“Nearly four million people who signed up for Affordable Care Act plans this year have already dropped their coverage after the loss of subsidies resulted in sharply higher costs,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The Department of Health and Human Services released figures Friday that offered the first definitive view of enrollment after the withdrawal of enhanced government support for ACA plans, which ended at the start of this year. The shift boosted many ACA policyholders’ premium bills, in some cases by 100% or more.”

“Thirty federal health service workers gathered last month at Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland to prepare for a trip to Africa, the first wave set to care for Americans exposed to a deadly Ebola outbreak ravaging communities across the continent,” Bloomberg reports.

“But participants quickly grew alarmed by what they described as a shambolic and hurried effort under intense pressure from Washington.”

Semafor: Democrats push Trump to coordinate with WHO on Ebola.

New evidence has emerged that Robert F Kennedy Jr was on a vaccine-related “mission” when he visited Samoa ahead of a deadly measles outbreak in 2019, raising further questions about whether the US health secretary lied to the US Senate when he said the trip had “nothing to do with vaccines,” The Guardian reports.

“All branches of the U.S. military began once again requiring their recruits to get flu vaccines earlier this month, an exception to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to lift the military’s vaccine mandate,” CBS News reports.

“The news comes as Lackland Air Force Base in Texas — home to the Air Force’s Basic Military Training program — grapples with a flu outbreak that has infected 275 people in recent weeks.”

“A flu outbreak at the Air Force’s basic training hub in San Antonio is worsening, according to two sources familiar with the situation,” ABC News reports.

“The outbreak is unfolding just two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the annual flu shot optional for troops, scrapping the military’s requirement for it, which dates to 1945, a move breaking with longstanding public health directives.”

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday is expected to formally wind down its hantavirus response, nearly two months after an outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic triggered an international effort to contain a rare strain that left three people dead and infected several others,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Millions of Americans with obesity are eagerly awaiting a powerful new drug from Eli Lilly called retatrutide, which has demonstrated bariatric-surgery levels of weight loss. Some aren’t even waiting for approval from the Food and Drug Administration, instead racing to acquire it through sketchy means,” STAT reports.

“But STAT has learned that Eli Lilly and the FDA have allowed one person to gain access to the drug through the FDA’s ‘compassionate use’ program, a pathway that gives patients with serious and immediately life-threatening medical issues access to experimental treatments.”

“This person was a 79-year-old man at the time the request was made in April, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Those sources, who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisals, said it drew the interest of top health officials, suggesting the person receiving this drug was well connected.”

“A Senate plan to limit insulin costs in private insurance markets is getting new life after a key committee gave it bipartisan backing,” Axios reports.

“Capping out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 per month for patients with diabetes in commercial insurance has been a goal for years, but efforts have stalled over concerns about excessive government meddling.”

“Majorities of Americans say they’re more likely to vote for candidates in November who support ideas to lower their health costs,” according to the latest Axios-Ipsos American Health Index.

“Their support for ideas across the political spectrum — from renewing Affordable Care Act subsidies to expanding direct sales of prescription drugs — shows the power of voters’ demands for relief.”

“Your politics could be making you ill, and conservatives are dying at significantly higher rates than liberals, according to a recent study in Nature,” Fast Company reports.

“Over the past decade, a health gap has emerged in the United States. While extensive research has examined how factors like income and education shape health outcomes, political ideology has largely been overlooked—until now.”

“The share of Americans who are secure about their healthcare costs — meaning they can access quality healthcare and afford the medicine and care they need — fell to a five-year low of 49% last year,” a new Gallup poll found.

“Forty-one percent are ‘cost insecure’ — meaning either they don’t have access to good, affordable care or were recently unable to pay for care or medicine they needed.”

“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered an American passenger exposed to hantavirus on a cruise ship to remain in quarantine Monday against her will and despite expert advice,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Kennedy said the passenger, Angela Perryman, needed to remain isolated even though a review from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said she should be allowed to quarantine at home in Florida.”

New York Times: “Buried in the fine print of Obamacare regulations, the Trump administration is floating a novel idea for those who can’t afford to shell out tens of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket medical costs.”

“Why not borrow the money from your health insurance company?”

“In the dense 1,121-page final rule issued last month about how the Affordable Care Act market will operate next year, the administration suggested that insurers consider offering loans to cash-strapped customers.”

NBC News: “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.”

“Following a wave of firings and resignations over the last four months, about half of the positions listed on the leadership pages for the CDC, the FDA and the National Institutes of Health are filled by temporary appointees or simply remain vacant.”

“A report on alcohol’s health effects, commissioned by the federal government but unreleased under President Trump, came out Tuesday — in a scientific journal,” Stat reports.

“The study finds even low levels of drinking may increase the risk of various diseases or even death.”

“The Alcohol Intake and Health Study began in 2023 and was run by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration as part of an update to the United States’ dietary guidelines. However, the panel’s work was quickly embroiled in controversy, with some members of Congress and alcohol industry trade groups alleging scientists on the project held an anti-alcohol bent.”

Katherine Wu: “In a typical year, the process of bringing a new seasonal flu shot to market is one of the United States’ most predictable vaccine routines. This, however, is not a typical year.”

“Vaccine manufacturers have prepared updated versions of the annual flu shot, as they normally do. The FDA has green-lighted those recipes, as it normally does. And normally, the next step would fall to the CDC’s expert vaccine advisory panel, known as ACIP, which guides the agency’s recommendations for which Americans should take those shots…”

“But in March, a ruling from a federal judge effectively suspended ACIP, on the grounds that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had violated the lawful procedure for selecting new members when he hastily remade the panel’s roster last June. Currently, no functional ACIP exists to guide this autumn’s immunization campaigns.”

Wall Street Journal: “Coverage for Ozempic and other drugs used for weight loss has fast become one of the most coveted workplace benefits—so much so that companies say they can no longer afford to provide it.”