Hello from the Common Health Coalition! The 2-4-2 Digest is a weekly snapshot for health leaders that highlights four key things to know and can be read in less than two minutes or with two swipes on your phone.

Weekly Health Insights

Medicaid:

The newly released House GOP bill proposes to shift significant Medicaid costs onto states by capping provider taxes. The bill also increases beneficiary cost-sharing and expands work requirements; CBO estimates at least 8.6 million people will lose health insurance by 2034. While the plan avoids per-capita caps, state and local health leaders would need to prepare for tighter budgets, greater administrative burdens, and population health impacts if the proposal advances.

SNAP:

Last month, the legislatures in Tennessee, Arizona, and Kansas introduced measures to restrict SNAP purchases. Since then, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed SB 79, which would have prohibited the purchase of candy and soda with SNAP, and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed HB 2165, which sought to exclude soda from SNAP benefits. These vetoes reflect concerns about administrative burdens on retailers and increased stigma for SNAP recipients.

Lead:

Medicaid requires blood lead screening for young children and has supported investigation and case management services in many jurisdictions. But recent federal layoffs, including key CDC experts, have disrupted support for local lead response efforts, as seen in Milwaukee’s struggle to manage school-based exposures. 

Mifepristone:

The Trump administration’s defense of abortion pill access means that access to mifepristone may remain stable for now and legal challenges from states may have less immediate impact. However, abortion advocates have raised concerns about the potential for future FDA action to limit access based on the legal defense mounted in this case.

Colleague Corner

A recent Why Should I Trust You podcast convened a dialogue between public health leaders and members of the Make America Healthy Again movement. The conversation highlighted areas of common ground and pointed to opportunities for rebuilding trust:

+ Emphasizing shared motivations across divides – from protecting children to improving

broken health systems

+ Acknowledging the need for transparency and humility as science evolves

+ Listening to lived experience and addressing concerns about corporate influence,   environmental health, and Medicaid spending

“There was a feeling of relief that we all agree that those things [federal public health functions] are important while also agreeing that we have to create change in how those systems are experienced."

– Dr. Megan Ranney, Dean, Yale School of Public Health

Datawatch

RSV hospitalizations drop as vaccines and antibody treatments roll out

CDC data show a 28–43% decline in infant RSV hospitalizations among young infants 0-7 months during the 2024-2025 season following the widespread rollout of maternal RSV vaccines (Abrysvo) and infant antibody treatments (Beyfortus) this past winter. Notably, this drop coincided with an increase in hospitalizations among children too old to be eligible for these products (8-59 months). 

FIGURE 2. Respiratory syncytial virus–associated hospitalization rates* among children aged <5 years, by age group and month of respiratory syncytial virus season — New Vaccine Surveillance Network, United States, October–April 2018–20 and October–February 2024–25

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And in case you missed it: The country reached a grim milestone - more than 1,000 measles cases reported in the United States. Read more of the latest deep-dive on the situation from Yale School of Public Health, here. 

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