Meg Winchester
@mswinche.bsky.social
senior editor @Health Affairs | medical anthropologist | health policy, climate, global health, social determinants, accountable care | views expressed are my own
It’s also going to show up in the form of reduced bonus/raise pools and fewer new hires
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 10h agoEmployers predict an average 8.2 percent increase in the cost of their insurance plans, the largest spike in health care costs in over two decades. Workers will shoulder some of the costs, in the form of higher premiums and reductions in coverage.
the longer the CDC director maintains radio silence on this, the worse it will get
EXCLUSIVE: Kennedy asked to remove Pennsylvania measles death from CDC tally, sources say
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked his new CDC director to remove a reference to two Pennsylvania deaths from the agency’s online measles tally after he questioned whether the disease c...
reuters.com
Today I’m thinking of Dr. Fauci and what Trump and RFK Jr. may try to do to the doctor from the Pennsylvania Department of Health who adjudicated the two measles deaths. The CDC Director’s decision to remove the two deaths from the dataset has wide-ranging consequences no matter the outcome.
On #LongCovid and profiling my colleague @julialmv.bsky.social @smithsonianmag.bsky.social www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/m...
For Many Americans, Covid Is Still a Chronic, Disabling Disease. These Scientists Are Working Tirelessly to Bring Them Relief
Long Covid saps the strength and vitality of patients, who have little recourse to fight it. A team of specialists—including an afflicted researcher working mostly from her bed—is looking for answers
smithsonianmag.com
Missed this on Friday: HHS staffing is down to a two-decade low. For all the talk of "waste and duplication," gotta wonder what that's going to mean for future outsourcing of essential bureaucratic responsibilities — at a mark-up, of course. www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
“The current Ebola outbreak points to 2 pieces of learning that we seem to lose after each new outbreak: That reactive, short-term funding for disease outbreaks means that we will always be playing “catch up” & that responses must be locally led & owned” www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...
Health Affairs Journal
healthaffairs.org
I’ve seen a few doctors in the media blaming the Pennsylvania Department of Health for “politicizing” the announcement of two deaths from measles, or worse, claiming that PADOH physicians “overstated” evidence. I reject this completely. Measles is a reportable disease. This means that all known…
"Low vaccination rates and a weak government response could make measles outbreaks deadlier, more disabling and costlier" @aetiology.bsky.social www.ms.now/opinion/rfk-...
Opinion | America beat measles once. RFK Jr. is making it harder to do so again.
The U.S. is headed for more cases, more suffering, more deaths and enormous financial costs.
ms.now
New on Forefront: How this ebola outbreak could reshape foreign aid
How The Current Ebola Outbreak Might Reshape American Foreign Aid | Health Affairs Forefront
Emergency funding is necessary, but a system dependent largely on episodic, reactive funding is ill-suited to moments of crisis or building long-term preparedness.
healthaffairs.org
"A recent report by the Government Accountability Office found that FDA averaged only 917 foreign food-facility inspections annually from fiscal years 2018 through 2023 — less than 5 percent of the statutory target established under the Food Safety Modernization Act."
Patient count for parasite outbreak linked to lettuce tops 10,000
The sick people are spread across 17 states
foodsafetynews.com
The already-bad SNAP & Medicaid situation is fated to worsen starting in October. Thanks to Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, that's when states become responsible for billions in costs for those programs. Making things worse, many states slashed taxes in recent years, leaving them strapped for cash.
Wave of Tax Cuts Has Left Many States Vulnerable to Trump SNAP and Medicaid Crisis
President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act will shift billions in costs for SNAP and Medicaid to states. But with 26 having cut or eliminated state income taxes just since 2021, the...
propublica.org
This piece from @27unihted.bsky.social on how RFK Jr. captured another federal advisory committee, this one for autism, is mind blowing. People with autism and their families will be harmed using your tax dollars, because RFK Jr. got a bunch of cranks and snake oil peddlers on the committee.
HHS's strategic plan for autism just dropped, and it's scarier than we thought.
But you can intervene to stop wasteful spending and dangerous interventions by Vanessa McMains, Christa Reynolds, and Anonymous Experts
27unihted.substack.com
The share of kindergartners with exemptions from school vaccine requirements for the 2025-2026 school year rose to a record high, according to federal data. The sharp increase comes as the U.S. battles its worst measles resurgence in 35 years.
Kindergarten vaccine exemptions jump to another record high
Coverage among kindergartners for major vaccines fell in more than half the states, continuing a years-long trend, as measles cases climb.
washingtonpost.com
A recent survey found that 92% of U.S. adults have delayed or avoided medical care due to high costs. Meanwhile, a new study from Yale estimates that Medicare for All would save over 114,000 lives and $1 trillion a year. If this country was truly “pro-life,” we would have universal healthcare.
$900 million would cover a year of food assistance for 400,000 people wapo.st/4xe1GJT
Trump administration set to spend at least $900 million on White House construction
The price tag is much larger than what has been previously reported, according to a Post review of confidential contracts, and taxpayers would cover most of it.
wapo.st
"As a scholarly journal we need some guardrails to ensure scholarship, not slop." In this Editor's Choice, @jocalynclark.bsky.social writes on seeking actual, not artificial, intelligence www.bmj.com/content/394/...
We’ve update our Medicaid enrollment tracker and the news for children isn’t good. Since January 2025 there has been a shocking drop of 2.3 million kids enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP. This means the child uninsured rate is likely going up.
My editor asked me to write about what happened to summer:
We launched a war on nature. Now we are in a climate warzone | Rebecca Solnit
Summer is not what it once was. We have been robbed of one of life’s great joys
theguardian.com
Not a big fan of the "sick, elderly and/or disabled people don't count" discourse that appears to follow public health disasters these days.
The New York Times@nytimes.com · last mo.Breaking News: Two deaths in Michigan have been linked to cyclospora. Both people who had the parasite also had underlying health issues.
University of Cambridge historian Ben Zdencanovic explores America's long struggle to build a healthcare safety net.
Trump administration is withholding more than $1B in Medicaid funds from California and Minnesota, in latest example of weaponizing real and imagined fraud
For six decades, politicians have blurred the distinction between protecting Medicaid from abuse and using abuse to discredit Medicaid itself.
theconversation.com
"No additional staff have been hired to help with the implementation of the new Medicaid requirements as the state grapples with a budget crisis." nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news...
Nebraska becomes first state to disenroll Medicaid recipients under new work requirements
The first work requirement-related disenrollments begin in Nebraska on Saturday. While the state Medicaid director estimates this will impact 200 Nebraskans, advocates are concerned that the number wi...
nebraskapublicmedia.org
RFK told Dana Bash that Lyme disease “almost certainly” came from gain of function research. Which is utterly false. www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdi...
Lyme Disease Did Not Come From a Secret Military Lab, Contrary to FDA Chief's Claim
Bacterium that causes it circulated long before the lab opened, decades of evidence show
medpagetoday.com
Thanks so much to @mswinche.bsky.social for the lovely and thoughtful review of my book Coverage Denied at Health Affairs Forefront! I arrived at this scholarly work because of my own encounters with this, so I’m especially glad when it resonates. www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...
Health Affairs Journal
healthaffairs.org
I read @mirandayaver.bsky.social's excellent book on insurance denials and you should too! Review below:
The Accumulated Inconvenience Of Insurance Coverage Denials | Health Affairs Forefront
In a new book review, Senior Editor Margaret Winchester reviews Coverage Denied: How Health Insurers Drive Inequality in the United States by Miranda Yaver.
healthaffairs.org
This story is horrifying. I was waiting for the moment when private equity was mentioned and then there it was. This is the sad result of a society that values rich people and their money, more than human life. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
A for-profit hospital slashed costs. Then a patient froze to death on its roof.
A little-known company grew on promises to save distressed hospitals. Instead, it sunk them into financial chaos.
motherjones.com
Had a lot of thoughts while listening to this — not all of them polite — including continuing to marvel that Nebraska did not scale up their Medicaid staff at all in anticipation of work requirements
Meet the Man Launching Trump's Medicaid Work Requirements Months Early
Nebraska Medicaid Director Drew Gonshorowski says the state’s data capabilities put it in a strong position to quickly implement the historic changes. Advocates and researchers warn that eligible peop...
tradeoffs.org
My paper is out today in PNAS documenting how ICE activity in Trump 2.0 compares to the last 10 years and the mismatch between the action and the rhetoric. Joint with the fabulous @caitlinpatler.bsky.social and @elizabethacox.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
NEW: A large trove of Claude-generated documents have been exposed to the web and indexed by Google. We reviewed what appear to be real medical records, the full names and phone numbers of school-aged children, and company documents marked for internal use only. futurism.com/artificial-i...
A Whole Bunch of People's Claude Chats Are Publicly Accessible Online, and There's Some Wildly Private Stuff in There
A trove of documents generated by Anthropic's Claude were indexed by Google. They included medical records and student information.
futurism.com
A @kffhealthnews.org team has collected most states' approved plans and first-year budgets for the #RuralHealthTransformationProgram! #RHTP #RuralHealth Team: Me, @sjtribble-reports.bsky.social + Nate Payne kffhealthnews.org/rural-health...
Tracking State Rural Health Transformation Plans - KFF Health News
KFF Health News is working to collect and post approved plans as more states respond to emails and public records requests for their documents.
kffhealthnews.org
