1. Asthma
2.  

Trump's Proposed Asthma Care Cuts Spark Concern in a Neglected California Region

The Trump administration wants to shutter the CDC’s National Asthma Control Program, which provides millions in funding to state-administered initiatives aimed at fighting the disease. The program’s closure, combined with massive cuts to environmental programs, could put the 28 million Americans with asthma at increased risk. (Miranda Green, 6/6)

KFF Health News: Trump’s Health Program Cuts Could Heighten Risks For Asthma Patients Pesticides are a known contributor to asthma and are commonly used where Bejarano lives in California’s Imperial Valley, a landlocked region that straddles two counties on the U.S.-Mexico border and is one of the main producers of the nation’s winter crops. It also has some of the worst air pollution in the nation and one of the highest rates of childhood asthma emergency room visits in the state, according to data collected by the California Department of Public Health. (Green, 6/6)

1. Health Care Coverage
2.  

The New York Times: Trump’s Bill Could Strip Millions of Their Obamacare Coverage
Millions of Obamacare enrollees would lose health coverage under the Republicans’ major policy bill, which would make coverage more expensive and harder to obtain. Most of the proposals in the bill, which passed the House last month, are technical changes — reductions to enrollment periods, adjustments to formulas, and additional paperwork requirements. But together, they would leave about four million people uninsured in the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday. (Kliff and Sanger-Katz, 6/5)

The Hill: Johnson Claims 4.8 Million Americans Would Keep Medicaid Unless They Opt Out Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) doubled down on his claim that there won’t be Medicaid cuts in President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” despite projections that millions of low-income individuals would lose health insurance as a result of the bill. Johnson, during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” pushed back on independent projections that the bill would lead to 4.8 million people who would lose coverage because of work requirements, saying they won’t lose it “unless they choose to do so.” ... He added that the people who are complaining about losing their coverage are doing so “because they can’t fulfill the paperwork,” noting that the policy follows “common sense.” (Scully, 6/1)

Modern Healthcare: CBO Projects $1 Trillion in Medicaid and Healthcare Cuts Under Tax Bill
The Republican tax-and-spending-cuts legislation speeding through Congress would take more than $1 trillion out of the healthcare system over a decade, according to an analysis the Congressional Budget Office published Wednesday. ... In healthcare, Medicaid would be subject to the lion's share of the cuts and see its federal budget diminish by $864 billion. The work requirement provisions alone would reduce spending by $344 billion. (McAuliff, 6/4)

California Healthline: Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Renews Effort to Dismantle Obamacare
The domestic policy legislation the House advanced in May includes the most substantial rollback of the Affordable Care Act since President Donald Trump and his Republican allies tried to pass legislation in 2017 that would have largely repealed President Barack Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment. (Galewitz and Appleby, 6/3)

Politico: White House Claims Medicaid Changes Won’t Affect Those Who Qualify The White House plans to confront resistance to Medicaid cuts from Senate Republicans by arguing that any reductions in coverage would only affect people who didn’t deserve it in the first place. A strong bloc of Republicans in the Senate has signaled that they are uncomfortable with Medicaid reductions in the sweeping tax-and-spending bill enacted last month by the House. President Donald Trump’s advisers are determined to confront those concerns by claiming that cuts would chiefly target undocumented immigrants and able-bodied people who should not be on Medicaid. (Cancryn and Traylor, 6/2)

Governor Reinstates ‘Asset Test’ Requirement for Medi-Cal Applicants: Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed tackling the rising costs of Medi-Cal and In-Home Supportive Services by reintroducing the “asset test” — requiring recipients to prove their assets total less than $2,000 — to limit eligibility for the programs. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.

1. Children’s Health Care
2.  

The New York Times: The Ethical Dilemma of Screening Infants for Incurable Diseases  In every postpartum hospital unit across the country, 1-day-old babies undergo the same ritual: A nurse pricks the newborn’s heel and stamps tiny drops of blood onto a paper filter, which is then sent off for a standard screening panel. Today, that panel checks for unusual bio-markers that may indicate a rare but treatable disease like sickle cell anemia or cystic fibrosis. But what if that same dried blood spot could tell you about the baby’s risk of developing certain conditions later in life — some with no method of prevention or cure? (Baumgaertner Nunn, 6/5)

CIDRAP: Childhood Infections More Common in Children Born to Mothers With Obesity A new long-term study published in BMJ Medicine suggests that children born to very obese mothers (those with a body mass index [BMI] of 35 or higher) are at increased risk of being admitted to a hospital for infection in their first five years of life. The study comes from data collected as part of the Born in Bradford study, a UK analysis that assessed short- and long-term mother and child health outcomes. (Soucheray, 6/4)

AP: Kennedy Orders Baby Formula Review—Key Facts You Need to Know Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has directed the Food and Drug Administration to review the nutrients and other ingredients in infant formula, which fills the bottles of millions of American babies. The effort, dubbed “Operation Stork Speed,” is the first deep look at the ingredients since 1998. ... About three-quarters of U.S. infants consume formula during the first six months of life, with about 40% receiving it as their only source of nutrition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Aleccia, 6/3)

1. Autism
2.  

The Wall Street Journal: RFK Jr. Ally And Vaccine Critic David Geier Examines Records For Autism Connection An antivaccine activist recently hired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has started hunting for proof that federal officials hid evidence that inoculations cause autism, according to people familiar with the matter. David Geier, a longtime vaccine opponent hired this spring as a contractor in the health department’s financial office, is seeking Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data that antivaccine activists, including Kennedy, have alleged was buried because it showed a link between vaccines and autism, the people said. (Essley Whyte and Mosbergen, 6/5)

1. Immigration
2.  

CalMatters: Democrats Take Action To Safeguard Schools And Hospitals After ICE Raids
Hospitals. Schools. Shelters. Those are some of the places that California lawmakers want to shield from immigration arrests and raids. They advanced a package of bills this week as President Donald Trump’s administration continues its ramped-up deportation campaign around the country. (Kuang, 6/5)

1. Research Grants
2.  

The New York Times: Nearly 2,500 Medical Research Grants Canceled or Delayed Under Trump
In his first months in office, President Trump has slashed funding for medical research, threatening a longstanding alliance between the federal government and universities that helped make the United States the world leader in medical science. Some changes have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye, a New York Times analysis found. (Hwang, Huang, Anthes, Migliozzi and Mueller, 6/4)

Stat: Eating Disorder Research Reduced as MAHA Prioritizes Chronic Conditions In the first major report from the president’s Make America Healthy Again Commission, disordered eating is mentioned just once, in passing, in connection with the benefits of family meals. Amid dozens of references to obesity and a major focus on what foods American children consume, there are zero mentions of specific conditions like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge-eating disorder. It’s a notable omission in a document purporting to explain how today’s children are the “sickest generation.” Eating disorders have been on the rise for decades, especially among young women and girls. (Gaffney, 6/3)

1. Administration Changes
2.  

Modern Healthcare: Understanding HHS’ Administration For A Healthy America The Health and Human Services Department is about to have a brand-new agency for the first time in nearly a quarter century as Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. kickstarts his "Make America Healthy Again" agenda. The Administration for a Healthy America, proposed in the department's fiscal 2026 budget request, would centralize activities that other HHS agencies and offices currently oversee that touch on areas such as primary care, HIV/AIDS, mental health, maternal and child health, environmental health, rural health, and the healthcare workforce. (Early, 6/4)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Administration Withdraws Directive Mandating Emergency Abortions in Hospitals
The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would revoke guidance to the nation’s hospitals that directed them to provide emergency abortions to women when they are necessary to stabilize their medical condition. That guidance was issued to hospitals in 2022, weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court upended national abortion rights in the U.S. It was an effort by the Biden administration to preserve abortion access for extreme cases in which women were experiencing medical emergencies and needed an abortion to prevent organ loss or severe hemorrhaging, among other serious complications. (Seitz, 6/3)

1. Vaccines
2.  

Stat: Experts Analyze The Impact Of Kennedy’s Covid Vaccine Policy Delivering Covid vaccinations has never been an easy job. But health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rewriting of government recommendations will make the effort to get vaccine doses into arms exponentially more difficult, experts say. The changes will complicate discussions between pediatricians and parents, obstetricians and pregnant patients, and both groups and their insurers, these experts say. They will also likely result in Covid shots being harder to access, with fewer doctors choosing to stock them and fewer pharmacies willing to administer them, for both economic and liability reasons, the experts said. (Branswell)

AP: Measles Vaccination Rates Decline In Hundreds Of US Counties Following The Pandemic Childhood vaccination rates against measles fell in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic in nearly 80% of the more than 2,000 U.S. counties with available data — including in states that are battling outbreaks this year. A Johns Hopkins University study, published in JAMA this week, illustrates where more vulnerable communities are located. The results mirror trends established at state and national levels: Routine childhood vaccination rates are dropping. (Shastri and Forster, 6/4)

California Healthline: RFK Jr. Claims Healthy Pregnant Women Don’t Require Covid Boosters — Science Weighs In
Despite opposition by the leader of the Department of Health and Human Services, existing evidence on the safety and efficacy of getting a covid vaccine during pregnancy all points the same way: The shots are important for maternal and fetal health. (Fortiér, 6/2)

1. Mental Health
2.  

Mental Health Helpline Faces Uncertain Future: As California grapples with a $12 billion budget deficit, the California Peer Run Warm Line that provides free 24/7 mental health support to thousands of residents could face deep funding cuts, or even a shutdown. The service, which is intended for non-emergencies, receives an average of 20,000 calls, texts and chats a month. Read more from CalMatters.

1. LGBTQ+ Health
2.  

The Hill: FBI Requests Information on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

The FBI is urging people to report health care providers who may be assisting transgender minors with gender-affirming care, as part of the Trump administration’s mission to “protect children.” “As the Attorney General has made clear, we will protect our children and hold accountable those who mutilate them under the guise of gender-affirming care,” the FBI’s official account wrote on the social platform X on Monday, urging followers to “report tips of any hospitals, clinics or practitioners performing these surgical procedures on children” to its phone and web tip lines. (Crisp, 6/2)

1. Health Cost of Violence
2.  

Modern Healthcare: AHA Report Reveals $18.3 Billion Hospital Expenditure on Violence Management in 2023
Hospitals spend billions of dollars a year managing patients and staff who face assault, murder, suicide, shootings and other violent acts, according to a new report commissioned by the American Hospital Association. Providers spent $18.3 billion in 2023 to prevent and prepare for violence, treat patients and grapple with violence-related fallout such as staff turnover and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to estimates from the University of Washington. Researchers used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data and other sources to trace roughly three-quarters of the costs to treating patients with violent injuries. (Kacik, 6/1)