Introduction

Child health sets the foundation of the overall health and prosperity of the nation. Healthy children are more likely to become healthy adults who lead meaningful and productive lives.¹ Recent scientific and policy statements have raised concerns that child health in the US may be declining. A 2024 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine stated that “the United States faces a major crisis with the poor and worsening health and wellbeing of children and youth.”² The Presidential Commission to Make America Healthy Again issued a May 2025 report that called out the need to better understand the root causes of the declining health of US children.^3 [JAMA]

^{Objective  To determine how US children’s health has been changing from 2007 to 2023 using multiple data collection methods and a comprehensive set of health indicators.}

^Conclusion 

^{Conclusions and Relevance  The health of US children has worsened across a wide range of health indicator domains over the past 17 years. The broad scope of this deterioration highlights the need to identify and address the root causes of this fundamental decline in the nation’s health.}

^{Full article on the study here>} 

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The common cold may help protect against COVID-19, which may partially explain why children, who are especially vulnerable to most viral respiratory infections, generally have milder SARS-CoV-2 infections than adults, National Jewish Health–led researchers write today in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Prostock-Studio / iStock

The investigators tested 10,493 repeat nasal swabs from 1,156 US children and adults in the Human Epidemiology and Response to SARS-CoV-2 (HEROS) cohort for 21 respiratory pathogens. They also performed RNA sequencing on 147 swabs from 144 participants taken before COVID-19 infection and 391 swabs from 165 participants before and during rhinovirus infection, which frequently causes the common cold.

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Amid a slow but steady rise in COVID activity, SARS-CoV-2 wastewater detections last week rose from the low to the moderate level, with the highest levels in the West, followed by the South, where detections in Louisiana are at the very high level, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest weekly data updates.  [KFF health News & CIDRAP]

The CDC said wastewater trends and model-based epidemic trends suggest that COVID infections are growing or likely growing in most states.

Other indicators also rose, including test positivity, which rose from 6.5% to 8.6% over the past week, with levels higher in the West and Southwest compared to the rest of the country. Meanwhile, emergency department visits for COVID are rising for all ages, with the overall level up 19% compared the previous week, with moderate and substantial increases reported for many states. Deaths declined a bit in the CDC’s most recent reporting week.

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In its new guidelines, the American Heart Association says not all ultraprocessed foods are so bad — such as whole grain breads, low-sugar yogurts, tomato sauces, and nut or bean-based spreads. The MAHA Commission report on ultraprocessed foods is due Tuesday.

CNN: Beating MAHA To The Punch, The American Heart Association Releases Its Guidelines On Ultraprocessed Food Step aside, MAHA. The country’s largest heart-health organization has just released its long-awaited guidelines for the consumption of ultraprocessed foods, or UPFs. The new scientific advisory statement from the American Heart Association comes just days before the arrival of the second “Make America Healthy Again” or MAHA Commission report, spearheaded by US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (LaMotte, 8/7)

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Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., has renewed her push to ensure service members and their families can access fertility services like in vitro fertilization. [Health News Illinois]

Duckworth and colleagues recently filed legislation to expand the fertility treatments and family-building services that are covered under service members’ and veterans’ healthcare to include in vitro fertilization and adoption assistance for service members and veterans who are unable to conceive without assistance. 

The plan would also give individuals the option to freeze their eggs or sperm ahead of deployment to a combat zone. 

“After all the tremendous sacrifices our brave women and men in uniform make, we should be doing everything we can to help our veterans fulfill their dreams of building a family,” Duckworth said in a statement. “I wouldn’t be a mother today without the miracle of IVF, which is one reason why I’m proud to be introducing this important bill that would help modernize our healthcare systems and expand fertility treatments so we can help ensure our servicemembers and Veterans receive the care they deserve.”

The legislation was previously included as part of Duckworth’s broader legislation to expand IVF services, which Republican colleagues previously rejected.

The filing comes amid reports that the White House does not plan to require health insurers to provide coverage for in vitro fertilization services, even though the idea was one of President Donald Trump’s key campaign pledges.

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The Trump administration blocked funding for a number of CDC public health programs, the Wall Street Journal reported. [MEDPAGE TODAY]

Programs that would not be fully funded under the freeze include those focused on youth violence prevention, firearm injury prevention research, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and tobacco use, the outlet reported.

The move is indicative of a "push by the White House to withhold money already approved by Congress," according to the report.

Information on the frozen funds was included by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in a footnote on an appropriations memo, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ.

The amount of frozen funds could be as high as $200 million, or potentially more than $300 million, according to two different people familiar with the matter.

The blocked funding is distinct from recent reports of funds being withheld from a CDC overdose prevention program, according to NPR. Funding for that program was reportedly reinstated.

President Donald Trump was joined by professional athletes on Thursday as he signed an executive order that will expand on his council on sports, fitness and nutrition, including by reviving the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools. [CNN]

The event, which featured golfer Bryson DeChambeau, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker and former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, among others, comes as the US prepares to host the 2025 Ryder Cup, 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics — all of which are major feathers in Trump’s cap for his second term.

The president, who often boasts that he gets to oversee the milestone sporting events, has been heavily invested in making them a success. He has also used his bully pulpit to reshape cultural issues, many of which have been tied directly to sports, including new policies on transgender athletes and threatening the Washington Commanders to change its name back to the “Redskins” or potentially face restrictions on a major stadium deal.

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State officials said Friday they will work with providers and other stakeholders to minimize the loss of coverage and service reductions brought by the recently approved federal tax and spending plan. [Health News Illinois]

Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Elizabeth Whitehorn told members of the Medicaid Advisory Committee that plenty of uncertainty remains in the month since President Donald Trump signed the package, which includes around $911 billion in cuts to Medicaid and other reductions to services like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Whitehorn said they are working with Gov. JB Pritzker and his office so resources are in place to implement federal requirements in a “responsible manner.”

“With everything going on now, with all of the upcoming changes, it's really even more important that we work closely with all of you as we plan for the future,” she said.

A recent analysis by KFF found Illinois could lose $46 billion in federal Medicaid funding over the next 10 years due to the law. The majority of federal savings stem from Medicaid work requirements for some adults, as well as limits on states’ use of provider taxes to draw down more federal dollars.

HFS said their internal projects for most of the provisions say the losses over the next decade will be at least $26 billion.

Whitehorn noted most changes to Medicaid will not take place for at least another year, such as the work requirements coming in 2027.

Emma Watters Reardon, HFS’ policy director, said they estimate between 270,000 and 500,000 Illinoisans will lose coverage due to work requirements, with the vast majority due to administrative barriers placed on the law.

“HFS is really intending to be as thoughtful as possible in planning this implementation process,” she said. “We know this is something that's really concerning to customers and advocates.”

Changes to the provider tax and state-directed payments are also expected to raise issues. Reardon said they will be forced to reduce the state-directed payments to hospitals by about three-and-a-half billion dollars over five years.

Reardon said they are also working closely with the Department of Human Services as they work on changes, specifically due to the overlap of residents who use services with both agencies.

Officials said over 1.9 million Illinoisans use SNAP benefits, and new proposed work and eligibility requirements would put food assistance for at least 360,000 recipients at risk.

About 1.7 million Illinoisans receive both SNAP and Medicaid benefits.

Leslie Cully, the acting director for DHS' Division of Family & Community Services, said they are working to improve the application process for the program, such as using AI to flag high error-prone cases and improving training tools to prevent client errors.

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Gov. JB Pritzker signed off Thursday on a plan that lays the groundwork for Illinois to become the first state to implement universal mental health screenings in public schools. [Health News Illinois]

The law tasks the Illinois State Board of Education to work with the Children's Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative and other stakeholders on resource materials, which will be made available to schools by September 2026.

The materials will include model procedures and guidance to help school districts implement universal mental health screening by the 2027-2028 school year.

School districts will offer screenings at least once a year to students starting in the third grade.

The prepared materials will address options for parents, guardians and students to opt out of screenings. It will also address confidentiality and privacy considerations, how to communicate to families and communities about the use of mental health screenings, storage of mental health screening results and connecting individuals to resources after screenings.

Officials said that, under current law, screenings are not required, which makes it challenging to identify and address mental health issues that cause barriers to learning.

“We are now in a better position to support districts in their efforts to promote learning and well-being among all students,” said Dr. Dana Weiner, the head of Illinois’ Office for Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation.

Additionally, the law tasks state agencies to partner with psychiatric hospitals and schools to raise awareness of the online portal with information about available behavioral health services for children and adolescents.

“This bill is a proactive step toward making sure we can integrate early detection, because too often warning signs are missed or dismissed, and kids fall through the cracks,” said Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, D-Chicago. “I’m proud to work alongside our state’s behavioral healthcare advocates, including our Children’s Behavioral Health Officer, to ensure our public schools have the tools to connect students and families with real support — early, directly, and before it’s too late.”

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Primary care medicine should be and is the bedrock of American healthcare. As a family physician and chairman of a department of family medicine at a medical school, I admit to being biased. Nonetheless, I am concerned that we are losing two essential bedrock elements of successful patient care: the biopsychosocial model of effective primary care and the concept of shared decision-making between clinician and patient. [CT Mirror & KFF Health News]

The term biopsychosocial speaks for itself. A good clinician must thoroughly understand and examine the patient’s biology to address any  concern, equally essential is respecting the patient’s psychological and emotional circumstances at the time of the clinical encounter and finally it’s essential to fully acknowledge the patient’s social structure and their economic, cultural, educational, occupational and living environment.

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