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HealthPlatform.News(letter)

August 4, 2025

In this week’s edition of health news across the states: California enacts limits on Medicaid to achieve billions in savings; Pharma advances non-opioid pain drugs; RFK Jr. unveils campaign to boost wearable health devices; Plastics are everywhere-should you be concerned?

Plus: Brodeur: Building an 'accountability wall' around Florida’s Medicaid program

HealthPlatform.News [[link removed]] California enacts limits on Medicaid to achieve billions in savings [[link removed]]

California lawmakers will limit the number of undocumented immigrants who can enroll in the state’s health insurance plan for low-income individuals after years of expanding access to the program to adults without legal status.

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Pharma advances non-opioid pain drugs [[link removed]]

The American pharmaceutical industry has been making significant progress in developing medications that can treat severe pain as effectively as opioids without the risk of addiction.

Earlier this year, drug maker Vertex received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market the non-opioid painkiller suzetrigine, under the brand name Journavx, for the treatment of acute pain. This is the first time in 25 years that the FDA has approved a new type of painkilling medication, and the first of potentially many non-opioid pain treatments to become available to patients.

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RFK Jr. unveils campaign to boost wearable health devices [[link removed]] [[link removed]]

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced one of the largest advertising campaigns in HHS history. The goal: encourage Americans to use wearable health devices like heart rate monitors and glucose trackers. Kennedy said he wants every American to be wearing one within four years.

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Plastics are everywhere — should you be concerned? [[link removed]]

You will almost certainly eat or drink plastic this week.

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has concluded that the current scientific evidence “does not demonstrate that levels of microplastics or nanoplastics detected in food pose a risk to human health,” a wide range of studies in recent years have found plastic in food and drink, and in most human organs.

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Brodeur: Building an 'accountability wall' around Florida’s Medicaid program [[link removed]]

President Trump’s rallying cry for a “Big, Beautiful Bill” captured a simple yet powerful principle: every government dollar should build something worthy of public trust. Florida embraces that spirit as it confronts the rising cost and complexity of Medicaid, a program that now consumes nearly 40% of all state Health and Human Services spending, and roughly $33.4 billion in the FY 2024‑25 budget.

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In case you missed it

Feds eye tighter restrictions on pharma ads [[link removed]]

Beverage industry launches transparency initiative [[link removed]]

FDA revisits menopause hormone replacement therapy warnings [[link removed]]

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