March 18, 2026 – The Week in Health Care News
Your digest on the happenings in health care this week | March 18, 2026
Reproductive Rights/Attacks on Medication Abortion
The Trump administration really wants lawsuits trying to ban the use of the abortion pill mifepristone to go away (it’s almost like they know banning abortion is politically unpopular):
The U.S. Department of Justice late Friday afternoon asked a federal court in Missouri to either pause or dismiss a lawsuit over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision last year to approve a new generic brand of mifepristone. The case, filed by attorneys general in Missouri, Idaho and Kansas, calls into question other FDA regulations, including those allowing abortion medication to be prescribed through telehealth.
The DOJ filed a similar request in late January in a separate abortion pill lawsuit, Louisiana v. FDA, which is primarily challenging the agency’s removal of its in-person dispensing requirement.
And it’s not just Missouri: Department of Justice moves to halt Florida’s abortion pill lawsuit
The motion argues, in part, that the lawsuit “would waste judicial resources because FDA’s own review may eliminate any need for the Court’s.” Reminder: the FDA’s review was prompted by concerns from a junk science report.
RELATED from Courthouse News Service: Hawley unveils bill to ban abortion pill, strip FDA approval
More abortion pill news from the Mississippi Free Press: Mail-Order Abortion Pill Ban Passes Mississippi House, With Prison Time for Providers for Drug Trafficking
Even though the Wyoming Supreme Court recently ruled that abortion is health care and protected by the state constitution, the state’s governor signed fetal heartbeat legislation into law last week, effective immediately, with the full expectation that it will lead to a legal fight. The new law does not include exceptions for rape or incest.
Some women and religious groups are using a novel argument to “claw back” the right to abortion in Indiana, which has a near-total abortion ban: religious freedom:
The state of Indiana is appealing a Marion County judge’s March 5 ruling in favor of an additional religious right exemption to Indiana’s near-total abortion ban, but legal experts believe the ruling could present a way to claw back the right to an abortion following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. [...]
In the case, the Jewish woman argued that her religion teaches that “life begins when a person takes their first breath after being born.” Her Jewish faith also teaches that the health of a pregnant woman is more important than the life of an embryo or fetus, according to court documents.
“Therefore, according to her Jewish beliefs, if her health or wellbeing — physical, mental or emotional — were endangered by a pregnancy, a pregnancy-related condition, or a fetal anomaly, she must terminate the pregnancy,” according to court records. [...]
The second plaintiff is a woman without a specific religion “but has personal religious and spiritual beliefs that guide her life, including her moral and ethical practices.” She does not believe that life begins at conception, but that a fetus is a part of the body of a mother, according to court records.
Republican lawmakers want to allow pregnant women to seek child support dating back to the first positive pregnancy test, a move that critics say is an attempt to ban all abortions in Arizona by enshrining fetal personhood into state law.
The legislation would allow judges to issue orders mandating child support payments that cover pregnancy-related expenses. And it would add “pre-born child” to state law, defining it as the “offspring of human beings” from conception until birth.
Doing so would amount to codifying a fetal personhood law, allowing abortion foes to prohibit virtually all abortions by giving fetuses legal rights and protections.
The AZ Mirror also reports that another bill would require abortion clinics to tell patients that the fetal remains of “unborn children” can be transferred to a funeral home and the phrase “unborn children” is in more than 100 Arizona statutes.
Conservative lawmakers in Ohio appear to want to create a pregnancy surveillance system:
A recently introduced Ohio bill would require the filing of a “certificate of life” after the detection of a fetal heartbeat and the registration of all fetal deaths.
Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) introduced House Bill 754 on Wednesday. Under the legislation, a medical professional who determines the presence of a fetal heartbeat would have to file a certificate of life in the local records office of the facility within 10 days of the examination.
Trump Administration News
The New York Times: Judge Strikes Down Kennedy’s Vaccine Policies:
In a severe blow to the Trump administration’s health agenda, a federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday blocked the government from implementing a series of decisions on vaccines made over the last year by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The ruling also reversed, at least for the time being, all decisions made by the panelists that Mr. Kennedy appointed to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on which vaccines Americans should take. The court decision will prevent the committee from meeting later this week, as it was scheduled to do.
Affordable Care Act sign-ups have plummeted but Dr. Oz smells a rat anyway:
Although Obamacare sign-ups have fallen significantly this year over skyrocketing monthly premiums, Dr. Mehmet Oz believes enrollment is still too high. Oz, the Trump administration’s top official overseeing the Affordable Care Act, told NBC News that millions of people may be fraudulently enrolled or eligible for other types of coverage.
RFK Jr.’s followers are going all-in on cancelling vaccines:
Leaders of the MAHA Institute, the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-allied think tank pushing Make America Health Again movement policies, stated their position on vaccines unequivocally on Monday: “The childhood vaccination schedule needs to be eliminated,” the policy group’s president, Mark Gorton, said.
“All vaccines need to be removed from the market until they can be proven to be safe and effective,” Gorton told an audience of supporters gathered in the Willard Hotel’s Crystal Room for a panel discussion on the “Massive Epidemic of Vaccine Injury.”
MedPage Today reports that Kennedy is in a bind. On one hand, his avid supporters are urging him to push harder on stopping vaccines. On the other, the Trump administration and Republicans in general want him to shut up about the issue.
RFK Jr.’s hand-picked Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was poised to consider withdrawing their support for mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Thankfully the plan has been abandoned.
The MIT professor who has been appointed by Robert F Kennedy Jr to review the safety of Covid-19 vaccines [Retsef Levi] has failed to meet basic scientific standards in his own research on the topic, according to more than a dozen scientists and public health experts.
A Guardian review of Levi’s record found that more than a dozen experts have criticized research papers he has authored on the topic for being misleading. Some experts also said they believed Levi, who is not a physician or vaccine expert and now heads ACIP’s special immunizations work group on the Covid-19 vaccines, approaches the topic with a pre-determined agenda, instead of a spirit of true scientific inquiry.
Citing a survey called “Killer Jab?,” which found that nearly one out of four Americans reported knowing someone who died from a Covid vaccine, a federal work group is calling for sweeping changes to how the medical establishment tracks and treats injuries from the shots. The changes are proposed in a confidential report obtained by The New York Times. [...]
Dr. Sean O’Leary, head of the pediatric infectious disease committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the Covid work group’s report misrepresented the body of work already available on side effects from the Covid vaccine…The report cherry-picks studies of poor quality that support its thesis and omits work that does not, Dr. O’Leary said, adding, “It is straight out of the anti-vaccine handbook.”
Cheese made from unpasteurized (“raw”) milk – championed by RFK Jr. – has caused a multi-state outbreak of a dangerous strain of E. coli in California.
The Trump administration is considering blackmailing Zambia by holding HIV aid hostage unless they give us access to their minerals.
Other Health Care News
Last Friday marked the sixth anniversary of the Trump Administration declaring a nationwide emergency due to COVID-19.
In 2025, the Committee supported Oregon’s SB 951, a first-in-the-nation law ensuring licensed medical providers, not corporations, private equity firms, or shareholders, retain control over patient care and treatment plans. The law prohibits nonmedical entities from owning or controlling private medical clinics, including through hiring, setting work hours, or determining compensation.
This quarter, the law is facing its first major test. A proposal by nonprofit PeaceHealth to contract out emergency services at three Oregon hospitals to a for-profit Atlanta-based firm has raised serious questions about whether the arrangement violates SB 951. More from KLCC HERE.
The Committee is closely monitoring the situation and engaging with impacted physicians to ensure the law is enforced as intended.
GALLUP: One-Third of Americans Cut Back to Cover Healthcare Expenses
Virginia Mercury : After five years of attempts, Virginia on track to set up a Prescription Drug Affordability Board:
A five-year journey to establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board in Virginia reached a new milestone this week, as the proposal cleared the legislature with near-unanimous votes and strong bipartisan support.
Senate Bill 271 passed the House Tuesday and House bill 483 passed the Senate Wednesday. The bills will establish an advisory panel to examine data and ensure that federal drug pricing caps are applied to state-regulated health insurance plans if signed into law.
RELATED: Listen to Democratic bill champion Virginia Delegate Karrie Delaney discuss this legislation on last week’s episode of the Paging America podcast.
Heading into the primaries, Democrats see an opportunity with MAHA adherents, hoping to capitalize on their anger over Trump’s policies on the pesticide Roundup.
The Hill: Alleged overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans cost seniors billions: Investigation
RELATED from STAT: Congressional advisers call to rein in Medicare Advantage spending amid industry pressure
RELATED from KFF Health News: Medicare Advantage ‘Dark Money’ Group Attempts To Win Higher Payments for Insurance Companies