NIH disability plan, integrated care, TrumpRx: Morning Rounds

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I love winter, but am reconsidering this opinion after my eyelashes froze while biking into work yesterday.

Trump convinces tech companies to offer discounts to help implement Medicaid work requirements

The Trump administration has convinced 10 technology vendors to grant $600 million worth of discounts if they help states implement Medicaid work requirements. 

Work requirements were Republicans’ biggest tool to decrease federal Medicaid spending in their One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July. States have been scrambling ever since to secure technology to overhaul their systems ahead of the Dec. 31, 2026 deadline.

Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said at a press conference flanked by his top staff that the deals are just one more example of the Trump administration’s track record of getting companies to voluntarily make changes instead of having to pass laws.

Read more from STAT’s Tara Bannow.

Will U.S. drugs get cheaper?

Top Trump administration officials met with Republican lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Finance yesterday to push for legislation to lower U.S. drug prices.

President Trump has repeatedly touted the idea that the U.S. shouldn’t pay more than other wealthy nations for prescription drugs, known as a “most-favored nation” policy. The officials didn’t bring many new proposals or details, but reiterated the administration’s vision: require drugmakers to offer Medicaid the lowest prices available, and push for future drugs to be sold at low prices in the U.S. In turn, drugmakers would make up the difference by charging higher prices abroad. Meeting attendees included Oz and Medicare Director Chris Klomp.

How do Republicans feel about this? Read more from STAT’s Daniel Payne.

It’s not the fountain of youth. It’s not the philosopher’s stone. It’s your parents.

Scientists have been trying to understand aging and how to extend our lives for centuries. Turns out, we may be stuck with what we got.

Using mathematical modeling and data pulled from twin and sibling studies, a new study published Thursday in Science found that heritability contributes more than 50% of our lifespan. Previous studies — which have much lower estimates about how big a role genes play — didn’t strip out all the environmental factors that long killed people at higher rates, like infectious diseases and accidents, according to the authors. And as humans have defeated or at least defanged so many outside causes of death, the power of our inheritance comes through even more.

Someone check on Don’t Die founder Bryan Johnson. Otherwise, read this great story from STAT’s Andrew Joseph. 

Senators raise concerns about TrumpRx in letter to HHS watchdog

The Trump administration will soon launch TrumpRx, a website it says will allow patients to buy prescription drugs directly from pharmaceutical companies at a discount. More than a dozen manufacturers have signed up.

But the lack of transparency surrounding the platform has spurred senators to send a letter to the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services, raising questions about potential conflicts of interests, inappropriate prescribing, and inadequate care.

A trio of senators, led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), published the letter, noting the potential similarities between TrumpRx and the concerning relationships between pharmaceutical manufacturers and direct-to-consumer telehealth providers the senators spent months investigating.

STAT’s Katie Palmer has the scoop, including concerns that conflicts of interest that could lead to higher costs for patients. 

A disability news twofer 

I’ve got two disability health items for you today:

• The end of integrated care? Nine states updated a lawsuit targeting a landmark disability law and are now trying to end the federal mandate that people with disabilities receive care in their communities.

  The lawsuit’s outcome could have major implications for millions of Americans, especially after Congress voted in 2025 to slash state Medicaid funding, a major source of care for people with disabilities. Read more.

• NIH prioritizing disability health research: The National Institutes of Health just announced its first strategic plan for disability health research. Disability advocates are thrilled. The federal government has been slow to recognize the unique health needs of this group, only formally recognizing people with disabilities as a population with health disparities in 2023. The report will shape which studies and projects receive funding through 2030.

Bioethicists dissect HHS gender-affirming care report

In November, HHS published a report, “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria,” which claimed “there is no evidence of benefit” from gender-affirming care for transgender youth. That conclusion is not only scientifically and methodologically flawed, it is also deeply unethical, seven bioethicists write in a new First Opinion.

The report minimizes the serious harms of withholding gender-affirming care and ignores a body of evidence that shows patients benefit from gender-affirming care, they argue, centering an ideological position that medicine should treat disease rather than promote health. 

“The consensus in pediatric bioethics is that these types of decisions belong in the hands of those most intimately impacted: the patient, their family, and expert clinicians — not the government,” they write.

Read more from the bioethicists.

What we’re reading

• A meeting with RFK Jr. set off recriminations inside doctors’ lobbying arm, Politico

• Her son’s injury never got its day in vaccine court. Their lawyer is now advising RFK Jr. on its overhaul., KFF Health News

• Haitians are vital to U.S. health care. Many are about to lose their right to work., The New York Times

• U.S. life expectancy hit an all-time high in 2024, CDC says, Associated Press
• Doctors keep patient alive using ‘artificial lungs’ for two days, Scientific American