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.
Breaking Down Why Medicare Part D Premiums Are Likely To Go Up
By Julie Appleby
Insurers will take drug costs, frequency of use, and other factors into account as they set premium amounts for the 2026 plan year.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Trump Further Politicizes Science
President Donald Trump’s latest executive order about science and medicine seeks to take funding decisions out of the hands of career scientists and give them to political appointees instead. And a gunman, reportedly disgruntled over covid vaccines, shoots at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, killing a law enforcement officer. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Aaron Carroll, president and CEO of the health services research group AcademyHealth, about how to restore the public’s trust in public health.
Daily Edition for Thursday, August 14, 2025
Efforts To Curb Youth Suicide Appear To Be Working: Fewer children in California are dying by suicide since the pandemic, as thoughts of suicide and suicidal attempts have declined among young people nationwide, a federal report shows. Read more from EdSource.
‘Alternative Facts’ Aren’t a Reason To Skip Vaccines
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to defund mRNA research is just the latest to put ideology above public health.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, August 13, 2025
UCLA Science Research Grants Must Be Restored, Federal Judge Rules: A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore hundreds of suspended UCLA science research grants, affecting more than a third of awards totaling $584 million that the government abruptly froze late last month. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
‘A Fear Pandemic’: Immigration Raids Are Pushing Patients Into Telehealth
By Christine Mai-Duc
With intensified immigration enforcement in California, community clinics serving Latino and immigrant populations say they’ve noticed an increase in appointment cancellations and telehealth usage. But, as the covid-19 pandemic showed, accessing the necessary technology can be a challenge and virtual appointments can take a person’s health care only so far.
