Trump to nominate Heidi Overton to lead FDA; Costco is getting into Medicare; the world is 34 million health workers short — Morning Medical Update

Trump to nominate Heidi Overton to lead FDA

Overton helped shape the administration's childhood vaccine order and would succeed Marty Makary, M.D., who resigned in May.

President Donald Trump plans to nominate Heidi Overton, M.D., Ph.D., a White House domestic policy official, as commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, The New York Times reported Aug. 18, citing two senior administration officials. Overton is deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy and a former chief policy officer at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank. She earned her medical degree at the University of New Mexico and a doctorate in clinical investigation at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Overton stood with Trump last week as he signed an executive order calling for fewer required childhood vaccinations. At the event she said the order could help states recognize "gold standard" recommendations and limit vaccines required for school entry. She has also written that abortion pills are "far more dangerous to women," aligning with conservatives who have urged the FDA to restrict access to abortion medication. If confirmed by the Senate, she would succeed Marty Makary, M.D., who resigned in May; Kyle Diamantas has run the agency since.

Costco is getting into Medicare

The warehouse chain will co-brand Medicare plans with nonprofit insurer SCAN Health Plan, pending regulatory approval.

Costco and SCAN Health Plan, a nonprofit Medicare Advantage insurer based in Long Beach, California, announced Aug. 18 an expanded partnership to sell co-branded Medicare plans and other senior-focused insurance products over the coming years. The companies said the offerings may include a redesigned pharmacy experience, Medflex over-the-counter benefits, vision and audiology coverage, all pending regulatory review and approval. SCAN said the alliance is Costco's first comprehensive partnership with a Medicare plan.

The Wall Street Journal reported the companies plan to start with Medicare Advantage products in two states and a Medicare supplement in a third, together reaching about 5 million Medicare enrollees. Costco and SCAN declined to name the markets or the timing while the plans await approval. SCAN Health Plan serves nearly 460,000 members across 33 counties in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Washington, and about 500,000 members and patients across all its entities.

The world is 34 million health workers short

Women drove most of the global health workforce's growth since 1990 but remain concentrated in lower-paid roles.

The world would need an additional 34.4 million doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists and pharmacists to reach moderate universal health coverage, according to a Global Burden of Disease analysis published Aug. 18 in The Lancet Public Health. The gap includes 23.9 million nurses and midwives, 7.1 million doctors, 1.8 million dentists and 1.6 million pharmacists.

The global health workforce nearly tripled between 1990 and 2023, from 40.9 million to 122.1 million, but shortages remain deepest in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Women accounted for 71.4% of that growth and made up 68.9% of health workers in 2023, including 80.7% of nurses, 96% of midwives and 89.5% of community health workers, while fewer than half of doctors were women. Lead author Megan Knight of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said women remain concentrated in professions that generally offer lower pay and fewer leadership opportunities. Nursing density ranged from 3.2 per 10,000 people in Chad to 171.7 in Belgium and 161.4 in the United States. The estimates are modeled from survey, census and administrative data.

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