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Morning Briefing 

NOTE TO READERS

A year-long investigation by The Trace and KFF Health News found that insurance status can shape the care that gunshot survivors receive, how long they remain in the hospital, and what support is available after discharge. Join Fred Clasen-Kelly and Daniel Chang of KFF Health News and Olga Pierce of The Trace today, July 29, at 1 p.m. for a conversation about what hospital data reveals about gun violence, healthcare, and inequality. Register here for the webinar. 

In This Edition:

From KFF Health News:

KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES1. Uninsured but Undaunted, a Surgical Patient Searched the Globe for a Deal When surgery became unavoidable, a man with no insurance shopped around for the best price for a hernia repair — and saved thousands by traveling out of state. (Paula Andalo, 7/29) 2. Trump Has Quietly Throttled an Agency Devoted to the Safety of American Healthcare Congress appropriated $345 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for the 2026 fiscal year, but the agency has spent less than $15 million on grants. AHRQ hasn’t issued a new one in over a year. (Arthur Allen, 7/29) 3. Hospice’s Bad Reputation Amid Fraud Crisis Will Hurt Patients, Industry Experts Warn While acknowledging that changes must be made to the hospice industry, health policy researchers and providers worry that negative attention and the potential for overly punitive regulations could put patients at risk. (Laurie Udesky, 7/29)

Here’s today’s health policy haiku:

ACA ILLS

Increasing their rates
for double-digit profits —
corporate healthcare.

– Angela Gyurko

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:

HEALTHCARE COSTS4. Millions On Medicare May Soon See Higher Drug Costs As Trump Ends Subsidy Program 

CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said Tuesday in a post on social media that the subsidies had been ended because the insurers no longer needed them, The New York Times reported.

The New York Times: Trump Will End Subsidies For Medicare Drug Premiums The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it intended to end a Biden-era program that for the past two years has helped tamp down the cost of monthly premiums for drug coverage for people on Medicare. The decision means that millions of Americans 65 and older could face higher Medicare drug premiums next year, when the cost of living is already a major concern. That could be politically damaging for Republicans in the midterm elections. (Robbins and Abelson, 7/28)

MedPage Today: Trump Administration Weighs Overhaul Of Doctor Payments In Medicare The Trump administration is looking into alternatives to the current fee-for-service-based payment system for physicians who treat Medicare patients. The request for information issued on July 14 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) noted that the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) coding system, on which the Medicare reimbursement program is based, is owned by the American Medical Association (AMA). (Frieden, 7/28)

Politico: A Cancer Diagnosis May Not Be Enough: Trump And Democratic States Clash In Court Over Who’s Too Sick To Work Democratic attorneys general and the Justice Department are facing off for the first time in court Tuesday over the fine line between being sick and being “medically frail,” a distinction that could cost Medicaid recipients their health benefits. At stake is a key part of a new Trump administration rule imposing work requirements on Medicaid, the state-federal health insurer for low-income people, starting in January. (Ollstein and King, 7/28)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Cuts, ACA Subsidies Loss Worry Iowa Doctors Doctors in Iowa, like in most in the country, don’t spend their days thinking about politics. But politics in Washington lately has focused on healthcare, and a lot of physicians have become acutely aware that policy flowing from the capital will make their lives and the lives of many patients worse. “Are those of us who are working clinically at the bedside mindful of the potential changes?” said Dr. Nick Kluesner, an emergency physician in Des Moines. “The answer is yes.” (McAuliff, 7/28)

KFF Health News: Uninsured But Undaunted, A Surgical Patient Searched The Globe For A Deal Around the end of last year, Ronmel Rangel, 63, began to feel a familiar discomfort in his lower abdomen. Twenty-five years earlier, while living in his native Venezuela, he had undergone surgery to repair a hernia on the right side of his groin. Now, the same pain had returned — on the left. This time, Rangel was in the U.S. and lacked health insurance. In 2019, he moved to Portland, Maine, where one of his daughters lives. (Andalo, 7/29)

OUTBREAKS AND HEALTH THREATS5. Cyclosporiasis Cases Reach 11,000, But FDA Declares Food Supply Is Safe 

News outlets cover various aspects of the outbreaks, including the difficulty of tracing the parasite, public health missteps, and signs of improvement in Michigan. Also: RSV, Ebola, babesiosis, and more.

The New York Times: As Cyclospora Cases Climb, FDA Official Says Food Supply Is Safe Even as the number of cyclospora cases in the United States hit record levels, top health regulators insisted that consumers could still trust what they were eating. “The U.S. food supply is safe,” Donald Prater, the acting deputy commissioner for food at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, told attendees Monday at the annual meeting of the International Association for Food Protection. (Creswell, 7/28)

CIDRAP: A Difficult-To-Trace Parasite, Messaging Missteps Contribute To Summer Of Overwhelming Cyclospora Outbreaks Ten days ago, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that a sample of iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico tested positive for Cyclospora, the microscopic parasite responsible for a nine-state outbreak of foodborne illness. The next day, the agency noted it was a false-positive test result. (Holohan, 7/28)

NBC News: Michigan Cyclospora Outbreak Shows Signs Of Improvement As New Cases Slow There are promising signs that illnesses linked to contaminated lettuce may be slowing in Michigan, the hot spot of the multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis in the U.S. That doesn’t mean all the affected produce is gone from stores or restaurants, or that more people aren’t still getting sick, experts say. (Alvino and Lovelace Jr., 7/29)

New Hampshire Public Radio: 33 Confirmed Cases Of Cyclosporiasis In NH, 2 Hospitalizations  There are now 33 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis in New Hampshire, according to the latest data from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. Seventeen of those cases are people who reported eating lettuce from locations that served recalled Taylor Farms products. All of those cases are linked to exposure to recalled lettuce at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, according to Jake Leon, spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Human Services. (7/28)

Regarding RSV —

CIDRAP: Study Details Full Range Of What Respiratory Virus Infections Look Like In Young Kids Infants are far more vulnerable than older children to severe illness from viruses like influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a study yesterday in Pediatrics. The findings also highlight significant differences in how respiratory infections affect infants, ranging from asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic infections managed at home to severe illness requiring hospital or emergency department (ED) care. (Bergeson, 7/28)

CIDRAP: RSV Options: Most Pregnant Women, Parents Prefer The Maternal RSV Vaccine Over The Infant Antibody Shot Pregnant women and parents of young kids said they’d prefer getting the maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination during pregnancy as the primary way to protect their child against the virus, according to the results of a national survey published late last week in JAMA Network Open. (Boden, 7/28)

In global health news —

AP: Ebola Cases In Congo Top 3,200, Nearing Record Of The Country’s Worst Outbreak Confirmed cases in Congo’s ongoing Ebola outbreak have reached 3,262, its Ministry of Health said in an overnight update, nearly the same as the 2018-2020 outbreak that is the largest ever recorded in the country. Data from the Congolese health ministry showed that 1,437 patients have died out of the 3,262 cases, in what officials have said is the fastest Ebola outbreak on record, concentrated in the eastern Ituri province. (Bagalwa and McMakin, 7/28)

CIDRAP: Public Health Alerts: Emergence Of Babesiosis In Nova Scotia, Canada A Public Health Alerts report published today describes 11 cases of infection with Babesia, a genus of parasites transmitted by Ixodes ticks, in Nova Scotia since 2023, seven of which were confirmed last year. The paper also notes a potential detection—though not a confirmation—of Babesia among almost 11,000 blood samples from donors in the province. (Wappes, 7/28)

NPR: The 2026 International AIDS Conference Faces An Uncertain Future “Rethink. Rebuild. Rise.” That’s the theme of this year’s International AIDS conference, which began this week in Rio de Janeiro. “Rethink” is perhaps an understatement. This year, there are encouraging signs regarding the ongoing epidemic — even though 1.2 million people acquired the virus in 2025, the number of AIDS-related deaths was 547,000, the lowest number in 30 years. Yet the fate of the global campaign to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 is now in doubt, as the Trump administration’s aid cuts have taken a tremendous toll. (Bouscaren, 7/28)

Also —

Sentient: Roundup’s Surprising Connection To Industrial Meat For years, Bayer and the biotech giant it purchased, Monsanto, have faced allegations that glyphosate, the active ingredient in its popular herbicide Roundup, causes cancer. The saga has resulted in over 100,000 lawsuits, billions of dollars in settlement funds, a Supreme Court case and several actions by the Trump administration. But amidst the flurry of legal activity, few have stopped to ask a fundamental question: Why are we spraying so much glyphosate in the first place? The answer, in many cases, is animal agriculture. (Millstein, 7/28)

STATE WATCH6. Florida, Connecticut Brace For Caregiver Shortages As Haitian TPS Ends 

As Haitian temporary protected status (TPS) ended this week, so did the employment authorization for those immigrants. Healthcare leaders and state officials express concern over the loss of vital healthcare industry workers, Central Florida Public Media and the CT Mirror reported.

Central Florida Public Media: Haitian TPS Ends. Healthcare Leaders Fear The Impact On Long-Term Care  On Monday, the Trump administration ended the Temporary Protected Status once offered to Haitian immigrants. With the end of TPS, comes the end of the employment authorization for those Haitian immigrants. (Pedersen, 7/28)

The CT Mirror: Loss Of Haitian Workers Will Impact CT Healthcare, Officials Say Elected officials gathered with immigrant advocates and staff of a Manchester nursing home on Tuesday to bring attention to how the revocation of Temporary Protective Status from Haitians in Connecticut will affect the state’s workforce and residents, specifically in the healthcare industry. (Tillman, 7/28)

On heat and health —

Mississippi Today: Mississippi Is Getting Hotter. Experts Say It’s Hurting Moms And Babies Going for nearly a year with broken heating and air conditioning has been miserable for Ashley Matthews. But the last few months have been unbearable – and potentially dangerous. Matthews, 27, is six months pregnant with her third child. (Paffenroth and Kenen, 7/28)

Verite News: Many Of City’s Cooling Centers Closed Amid Dangerous Heat New Orleans is facing dangerously hot conditions. With no rain and clear conditions expected throughout much of the week, temperatures are hovering in the mid-90s. Heat indices, or “feels like” temperatures  in and around the city could soar to 115 degrees  on Tuesday (July 28) and Wednesday, according to the National Service, which has issued an extreme heat warning for the area. … For those without easy access to air conditioning at home or in a workplace, the city of New Orleans offers some refuge from the heat in the form of cooling centers — air conditioned public buildings open to anyone seeking relief. … But on Tuesday afternoon, as the heat index neared 110 degrees in the city, a number of those sites were closed. (Chabrier, 7/28)

More news from across the nation —

Bloomberg: PE Firm Unloads Mental Health Chain Into Muni Bond Market A Connecticut-based private equity firm plans to sell a chain of mental health centers and sober-living homes through a deal financed by municipal bonds. Clearview Capital, which buys lower-middle market companies, is selling the New Jersey-based Advantage Behavioral Health, just over a year after recapitalizing the company in partnership with its founders and management. (Braun, 7/28)

Chicago Tribune: Leaders Push To Reopen West Suburban, Weiss Hospitals A group of faith and community leaders are pushing the governor’s office to step in to help reopen Weiss Memorial Hospital and West Suburban Medical Center — as a battle over the hospitals’ futures drags on in court. (Schencker, 7/28)

WUSF: Ladapo Issues New Florida Guidance On Children’s Psychiatric Medications  New guidance from the Florida Department of Health urges providers to take a more comprehensive approach before prescribing psychotropic medications to children. The recommendations were released Friday in Orlando during a roundtable discussion on youth mental health hosted by state Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo. (Mayer, 7/28)

The Baltimore Sun: Flesh-Eating Bacteria Vibrio Thrives As Chesapeake Bay Warms A warming Chesapeake Bay may mean more days of swimming, but it brings a greater threat from a flesh-eating bacterium that thrives as the mercury rises. (Hille, 7/28)

On the elections front —

The 19th: As Maternity Wards Close, Community Outrage Rises In Key Battleground States When Angel Smith showed up for a mandatory staff meeting last month at OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital, the longtime labor and delivery nurse was fresh off a busy night shift caring for a patient who delivered her baby early, at about 35 weeks. (Becker, 7/28)

North Carolina Health News and The Charlotte Ledger: Questions Surround Campaign Donations Tied To Charlotte Mental Health Facility In 2020, Charlotte businessman Michael Estramonte set out to build a nonprofit treatment center to create more space for kids in mental health crisis.  The idea quickly won support from state and local lawmakers. Since 2023, the Katie Blessing Center has secured more than $40 million in public money, including $35.2 million from the state. (Crouch, 7/29)

Iowa Public Radio: Sand Meets With Survivors And Advocates To Discuss Iowa’s Growing Cancer Rate  Democrat Rob Sand participated in the first of two roundtables directed at the state’s gubernatorial candidates on addressing Iowa’s high cancer rates. Iowa has the second highest rate of cancer in the country. It’s a topic that’s become a major issue in the competitive race for the state’s next top official. (7/28)

AP: Beshear Demands McConnell Prove Capacity To Serve Or Resign Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a rising national figure in the Democratic Party, is calling on the state’s Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell to either prove that he is fit to continue serving after his lengthy hospital stay or resign from office. Beshear made the demand in a letter after McConnell’s office said Monday that the 84-year-old senator had not yet been medically cleared to leave the rehabilitation facility where he has been undergoing physical therapy. The office said he would miss a major Kentucky political event and upcoming Senate votes. (Cappelletti, 7/28)

PUBLIC HEALTH7. American Red Cross Urges Donations Amid National Blood Supply Crisis 

The nonprofit, which supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood, has less than a one-day national supply of type O positive blood, Fierce Healthcare reported, but all blood types are needed. Extreme heat, poor air quality, and foodborne illnesses are among the factors contributing to low blood donations, according to the Red Cross.

Fierce Healthcare: American Red Cross Declares National Blood Supply Crisis The American Red Cross declared Monday the second national blood supply crisis in its history, as the nonprofit says blood donations fell to a four-year summer low. The organization, which supplies roughly 40% of the nation’s blood, said it’s looking for all types of blood—with an emphasis on type O blood—to prevent treatment delays. Donations this summer are not “keeping pace with hospital demand,” with the Red Cross citing extreme heat, poor air quality and foodborne illnesses as factors in the low donor turnout. (Gleeson, 7/28)

On ultraprocessed foods, microplastics, and a social media trend —

CNN: 4 Out Of 5 Toddler Foods Are Ultraprocessed  Four out of five foods sold for toddlers in the United States are ultraprocessed, according to research that analyzed more than 2,700 products on grocery store shelves. Nearly half of those items also failed to meet at least one nutritional benchmark for children set by the World Health Organization. (LaMotte, 7/28)

The Hill: Microplastics Found More Often In Patients With Severe Heart Attacks, Study Finds People who experience severe heart attacks may have higher concentrations of microplastics and nanoplastics in their blood, according to a recent study. Researchers in Italy analyzed blood samples from the coronary arteries of 61 patients undergoing angiograms and found that 84 percent of patients experiencing an active, severe heart attack had detectable levels of microplastics and nanoplastics in their blood. By comparison, plastic particles were found in 40 percent of patients with chronic heart disease and just 32 percent of those with normal coronary arteries. (Perkins, 7/28)

ABC News: The Science Behind Social Media’s ‘Early Bird Dinner’ Trend A social media trend urging people to finish dinner by 5 p.m. is getting a second look from doctors, after a randomized trial found that adults who confined their eating to an eight-hour daily window for 12 weeks kept off several more pounds a full year later, compared to those who ate on a normal schedule. The concept of eating dinner early is not new — the “early bird special” has been around for decades. What’s changed is the volume. (Daniel, 7/28)

ADMINISTRATION NEWS

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