A Trump administration plan to limit student loan borrowing for graduate education is drawing fire for excluding nurses, physician assistants and other types of health workers from higher loan caps.

Why it matters: The Department of Education's classification plan could exacerbate medical workforce shortages by putting a more stringent limit on what students in certain advanced health provider programs can borrow from the federal government, professional groups say.

• It's the latest fallout from Republicans' sweeping tax-and-spending law, which eliminated a federal loan program for graduate students and put a lifetime limit on student loan borrowing starting in the middle of next year.
• The cap is $200,000 per student in degree programs considered professional, but just $100,000 for other graduate programs.

State of play: A panel the administration convened to implement the law last month proposed to adopt a narrow definition of graduate health care programs meeting the definition "professional."

• On the list: M.D.s, osteopathic doctors, veterinarians, pharmacists, optometrists, podiatrists, chiropractors and clinical psychologists.
• Not on: advanced degree nurses, PAs, physical therapists, nutritionists, audiologists and other categories of health workers.

What they're saying: "This is going to critically decrease the amount of health care professionals entering the workforce at a time where we know that more care is going to be needed," said Sondra DePalma, vice president of reimbursement and professional practice at the American Academy of Physician Associates.

The other side: The Trump administration said it expects student loan limits to push down the cost of graduate programs.

• The proposal shouldn't worsen the nursing shortage because it won't affect bachelor's or associate nursing programs, an administration fact sheet notes.

Health providers are ramping up pressure to expand the list.

• More than 224,000 people signed a petition from the American Nurses Association and other groups calling on the administration to add advanced nursing to the list of eligible programs.
• Congress has also started to weigh in — including at least one member who voted for the reconciliation law.

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The U.S. and Britain addressed a key unresolved issue in their trade agreement yesterday when the Trump administration agreed to exempt U.K. drug imports from tariffs for the rest of President Trump's term.

Why it matters: Trump's habit of announcing trade deals without offering specifics left unclear the status of medicines that make up nearly one-fifth of U.K. exports, including treatments from manufacturers like GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca.

What's inside: In exchange for the tariff relief, Britain's national health system will increase the net price it pays for new medicines by 25%.

• The deal exempts U.K. pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical ingredients, and medical technology from so-called Section 232 tariffs on individual sectors like pharmaceuticals.
• The U.S. also won't target U.K. drug pricing practices in any future investigations under its trade authority while Trump is in office.

Britain will change the way it calculates which drugs are cost-effective for its National Health Service, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources.

• The U.K. now pegs the cost of a treatment to each year a drug adds to a person's life, weighted by how well a patient feels during those extra years.
• The upper limit is 30,000 pounds ($39,789) per year.

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Hospitals are suing the administration over its plans to change the way safety net providers can access billions of dollars of discounted drugs under the government's 340B program.

Why it matters: A pilot program that takes effect January 1 would scrap the program's direct price cuts in favor of a system that gives providers rebates once participating drugmakers determine they qualify for the lower price.

State of play: The American Hospital Association, along with its Maine affiliate and four nonprofit hospitals, sued yesterday in the U.S. District Court of Maine.

• The complaint calls the administration's decision to move forward with the program a "textbook disregard of administrative law."
• Officials did not properly consider policy alternatives or the costs and benefits, the complaint alleges.

What they're saying: "Maine's hospitals are already facing very difficult financial conditions as they strive to continue providing a full range of care to their communities," Steven Michaud, president of the Maine Hospital Association, said in a news release.

• HHS did not respond to a request for comment.

The pilot program is due to run for at least a year and test whether rebates work for 340B discounts, HHS said when it first announced the idea in July. Only drugs that have been selected for Medicare price negotiations are eligible for the test.

Boulder now has at least three psilocybin healing centers as Colorado begins licensing its first psychedelic therapy programs.

Why it matters: The way local and state officials navigate psychedelic therapy licensing could serve as a national model for a fledgling practice.

State of play: The Boulder City Council approved rules in January allowing businesses to establish "healing centers" where psilocybin can be consumed legally in supervised settings.

• It's no surprise Boulder is a test bed: The local Naropa University was a trailblazer in the field, and at one point had a Center for Psychedelic Studies and an undergraduate minor in psychedelics.

Context: Coloradans voted to legalize regulated access to psilocybin in 2022, and license applications for healing centers and facilitators opened last December.

• The federal government has warmed in recent years to the idea of using psychedelic drugs for medical treatment.

Yes, but: Psilocybin remains a Schedule I drug, making doing business with banks and other financial institutions tricky.

• The Denver Post reported last year that Colorado businesses were wary of reports out of Oregon, the only other state that allows psychedelic therapy, that costs have been prohibitive.
• Those expenses are reflected in prices for Boulder customers, which range from about $2,800 to $3,400 for a session.

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💉 The new leader of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee recently claimed that COVID-19 shots were responsible for a rise in cancer cases and compared pandemic requirements to the Holocaust. (Endpoints News)

📝 President Trump's physician said in a memo that the results of a "preventative" MRI on his heart and abdomen were "perfectly normal." (Axios)

🏛️ The House voted to revive a lapsed FDA program to spur development of treatments for childhood cancer and other rare diseases. (Bloomberg Government)