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good morning. What do you eat in the last days of cool weather as spring approaches? You want one more bowl of delicious soup or stew before moving on to greener seasonal pastures.
Watch RFK Jr. try to find his balance today
Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. headed to the Capitol today to testify on his fiscal year 2027 budget request. He is scheduled to appear in at least seven hearings before major committees in both the House and Senate next week. And, as STAT’s Chelsea Siluzzo reports, how Kennedy handles lawmakers’ questions will test whether he can stay on message before embarking on a midterm campaign trip to shore up support for the MAHA movement and White House policies.
He will boast about his administration’s “MAHA victories” last year, but the focus will be on the budget. This includes a proposed 12% cut to HHS and other proposals included in the fiscal year 2026 budget proposal that was ultimately ignored by Congress. Read more about the key questions Chelsea will be tracking throughout the day.
The mental health equity gap is widening
Spending weeks or months searching for a therapist in your network? You’re not alone.
A new analysis of commercial insurance data finds that Americans routinely struggle to find mental health care and substance use disorder treatment clinicians, even though federal law requires insurers to cover mental health care on par with physical health.
The Mental Health Parity Index released Tuesday by the Kennedy Forum, the American Medical Association and other groups paints a grim picture. In 43 states, this disparity exists among enrollees in plans offered by the nation’s four largest commercial health insurers: Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare. It’s not just the patients. Providers in every state receive less payment from insurance companies for these services.
As I’ve written before, this is not a new problem, but with federal health officials indicating they do not intend to enforce parity laws, there is no sign that this will change. — O. Rose Broderick
FDA considers broad access to certain peptides
STAT’s Lizzie Lawrence and Sarah Todd reported yesterday that the FDA plans to convene an outside advisory committee to discuss the possibility of allowing compounding pharmacies to manufacture certain peptides. The first meeting will be held in July, with the next meeting scheduled to be held by the end of February 2027.
Biden’s FDA removed 19 peptides from the list of drugs that compounding pharmacies can manufacture. Seven of these were discussed during the July panel discussion, and five more will be featured at future meetings. Read more about how scientists, politicians, and pharmacies reacted to this announcement.
Did you think text-based chatbots are dangerous?
As large-scale language models become integrated into American culture, it’s no surprise that attention is focused on how chatbots reinforce delusions and foster emotional dependence. But as one doctor argues in a new First Opinion essay, there’s a big difference between typing into a chatbot and literally talking to it.
“Long before children read a single word in school, their brains are already wired to process sounds,” writes Mark Augustine. “When AI speaks to you, it activates something deeper and older than literacy.” Read more about the existing evidence on the impact of voice-first chatbots.
And as an AI double whammy, check out another First Opinion essay on how the medical AI revolution requires rethinking healthcare architecture.
14%
That’s the percentage of people who enrolled in ACA Marketplace insurance plans and did not pay a premium in January 2026, according to a new report from consulting group Wakely. CMS previously revealed that about 5% of people dropped their insurance plans after the enhanced premium tax credit expired, but the report’s authors note that the number of people who can no longer afford the newly increased premiums provides important context. Those who covered their monthly bills last year were automatically enrolled in the same plan, but could stop paying and lose coverage if they can’t afford the higher premiums.
The authors estimate that the complete dropout rate from ACA plans will be between 17% and 26%, which could have major implications for the development of premium rates in 2027 and, of course, for people’s health.
what we are reading
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If your heart stopped right now, would a stranger save you? It depends on your gender, your local epidemiologist
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Spatial atlas of healthy human livers from living donors, Nature
- CMS proposes breakthrough device payment flexibility, STAT rollback
- Ozempic’s Great Experiment, New York Times
