Axios

As rising prices and the lingering fallout from the nation's longest-ever government shutdown squeeze Americans' budgets, many are unable to give back this holiday season — and charities are feeling the strain.

Why it matters: Some of the largest charitable organizations in the U.S. are trying to stay hopeful despite rising demand and declining generosity.

The Trump administration is proposing to scrap a dozen quality measures for Medicare Advantage plans and not move forward with a Biden administration plan to reward insurers that improve the health of low-income and disabled enrollees.

Why it matters: A proposal issued on Tuesday marked the Trump administration's first shot at putting its mark on the privatized Medicare program and delivered a mixed bag for top plans like UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health's Aetna.

Medicare has negotiated list price reductions of up to 85% for 15 widely used drugs in the program, including Novo Nordisk's blockbuster GLP-1 drug Ozempic, officials announced Tuesday.

Why it matters: The price cuts are expected to save $12 billion over a year. Seniors are expected to see a $685 million reduction in out-of-pocket costs when they take effect in 2027.

President Trump's trial balloon for extending the Affordable Care Act's enhanced subsidies has been shot down, but the real moment of truth for him and Congress may come in the run-up to the next government funding cliff, in late January.

Why it matters: There still are multiple scenarios for preventing steep increases in premium costs for millions of Americans heading into an election year dominated by affordability issues.

The ozone hole over the Antarctic in 2025 was the fifth smallest since 1992 — "the year a landmark international agreement to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals began to take effect," per a new NOAA-NASA report.

Why it matters: While the ozone hole varies in size from year to year, the report says this year's monitoring shows "controls on ozone-depleting chemical compounds established by the landmark Montreal Protocol and subsequent amendments are driving the gradual recovery of the ozone layer."

The Trump administration has tapped a former Louisiana health official who ordered a stop to promotions of mass vaccination events last winter to be the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new principal deputy director.

Why it matters: The move begins to fill out the top ranks of the CDC, whose leadership was left in limbo after a wave of high-level departures this summer, including the August firing of former director Susan Monarez.

Driving the news: Former Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham was listed as CDC's principal deputy director on an internal email server, Inside Medicine first reported on Tuesday.

• Health and Human Services later confirmed his appointment, which is not subject to Senate confirmation.
• He would be the most senior medical professional at the public health agency, serving under acting director Jim O'Neill, a former Silicon Valley investor and entrepreneur.

Abraham was a three-term congressman from 2015 to 2021 who spent 10 years as a veterinarian before going to medical school and then practicing family medicine, according to his official biography.

In February, Abraham issued an internal memo to Louisiana's health department that it would no longer use media campaigns or health fairs to promote vaccination against preventable illnesses, the New York Times reported.

• He has also publicly sparred with Senate health committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) over vaccines, saying he doesn't believe COVID-19 shots are safe and admonishing Cassidy, also a physician, to "stay in his lane."
• During the pandemic, he backed efforts to make the unproven COVID treatment ivermectin available without a prescription and recommended it to his own patients as a treatment for the virus, per the Shreveport Times.
• MedPage Today found that out of about 12,000 practicing physicians in 2021, Abraham was the seventh highest prescriber of ivermectin in the state, even though it had already been found to be ineffective in treating COVID.