General Mental Health Issues
- Driven by a desire to help ex-servicemembers with mental illness, GOP lawmakers led a failed campaign last year to persuade the Biden administration to approve psychedelic drugs. Now they may have found the ally they need in President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Read more here.
- The alarm over men has intensified in recent years: They’re in crisis — disconnected, dejected, and drawn to manosphere influencers peddling antifeminist and far-right ideologies. The “State of American Men 2025” builds on Equimundo’s previous research. It found that the vast majority of men (86%) and women (77%) continue to define manhood as being a “provider.” However, in an uncertain economy, where financial security remains out of reach for many, men who can’t meet this standard face devastating consequences — they are 16.3 times more likely to contemplate suicide. Read more here.
The Opioid Crisis
- North Carolina is poised to receive $150 million from a new multi-state legal settlement with pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, for their alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic. Read more here.
Health Insurance
- On Monday, over 50 health insurers pledged to standardize and reform the prior authorization processes, both to reduce the burden on providers and provide better access to care for patients. Read more here.
Medicaid and ACA Policy
- House Republicans propelled President Donald Trump’s $4.5 trillion tax breaks and spending cuts bill to final congressional passage, overcoming multiple setbacks to approve his signature second-term policy package. The tight roll call, 218-214, came at a potentially high political cost, with two Republicans joining all Democrats opposed. GOP leaders, and the president himself, worked overnight on a handful of skeptics to drop their opposition and send the bill to him to sign into law. Read more here.
- The Senate voted to proceed to debate on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is the opposite of beautiful — the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) now confirms the legislation will cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid. If all states dropped expansion in the face of these massive funding cuts, after accounting for coverage losses due to other parts of the bill, an additional 10.6 million people could lose their Medicaid coverage. Read more here.
- Sen. Markwayne Mullin is insisting President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic megabill doesn’t break his promise not to cut Medicaid, even as the Congressional Budget Office estimates 7.8 million people would lose access if it passes. Instead, Mullin (R-Okla.) told NBC’s Kristen Welker that the “Big Beautiful Bill” is eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse that Republicans say is rampant in the program. Read more here.
Transgender Issues
- Iowa became the first state to remove gender identity from its civil rights code under a law that took effect, meaning transgender and nonbinary residents are no longer protected from discrimination in their job, housing, and other aspects of life. Read more here.
- New Hampshire lawmakers gave final approval to bills that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors in the state, sending the measures to Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who has not yet said whether she will sign them. State lawmakers voted to pass House Bill 377, which would prohibit doctors from administering puberty blockers and hormones to transgender youth beginning next year. Read more here.
Federal and State Policy
- Iowa officials launched the state's new behavioral health system. It is a significant overhaul of the previous system and is aimed at better connecting Iowans with mental health and disability services. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the changes into law in May of 2024, replacing the state's previous system of 13 Mental Health and Disability Services Regions and 19 Integrated Provider Networks for substance use disorders. Read more here.
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