Kennedy’s Anti-Vaccine Strategy Risks Forcing Shots Off Market, Manufacturers Warn
By Stephanie Armour
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is targeting the government’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, without which manufacturers might cease producing shots.
Optum Rx Invokes Open Meetings Law To Fight Kentucky Counties on Opioid Suits
By Aneri Pattani
In a Goliath-versus-David fight, UnitedHealth Group’s pharmacy benefit manager, Optum Rx, has filed lawsuits in five counties to stop them from including the company in national opioid litigation.
Planned Parenthood Bets on Redistricting To Push Back Against GOP Funding Cuts
By Christine Mai-Duc
Alarmed at Republicans’ deep cuts to health care and restrictions on reproductive rights, advocates are supporting California’s effort to counter a mid-decade gerrymander by the Texas GOP to pad their party’s fragile U.S. House majority.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, August 19, 2025
San José Begins Clear-Out Of Its Biggest Homeless Encampment: The city is beginning to remove RVs and tents from Columbus Park in North San Jose, where hundreds of homeless people have lived for years. Read more from KQED.
Guns, Race, and Profit: The Pain of America’s Other Epidemic
By Fred Clasen-Kelly and Renuka Rayasam
Firearm violence is killing Americans at the scale of a public health epidemic. The suffering is concentrated in Black neighborhoods damaged by segregation, disinvestment, hate crimes, and other forms of racial discrimination.
The National Suicide Hotline For LGBTQ+ Youth Shut Down. States Are Scrambling To Help.
By Annie Sciacca
LGBTQ+ youth lost dedicated support on the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in July at a critical time. Advocates say mental health issues are rising in that population amid hostility from the Trump administration.
Daily Edition for Monday, August 18, 2025
Unmasked Wildfire Fighters Struggle With Aftermath Of Toxic Blazes: Wildfire crewmembers used to be seasonal laborers, but they now work almost year-round — and many of them are getting sick with cancer, heart disease, and lung problems. The Forest Service has fought against equipping firefighters with masks. “I’ve been on eight of the 10 biggest fires in California history. Now I can’t even push a shopping cart without having chest pain,” said Brian Wangerin, a former crew boss whose heart problems put him out of work at 33. Read more from The New York Times.
Health Care Groups Aim To Counter Growing ‘National Scandal’ of Elder Homelessness
By Felice J. Freyer
The housing crisis is requiring creative scrambling and new partnerships from health care organizations to keep older patients out of expensive nursing homes as homelessness grows.
It’s Almost Flu Season. Should You Still Get a Shot, and Will Insurance Cover It?
By Madison Czopek, PolitiFact
Doctors and public health leaders, including at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommend that most people 6 months old and older get the 2025-26 flu vaccine — and it’s still covered by most insurance plans.
Daily Edition for Friday, August 15, 2025
Health Insurance Premiums Ticking Up In 2026: Health insurance premiums for Californians buying coverage through Covered California will rise by an average of 10.3% in 2026, the state marketplace announced Thursday. The increase is about half the projected national average of 20%, which officials credit to aggressive rate negotiations and a healthier risk pool. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and CalMatters.
