blocked the Department of Justice’s demand for access to California hospital records for transgender minor patients who have received treatment. The Trump administration had threatened to prosecute facilities that did not comply with its order.

San Francisco Chronicle: Trump Administration Blocked From Transgender Minors’ Records A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from obtaining the California hospital records of transgender minors who have undergone treatment. U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts of San Jose did not state his reasoning or the scope of his decision in the brief order he issued Monday night. But attorney Shannon Minter of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights said Tuesday the order applies to all hospitals in the state that have provided transgender care. (Egelko, 6/9)

On the immigration crisis —

NBC News: Problems At ICE Facility Include Guard Who Lost Loaded Weapon, Failure To Test For Tuberculosis, Report Says The largest ICE detention center in the country lost track of a loaded firearm, did not provide treatment to detainees with chronic health conditions and failed to test immigrants for tuberculosis, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office published Tuesday. (Silva, 6/9)

On Trump administration personnel —

Stat: NIAID Appoints New Acting Director After Weeks-Long Questions Over Leadership  The National Institutes of Health has appointed researcher John Powers III to lead its infectious disease institute on an acting basis, after weeks of being in leadership limbo following reports that the previous director, Jeffery Taubenberger, had stepped down. (Oza and Branswell, 6/9)

NBC News: High-Profile Exits, Curious Absences: The Leadership Vacuum Plaguing U.S. Health Agencies There’s a glaring lack of permanent leadership at the country’s major health agencies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has gone from one acting director to another. The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration was ousted last month. The FDA’s second-in-command seat remains empty. And there has been no surgeon general for President Donald Trump’s entire second term. (Bendix, 6/10)

Stat: NIH Bethesda Declaration: Dissenters See Little Progress On Big Issues  Last June, hundreds of staffers at the National Institutes of Health broke rank in an unprecedented move and published an open letter of dissent to agency Director Jay Bhattacharya. Bhattacharya eventually met with many of the signers of the so-called Bethesda Declaration, who hoped it would spur a course correction at an agency they saw as going down a problematic path. But in a report published Tuesday, on the one-year anniversary of the letter, 71 staffers write that they feel NIH leadership “largely ignored the concerns raised in our declaration.” (Oza, 6/9)

PUBLIC HEALTH5. FDA Green-Lights First New Sunscreen Ingredient In 20 Years 

Bemotrizinol is an over-the-counter sunscreen ingredient that’s long been used in Europe and Asia, The New York Times reports. Experts say it offers advantages over others for sale in the U.S. Other public health news is on cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome, ultraprocessed foods, dementia, and more.

The New York Times: F.D.A. Clears Sunscreen Ingredient Long Used In Europe And Asia The Food and Drug Administration cleared a new ingredient for sunscreens on Tuesday, paving the way for American companies to begin using a compound that has long been a part of popular sunscreens in Europe and Asia. The ingredient, bemotrizinol, works by blocking ultraviolet radiation. It filters out two kinds of ultraviolet rays: ultraviolet A, which contributes to wrinkles and skin aging, and ultraviolet B, which causes sunburns. (Blum, 6/9)

In other health and wellness news —

The Wall Street Journal: Doctors Should Do More Screening For Excess Body Fat And Its Health Risks Mitzi Franklin was diagnosed with high blood pressure at the age of 16. She didn’t take it all that seriously, often skipping her medicine. “I was your typical teenager thinking I was invincible,” she said. A decade or so later, Franklin learned she had chronic kidney disease. At 42, she had a heart attack and a stroke, then four open heart surgeries. Then diabetes and congestive heart failure. (McKay, 6/9)

NPR: Big Tobacco Helped Shape Ultra-Processed Foods Tobacco companies spent decades honing marketing strategies, flavor engineering and processing technologies that helped addict consumers to cigarettes. Then, in the 1980s, they started buying up large food firms and deployed these same strategies to sell more ultra-processed foods. So says Laura Schmidt, a professor and researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who has been studying old tobacco company archives. (Godoy, 6/9)

MedPage Today: Dementia May Be Worse For People Taking Popular Supplement  Glucosamine — a popular supplement used for joint pain — was associated with faster progression to Alzheimer’s disease and worse survival among Alzheimer’s patients, a retrospective study of electronic health records suggested. Glucosamine use was linked with a 25% higher likelihood of progression from mild cognitive impairment to dementia (P<0.001) over 5 years, reported Ramon Sun, PhD, of the University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute in Gainesville, and co-authors. (George, 6/9)

Military.com: VA Doctor Warns Of Serious, Quiet Threat Plaguing Aging Veterans Dr. Shannon Carpenter is a rare breed among doctors. She wants to see fewer patients. The shoulder and elbow surgeon at the Kansas City VA Medical Center is finding ways to prevent bone fractures before they happen. She told Military.com that fragility fractures pose a serious, under-discussed threat to aging veterans, especially women, saying that prevention starts with the patient. (Damask, 6/10)

HEALTHCARE COSTS6. House Panel Targets Funds From Medicare’s Controversial Prior Authorization Pilot 

The House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved an amendment that could bar the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from using funds on WISeR, a pilot program that uses AI to create a “streamlined” prior authorization process for Medicare, Fierce Healthcare reported.

Fierce Healthcare: House Appropriations Committee Takes Aim At CMS’ WISeR Pilot A key legislative panel voted Tuesday to bar the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from spending funds on a controversial prior authorization pilot. In an amendment added to the broader appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services after a unanimous vote, the House Appropriations Committee determined that “none of the funds made available in this Act or any other Act” should be used to implement the Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction (WISeR) model, or another model that would add prior auth to traditional Medicare. (Minemyer, 6/9)

More about healthcare costs and coverage —

AP: Trump Administration Warns Over 500 Hospitals To Provide More Price Information Or Face Fines The Trump administration has warned more than 500 hospitals that they are failing to provide the public with basic pricing information — arguing that the lack of disclosure is keeping healthcare costs higher than they should be. The Associated Press obtained exclusively the list of hospitals that since April have either received letters of warning or, in more severe cases, requests to submit plans to provide transparent pricing. Failing to comply with the warnings comes with penalties as high as $2 million annually for each recipient that doesn’t create a plan to post clear pricing data. (Boak, 6/9)

Roll Call: Trustees: Social Security, Medicare Outlook Slightly Worse  The financial health of Social Security and Medicare has worsened over the past year, with the programs’ trust funds expected to run dry three months sooner than anticipated, according to reports issued Tuesday by the programs’ trustees. (Krawzak, 6/9)

Chicago Tribune: 92,000 Illinois Consumers Lost Or Dropped Obamacare Insurance More than 92,000 Illinois consumers lost or dropped their Affordable Care Act health insurance in recent months — an unusually large number — following the expiration of generous tax credits that had helped to curb the plans’ costs. (Schencker, 6/9)

KFF Health News: Looming Medicaid Cuts Supercharge California’s Latest Labor-Industry Fight The looming impact of federal Medicaid cuts has reignited a long-simmering, costly battle between California’s medical industry and one of its largest health worker unions. SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, with approximately 120,000 members, has put forward two ballot initiatives to cap the pay of medical executives and require community clinics to spend the vast bulk of their revenues on patient care. (Wolfson, 6/10)

NBC News: After Years Of Failed Treatments, This Psych Program Finally Worked. Now Her Family Owes $1 Million. A specialized psychiatric treatment program helped this 24-year-old with her complex OCD. Now, her family owes the facility more than $1 million. (Bendix, Kane and Snow, 6/9)

On the high cost of prescriptions —

POLITICO: Trump’s Drug Pricing War Comes For Germany The Trump administration is launching a full-scale charm offensive across Europe to persuade governments to follow Britain’s lead to pay more for medicines. U.S. embassies across the continent are being mobilized to deliver a message to European capitals: American patients are paying too much for medicines — around three times more than Germany for new drugs — and Europe better chip in.  If not, the bloc risks losing out on pharmaceutical investment and access to new drugs, two industry figures with knowledge of negotiations told POLITICO.  (Hug and Von Der Burchard, 6/9)

Stat: As The U.S. Looks On, European Countries Feel Growing Pressure On Drug Prices In Europe, two divergent paths are emerging as countries grapple with what to do about drug prices, affecting pharma companies and patients across the continent — and testing the influence of the U.S. (Joseph, 6/10)

HEALTH INDUSTRY7. Frustrated By Out-Of-Stock Prescription Drugs? The Problem Is ‘Not Going Away,’ Expert Says 

U.S. Pharmacopeia examined why some U.S. drugs are in short supply for a longer duration, a shortage that has sometimes hobbled the U.S. healthcare system. “The problems we have are systemic. They are not resolved and they are not new. They’re old and not going away,” said Matthew Christian of U.S. Pharmacopeia.

Stat: Analysis: Shortage Of Many Medicines In The U.S. Remains A ‘Systemic’ Problem The number of prescription drug shortages in the U.S. fell by 23% last year, marking the second consecutive year of declines and the lowest level since 2017, according to a new analysis that otherwise found troubling signs about medicines that are in short supply. (Silverman, 6/9)

More health industry developments —

Stat: Diabetes Group’s Expulsion Of Protesting Doctors Sparks Uproar  It didn’t have to be this way. The condemnations keep coming four days after security officers escorted five diabetes experts out of the American Diabetes Association meeting in New Orleans for handing out copies of an editorial criticizing federal cuts to biomedical research. Expelling the doctors and scientists has shocked people in the field, and the ADA’s communications explaining it have only made matters worse, leaders in diabetes research and practice told STAT. (Cooney, 6/9)

Healthcare Dive: VA Deploys Oracle EHR To 4 Medical Centers In Ohio, Kentucky  The rollout marks the second wave of deployments in 2026 after the VA largely paused the project for years to fix technical issues and errors. (Olsen, 6/9)

Wyoming Public Radio: Campbell County Health Evaluates How To Fill Gaps After Announcement Of Closure Of A Major Gillette Clinic  Hoskinson Health and Wellness Clinic announced it will close on July 31. Starting in August, Campbell County Health (CCH) will be the only large healthcare provider in the area. CCH CEO Matt Shahan said they are evaluating whether and how the provider can absorb the primary and specialty care needs of Hoskinson patients. (Kudelska, 6/9)

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