Politico: “Louisiana is poorer, sicker and hungrier than most states, and the deep cuts to Medicaid have a growing number of Republicans in Louisiana worried that Congress and the White House are going too far. They are anxious that rural hospitals whose finances are highly dependent on federal Medicaid funds would face crippling revenue losses and be forced to shut down, depriving all residents of accessible health care.”

“The blowback over Medicaid represents the most significant crack between GOP leaders in Washington and in the states so far in this administration, according to interviews with nearly two dozen Louisiana state leaders.”

“A federal judge has ruled that recent mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were likely unlawful and ordered the Trump administration to halt plans to downsize and reorganize the nation’s health workforce,” the AP reports.

CNN: “They say supplies have gone unordered, appointments go unscheduled, and medical staff fear that these conditions might not only encourage doctors and nurses now working in the over-strained system to quit, but dry up the pipeline for future talent.”

“Republicans’ marquee domestic policy bill that is making its way through the Senate would result in deeper cuts and more Americans losing health insurance coverage than the original measure that passed the House last month, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office,” the New York Times reports.

“According to a report published late Saturday night, the legislation would mean 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034. Federal spending on Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare would be reduced by more than $1.1 trillion over that period — with more than $1 trillion of those cuts coming from Medicaid alone.”

“The fresh estimates make official what many analysts had already predicted and some Republican lawmakers had feared.”

Every major health system in Louisiana is warning Speaker Mike Johnson and the rest of the state’s congressional delegation that the Senate GOP’s planned Medicaid cuts “would be historic in their devastation,” Politico reports.

“Jim McLaughlin, one of President Donald Trump’s top pollsters, said Hill Republicans should nix Senate Republicans’ deeper Medicaid cuts in the megabill or risk deep backlash from voters,” Politico reports.

“An advisory panel recently appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted on Thursday to walk back longstanding recommendations for flu vaccines containing an ingredient that the anti-vaccine movement has falsely linked to autism,” the New York Times reports.

“The vote signaled a powerful shift in the way federal officials approach vaccines, putting into action Mr. Kennedy’s deep skepticism about their safety and delivering the first blows to a scientific process that for decades has provided effective vaccines to Americans.”

“California has already reported more measles cases this year than in all of 2024, a worrisome development that comes as the nation is suffering its largest outbreak of the super-infectious disease in decades,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“The extent of the national outbreak has rocketed measles from a back-of-mind issue — one rarely, if ever, encountered by a whole generation of Americans — to a pressing public health concern.”

“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has hired an anti-vaccine advocate and longtime ally to a position at the Health and Human Services Department,” ABC News reports.

“Lyn Redwood served for years as president of Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine organization founded by Kennedy. Her exact role at HHS is unclear.”

“Professional medical societies, pharmacists, state health officials and vaccine manufacturers, as well as a new advocacy group, are mobilizing behind the scenes to preserve access for vaccines as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. works to upend the nation’s decades-old vaccine system,” the Washington Post reports.

“The groups are discussing ordering vaccines directly from manufacturers and giving greater weight to vaccine recommendations from medical associations. And they are asking insurance companies to continue covering shots based on professional societies’ guidance instead of the federal government’s.”

“It is dangerous to me that politicians are being rewarded for spewing absolute bullshit when it comes to vaccines. What they’re doing is incredibly dangerous for public health. I think we have a responsibility to not reward them politically and to stand up against what they are pushing out there.”

— Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), quoted by Rolling Stone.

“The Food and Drug Administration has approved a highly effective new HIV-prevention medication,” the New York Times reports.

“In clinical trials, the drug nearly eliminated HIV’s spread among people given an injection every six months.”

“A senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who oversaw respiratory virus surveillance has resigned and raised concerns about the future of vaccine policy as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. upends the agency’s long-standing approach to immunization,” the Washington Post reports.

“A federal judge ordered the government to restore funding to hundreds of National Institutes of Health grants cut by the Trump administration, ruling that the government discriminated against minorities and LGBTQ people,” the New York Times reports.

“The judge said he would be ‘blind’ not to call out the discrimination.”

“Senate Republicans are proposing cuts to the Medicaid program for low-income and disabled people that are more aggressive than policies the House passed to help pay for President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax package,” Bloomberg reports.