Category: Health Policy
The U.S. wants healthier children. So why is it scaling back its nutrition programs?
Some of the very programs the Make America Healthy Again movement has said were the key to improving children’s health are now facing cuts by the Trump administration.
Racial health disparities could widen as states grapple with Trump cuts, experts warn
As part of its federal restructuring and crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, the Trump administration has been shuttering federal offices and rescinding grants dedicated to addressing worse health care access and outcomes for racial minorities.
An AI Assistant Can Interpret Those Lab Results for You
Many patients are using large language models, or LLMs, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini, to interpret their records. That help comes with some risk, though.
What does Florida’s decision to end vaccine mandates mean for the US and other countries?
And the damage won’t be limited to Florida. Mobile Americans will spread disease to other states and other countries. Even a visit to Disney World will come with increased risks.
Washington State DOH order allows most residents to get COVID vaccine without prescription
The vaccine remains covered by most private insurers, Apple Health, and Washington’s Adult Vaccine and Childhood Vaccine Programs, removing barriers and helping people stay healthy.
How RFK Jr.’s misguided science on mRNA vaccines is shaping policy − a UW vaccine expert examines the false claims
As a vaccinologist who has studied and developed vaccines for over 35 years, I see that the science behind mRNA vaccine technology is being widely misstated. This incorrect information is shaping long-term health policy in the U.S. – which makes it urgent to correct the record. – Deborah Fuller, University of Washington
As Florida plans to end all vaccine mandates, Western states form vaccine alliance
The contrasting moves come amid turmoil at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where several top leaders resigned last week to protest efforts by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, to dismiss CDC Director Susan Monarez for pushing back against Kennedy’s vaccine policies.
At CDC, Worries Mount That Agency Has Taken Anti-Science Turn
HHS Director Robert F. Kennedy, Jrs’ move to put his stamp on the CDC means states that have long relied on the agency’s expertise and help in crises such as disease outbreaks will largely be left to fend for themselves
How stripping diversity, equity and inclusion from health care may make Americans sicker
The Trump administration’s funding cuts will most directly affect the health of members of marginalized groups, including, but not limited to, people of color, women and people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and transgender.
The FDA Let Substandard Factories Ship These Medications to the U.S.
For more than a dozen years, the Food and Drug Administration quietly allowed substandard foreign factories to continue shipping medications to the United States even after the agency officially banned them from doing so because of dangerous manufacturing failures.
State public health departments fear looming federal cuts in Trump’s next budget
If lawmakers hew to Trump’s vision, then state and county public health departments would be hit hard. States contribute to their own health departments, but a lot of them rely heavily on federal funding. Around half of local public health department funding comes from federal sources
RFK Jr’s Vaccine Policies Could Undermine Coverage — and Trust
In June, the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ousted all 17 members of a panel that makes vaccine recommendations to the U.S. government.
Many vaccine experts were dismayed.
How 17M Americans enrolled in Medicaid and ACA plans could lose their health insurance by 2034
As a public health professor, I see these changes, which will be phased in over several years, as the first step in a reversal of the expansion of access to health care that began with the ACA’s passage in 2010. About 25.3 million Americans lacked insurance in 2023, down sharply from 46.5 million when President Barack Obama signed the ACA into law. All told, the changes in the works could eliminate three-quarters of the progress the U.S. has made in reducing the number of uninsured Americans following the Affordable Care Act.
Republican Megabill Will Mean Higher Health Costs for Many Americans
Under the legislation Trump’s expected to sign on Friday, Independence Day, reductions in federal support for Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplaces will cause nearly 12 million more people to be without insurance by 2034, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. That in turn is expected to undermine the finances of hospitals, nursing homes, and community health centers — which will have to absorb more of the cost of treating uninsured people. Some may reduce services and employees or close altogether
Proposed Federal Cuts Put Rural Behavioral Health Resources on the Line
The proposed FY2026 Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) budget would cut nearly $1 billion and dozens of programs from SAMHSA following a March announcement that SAMHSA would be one of five agencies folded into a new, centralized Administration for a Healthy America. BCOR is one of the grants eliminated in the current budget proposal.