No news is bad news

In the coming days, many more people will open the mail and learn of ACA plan price spikes after additional states sent notices of higher 2026 premiums yesterday. Democrats hope that voters who receive those notices, many of whom reside in Republican-led states, will pressure their leaders to extend the extra tax credits that have kept premiums low.

But the notices have yet to get Republicans to give in to Democrats' demand of extending the credits in exchange for reopening the government. Conversely, Democrats haven't been swayed by the mass firings of federal employees, and the administration has relieved some of the pressure for a deal by paying troops and federal law enforcement during the shutdown.

There's now the added wrinkle of Medicare delaying certain physician payments until the government reopens, Daniel Payne and Tara Bannow write.

cdc

If you can't trust CDC, ask your doctor

Doctors should fill the void as trust in the CDC declines, two former top agency officials said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the STAT Summit, former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and Dan Jernigan, the former director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, stopped short of saying they no longer trust the CDC entirely, Chelsea Cirruzzo writes.

Information on topics like maternal health, foodborne illnesses, and international travel still appears reliable, they said. But with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm of HHS, CDC information on some issues, like vaccines, may not be well-grounded in science, and they suggested that professional medical organizations fill the gaps. Read more.

states

Blue states start a CDC substitute

A group of 15 Democratic governors, including for the territory of Guam, have signed on to an initiative to shore up confidence in vaccines. This role used to be filled by the CDC, the governors said, but now the agency has been overrun by an administration hostile to science.

The group describes its effort as nonpartisan, and is trying to get Republican governors to join.

The Governors Public Health Alliance complements the existing alliances of blue states, the Northeast Public Health Collaborative and West Coast Health Alliance, which were created for similar reasons. The new group will share data on public health to track diseases, deploy experts, and develop guidelines for responding to outbreaks. Read more.

misinformation

Funny fact checks

Mike Varshavski regularly debunks medical misinformation for his 14 million followers on social media. He reaches that large audience by being funny, and said the American Medical Association should do the same.

Varshavski, who goes by Dr. Mike online, uses comedy and silliness to encourage YouTube's algorithm to continue showing his more serious content to potential viewers. Any given comedic video can reach 5 million or 10 million viewers, he said.

"Had I not made that silly video, they would be completely unaware of the fact that there was misinformation being shared with them at the highest levels," he said.

Read more for Dr. Mike's suggestions for how leading medical associations should reach larger audiences.

autism

GSK weighs in on FDA and leucovorin

GSK had a minimal role in the FDA's decision to add an autism-adjacent indication to one of the company's long-shelved drugs, Elaine Chen reports.

The FDA wants to approve leucovorin for a rare condition sometimes linked to autism. Wellcovorin was GSK's branded version of leucovorin, a generic drug that's currently used to treat the side effects of drugs, including certain cancer treatments. The agency asked GSK to apply to update the prescribing information for the drug to include an indication for the condition, called cerebral folate deficiency.

GSK obliged, but CEO Emma Walmsley described the situation as an "administrative request," adding that the company has no commercial interest in the drug.

"We have no scientific research," Walmsley said during a panel at the STAT Summit. "And we're not pursuing it."

fda

FDA loses more officials

Amid the new round of HHS layoffs, I'd like to remind you that Lizzy Lawrence and J. Emory Parker maintain a list of senior officials at the office director level and above who have departed from the FDA.

About 20% of the FDA's staff have left since DOGE started slashing its workforce in January, and at least 10 top officials from across the agency have left since June.

Among the officials to depart on Sept. 25 was the drug center's associate director for rare diseases. The last day for the director of the Office of Pediatric Therapeutics is Oct. 25. Read more to learn about other recent departures.

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What we're reading

How North Carolina built manufacturing boomtowns for biotech, STAT
'A kick in the mouth': Trump administration makes staffing cuts to CDC's safety office months after shooting, NOTUS
CDC team running top survey on health and nutrition is laid off, STAT
In rural America, scarce doctors battle misinformation as they practice medicine, NPR