Daily Edition for Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Workers Plan Strike Next Week At All UC Medical Centers, Campuses: Tens of thousands of unionized University of California workers are poised to strike Feb. 26 to 28 across all 10 UC campuses and five medical centers over what the unions say are unfair labor practices. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times.
Pain Clinics Made Millions From ‘Unnecessary’ Injections Into ‘Human Pin Cushions’
By Brett Kelman
Illustration by Oona Zenda
Pain MD, which once ran as many as 20 clinics across three states, gave chronic-pain patients about 700,000 total injections near their spines, according to court documents. Last year, federal prosecutors proved at trial that the shots were medically unnecessary and part of an extensive fraud scheme.
Iowa Medicaid Sends $4M Bills to Two Families Grieving Deaths of Loved Ones With Disabilities
By Tony Leys
States are required to claw back health care costs from the estates of many Medicaid recipients. Some, including Iowa, are particularly aggressive in their pursuit.
Urgent CDC Data and Analyses on Influenza and Bird Flu Go Missing as Outbreaks Escalate
By Amy Maxmen
Delays in urgent CDC analyses of seasonal flu and bird flu, and the agency’s silence, will harm Americans as outbreaks escalate, doctors and public health experts warn.
Daily Edition for Friday, February 14, 2025
Workers At Bird Flu-Testing Lab Might Go On Strike: Employees at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab at the University of California, Davis, a key lab for testing animal disease, are threatening to go on strike. The lab is the only one in the state able to handle the most dangerous cases of avian flu. Read more from Politico. Keep scrolling for more bird flu updates.
A Dose of Love: The Winning Health Policy Valentines
KFF Health News shares our favorite reader-submitted health policy valentines. One struck us in the heart and inspired an original cartoon.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Courts Try To Curb Health Cuts
Some of the Trump administration’s dramatic funding and policy shifts are facing major pushback for the first time — not from Congress, but from the courts. Federal judges around the country are attempting to pump the brakes on efforts to freeze government spending, shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, eliminate access to health-related webpages and datasets, and limit grant funding provided by the National Institutes of Health. Meanwhile, Congress is off to a slow start in trying to turn President Donald Trump’s agenda into legislation, although Medicaid is clearly high on the list for potential funding cuts. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Maya Goldman of Axios News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Mark McClellan, director of the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy and a former health official during the George W. Bush administration, about the impact of cutting funding to research universities.
Daily Edition for Thursday, February 13, 2025
Fremont Makes It a Crime To Help Homeless Camps: Over fierce objections, Fremont has approved an ordinance that prohibits camping on all public property and allows prosecutors to criminally charge anyone “aiding” or “abetting” a homeless camp. The penalty is a fine of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail. Read more from Bay Area News Group and CalMatters.
Republican States Claim Zero Abortions. A Red-State Doctor Calls That ‘Ludicrous.’
By Sarah Varney
Illustration by Oona Zenda
In several red states, officials say few or no abortions happened in 2023, raising alarm among researchers about the politicization of vital statistics.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, February 12, 2025
San Francisco Picks New Public Health Director: Daniel Tsai, who ran the Medicaid program under former President Joe Biden, will succeed Grant Colfax as San Francisco’s new public health director. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle. Plus: How the city's mayor is fast-tracking a new behavioral health center.
