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The tryptophan has fully worn off, and Congress is jumping right back into the action by considering a health care legislative package that could be added to stopgap government funding legislation. Also, it’s the cyber week sale for STAT+! Pick up a subscription to read all our coverage, and don’t hesitate to reach out: [email protected] .
It’s a somber day
Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance division, was shot and killed in a targeted attack in New York City on Wednesday, ahead of the company’s investor conference.
STAT’s Tara Bannow, Bob Herman and Lev Facher did the unenviable but necessary job of reporting on the murder. Reached by phone Wednesday morning, Thompson’s sister-in-law, Maria Reveiz, described Thompson as a wonderful person and hard worker. Bannow also visited the Thompsons’ residence, but no one answered the door.
Thompson’s wife told NBC News that he had received threats, though the motivation for the killing was still unknown as of the writing of this newsletter. A manhunt was ongoing. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the shooting a “brazen, targeted attack.”
SCOTUS wary of gender-affirming care arguments
Sarah Owermohle and Theresa Gaffney provided an in-person account of the oral arguments over gender-affirming care inside the Supreme Court and the scene outside the court.
Conservative justices appeared skeptical of arguments that they should step in to reverse Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
The case could have major implications for trans people of all ages, as well as for how much freedom states have to regulate health care more broadly in areas like reproductive health. Get all of the details here.
Who says CRs must be clean?
Conventional wisdom has been that if lawmakers resort to stopgap government funding legislation, they would kick the can down the road on expiring health care policies. Instead, congressional Republicans proposed a health care legislative package worth tens of billions of dollars, my colleague Rachel Cohrs Zhang scooped yesterday.
The proposal kicks off negotiations with Democrats over several big health care policies with a government funding deadline looming on Dec. 20. Democrats, who are in charge of the Senate until next year, oppose the way Republicans propose to pay for the legislative package.
Everything is fluid, as is always the case. Click here for what we know so far.
Get pumped for confirmation
Unlike some of Trump’s cabinet nominees, RFK Jr. has yet to schedule meetings with Republican senators who will vote on his nomination to head HHS, according to hallway interviews.
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Barrasso (R-Wy.), and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), all members of the Finance Committee that has jurisdiction over HHS secretary nominations, told me they they were not aware of scheduled meetings with Kennedy. Johnson, a member of the Make America Healthy Again movement, said he has spoken to Kennedy in the past about fighting chronic disease. Other nominees, including Pete Hegseth (defense secretary), Pam Bondi (attorney general), Elise Stefanik (UN ambassador), and Matt Gaetz (withdrawn attorney general) have already taken meetings with senators.
Instead of donning a suit and heading to the hill, Kennedy has been preparing for confirmation hearings by working out shirtless to the soundtrack of Rocky.
There’s money in vaccine criticism
When Kennedy announced his presidential run in April 2023, he stepped down from his position as chairman and chief legal counsel of the Children’s Health Defense. For the three and half months that he worked at the nonprofit that year, he made $326,056, super sleuth Isabella Cueto reported this week.
That would come out to a weekly pay rate of more than $20,000. It is not clear when Kennedy stopped receiving a salary from the organization he founded, and STAT did reach out for comment.
Since 2020, the group that Kennedy founded has filed nearly 30 lawsuits related to vaccine requirements, online censorship, adverse event data, and the authorization of Covid shots.
What we’re reading
- Dr. Glaucomflecken on making medicine funny again, STAT
- RFK Jr. used to sell the very type of fluoridated water he’s now trying to eliminate, The New Yorker
- Eli Lilly says its obesity drug Zepbound outperformed Wegovy, STAT
