NEW: After Eli Lilly granted one man special access to the obesity drug retatrutide, doctors are struggling to get answers on whether they can get access for their patients (tho one doc did hear back after STAT asked Lilly for comment). W/@elaineywchen.bsky.social: www.statnews.com/2026/08/03/e...

After Eli Lilly granted one man special access to obesity drug, doctors struggle to get answers

Doctors are asking how to get retatrutide for their patients, after Eli Lilly gave one man early access.

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An increasing number of adults hate their jobs but are keeping them solely for the health insurance. Job lock is as bad as ever. An indictment of the labor market and health care costs. www.statnews.com/2026/07/22/g...

More workers hate their jobs, but keep them for the health insurance

A new survey reveals 24% of U.S. workers stay in unwanted jobs to keep health insurance. Experts call it 'job lock.'

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Wanna hang out with me today and talk employer health insurance? AMA: www.statnews.com/event/out-of...

Office Hours with STAT's Bob Herman

Office Hours with STAT's Bob Herman: Join us at 1 p.m. EST July 22 to learn more about his series on the soaring costs of employer-based health insurance.

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Got this text a couple months. Had to investigate it. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/t...

UnitedHealth Group $UNH celebrated today as it smashed investors' profit expectations. But a string of comments from executives signals a more ominous path ahead for America’s businesses and workers. www.statnews.com/2026/07/16/u...

Despite earnings celebration, UnitedHealth signals more financial pain for employers

Insurance giant UnitedHealth signals the cost of providing workers with health insurance will climb even higher.

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Worked with @bobjherman.bsky.social on the data for this piece. Here’s the chart I think is the showstopper: Over the last 40 years, the amount of money spent on employer-sponsored insurance premiums skyrocketed by nearly 1000%, well above baseline inflation.

STAT@statnews.com · 4w ago

America's employer-based health insurance system is crumbling. STAT investigates why, in our new series, “Out of Pocket, Out of Reach.” www.statnews.com/2026/07/07/s...

America’s employer health insurance is decaying. We’re launching a new series, Out of Pocket, Out of Reach, that chronicles how and why this system is harming everyone in a more urgent way than ever. Despair is most apparent among small businesses. www.statnews.com/2026/07/07/s...

Today we take you inside the alcohol industry's influence. These are just some ways the beer, wine & liquor trades (and their stables of lobbyists) try to shape politics, policy, philanthropy, science. In the face of enormous business troubles, tactics are key: www.statnews.com/2026/07/01/a...

Booze schmooze: The alcohol industry, frazzled by headwinds, wields its power behind the scenes

Demand for alcohol is declining. The industry is fighting harder and more creatively than ever against limits — and winning.

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Imagine showing up to an ER thinking you're having a heart attack — only to be turned away because you don't have insurance. @tarabannow.bsky.social reports on how hospitals like Nurex Health, which don't contract with Medicare, can boot patients from their ERs: www.statnews.com/2026/06/29/n...

The ERs that can turn patients away — and are reaping millions

The hospital operator Nutex enriched itself by exploiting loopholes in laws meant to protect patients, STAT found.

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Pretty wild: For every $9 we spent on retail prescription drugs in 2025, $1 went toward GLP-1s. www.statnews.com/2026/06/24/h...

EXCLUSIVE: Eli Lilly gave compassionate use access to retatrutide, their unapproved powerful obesity drug, to a 79-year-old man in April. The application was arranged by a top doctor at NIH, and cleared by the FDA. www.statnews.com/2026/06/23/e...

Eli Lilly gave extraordinary obesity drug access to a 79-year-old patient. Who was it?

Exclusive: STAT has learned that Eli Lilly and the FDA allowed a 79-year-old to gain extraordinary access to an experimental obesity drug through the agency’s “compassionate use” program.

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Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Braun: “Government has to intervene, because health care is run like an unregulated utility.” kffhealthnews.org/health-indus...

Indiana Takes On Powerful Hospitals by Capping Prices They Charge Employers - KFF Health News

“Government has to intervene, because healthcare is run like an unregulated utility,” Indiana’s GOP governor says of the state’s effort to regulate hospital prices.

kffhealthnews.org

Congenital syphilis is a “never event.” But it’s happening more. Pfizer, the only company that sells a treatment for it, is at the center. “Where purchasers are paying the full price, we’ve seen Pfizer doing a lot of handholding.” Read @ericboodman.bsky.social. www.statnews.com/2026/06/15/p...

Amid confusion over Pfizer's emergency penicillin program, newborn is diagnosed with preventable syphilis

Congenital syphilis should be preventable. An Arizona case shows how drug shortages and procedural hurdles are fueling a growing public health crisis.

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RFK Jr. claimed his calendar, including meeting details, is public. But those records have not been released — despite more than a year of FOIA requests from @statnews.com reporters. More on the state of transparency at HHS, w/ @chelseacirruzzo.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2026/06/11/r...

RFK Jr. claims his calendar is publicly available. We've been trying to get it for a year

None of STAT's requests for Kennedy's schedule have been completed, and some haven't even been acknowledged.

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Biggest Medicare Advantage insurers denied rehabilitative care for older and disabled Americans at higher rates than industry peers, then frequently overturned those denials when patients appealed, OIG finds. Confirms reporting from @caseyross.bsky.social and me: www.statnews.com/2026/06/11/m...

Private Medicare plans erect barriers to rehab care in pursuit of profit, federal investigators find

Federal investigation finds Medicare Advantage insurers block rehab care for older adults, only to reverse denials on appeal.

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The Trump administration wants low-income people who have cancer, kidney failure, and other complex conditions to prove they can't work in order to keep their Medicaid coverage. www.statnews.com/2026/06/03/m...

NEW: Massachusetts is suing UnitedHealthcare, alleging the company intentionally made low-income seniors appear sicker than they were over the past decade to boost its bottom line. www.statnews.com/2026/05/29/u...

Massachusetts sues UnitedHealth, alleging fraud in state’s Medicaid plans for seniors

State AG alleges UnitedHealthcare claimed some members were sicker to boost its profits.

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So many incredible parts from this @sarah-todd.bsky.social dispatch at a longevity conference, including organ replacement and her survey of how long these people think they'll live. www.statnews.com/2026/05/27/l...

The news here (Taubenberger out as head of NIAID) tells you a lot about the chaos reigning at top science institutions in the US. 16 of 27 NIH institutes now have acting directors. And the second paragraph tells you about the chaos journalists face trying to get government responses…

Acting head of NIH’s infectious disease institute reported to have stepped down

Jeffery Taubenberger, the acting head of the NIAID, the NIH’s infectious disease institute, is reported to have stepped down.

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The latest piece in our series, "The Deadliest Drug," about preventable alcohol-related harms in the US: the continuing issue of alcohol use during pregnancy, which is more widespread than it seems, and how we're falling short on efforts to minimize its damage: www.statnews.com/2026/05/19/d...

1 in 8 women drink during pregnancy. Experts dread the consequences

More than 1 in 8 pregnant women report drinking. Doctors warn fetal alcohol disorders may be more common than many realize, perhaps more common than autism.

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Potentially coming to an ACA marketplace near you: Health insurance that isn't even really insurance. www.statnews.com/2026/05/18/t...

On Jan. 6 this year, Trump's stock pickers bought some Eli Lilly. It was the beginning of a series of stock buys. All while the agencies he oversees undertook an agenda boosting GLP-1s, Lilly's flagship product. My latest for @kffhealthnews.org: kffhealthnews.org/health-indus...

Trump Bought Stock in Drugmaker as His Government Boosted Its Obesity Drugs - KFF Health News

New ethics disclosures show the president invested in Eli Lilly and a company that manufactures injectable devices as his health agencies implemented policies that benefited them.

kffhealthnews.org

RFK Jr. did what kffhealthnews.org/public-healt...

STAT's new multi-part investigation, "The Deadliest Drug," is out. @levfacher.bsky.social and I have spent months examining the country's unchecked epidemic of injuries, diseases and deaths caused by excessive alcohol, and why the U.S. is ignoring its biggest substance use problem. @statnews.com

NEW: The FDA has started to rehire after losing thousands of employees last year. But it will be difficult to replace what was lost. Read our profile of six of the folks who left, featuring video portraits filmed by @alexhogan.bsky.social: www.statnews.com/2026/05/07/f...

What was lost at the FDA

What was lost at the FDA: A year after DOGE’s cuts, six agency staffers describe the work they never thought they’d leave.

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SCOOP: Sanofi has asked the FDA to pull its type 1 diabetes drug, Tzield, out of the Commissioner's drug review voucher program. The move comes after acting CDER director Tracy Beth Høeg disagreed with a staff decision to approve the drug. www.statnews.com/2026/05/06/s...

Sanofi asks to pull diabetes drug out of FDA voucher program after political appointee interfered with review

Sanofi has asked the FDA to pull its type 1 diabetes drug out of Commissioner Marty Makary’s new speedy drug review program.

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Cigna is abandoning the ACA health insurance marketplaces by the end of the year, following in Aetna’s footsteps. Insurers have shown, time and again, they will bail on the ACA market if people are too sick. @tarabannow.bsky.social reports: www.statnews.com/2026/04/30/c...

Cigna will exit ACA individual markets next year, adding to tumult for patients

ACA membership is tumbling after Congress failed to extend extra subsidies that helped people afford the coverage.

statnews.com

Hospital CEOs are currently testifying in front on Congress. The American Hospital Association just held its annual meeting, and @danielpayne.bsky.social caught this extremely candid quote from Chuck Schumer showing just how much lobbying power hospitals have. www.statnews.com/2026/04/27/f...

More than 20 years ago, UnitedHealthcare was getting rid of prior authorization. But when Steve Hemsley first became CEO of UHC's parent company, he brought it back. www.statnews.com/2026/04/27/f...

The risk posed by the SARS-CoV-2 virus — the cause of #Covid19 — is much different these days than it was in April 2020, when we were all learning about social distancing & flattening the curve. What happened? What does it mean for us? Experts share their thoughts. www.statnews.com/2026/04/27/i...

What happened to Covid?

The thinking about what risk Covid poses — or doesn't pose — has shifted in recent years. What does it mean for you?

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