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CDC report says autism rates are rising due to better screening, contradicting RFK Jr.
About 1 in every 31 children were diagnosed with autism in 2022, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), continuing a trend of increases from previous years that researchers largely attributed to better screening. The 2022 figure marks a slight increase from the report’s 2020 finding of 1…
Three GOP states pushing to ban candy and soda from SNAP
Three GOP-led states are moving to strip unhealthy items from their food stamp programs that help low-income Americans afford groceries. Arkansas became the first state Tuesday to submit a waiver to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) asking for permission to change its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to ban soda and candy. Separately, Indiana…
More Americans are using online-only clinics to have abortions, data shows
The number of abortions in the U.S. keeps rising with more Americans turning to online-only clinics for medication abortions, according to data released Tuesday. In-clinic abortion in states without bans on the procedure have remained relatively stable in recent years. There were 1,038,100 clinician-provided abortions in states without abortion bans last year, an increase…
Trump executive order backs change to Medicare negotiation pushed by drug industry
A new executive order signed Tuesday by President Trump directs Congress to change a key provision of the law allowing Medicare drug price negotiations, a move that would fix one of the drug industry’s biggest complaints.
Democrats call on RFK Jr. to keep Biden rule allowing Medicare coverage of anti-obesity drugs
A group of Democratic senators are calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to keep a proposed Biden-era rule that would have allowed Medicare and Medicaid to cover drugs used to treat obesity after the Trump administration decided not to finalize it. Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Cory…
7 US service members had ‘COVID-19-like symptoms’ after 2019 Wuhan games: Pentagon report
Seven U.S. service members exhibited “COVID-19-like symptoms” during or after their return from the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan, China, according to a Pentagon report recently made public. The report indicates the service members had symptoms between Oct. 18, 2019, and Jan. 21, 2020. The symptoms all resolved within six days, according to the…
Pfizer will end development of daily anti-obesity pill due to liver injury
Pfizer is stopping development of its experimental oral GLP-1 drug for obesity, the company announced Monday, after a patient in a trial suffered a liver injury potentially caused by the drug. The patient did not experience any symptoms, and the injury resolved after discontinuation of the drug, Pfizer said in a statement. After reviewing all…
Trump administration slashes HIV workforce and funding
In drastically cutting down its public health workforce, the Trump administration is potentially undoing decades of work combatting the HIV epidemic and delaying upcoming advances. When Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans to reduce his department’s staff by 20 percent, several divisions within the Centers for Disease Control and…
White House launches national security investigation into pharma, semiconductors
The Trump administration disclosed Monday that it had opened an investigation into the effects on national security of importing certain pharmaceuticals, a move widely seen as the prelude to initiating tariffs on prescription drugs. The Department of Commerce in a Federal Register notice said the probe, known as a Section 232 investigation, began April 1, the day…
Trump's budget plan puts Medicaid benefits in the spotlight
The adoption of the Republicans’ budget bill has thrown a spotlight onto the hot-button issue that could make or break President Trump’s domestic agenda: Medicaid. The massive government health care program is at the heart of the GOP’s plan to slash federal spending in order to trim deficits and make budget space for Trump’s new…
Johnson: GOP Medicaid cuts will target people not 'eligible'
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that Republicans would protect entitlement programs as they press ahead with deep cuts to federal spending, but he added the government must “eliminate people on Medicaid” who are not “eligible to be there.” “The president has made absolutely clear many times, as we have as well, that we’re…
Pharma faces turmoil as Trump eyes drug import tariffs
The pharmaceutical industry is bracing for chaos if President Trump follows through on his threat to impose “a major tariff” on prescription drug imports. Tariffs would disrupt international supply chains, force companies to decide whether to pass increased costs on to patients and exacerbate existing drug shortages. The administration wants more drug companies to…
Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts threaten to roll back global maternal mortality progress
Maternal mortality rates have declined significantly across the world since the turn of the century, but global health experts fear that progress could be rolled back as a result of the Trump administration’s cuts to U.S. foreign aid. Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births dropped by about 40 percent worldwide between 2000 and 2023, according…
Former FDA vaccine chief on RFK Jr. and autism cause: Giving people false hope is ‘wrong’
Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks weighed in on Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s remarks about finding a cause of autism, saying giving people false hope is “wrong.” Marks joined CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, where host Margaret Brennan asked him…
Measles outbreak surpasses 700 cases
The measles outbreak has now surpassed 700 reported cases in the U.S., raising the pressure on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to rein in the deadly virus. Overall, 712 cases have been reported with new cases being discovered in Kansas, Ohio and Indiana, according to the Centers for Disease Control and…
HHS officials lack clarity on agency layoffs, House aide says
Department of Health and Human Services officials during a closed-door briefing could not give a full accounting of the number of people who have been fired from the agency, a Democratic aide for the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Friday. HHS officials insisted to committee staff that the agency’s massive staffing cuts had been performed…
Trump administrations tells states Medicaid funds cannot be used for gender-affirming care
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is urging states to not use Medicaid funds for gender-affirming care for minors, specifically gender reassignment surgeries or hormone treatments. “As a doctor and now CMS Administrator, my top priority is protecting children and upholding the law,” Mehmet Oz, the recently confirmed agency head, said in…
FDA to phase out some animal testing requirements
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Thursday it plans to phase out animal testing requirements for biological products and drugs, instead moving toward alternative testing models such computer simulations and “organoids.” The agency said in a release that its animal testing requirements would be “reduced, refined, or potentially replaced using a range of approaches,”…
RFK Jr. considering ‘framework’ for Medicaid, Medicare coverage of GLP-1s
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he is considering a “regulatory framework” for Medicare and Medicaid to cover GLP-1 medications to treat obesity. Kennedy said in a CBS News interview that aired Wednesday the high cost of the medication is the biggest hurdle to coverage, but he said he’s considering…
Percentage of ‘thriving’ Americans mired at 5-year low: Gallup
The percentage of “thriving” Americans is at a five-year low, according to a Gallup poll. The poll found 48.9 percent of respondents said they are “thriving,” staying at a five-year low previously recorded in November 2024 and September 2023. Since December 2020, there has not been a percentage of respondents lower than 48.2 percent that…
RFK Jr.: ‘By September we will know what has caused the autism epidemic’
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a “massive testing and research effort” that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said will determine the cause of rising childhood autism rates in the country. During a meeting of President Trump’s Cabinet on Thursday, Kennedy said the process will involve “hundreds of scientists around…
Pentagon woos service members discharged over COVID-19 vaccine
The Pentagon is trying to woo back to the military thousands of service members involuntarily discharged over refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccination, starting with “letters of apology” sent this week, according to the defense official overseeing the effort. Tim Dill, the Defense Department’s acting deputy undersecretary of personnel and readiness, told reporters Tuesday that…
RFK Jr. says he’s ‘not familiar’ with $11B cuts to state and local health departments
Health and human services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he was unaware that his agency is trying to rescind more than $11 billion from state and local health departments. “No I’m not familiar with those cuts. We’d have to go … the cuts were mainly DEI cuts, which the president ordered,” Kennedy said in…
House Democrats sound alarm over impact of tariffs on medical supply chain
With President Trump’s latest tariffs underway, a group of House Democrats are calling on the administration to try to protect medical supply chains from the “devastating consequences” the mounting trade war could inflict on patients. Led by Democratic Reps. Doris Matsui (Calif.) and Brad Schneider (Ill.), 26 House Democrats signed a letter to U.S. Trade…
Fetterman urges Trump to expand anti-obesity drug access
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) on Wednesday called on the Trump administration to back a Biden-era rule that would expand access to GLP-1 medications, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, for millions of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. In a New York Times op-ed, Fetterman appealed to President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy…
Trump administration ramps up scrutiny on flouride in drinking water
As the Trump administration takes steps to discourage the incorporation of fluoride in drinking water, experts warn the moves may have serious consequences for Americans’ health. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday announced it would “expeditiously review new scientific information on potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water.” The move came after a…
Kennedy’s moves on measles don’t quell criticism
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s personal visit to the family of a Texas girl who died of measles appeared to mark a slight shift for the former anti-vaccine activist, who has sought to downplay the seriousness of the outbreak. Public health and infectious disease experts who have sounded alarm over…
Medicare won't cover anti-obesity GLP-1 drugs as Joe Biden administration proposed
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Friday it will not be finalizing a rule proposed by the Biden administration that would have allowed Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries access to anti-obesity drugs such as the highly in-demand GLP-1 medications. In November last year, the Biden administration proposed a new rule that would allow…
EPA to reconsider fluoride's health impact in drinking water
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will reconsider the health impacts of fluoride in drinking water — taking what could be an initial step toward new national limits or a ban on the substance. An EPA press release said Monday that the agency would “expeditiously review new scientific information on potential health risks of fluoride in…
RFK Jr. consoles Texas family: MMR vaccine ‘most effective’ way to stop measles spread
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touted the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine as the “most effective” way to prevent the spread of measles during a visit to Texas with the family of an 8-year-old girl who died from the disease. “I came to Gaines County, Texas, today to comfort the…
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s risky restructuring of HHS begins
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Department of Government Efficiency are reshaping the U.S. health care system, starting with deep cuts to the agencies Kennedy now leads. Kennedy and his allies argue such moves are needed to change federal culture and improve efficiency in the name of long-term health…
Protect Our Care targeting swing districts with ads opposing Medicaid cuts
The Democrat-aligned group Protect Our Care is launching a new spate of ads targeting GOP-controlled swing districts across the country to highlight constituent opposition to Medicaid funding cuts likely to result from Republicans’ aims to significantly reduce the deficit. In a release provided exclusively to The Hill, Protect Our Care announced 10 new ads that…
Speaker Johnson says fluoride in water deserves another look
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday he thinks fluoride in the public water supply deserves “real evaluation,” a day after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicated new recommendations and potential limits would be coming. “I think it deserves, from what I’ve read and from what…