- Children’s Health
Stanford Study Finds Gas Stoves May Nearly Double Cancer Risk in Children – San Francisco Chronicle
A new study from Stanford University found that children living in homes with frequent gas stove use and poor ventilation face nearly twice the lifetime cancer risk from benzene exposure compared to adults. The study, published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, is the first to evaluate cancer risks from benzene generated during gas stove combustion and to estimate leukemia cases attributable to these emissions. (Vaziri, 5/8)
AP: U.S. Infant Mortality Declined in 2024, With RSV Vaccines Cited as a Key Factor The nation’s infant mortality rate dropped last year after two years of hovering at a late-pandemic plateau. Some experts think one reason for the drop could be a vaccination campaign against RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which is a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be dangerous for infants. The infant mortality national rate dropped to about 5.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted Thursday. That’s down from about 5.6 per 1,000 live births, where it had been the previous two years. (Stobbe, 5/8)
The Washington Post: NICU Admissions for Newborns on the Rise Nearly 10 percent of infants were admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit in the United States in 2023, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics, a 13 percent increase from admissions in 2016.The report drew on birth certificate data from the National Vital Statistics System, which includes detailed demographic and health information on mothers and infants for all U.S. births each year. (McMahan, 5/5)
NBC News: Healthy Diet Linked to Later Puberty Onset in Girls, Study Finds Girls who grow up eating a healthier diet than their peers may be less likely to get their first menstrual periods at an earlier age — regardless of height or body mass index — a new study suggests. Though previous research has tied height and BMI to the earlier onset of menarche, or first period, the study, published Tuesday in the journal Human Reproduction, claims to be the first to explore the biological milestone’s link to specific diets. (Leake, 5/7)
CNN: Study Finds Marijuana Poses Serious Risks to Developing Fetuses
Using marijuana during pregnancy is linked to poor fetal development, low infant birth weight, dangerously early deliveries and even death, according to a new meta-analysis of research. (LaMotte, 5/5)
AP: CDC Reports 216 Pediatric Deaths This Flu Season — Highest in 15 Years
More U.S. children have died this flu season than at any time since the swine flu pandemic 15 years ago, according to a federal report released Friday. The 216 pediatric deaths reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eclipse the 207 reported last year. It’s the most since the 2009-2010 H1N1 global flu pandemic. It’s a startlingly high number, given that the flu season is still going on. The final pediatric death tally for the 2023-2024 flu season wasn’t counted until autumn. (Stobbe, 5/2)
- Mental Health
California Promised To Boost Mental Health In Schools. Why One Key Program Is Behind Schedule
California made a huge one-time investment in youth mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic as rates of depression, anxiety and eating disorders surged among children and teens. One piece of the state’s plan included a way to keep money flowing for schools that wanted to expand mental health services for students. It involved allowing K-12 schools and colleges to charge Medi-Cal and private health insurance for behavioral health care provided on campus, a change that would allow them to provide more services and hire additional mental health staff. (Ibarra, 5/8)
KFF Health News: Trump Team Confronts Legal Choice That May Undermine Mental Health Parity
The Trump administration must soon make a decision that will affect millions of Americans’ ability to access and afford mental health and addiction care. The administration is facing a May 12 deadline to declare if it will defend Biden-era regulations that aim to enforce mental health parity — the idea that insurers must cover mental illness and addiction treatment comparably to physical treatments for ailments such as cancer or high blood pressure. (Pattani, 5/9)
- Immigration
Los Angeles Times: Advocates Sue Over New Rules That Keep Migrant Children in Custody for Months
Two advocacy groups are suing the Trump administration to halt the use of new rules they say have kept migrant children in federal custody and separated from their families for months as the children’s mental health deteriorates. The National Center for Youth Law and Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of a Los Angeles-based immigrant advocacy group along with two siblings in California foster care, a teenager who gave birth while being detained and other children who crossed the Southern border without a legal custodian and have been in federal programs for prolonged periods. (Uranga, 5/9)
The New York Times: Fear of ICE Is Leading Migrants to Avoid Medical Care, Doctors Report
A man lay on a New York City sidewalk with a gun shot wound, clutching his side. Emily Borghard, a social worker who hands out supplies to the homeless through her nonprofit, found him and pulled out her phone, preparing to dial 911. But the man begged her not to make the call, she said. “No, no, no,” he said, telling her in Spanish that he would be deported. Ms. Borghard tried to explain that federal law required hospitals to treat him, regardless of his immigration status, but he was terrified. (Baumgaertner Nunn, Agrawal and Silver-Greenberg, 5/8)
- Medicaid
KFF Health News: 'What The Health?' – Even GOP Struggles With Cutting Medicaid After narrowly passing a budget resolution this spring foreshadowing major Medicaid cuts, Republicans in Congress are having trouble agreeing on specific ways to save billions of dollars from a pool of funding that pays for the program without cutting benefits on which millions of Americans rely. Moderates resist changes they say would harm their constituents, while fiscal conservatives say they won’t vote for smaller cuts than those called for in the budget resolution. (Rovner, 5/8)
The Hill: CBO Warns Millions Could Lose Coverage Under GOP Medicaid Proposals Millions of people would lose health insurance coverage under various Republican options to cut Medicaid spending to pay for President Trump’s domestic policy agenda, according to an analysis the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released Wednesday. For instance, a cap on Medicaid spending for beneficiaries in the expansion population would save $225 billion and result in 1.5 million additional people being uninsured by 2034. Limiting state provider taxes would save $668 billion but would mean an additional 3.9 million uninsured people by 2034. (Weixel, 5/7)
Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Cuts in Budget Bill May Be Pushed Back to July
House Republicans may miss their self-imposed deadline to advance legislation that extends tax cuts from President Donald Trump's first term and takes up to $880 billion out of Medicaid, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-La.) said at the American Hospital Association annual membership meeting in Washington on Tuesday. Carter, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee, said lawmakers are not on track to finish the sweeping bill before Memorial Day as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) intended. The House is scheduled to recess from May 26-June 2. (McAuliff, 5/6)
- Housing
Los Angeles Times: Trump’s Proposal to Cut Federal Rental Assistance Could Hit California Hard
The Trump administration wants to sharply reduce funding for federal rental assistance that helps hundreds of thousands of California households afford a home. The plan, part of the president’s 2026 budget proposal, calls for a 43% reduction in funding available for a variety of programs it labels “dysfunctional,” including public housing and the voucher program commonly known as Section 8. (Khouri, 5/8)
- Administration Updates
Stat: Trump Nominates Casey Means, MAHA Advocate, for Surgeon General The health entrepreneur and “Make America Healthy Again” leader Casey Means has been nominated to be the U.S. surgeon general after President Trump pulled his prior nominee suddenly on Wednesday. (Cueto, 5/7)
The New York Times: Who Is Casey Means, Trump’s Nominee for Surgeon General? President Trump said on Wednesday that he would nominate Casey Means, a Stanford-educated doctor turned critic of corporate influence on medicine and health, as surgeon general. Dr. Means, an ally of the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has described becoming disillusioned by establishment medicine. She rose to prominence last year after she and her brother, Calley Means, a White House health adviser and former food industry lobbyist, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show. (Mueller and Jewett, 5/7)
Stat: Trump Proposes Billions in Cuts to Federal Health Agencies, Including NIH and CDC
President Trump on Friday proposed massive cuts to the federal government’s health agencies in his 2026 budget request, arguing that Congress should reduce spending by tens of billions from current levels. The request would be a 26% cut to the Department of Health and Human Services’ discretionary budget, which doesn’t include spending on health coverage programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which starts in October, is a request to Congress and is rarely passed without major changes. (Payne, 5/2)
- Autism
The New York Times: RFK Jr. Unveils New Database to Explore 'Root Causes' of Autism After weeks of confusion about his plans for autism research, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Wednesday that his department would build a “real-world platform” that would allow researchers to hunt for causes of the disorder by examining insurance claims, electronic medical records and wearable devices like smart watches. The department will draw the records from Medicare and Medicaid, which together cover around 40 percent of Americans. (Gay Stolberg, 5/7)
- Measles
Los Angeles Times: Measles Case Confirmed in L.A. County, Vaccination Encouraged
Los Angeles County reported another measles case involving a resident or traveler this week, prompting officials to renew their call for all residents to make sure they are up to date on their vaccinations. The latest case — the fourth so far this year — involves a visitor who recently arrived in L.A. County from another country, according to the county Department of Public Health. (Lin II, 5/7)
CBS News: Weekly Measles Cases Reach Record High During Worst Outbreak Since the 1990s
Weekly measles cases have set a new record, according to figures published Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, topping the peak of an outbreak in 2019 that ranked as the worst since the 1990s. The number of cases that had their symptoms start during the week of March 30 has grown to 111, according to the agency's latest update. Authorities backdate newly reported measles cases based on when their rash began, to account for delays in reporting and diagnosis. (Tin, 5/2)
- Research Funding
Stat: Europe Launches $565 Million Initiative to Retain and Attract Scientists The European Commission on Monday unveiled a roughly $565 million package to retain and attract scientists, as other countries try to leverage the Trump administration’s dismantling of research programs in the U.S. to build up their own enterprises. (Joseph, 5/5)
CBS News: Trump’s Hiring Freeze Excludes CDC Disease Detectives, Protecting the Program The Department of Health and Human Services has granted an exemption to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to hire a new class of its disease detectives, multiple CDC officials said, averting a feared halving of the highly selective fellowship. Each year, the CDC usually hires a new class of its Epidemic Intelligence Service officers to replace those graduating from the agency's two-year program. (Tin, 5/7)
CNN: Trump’s Funding Cuts Threaten Loss of Valuable Biological Data That Revolutionized Science A priceless treasure trove of biodata gathered from generations of Americans by Harvard University researchers may soon be lost due to additional funding cuts by the Trump administration, a leading nutrition researcher told CNN. (LaMotte, 5/8)
AP: More Than a Dozen U.S. Government Health-Tracking Programs Eliminated Due to Cuts U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s motto is “ Make America Healthy Again,” but government cuts could make it harder to know if that’s happening. More than a dozen data-gathering programs that track deaths and disease appear to have been eliminated in the tornado of layoffs and proposed budget cuts rolled out in the Trump administration’s first 100 days. ... Among those terminated at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were experts tracking abortions, pregnancies, job-related injuries, lead poisonings, sexual violence and youth smoking, the AP found. (Stobbe, 5/4)
The New York Times: Trump Administration Cuts Funding for L.G.B.T.Q. Health Research
In keeping with its deep opposition to both diversity programs and gender-affirming care for adolescents, the administration has worked aggressively to root out research touching on equity measures and transgender health. But its crackdown has reverberated far beyond those issues, eliminating swaths of medical research on diseases that disproportionately afflict L.G.B.T.Q. people, a group that comprises nearly 10 percent of American adults. (Mueller, 5/4)