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UnitedHealth acknowledges potential flaws with Medicare practices

June 2, 2025
Brad Smith, the startup founder who led a cost-cutting push inside HHS.
Photo illustration: Christine Kao/STAT; Photos: Alex Brandon/AP

STAT+ | The shrewd startup founder who led DOGE's cost-cutting at HHS

Brad Smith exhibited the same traits at DOGE as he did running his startups Aspire Health and CareBridge, including intensity and ambition.

By Tara Bannow


FDA commissioner evades questions on Covid shot, calls CDC panel a 'kangaroo court'

The commissioner said data on shots in healthy children and pregnant people are mixed, and belittled the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices.

By Lizzy Lawrence


STAT+ | FDA plans to begin rolling out AI tool agency-wide on Tuesday

Commissioner Marty Makary has hailed the potential of the AI at the FDA, but employees told STAT its capabilities are being over-inflated.

By Brittany Trang



Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

STAT+ | UnitedHealth conducting 'comprehensive review' of Medicare practices that are facing federal scrutiny, new CEO says

Stephen Hemsley, UnitedHealth's new CEO, tells investors the company is reevaluating how it handles coding, managed care, and pharmacy services.

By Tara Bannow


STAT+ | Vera Therapeutics reports positive results from trial of kidney disease drug

Company plans to file for FDA approval of the drug, called atacicept, but an Otsuka therapy may be a competitive threat.

By Adam Feuerstein


STAT+ | Sanofi to buy Blueprint Medicines in deal worth more than $9 billion

The deal, which includes Blueprint's approved Ayvakit and a number of experimental drugs, will expand Sanofi's immunology pipeline.

By Andrew Joseph


President Donald Trump speaking at a press briefing on the coronavirus on March 16, 2020.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

STAT+ | mRNA, once lauded as a scientific marvel, is now a government target

The sharp turnaround on mRNA vaccines shows an unprecedented rise of anti-vaccine activists to power and an attack on accepted science.

By Lizzy Lawrence and Isabella Cueto


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