In a surprise to no one who follows healthcare, costs are rising across the US this year.

In Vermont, the problem is especially bad, as health insurance premiums jumped 24% in 2024 and are expected to increase another 14% this year, KFF reported. For example, KFF’s data shows Vermont’s Affordable Care Act marketplace plans jumped from an average of $732 per month in 2022 to $948 in 2024. That’s compared to national marketplace plan averages of $428 per month in 2022 and $468 in 2024.

That’s why state Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky proposed a bill in January to institute salary caps for Vermont hospital executives and clinical leadership.

If passed, the bill would limit compensation for a hospital’s executive and clinical leadership to no more than 10x the salaries of the lowest-paid patient-facing employees. The bill would also require the ratio of frontline workers to administrative employees fall in line with national averages.

Read more on Vermont’s salary cap efforts here.—CM

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, misinformation surrounding transgender healthcare has proliferated—and so have threats of consequences for the clinicians providing it.

For instance, Trump on Jan. 28 issued an executive order attempting to ban clinicians from providing gender-affirming care by threatening to defund institutions providing such services.

Following that, several hospitals and health systems paused gender-affirming care services. And while most have since resumed care, confusion over the legality of providing gender-affirming services as well as threats of legal action from government officials have made providers hesitant to continue treating trans patients, Alex Sheldon, executive director of GLMA, an association working toward LGBTQ+ health equity, told Healthcare Brew.

The law remains. Trump’s executive order barring gender-affirming care is not enforceable, as it doesn’t change existing laws that prohibit discrimination against trans patients, according to Kellan Baker, executive director at the Institute for Health Research and Policy at Whitman-Walker, a leading institution in LGBTQ+ health research in Washington, DC.

Here’s how trans care has changed in recent months.—MA

The FDA has historically posted press releases about Class I recalls—the most serious kind—on its medical device recall notifications webpage.

But the agency posted only one press release about one Class I recall in April. We thought that was kinda weird, but moved on. Then, it posted only one recall again in May.

Have medical devices suddenly become radically safer? Not quite. If you go to the FDA’s weekly enforcement report page or navigate to the FDA’s medical device recall database, there were other Class I recalls in April and May. They just aren’t all getting press releases, which is what we previously based this roundup on.

With that, let’s get into May’s recalls!

Car adapter confusion. Medical Depot, dba Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare, warned customers on April 11 of potentially faulty car adapters for iGo2 portable oxygen concentrator systems. The DC power supply housing can overheat and deform the plastic. Affected charger cords should be destroyed, the company said. The FDA categorized this as a Class I recall on May 9.

Here’s the full roundup.—CC

CRISPR is entering a groundbreaking new era—moving from the lab to real-world treatments. This article explores the latest advances, ethical debates, and what it means for the future of medicine. Read now to see how gene editing is redefining healthcare as we know it.