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Good morning. What do you eat in the last days of cooler weather, as spring is about to kick in? I want one more good soup or stew before moving on to greener, more seasonal pastures.
Watch RFK Jr. attempt a balancing act today
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. heads to Capitol Hill today to testify about the fiscal 2027 budget request. He’ll sit through at least seven hearings in front of key House and Senate committees over the next week. And as STAT’s Chelsea Cirruzzo reports, how Kennedy navigates lawmakers’ questions will test whether he can stay on message before embarking on a midterms tour to shore up support for the MAHA movement and the White House’s agenda.
He’s likely to boast about the administration’s “MAHA wins” over the last year, but the focus is meant to be the budget. That includes a proposed 12% cut to HHS and other proposals floated in the fiscal 2026 budget that were ultimately ignored by Congress. Read more from Chelsea on the key questions she’ll be tracking over the course of the day.
The mental health parity gap is gaping
Are you spending weeks or months trying to find an in-network therapist? You’re not alone.
A new analysis of commercial insurance data found that Americans routinely struggle to find a clinician for mental health care and substance use disorder treatment, even though a federal law requires insurers to cover mental health care on equal terms with physical health.
The Mental Health Parity Index — launched on Tuesday by the Kennedy Forum, the American Medical Association, and other organizations — paints a stark picture. In 43 states, this disparity exists for enrollees in plans offered by the nation’s four largest commercial health insurance companies: Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare. It’s not just patients. Providers in every state are also paid less by these insurers for these services.
This isn’t a new problem, as I’ve written about previously, but there is no sign that things will change, as federal health officials have indicated that they will not enforce the parity law. — O. Rose Broderick
FDA will consider broader access to certain peptides
The FDA will convene an outside panel of advisers to discuss the possibility of allowing compounding pharmacies to manufacture certain peptides, STAT’s Lizzy Lawrence and Sarah Todd reported yesterday. The first meetings will take place in July, with another held before the end of February 2027.
Biden’s FDA removed 19 peptides from a list of drugs compounding pharmacies could produce. The July panel will discuss seven of them, and the future meeting will cover another five. Read more on how scientists, politicians, and compounding pharmacies have responded to the announcement.
You thought text-based chatbots were risky?
As large language models are integrated into American culture, there’s been an understandable flood of attention to the way chatbots can reinforce delusions and foster emotional dependency. But as one doctor argues in a new First Opinion essay, there’s a big difference between typing to a chatbot and literally speaking with one.
“Long before a child reads a single word in school, their brain is already wired to process speech,” Marc Augustin writes. “When an 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 in an AI double-whammy, check out another First Opinion essay on how the medical AI revolution requires rethinking health care’s architecture.
14%
That’s the percentage of people enrolled in ACA marketplace insurance plans that did not pay their premium in January 2026, according to a new report from the consulting group Wakely. While CMS previously found that about 5% of people disenrolled from their plans in the wake of the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits, the report authors point out that the number of people who couldn’t pay new, heightened premiums provides important context. Folks who covered their monthly bill last year were automatically enrolled in the same plan, but may stop paying and lose their coverage if they can’t afford the higher premium.
The authors estimate that there will be a total disenrollment from ACA plans between 17% to 26%, which could have major effects on the development of 2027 premium rates, and of course, on people’s health.
What we’re reading
If your heart stopped right now, would a stranger save you? It depends on your sex, Your Local Epidemiologist
A spatial atlas of the healthy human liver from live donors, Nature
- CMS proposes rolling back breakthrough device payment flexibilities, STAT
- The great Ozempic experiment, New York Times
