The Trump administration has voiced some tough rhetoric about health insurers. But almost every major decision from Trump officials has benefited insurers and their bottom lines. The new Medicare Advantage rule is the latest example. www.statnews.com/2026/04/09/m...
NEW: Trump officials give bigger pay hike to Medicare Advantage plans. That's due in *large part* to scrapping an updated risk adjustment model that would have used more recent data for people's diagnoses. Huge win for the health insurance industry. www.statnews.com/2026/04/06/m...
NEW: Trump admin is making it easier for Medicare Advantage plans to grab bonus $$ from star ratings. It'll cost taxpayers $18.6B over the next decade (more than the $13.2B originally expected). Will MA plans continue to cry poor? www.statnews.com/2026/04/02/m...
"[W]ith some drugs, Mr. Trump appears to have modestly narrowed the gap between European and U.S. prices. But the gap persists, and the reality does not match his hyperbole." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/w...
You HAVE to read this story by @tarabannow.bsky.social, even if just for lede & the video of Scott LaRoque's fire- & dancer-filled entrance to his company's holiday party.
The No Surprises Act was meant to reduce surprise bills for patients...but the solution introduced a bunch of other problems. 🩺
BREAKING: Federal judge stalls RFK's reconstitution of ACIP and childhood vaccine schedule, saying it likely violated the law (APA)
story is developing and will be updated!
www.statnews.com/2026/03/16/k...
How would STAT have covered the pharmaceutical scandal subplot from "The Fugitive"? Wait, is the pharma company's name MacGruber? How much time actually elapsed in the movie? A fun one from @alexhogan.bsky.social. www.statnews.com/2026/03/13/f...
Ahem: www.statnews.com/2025/12/22/t...
I had gone to the local ER, expecting a run-of-the-mill gallbladder removal that would have me back at work by Monday. Instead, they shipped me down to the big regional hospital in Fargo, North Dakota, where an MRI showed a gallstone, yes, but also a 9.5-centimeter tumor wrapped tightly around the main bile duct and several major blood vessels in the liver. The gastrointestinal specialist was in the room with my wife and me when the radiology report came back. I watched his face drop and his entire demeanor change as he read through it for the first time. He was an affable guy roughly the same age as me. “We just don’t see this in guys our age,” he said. I was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, or cancer of the bile duct. As far as cancers go, it’s an especially brutal one: The five-year survival rate is around 10 percent, and most people diagnosed with it are dead within a year. That was going to be me. Cholangiocarcinoma is deadly in large part because it is so rare: There are only about 8,000 new cases in the U.S. each year. Cancer treatment advances patient by patient, clinical trial by clinical trial. Each patient is a new data point. When there are few data points, the science advances very slowly. “There are some chemo and radiation therapies that can slow it down a little bit, maybe buy you some extra time, but nothing that can kill it,” the GI doc explained. “The only way to cure it is to cut it out completely, either by surgically resecting the liver or doing a full-on transplant, but by the time most people are showing symptoms, it’s too late for either of those.” “Is it too late for me?” I asked. “I don’t know,” he said.
For Slate, I wrote about what it's like to get a terminal cancer diagnosis when you're 42. slate.com/life/2026/03...
A top biotech VC quietly helped Epstein’s ‘great friend’ make a comeback. Via @statnews.com
www.statnews.com/2026/03/11/e...
Is Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk trolling teleheath company Hims & Hers with a new video? A spokesperson from the company told me there was "no connection." Here's a clip from my new @statnews.com video
President Trump heralded TrumpRx as “one of the most transformative health care initiatives of all time.”
A month in, administration pledges are far from being met — even as drug pricing has become a key part of its pitch to voters.
www.statnews.com/2026/03/05/t...
Last year, UnitedHealth Group disclosed 3,100 subsidiaries. This year? Just 10. The health care giant is paring back transparency right as its executives say they are embracing it. www.statnews.com/2026/03/04/u...
Stanley Plotkin, known as the “godfather of vaccines,” in an interview with @helenbranswell.bsky.social: “All I can say is that I’m beginning to regret having lived so long — because we’re going downhill.” www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...
New: Jeffrey Epstein’s tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab.
A story of science, controversy, and a sex offender, via @mmolteni.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/2026/02/24/e...
NEW: The entire process of finding Medicare coverage may be influenced by artificial intelligence in the not-too-distant future. CMS wants to use AI tools for its "Medicare Experience Modernization" project — and there are lots of question marks. www.statnews.com/2026/02/23/m...
NEW: Pharma lobbyists are working to influence an agency once thought largely off-limits — the FDA.
How Trump-era politics are being injected into the agency tasked with regulating U.S. medicines:
w/ @lizzylawrence.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/2026/02/23/f...
Working at STAT is a true joy. Everyone here works their tails off to produce trustworthy, powerful health care journalism. Extremely proud of @lizzylawrence.bsky.social and the @statnews.com staff for this. www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/s...
This makes it four Polk Awards for @statnews.com in five years — a credit to an incredibly talented staff.
www.prnewswire.com/news-release...
Scoop: Top FDA official Vinay Prasad overruled the agency’s reviewers when he refused to accept Moderna’s application for a new influenza vaccine, STAT has learned.
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
With the ACA's enhanced subsidies now expired, Trump officials are very motivated to make ACA coverage appear more affordable. So they are pouring gasoline on "catastrophic" plans and other skimpy options. More with @tarabannow.bsky.social: www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/2...
We found at least 18 of the drugs on TrumpRx have cheaper generics available ranging from potential savings of over $600 for Tikosyn to just around $2 for Diflucan. Most of the drugs are made by Pfizer.
So about TrumpRx: We crunched the numbers today and about half of the drugs on there have cheaper generics available already. www.statnews.com/2026/02/06/t...
Multi-cancer early detection tests cost as much as $950. They aren't FDA-approved. There's no evidence they are beneficial for patients. And yet, Hims is advertising them in a Super Bowl ad. Read more from @katiepalmer.bsky.social: www.statnews.com/2026/02/06/t...
A staggering statement from former Washington Post editor Marty Baron: "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations."
NEW: A look at how Jeffrey Epstein’s tremendous wealth and connections opened doors at a prestigious New York City hospital — from a 24/7 hotline for the "board and donor community" to house calls.
www.politico.com/news/2026/02...
bsky.app/profile/lizz...
About 30% of prescriptions for weight loss drug Wegovy now come from Novo Nordisk's direct-to-consumer program — i.e., patients who are not actively using their health insurance. www.statnews.com/2026/02/03/n...
Doctors nationwide are seeing patients avoid care amid ICE crackdowns, sometimes with dire consequences.
Health providers are now employing pandemic-era tactics to keep care accessible.
How immigration policy is changing American health care:
www.statnews.com/2026/02/03/i...
UnitedHealth Group is getting smaller. But there's more to the story: This purge of Medicare Advantage enrollees, other insurance members, and unnamed assets also means "intercompany eliminations" — how much business UHG does with itself — are declining. www.statnews.com/2026/02/02/u...
President Trump has filed a lawsuit against the IRS, in which he demands that the IRS, which he as president controls, pay him $10 billion.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
