From the killer barber of 'Sweeney Todd,' to Stephen Sondheim’s 'Assassins,' musicals have long dealt with morbid subject matter. Now a musical comedy based on Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man accused of gunning down the CEO of a healthcare company, is on its way to San Francisco. 'Luigi the Musical,' is billed as: 'A story of love, murder and hash browns,' is due to open in June at the Taylor Street Theatre. The show is described as a 'wildly irreverent, razor-sharp comedy that imagines the true story of Luigi Mangione, the alleged corporate assassin turned accidental folk hero.' The film features other famous characters, including convicted crypto-fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, and former rap mogul, turned accused sex trafficker Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
News that CVS Health's Aetna is pulling out of the individual health insurance business, also known as Obamacare, could mean more insurers will follow if President Trump and his fellow Republicans in Congress cut health benefits. CVS' decision leaves about 1 million people in 17 states looking for new coverage in 2026. That's a fraction of the more than 24 million Americans who signed up for such coverage on the ACA exchanges last fall. But Republicans and the Trump White House are making moves to make it difficult on health insurers to sell Obamacare.
More U.S. children have died this flu season than at any time since the swine flu pandemic 15 years ago, according to a federal report. The 216 pediatric deaths reported by the CDC eclipse the 207 reported last year. It's the most since the 2009-2010 H1N1 global flu pandemic. It's a startlingly high number, given that the flu season is still going on. The final pediatric death tally for the 2023-2024 flu season wasn't counted until autumn.
President Donald Trump has set his sights on the pharmaceutical industry to shoulder part of the cost of his tax cuts, pressing congressional Republicans to force drugmakers to accept lower prices on prescriptions covered by Medicaid.
Weekly measles cases have set a new record, according to figures published by the CDC, topping the peak of an outbreak in 2019 that ranked as the worst since the 1990s. The number of cases that had their symptoms start during the week of March 30 has grown to 111, according to the agency's latest update. Authorities backdate newly reported measles cases based on when their rash began, to account for delays in reporting and diagnosis.
The 2026 proposal is seeking to cut $33.3 billion in discretionary funding for HHS, representing a 26.2% reduction compared to the fiscal 2025 budget. This includes a $3.6 billion reduction in discretionary funding for the CDC, an $18 billion reduction for NIH, a $674 million reduction for CMS Program Management and a $240 million reduction for Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response Hospital Preparedness Program.