AP: Key Medicaid Provision In Trump Tax Bill Found To Violate Senate Rules
The Senate parliamentarian has advised that a Medicaid provider tax overhaul central to President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending bill does not adhere to the chamber’s procedural rules, delivering a crucial blow as Republicans rush to finish the package this week. Guidance from the parliamentarian is rarely ignored and Republican leaders are now forced to consider difficult options. Republicans were counting on big cuts to Medicaid and other programs to offset trillions of dollars in Trump tax breaks, their top priority. Additionally, the parliamentarian, who is the Senate’s chief arbiter of its often complicated rules, advised against various GOP provisions barring certain immigrants from health care programs. (Mascaro, 6/26)

The Hill: How Medicaid Ruling Could Blow Up Senate GOP's Plans On Trump 'Big, Beautiful Bill'
Senate Republicans were dealt a significant blow Thursday when Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough advised that major pieces of the GOP megabill’s Medicaid policy can’t pass with a simple majority. Much of the savings in the bill come from Medicaid cuts, and the ruling impacts several of the largest and most controversial ones, including a plan to slash states’ use of health care provider taxes as well as several measures related to health care for immigrants. (Swanson, 6/26)

California Healthline: Too Sick To Work, Some Americans Worry Trump’s Bill Will Strip Their Health Insurance
Republicans claim 4.8 million Americans on Medicaid who could work choose not to. The GOP’s work-requirement legislation could sweep up disabled people who say they’re unable to hold jobs. (Galewitz and Armour, 6/27)

California Healthline and Politifact: Thune Says Health Care Often ‘Comes With A Job.’ The Reality’s Not Simple Or Straightforward.
Sixty percent of Americans have health insurance through their own workplace or someone else’s job. But not all employers provide health insurance or offer plans to all their workers. When they do, cost and quality vary widely, making Thune’s statement an oversimplification. (Zionts, 6/27)

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Says States May Bar Women On Medicaid From Using Planned Parenthood Clinics
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that states may exclude Planned Parenthood clinics from providing medical screenings and other healthcare for women on Medicaid. The court’s conservative majority cast aside the longstanding rule that said Medicaid patients may obtain medical care from any qualified provider. In a 6-3 vote, the justices ruled the Medicaid Act does not give patients an “individual right” to the provider of their choice. (Savage, 6/26)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Administration Restores Funds For HIV Prevention Following Outcry
The Trump administration has lifted a freeze on federal funds for HIV prevention and surveillance programs, officials said, following an outcry from HIV prevention organizations, health experts and Democrats in Congress. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health received notice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday that it had been awarded nearly $20 million for HIV prevention for the 12-month period that began June 1 — an increase of $338,019 from the previous year. (Rust, 6/27)

The Bay Area Reporter: San Francisco AIDS Nonprofit Announces Layoffs Amid Uncertain Budgetary Future
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation announced 19 people have had their positions eliminated, including three on the executive team, as the organization faces a projected $5.71 million deficit. Their layoffs were part of a larger reduction in the nonprofit’s workforce, though the other 15 positions cut had been unfilled. A spokesperson stated that the layoffs are effective next Tuesday, July 1. The date coincides with the city’s new fiscal year, and the nonprofit is one of the largest LGBTQ service providers that receives funding from the city. (Ferrannini, 6/26)

Oaklandside: Oakland Hired A Contractor To Help People With AIDS. But Services Weren’t Delivered
Federal funds that were supposed to be used to help residents with HIV or AIDS secure housing and medical assistance have gone unaccounted for, according to a new investigation. A report published by the city auditor last week identified glaring problems with the AIDS Project of the East Bay. Founded in 1983, the AIDS Project’s mission is to prevent new HIV infections and help residents living with the virus. (Wolfe, 6/26)

CBS News: RFK Jr.'s Vaccine Committee Votes Against Rarely Used Flu Shot Preservative, Backs New RSV Shot
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's panel of vaccine advisers voted Thursday in their first official move after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the committee's previous experts and replaced them with his own picks. A majority of the committee approved updated recommendations for a new shot for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and voted to urge Americans to avoid a small number of flu vaccines that use the preservative thimerosal despite evidence of its safety. (Tin and Moniuszko, 6/26)

California Healthline: Kennedy’s Vaccine Advisers Sow Doubts As Scientists Protest US Pivot On Shots
A new vaccine advisory panel appointed by the Health and Human Services secretary, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, reflected his unsupported claims about the safety of childhood inoculations. (Allen and Whitehead, 6/27)

Los Angeles Blade: White House Finds Calif. Violated Title IX By Allowing Trans Athletes In School Sports
The Trump-Vance administration announced on Wednesday that California’s Interscholastic Federation and Department of Education violated federal Title IX rules for allowing transgender girls to compete in school sports. In a press release, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights threatened “imminent enforcement action” including “referral to the U.S. Department of Justice” and the withholding of federal education funding for the state if the parties do not “agree to change these unlawful practices within 10 days.” (Kane, 6/26)

MedPage Today: Experts Have Questions About FDA's New Priority Review Program
While there's little disagreement that speeding drug approvals would be a good thing, there are more questions than answers about the FDA's new national priority voucher program, experts told MedPage Today. Earlier this month, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, announced the creation of the Commissioner's National Priority Voucher (CNPV) program .Essentially, companies that meet criteria for aligning with a set of national health priorities will receive a voucher that entitles them to a speedier review -- one that's been advertised as taking 1 to 2 months instead of 10 to 12 months. (Fiore, 6/26)

Berkeleyside: Berkeley Can Sweep Ohlone Park Camp, Judge Rules
Berkeley can clear the encampment of homeless residents at Ohlone Park with three days’ notice, a federal judge has ordered. Berkeley first posted notice April 14 that encampment residents had two weeks to clear out of the park, but the Berkeley Homeless Union filed a lawsuit May 27, the day before the deadline, seeking to block the sweep. (Gecan, 6/26)

KQED: SF Supervisors Preserve Millions For Homeless Prevention, Housing In Budget
Mayor Daniel Lurie is backing down — somewhat — from his effort to sweep money set aside for homeless prevention programs and permanent housing to instead fund temporary shelter. The compromise comes after community groups and experts warned that the mayor’s plan, proposed last month, could inadvertently inflate the need for temporary shelter if more permanent housing is not available for people to move into. (Johnson, 6/26)

Sacramento Bee: Homeless People More Likely To Die In Sacramento Car Crashes
Not everyone knows exactly how their mother will die, but Lisa Copelin had spoken to her mother’s doctors: Lindie Kraushar was supposed to die of cirrhosis. She wasn’t supposed to die crossing the street. Kraushar was 53 when she was hit in South Natomas on Nov. 29. About three years prior, she was hospitalized with a host of troubling symptoms, and doctors found that she had advanced liver disease. The diagnosis was awful. She had struggled with drug addiction for many years, and her poor health was compounded by a sometimes brutal life without a permanent home. (Lange, 6/27)

Los Angeles Times: Last Chance For L.A. Fire Victims To Have Free Blood Lead Testing
The L.A. County Department of Public Health is offering its final free community blood testing event Friday to screen victims of January’s firestorms for possible exposure to lead, a dangerous neurotoxin commonly found in wildfire ash and debris. Although elevated lead levels have been found in the soil of the Eaton and Palisades fire burn scars, community testing thus far has shown very low levels of lead contamination in residents. (Harter, 6/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: Heart Attack Deaths Fall 90% In 50 Years, But Other Heart Risks Rise
Deaths from heart attacks have fallen dramatically over the past 50 years, even taking into account a short but sharp increase in mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic, in a testament to the remarkable medical investment made by the U.S. to counteract a deadly public health threat, say teams of scientists from UCSF and Stanford who released parallel reports this week. Heart attack deaths dropped by nearly 90% from 1970 to 2022, the time period that the Stanford team studied for their report published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. (Allday, 6/27)

Bloomberg: Wegovy-WeightWatchers Deal Added After Novo Drops Hims & Hers Partnership
Novo Nordisk A/S struck a deal with WeightWatchers to boost access to its Wegovy obesity drug, just days after axing a collaboration with telehealth company Hims & Hers Health Inc. WeightWatchers subscribers will be able to access Wegovy via CenterWell Pharmacy from July 1, Novo said Thursday. The drugmaker is also offering a $299 introductory price for self-pay patients who start on Wegovy, as well as for people who redeemed an earlier $199 offer and need a refill. (Kresge and Muller, 6/26)

Bloomberg: New UnitedHealth CEO Shakes Up Management At Optum Division
The leader of UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s Optum Health care delivery unit has left the role, an early indication of management changes under Stephen Hemsley, UnitedHealth’s new chief executive officer. The division will now be led by Patrick Conway, who was recently promoted to CEO of the broader Optum division that includes Optum Health. Conway will add the title of Optum Health CEO, according to a company memo reviewed by Bloomberg News. (Tozzi, 6/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: Modest Gains In S.F. Effort To Force Mentally Ill People In Treatment
In 2024, San Francisco was one of two California counties that jumped at the opportunity to implement a new law allowing cities to place those struggling with mental illness into involuntary medical treatment. But 18 months after San Francisco began rolling it out, Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman criticized the city’s implementation, saying it has “not been a success.” (Li, 6/26)

Los Angeles Times: Mother Of L.A. Boy Battling Leukemia Files Lawsuit To Stop Deportation
A Central American asylum applicant arrested outside an L.A. immigration court is suing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security and the Trump administration for her immediate release and that of her two children, including her 6-year-old son stricken with cancer. The Honduran woman, not named in court documents, filed a petition for writs of habeas corpus, challenging the legality of her and her family’s detention at a Texas facility. (Campa, 6/26)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Eliminating Crisis Hotline For LGBTQ+ Youth; L.A. Has Resources
A national hotline will no longer provide services specifically for LGBTQ+ youths in crisis. The Trump administration is ending that support next month. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline has counselors for anyone in emotional distress or contemplating suicide but also has connected LGBTQ+ youth with specially trained counselors. Research has shown this population experiences significantly higher rates of suicidal ideation. But that specialized service will end July 17. (Garcia, 6/26)

San Diego Union-Tribune: VA Staffers Can’t Be Allowed To Choose The Patients They Will Help
San Diego County is home to 100,000 active-duty service members and 240,000 veterans, and many use the Jennifer Moreno VA Medical Center in La Jolla. Such rule changes could have a negative impact on our veterans’ ability to access the health care benefits that they deserve and could mean that some of the best doctors are forced out for political reasons. (Flavia Mangan Colgan, 6/25)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Planned Parenthood Is At Risk Of Being Defunded
Recently, when I sat down with the head of Planned Parenthood in California, I was shaken by what I heard: I’ve known for a while that some members of Congress have been trying to pull funding from Planned Parenthood, but I didn’t fully grasp how close they are to doing it — and what that would mean for reproductive health care in California. (Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, 6/25)

Orange County Register: Tariffs On Medicines Will Make Californians’ Lives Even More Unaffordable 
California plays an outsized role in the biopharmaceutical industry, with more than 16,000 life sciences companies, which support 1.2 million jobs statewide. Multinational companies like Cencora, which operates a plant in Corona, would surely face higher costs. Any disruption to the global supply chain will hit these businesses hard, risking local jobs and threatening Californians’ access to timely treatments. (Ron Nehring, 6/24)

Times of San Diego: Growing Senior Homelessness Requires Urgent Action
The 2025 Point-In-Time Count assessing homelessness in San Diego County bought mixed news. It was encouraging to see signs that overall homelessness has declined, especially among families and military veterans. The continued rise in homelessness among older adults remains deeply concerning to us at Serving Seniors. Since the count last year, older adults are becoming homeless at a greater rate than the general population. People age 55 and older experiencing homelessness for the first time saw a 5% increase in the last year. (Melinda Forstey, 6/22)

Capitol Weekly: Don’t Let Bad Policy Fuel Healthcare Inflation
California’s healthcare system is on the brink. Skyrocketing premiums, a strained Medi-Cal program facing a multi-billion-dollar deficit, and patients struggling to find providers are pushing workers, unions, and small businesses to their limits. Given these challenges, now is the worst time for California’s leaders to inflict unforced errors and bad laws that will make the healthcare system even more unstable—especially when they will do nothing to lower costs. (Greg McClelland, 6/23)