Read today’s Kaiser Health News
In other news:
Gen Z increasingly listens to peers over doctors for health advice: In all age groups, but especially among adults younger than age 35, peer-driven health care decisions surged between 2024 and 2025.
—45% of adults age 18 to 34 said they've disregarded their health provider's guidance in favor of information from a friend or family member in the past year — a 13-point increase from the previous year.
—38% of young adults said they've ignored their provider in favor of advice from social media, a 12-point increase from the year before.
In a reversal, the Trump administration restores funding for women's health study: The Trump administration is restoring financial support for a landmark study of women's health, an official said Thursday, reversing a defunding decision that shocked medical researchers.
About health insurance/insurers
Payers ranked by CEO-to-worker pay ratios FYI
Centene posts $1.3B profit in Q1: Centene posted $1.3 billion in net income in the first quarter, per its earnings report published April 25.
Total revenues in the first quarter were $46.6 billion, up 15.4% year over year.
The company reaffirmed its year-end adjusted EPS guidance of greater than $7.25.
The company’s medical loss ratio was 87.5% in the first quarter and 87.1% during the same period last year.
Insurers not required to cover medical marijuana, federal judge rules: A federal judge has dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit that aimed to require insurers in New Mexico to cover medical cannabis as a behavioral health treatment.
The complaint was originally filed in June 2022. On April 23, U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss, ruling that New Mexico state law does not mandate insurance coverage for medical marijuana and that federal law would overrule any such requirement.
About pharma
Ozempic copies restricted after US judge denies injunction: A U.S. judge on Thursday rejected a bid by compounding pharmacies to keep making copies of Novo Nordisk's popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy while a legal challenge over drug shortages unfolds, court records showed.
The decision came in response to a February lawsuit from a compounding industry group against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision that there was no longer a shortage of the medicines' active ingredient, semaglutide.
Fiscal Impact of Expanded Medicare Coverage for GLP-1 Receptor Agonists to Treat Obesity: In this economic evaluation of 30 million cumulative Medicare beneficiaries identified as eligible for new GLP-1RAs for obesity treatment over the next 10 years, Medicare’s total projected costs for drug coverage of the GLP-1RAs were $65.9 billion. Health care savings of $18.2 billion were estimated to result in $47.7 billion in net increased spending.
U.S. Emergency Department Visits Attributed by Clinicians to Semaglutide Adverse Events, 2022–2023: With more than 5 million patients dispensed semaglutide in 2023, the estimated 20 226 ED visits in 2023 suggests a rate of fewer than 4 ED visits for adverse events per 1000 patients dispensed semaglutide. Most ED visits were due to adverse effects previously observed during randomized controlled trials of semaglutide, including gastrointestinal adverse effects and hypoglycemia when combined with other diabetes agents.
Comment: Note the study’s dates. With increased use of this class of medications, the overall number of ED visits is probably much larger today.
About the public’s health
[U.S.] Aid Funding Cuts Disrupt Child Vaccinations Almost as Much as Pandemic, Says UN: "Setbacks (are) at a similar level to what we saw during COVID-19. We cannot afford to lose ground in the fight against preventable disease," said Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director.
USDA withdraws a plan to limit salmonella levels in raw poultry: The Agriculture Department will not require poultry companies to limit salmonella bacteria in their products, halting a Biden Administration effort to prevent food poisoning from contaminated meat.
The department on Thursday said it was withdrawing a rule proposed in August after three years of development. Officials with the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service cited feedback from more than 7,000 public comments and said they would “evaluate whether it should update” current salmonella regulations.
Trump's surgeon general nominee, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, faces scrutiny over credentials: President Trump's nominee to be the U.S. surgeon general, the Fox News contributor and family medicine physician Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, has described herself as a double board-certified physician with a degree from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine — credentials the president touted in his announcement.
But those claims about her certification and schooling appear to be misleading.
State and Sociodemographic Trends in US Cigarette Smoking With Future Projections: The findings of these repeated cross-sectional surveys suggest that the difference in cigarette smoking prevalence between historically high vs low prevalence states will shrink by 2035, primarily from much faster declines among young adults in the traditionally highest prevalence states. Slower prevalence declines among older adults are likely to slow the decline in health consequences in these states.
Geographic Variation of Racial and Ethnic Differences in Uterine Cancer Survival: In this cohort study of 162 500 patients with uterine cancer, uterine cancer–specific survival was better among Asian patients, worse among Black patients, and not different among Hispanic patients compared with White patients. Location-stratified analyses comparing Asian, Black, and Hispanic patients with White patients with uterine cancer showed disparate survival within less and more diverse US locations; however, associations varied by race and ethnicity.
Association between non-skimmed milk consumption and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease in US adults: insights from NHANES data: Our findings suggest a significant association between frequent non-skimmed milk consumption and risk of MAFLD, particularly in highly educated individuals. These results highlight the importance of dietary modifications, specifically reducing non-skimmed milk intake, as a potential preventive strategy for MAFLD, especially in high-risk populations.
Comment: RFK Jr. is pushing to add non-skimmed milk to Head Start programs and school lunches.
About healthcare IT
EHR interoperability by country: Where the US ranks: FYI (Spoiler alert: the US is at the bottom.)