My latest (gift link), many months in the making: nytimes.com/2024/08/20/hea…

Patient was on the table once but was billed for two surgeries. She said it was as if she ordered a meal at a fast-food restaurant, got extra fries, and then was charged for two whole meals. “I didn’t get the extra burger and drink and a toy,” she joked. kffhealthnews.org/MTkwMTg0Nw

Incredibly honored at STAT to have two Gerald Loeb Awards finalists for "Obesity Revolution'' (explanatory) and "Denied by AI'' (investigative): Elaine Chen Megan Molteni Casey Ross Bob Herman Isa Cueto Matthew Herper @nicholasflorko #LoebAwards prn.to/3WYTEUc

3 yrs ago, the Biden Administration announced a $3.2B plan to build antivirals for Covid and whatever pandemic nature might throw at us next Most of the plan, I learned, was never enacted. And what was built — 9 antiviral centers — may soon be dismantled statnews.com/2024/08/26/nih…

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New court filings offer rare look inside government's struggle to keep Medicare Advantage plans from ripping off taxpayers for billions of dollars rb.gy/iqzo9s

Big news: Centene, the largest Medicare Part D carrier, will not pay any commissions to brokers who help people sign up for next year’s Rx drug plans. Brokers now face the prospect of aiding millions of Centene drug plan enrollees without getting paid. statnews.com/2024/08/27/cen…

Almost 10 years after UnitedHealth bought ProHealth Physicians, the Connecticut primary care network is a shell of its former self. statnews.com/2024/08/28/uni…

The same day Lilly announced discounted starter-dose Zepbound vials, it also quietly raised the cost of accessing high-dose pens through a coupon Experts said the moves taken together signal Lilly's primary interest is expanding its market share. Latest: statnews.com/2024/08/28/eli…

This is such vital reporting by Katie Palmer and Usha Lee McFarling. The use of race as a proxy in medical decisions is an open invitation to bias. There are no easy answers, but this STAT series is a *great* place to start looking: statnews.com/2024/09/03/emb… via STAT

For a year, Usha Lee McFarling and I have reported on the race-based clinical algorithms that permeate health care. A few have had race removed — but the vast majority have gone unchanged. We explain why, in the first of a 7-part series for STAT: statnews.com/2024/09/03/emb…

Lots of parallels in this Kroger-Albertsons trial to when hospitals argue they need to merge to compete with “national” insurers. But hospitals never mention they are a monopoly or oligopoly in their region.

Nearly every clinical lab in the US has stopped using race to estimate kidney function. In the 3rd part of my STAT series with Usha Lee McFarling, we examine the years-long, painful battle it took to make that change. statnews.com/2024/09/05/emb…

Personal news: I'm joining the policy team as STAT's FDA reporter. I'll still cover the regulation of medical devices, but will also be focused on the agency as a whole. Excited to meet more folks in the space! Send tips to [email protected] statnews.com/2024-stat-inte…

For years, Keytruda has dominated immunotherapy. But here at #WCLC24, Summit Therapeutics is reporting what no other has done before: beat Merck's drug in a head-to-head late stage trial in lung cancer. Story by me & Adam Feuerstein ✡️ for STAT statnews.com/2024/09/08/sum…