Reed Abelson

Medicare Will Require Prior Approval for Certain Procedures

The A.I. companies they contract to review pre-authorizations will have a strong incentive to deny care. Medicare plans to pay them a share of the savings generated from rejections.

My story with @reedabelson.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/h...

As Aatish Taseer and his husband built a life together in New York, their anchor was Zinc, an 85-pound shepherd-lab mix. The last lesson he taught them was about loss and renewal.

🔗 Read more: on.wsj.com/4mGA766

UnitedHealth Grew to Be a Leviathan. Then Came the Backlash.

A look at the broad challenges facing UnitedHealth — and the U.S. health system www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/h...

‘Little Lobbyists’ Urge Senators to Oppose Trump’s Bill Cutting Medicaid

Children with complex medical needs and their families were on Capitol Hill this week lobbying senators against Medicaid cuts. From Megan Mineiro and @sangerkatz.bsky.social:

Kennedy Says ‘Charlatans’ Are No Reason to Block Unproven Stem Cell Treatments

My latest: Kennedy said he has to go to Antigua to get stem cells for his vocal condition. He'd like such treatments to come to the U.S., despite the scams and bad outcomes they might bring. (why? he basically says pharma is just as bad)

GIFT: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/h...

Millions Would Lose Their Obamacare Coverage Under Trump’s Bill

“In many ways, it’s sort of repeal by paper cut."

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/u...

A Complete List of Everything in the Republican Bill, and How Much It Would Cost or Save We highlighted the substantive changes made by House Republicans to secure the support of several holdout members.

Here's a complete list of *everything* in the GOP megabill, thanks to heroic efforts from @aliciaparlap.bsky.social @emmbadger.bsky.social and Josh Katz. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Republicans Pass Strictest Medicaid Work Requirement They Have Ever Put Forward

The Medicaid work requirement in the House bill is a lot stricter than work requirements in previous legislation. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u... with Sarah Kliff

Opinion | A.G. Sulzberger: A Free People Need a Free Press

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...

After 529 Days, Valerie the Dachshund Has Been Rescued She survived more than a year in the Australian wilderness. But reuniting her with her owners will take a little more time.

Valerie, the miniature dachshund, disappeared in 2023, slipping out of her pen and into the bush on Australia’s Kangaroo Island. For the next 529 days, she eluded capture. Now, she is “safe and sound” and is being re-acclimated to domestic life in preparation for a reunion with her owners.

Trump Cuts Threaten Agency Running Meals on Wheels (Gift Article) A tiny division responsible for overseeing services for people with disabilities and older Americans is being dismantled as part of an overhaul by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary.

A tiny agency that supports programs like Meals on Wheels and Centers for Independent Living is being dismantled by the Trump administration— and concerns are increasing over the future funding of these initiatives. Here’s my story www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/h...

Bankruptcy judge approves the closure of Delaware County’s Crozer hospitals The layoff of 2,651 Crozer employees is expected to start Friday, as Delaware County’s largest health system closes quickly amid the bankruptcy of its for-profit owner, Prospect Medical Holdings.

A bankruptcy judge in Dallas on Tuesday approved the closures of Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park.

Medicare Bleeds Billions on Pricey Bandages, and Doctors Get a Cut (Gift Article) Medicare spending on “skin substitutes” made of dried placenta has soared as doctors pocket lucrative discounts from sellers.

Even as President Trump— with Musk and DOGE— says he’s rooting out fraud, he’s backing a skin substitute, basically an expensive bandaid, that is costing Medicare billions of dollars.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/h...

A must read by @bykatiethomas.bsky.social @sarahkliff

...when public health works it's invisible...

A recession with job losses, combined with Medicaid cuts, combined with an end to enhanced ACA premium aid, would be quite a triple whammy for health coverage.

Federal Health Workers Make Up Less Than 1% of Agency Spending (Gift Article) Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggests that laying off thousands of federal workers would tame a massive budget. But nearly all of the agency’s money goes to hospitals, doctors and nursing ho...

HHS doctors, scientists and tobacco control staff, rare disease experts, cancer drug wizards -- all fired today or leaving in recent weeks.

Yet.

🚨 At HHS, staff make up less than one percent of the overall agency budget. 🚨

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/h...

Trump Administration Begins Layoffs at CDC, FDA and Other Health Agencies The cuts were part of a Trump administration plan announced last week to dismiss thousands of employees and drastically overhaul the Health and Human Services Department under Secretary Robert F. Kenn...

One way to get rid of senior health officials: reassign them to the Indian Health Service territories, like Alaska. This is how the Trump administration is forcing out top leaders at NIH, CDC, FDA and other health agencies.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u...

Trump’s Science Policies Pose Long-Term Risk, Economists Warn (Gift Article) Since World War II, U.S. research funding has led to discoveries that fueled economic gains. Now cutbacks are seen as putting that legacy in jeopardy.

Tariffs get all the attention, but ask economists what they're really worried about and many will point to the Trump administration's cuts to federal support for the sciences, including canceling grants and revoking student visas.
#EconSky
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/b...

Have any of these people read a single story from the healthcare.gov days? “How hard is it to build a website?” some idiots asked.

Trump Administration Abruptly Cuts Billions From State Health Services States have been told that they can no longer use grants that were funding infectious disease management and addiction services.

Yesterday: $12 billion in public health spending to states cut: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/h...

Today: 10,000 HHS Staff from CDC, FDA etc to be cut: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/u...

We'll be documenting what it means at @nytimes.com. Don't be strangers. My Signal is 916.202.0886. Be well.

RFK Jr. Turns to a Discredited Vaccine Researcher for Autism Study (Gift Article) David Geier has been hired as a senior data analyst at H.H.S. According to several people, he will examine any potential links between vaccines and autism that were debunked long ago.

Amid 20,000 HHS jobs lost, here's one new hire: A fixture of the anti-vaccine movement, brought in to study the link b/t vaccines and autism.

Mr. Kennedy has been citing him since '05.
w @sherylnyt.bsky.social & Emily Baumgartner

GIFT: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/h...

H.H.S. Scraps Studies of Vaccines and Treatments for Future Pandemics (Gift Article) Federal officials cited the end of the Covid-19 pandemic in halting the research. But much of the work was focused on preventing outbreaks of other pathogens.

The Trump administration has canceled funding for dozens of studies seeking new vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 and other pathogens that may cause future pandemics.

nyti.ms/43Xz77q

For Some Measles Patients, Vitamin A Remedy Supported by RFK Jr. Leaves Them More Ill (Gift Article) After the health secretary promoted vitamin A as a cure, parents in West Texas began giving their children high doses, sometimes to prevent infection.

As the Texas measles outbreak continues, doctors there are treating some children given so much vitamin A that they have signs of liver damage. Story by @teddyrosenbluth.bsky.social Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/h...

Social Security, Buffeted by Turmoil, Awaits a New Leader (Gift Article) The billionaire Elon Musk has become fixated on finding fraud inside the agency, which provides retirement, survivor and disability payments to 73 million Americans each month.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/u...

What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced Exclusive photos of the arrival of Venezuelan detainees deported from the U.S.

“The violence had rhythm, like a theater of fear.”

Hard to imagine a more compelling piece of journalism than this eyewitness account of the Venezuelans thrust into a Salvadoran hellhole prison.

And bravo to photojournalist Philip Holsinger/TIME Magazine.

time.com/7269604/el-s...

Aside from the illegal, naked power grab, with only 2 commissioners the FTC doesn’t have a quorum and the agency can’t take action.

For Tina Louise, Escape, Finally, From ‘Gilligan’s Island’ Ms. Louise would prefer to not to talk about Ginger, her breathy sitcom character from the 1960s. Luckily, to the children she tutors, she’s just Ms. Tina.

Lovely story www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/n...

Wired is dropping paywalls for FOIA-based reporting. Others should follow As the administration does its best to hide public records from the public, Wired magazine is stepping up to help stem the secrecy

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

Cutting Medicaid? How Republicans could change the program.

One simple way to think about federal cuts to Medicaid is as cuts to state budgets. That reality has consequences for policy--and politics. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/b...

Crapo Announces CMS Nomination Hearing | The United States Senate Committee on Finance Crapo Announces CMS Nomination Hearing

Dr. Oz will have his senate nomination hearing for CMS administrator Friday, March 14 at 10am, Senate Finance Committee says: www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-memb...