The Hill: Gavin Newsom Slams JD Vance Over Health Care Claims
California Gov. Gavin Newsom calls Vice President Vance a 'dips---' over false claim about migrant health care spending in heated exchange on X. (Suter, 9/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Covered California Premiums Could Spike Without ACA Aid
Nearly 1.7 million Californians could soon face steep increases in health insurance premiums if Congress ... does not extend federal subsidies that help them pay for their monthly premiums. The subsidies, known as enhanced premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, first became available in 2021 under the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act and are slated to expire Dec. 31. They benefit residents who buy health plans through Covered California, the insurance marketplace for people who don’t get insurance through their employer, Medicare or Medi-Cal. Most people who buy Covered California plans are lower- or middle-income earners and receive subsidies, which vary based on income level, to help offset the cost of premiums. (Ho and Koseff, 9/30) 

Los Angeles Times: Government Shutdown Means 90% Of EPA Staff Won't Be Working
The shutdown of the U.S. government could have ripple effects for human health and the environment as an already weakened Environmental Protection Agency will see nearly all of its staff furloughed and many of its operations paused. The first shutdown in six years went into effect late Tuesday and requires federal agencies to stop all nonessential work. Most EPA work is considered only partially essential under federal rules. (Smith, 10/1)

The New York Times: How Shutdown Gridlock Could Impede Disaster Preparedness 
A government shutdown is converging with key deadlines for funding of disaster preparedness and federal flood insurance, threatening to expose thousands of Americans to flood losses and stall thousands of real estate sales. The National Flood Insurance Program, the main source of coverage against flood damage for most Americans, lapsed just after midnight Wednesday, at the same time a funding gap shut down the federal government. (Dance, 9/30)

Stat: Home Hospital Programs In ‘Terror’ As They Grind To Halt Ahead Of Government Shutdown
On any given day, dozens of patients waiting for hospital rooms line the hallways of the emergency department at UMass Memorial Medical Center’s University Campus. It’s one reason the Worcester-based health system dove into delivering home hospital care four years ago. (Aguilar, 9/30)

AP: How A Government Shutdown Will Affect The Education Department 
While American schools are funded primarily by state and local money, the Education Department serves as a conduit for billions of dollars of federal aid going to state and local education agencies. During the shutdown, the department will cease new grantmaking activity and pause its advisory and regulatory role to schools and grant recipients. But because most federal grants to schools were made over the summer, the department says it would expect minimal disruption to school districts and other grant recipients. Title I money, which goes to schools with high concentrations of students in poverty, plus funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act would continue during a shutdown. (Ma, 10/1)

Politico: How Trump Is Protecting His Priorities From A Government Shutdown
As Washington enters a government shutdown, the Trump administration has erected safeguards to ensure President Donald Trump’s most hardline priorities continue unscathed. ... That means offices tasked with immigration enforcement and tariff negotiations, two hallmarks of Trump’s presidency, will retain significantly more staff than they have in prior shutdowns, according to a POLITICO analysis of agency documents submitted to the White House in recent days and interviews with current and former administration officials. That’s even as hundreds of thousands of federal workers are sent home, hampering a variety of government functions including some routine food safety inspections, Social Security benefit verifications and the publication of employment numbers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Ward, Messerly and Cai, 10/1)

Becker's Hospital Review: Cancer Centers Lean Into Nurse Scientists
Some of the largest cancer centers in the nation are leaning on nurse scientists to improve patient outcomes. There are two types of nurse scientists: those who are clinically focused and support front-line staff through quality improvement and unit-based projects, and those who are research focused and lead multi-year studies that can change practice guidelines, elevate national standards and influence policy. “Both roles are critical,” Virginia Sun, PhD, MSN, RN, co-leader of Duarte, Calif.-based City of Hope’s Cancer Control and Populations Sciences Program and a professor in its department of population sciences and department of surgery, told Becker’s. (Taylor, 10/1)

Desert Sun: Desert Healthcare Voices Support For Blythe Hospital, But 'Has No Intention' Of Running It
Desert Healthcare District board members expressed a desire to help the "emergency" situation regarding Blythe's at-risk-of-closing hospital, but they did not commit to serious action during their Tuesday, Sept. 30 meeting. (Sasic, 9/30)

The Modesto Focus: ‘What Is Everybody Going To Do?’ Modesto Homeless Shelter Residents Fear Potential Closure
Residents of the Modesto shelter that’s quickly running out of money aren’t sure what they would do if they’re turned away. “We’re worried this time. We’re real worried,” Michael Ballard, 58, told The Modesto Focus on Monday just outside the ACES shelter, short for Access Center Emergency Shelter. The Salvation Army runs the 182-bed low-barrier shelter at Ninth and D streets in a contract with Stanislaus County, which relies on state money that’s drying up. The county only has six more months of funding left for the shelter, after that new funding would be required to keep it open. (Stapley and Aguilar, 9/29)

LAist: LA’s Regional Homelessness Agency Hits Pause On Plans To Reform Internal Audit Unit
The Los Angeles area’s top homeless services agency has been under scrutiny in recent years for failing to properly track spending, and some people on its governing board say the agency should be better at auditing itself. But some leaders of the L.A. Homeless Services Authority recently delayed a vote on a pair of proposals to overhaul its internal audit processes. The proposals were aimed at making sure the audits happen more frequently and in a manner less likely to create conflicts of interest. (Schrank, 9/30)

KQED: Sonoma County Homeless Population Falls 23% Amid Housing Gains, Funding Threats
Sonoma County’s homeless population fell 23%, according to a recently released report detailing a count conducted in January. Overall, the number of people experiencing homelessness decreased by about 570 people compared with last year’s numbers. The point-in-time survey offers an imperfect snapshot of homelessness in a particular area and includes people living in shelters and on the streets. (Bandlamudi, 9/30)

NBC News: Trump Announces Deal With Pfizer To Lower Drug Prices, Including 'TrumpRx' Website
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that his administration has reached a deal with Pfizer for it to voluntarily sell its drugs at lower prices to Medicaid patients. As part of the deal, Trump said, Pfizer will sell some of its drugs on a new “direct to consumer” website called “TrumpRx.” Trump said the website would be operated by the federal government, but offered few details about how the program would work. (Lovelace Jr., 9/30)

Business Insider: Mark Cuban Gives Trump's Proposed Direct-To-Consumer Prescription Drugs Website A 'B'
Mark Cuban is giving President Donald Trump's new direct-to-consumer online drug store venture a "B" — for now. ... Cuban, the billionaire venture capitalist, commented on X that this would be good for patients and could actually boost business for his Cost Plus Drugs, which runs on a similar model. He said that the administration has "some great people working on this project," but he would "give the program, and what we know, as of today, a grade of B." (Li and Griffiths, 9/30)

The Hill: Trump’s Deadline On Drug Prices Arrives: What Next?
President Trump’s strategy to lower prescription drug prices will be put to the test as drugmakers must now commit to the terms of his “Most Favored Nation” pricing plan or face unspecified actions from the federal government. Trump gave drugmakers until Sept. 29 to respond to his Executive Order “Reducing Drug Prices for Americans and Taxpayers.” The order calls on manufacturers to provide preferential pricing to all Medicaid patients, requires that they not give better prices to other developed countries on new drugs, create a way to sell directly to consumers and use trade policy to raise prices internationally so that revenue is reinvested into lowering American prices. The Hill has reached out to all 17 companies named by the Trump administration for comment. (Choi, 9/30)

Truthout: Cost Of 688 Prescription Drugs Increased Since Trump Took Office, Sanders Says
The prices of almost 700 prescription drugs have increased since President Donald Trump took office, according to a report released today by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). Twenty-five drugs have more than doubled in price, according to the report. (Weill-Greenberg, 9/29)

Becker's Hospital Review: 340B Rebate Pilot Would Cost Hospitals $400M: AHA
If HHS’ 340B rebate model pilot proceeds as planned, more than 2,700 U.S. hospitals will collectively be saddled with approximately $400 million in operational costs and 11.2 million labor burden hours, according to the American Hospital Association. The rebate model, slated to go into effect Jan. 1, will allow drug manufacturers that are part of CMS’ first cycle of negotiated drug prices to provide rebates — rather than upfront discounts — for 340B entities. Congress established the 340B program in 1992 to require drugmakers to sell specific outpatient drugs to eligible providers at discounted prices. (Twenter, 9/30)

Los Angeles Times: Judge Halts Trump Administration Cuts To Disaster Aid For 'Sanctuary' States
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily halted a Trump administration plan to reduce disaster relief and anti-terrorism funding for states with so-called sanctuary policies for undocumented immigrants. U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy granted the temporary restraining order curtailing the cuts at the request of California, 10 other states and the District of Columbia, which argued in a lawsuit Monday that the policy appeared to have illegally cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. (Rector, 9/30)

The Hill: Trump Signs Order To Deploy AI To Boost Childhood Cancer Research
President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday aimed at using artificial intelligence to improve research and treatments for childhood cancer. The order builds on a 2019 database established by Trump that collects data on childhood cancer. That order directs agencies to use artificial intelligence to analyze information in that database to accelerate research and clinical trials. (Samuels, 9/30)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Supervisors Take Final Step To Approve First-Of-Its-Kind Civilian Oversight Of Jail Healthcare Providers 
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to finalize an ordinance that gives the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board, or CLERB, authority to investigate the role of medical and mental health providers in jail deaths — making San Diego the first in the nation to adopt such oversight. (Davis, 9/30)

inewsource: South County, A ‘College Desert,’ Now Will Host Bachelor’s Program In Public Health
It may soon be possible for students to earn a bachelor’s degree in public health in the South Bay. Southwestern College and UC San Diego on Friday announced they had signed an intent to create a joint Bachelor of Science program in public health at Southwestern’s Chula Vista campus. (Niebla, 9/30)

East Bay Times: Study: Santa Cruz County Ranks 4th In Pesticide Proximity To Pregnant Residents 
A study by the UC Berkeley Center for Environmental Research and Environmental Health published in the peer-reviewed online journal BMC Public Health Tuesday delivered a new statistic. It found that while the overall amount of organophosphate pesticide use in California decreased between 2016 and 2021, the amount of pregnant people living within 1 kilometer of fields that use organophosphate pesticides was at 7.5%. (Sestanovich, 10/1)

The Hill: Norovirus Outbreak Sickens Over 70 On Royal Caribbean Cruise
A norovirus outbreak has sickened over 70 people aboard a 13-day Royal Caribbean Cruise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas departed from San Diego on Sept. 19 and is scheduled to arrive in Miami on Thursday, Oct. 2. (Kaplan, 9/30)

The New York Times: Long Covid Risk For Children Doubles After A Second Infection, Study Finds
Children and teenagers are twice as likely to develop long Covid after a second coronavirus infection as after an initial infection, a large new study has found. The study, of nearly a half-million people under 21, published Tuesday in Lancet Infectious Diseases, provides evidence that Covid reinfections can increase the risk of long-term health consequences and contradicts the idea that being infected a second time might lead to a milder outcome, medical experts said. (Belluck, 9/30)

MedPage Today: Mom's COVID Shot Aided Baby, Too, Large Review Confirmed
COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy conferred benefits for mother and baby without increased risk, according to an umbrella review of meta-analyses comprising more than 1.2 million women. Vaccination during pregnancy was associated with lowered maternal risks of COVID infection .... stillbirth ... and preterm birth ... reported Nikan Zargarzadeh, MD, of Harvard University in Boston. (Henderson, 9/30)

CIDRAP: FDA Conditionally Approves Drug For Prevention, Treatment Of New World Screwworm In Cattle
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said today that it has conditionally approved a drug for the prevention and treatment of New World screwworm (NWS) larval infestations in cattle. The FDA said Dectomax-CA1 is eligible for conditional approval in cattle because it addresses an unmet animal health need, and demonstrating its effectiveness would require complex studies. (Dall, 9/30)