Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

The Top Three...

Roll Call: Kennedy Defends CDC Shake-Up, Accusing Medical Experts Of Lies Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was unrepentant Thursday about his shakeup of the nation’s public health agency and overhaul of federal vaccine policy, accusing a departed director and top medical organizations of lying. (Hellmann and Cohen, 9/4)

The Washington Post: Congress Returns With Not Much Time To Dodge A Government Shutdown When Congress returns to Washington on Tuesday, lawmakers will have around four weeks to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. It’s still unclear how — or whether — they’ll pull it off. Most congressional leaders acknowledge they’ll probably need to pass a short-term funding extension, known as a continuing resolution, given the time crunch. Government funding expires at the end of the day on Sept. 30, and much of the government would close without action. Congress may struggle to pass even a stopgap fix, though. (Beggin, Meyer and Bogage, 9/2)

KFF Health News: Senior CDC Officials Resign After Monarez's Ouster, Citing Concerns Over Scientific Independence Four senior officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced their resignations in recent days, citing what they described as growing political interference in the agency’s scientific work, particularly regarding vaccines. Two of them — Debra Houry, the CDC’s chief science and medical officer, and Demetre Daskalakis, who led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases — stepped down on Aug. 27, hours after the White House announced the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez. (Gounder, 8/29)

For a Deeper Dive...

CIDRAP: ACIP To Review COVID, Hep B, And MMRV Vaccine Recommendations At September Meeting The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has posted the agenda for the upcoming meeting of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The ACIP meeting, to be held on September 18 and 19 at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, will include discussions and possible votes on recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines; hepatitis B vaccine; measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccine; and respiratory syncytial virus. The ACIP will also provide updates on its work groups. (Dall, 8/28)

Politico: RFK Jr. Says CDC Director’s Firing Is Just A Start Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has no plans to try to lower the temperature around the upheaval he’s caused at his department. “We are the sickest country in the world. That’s why we have to fire people at the CDC. They did not do their job,” Kennedy said. “I need to fire some of those people to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” (Levien, 9/4)

AP: A Look At False Claims Made By RFK Jr. During A Senate Hearing On MAHA U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made myriad false and misleading claims on Thursday as he fielded questions examining his seven-month tenure leading the nation’s health agencies at a contentious three-hour hearing. Kennedy ignored government data, twisted legislation and pointed to unsubstantiated treatments while addressing topics such as COVID-19 vaccines, rural hospitals and school shootings. (Goldin, 9/4)

The New York Times: Medicare Will Require Prior Approval For Certain Procedures Private insurers often require a cumbersome review process that frequently results in the denial or delay of essential treatments that are readily covered by traditional Medicare. ... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to begin a pilot program that would involve a similar review process for traditional Medicare, the federal insurance program for people 65 and older as well as for many younger people with disabilities. The pilot would start in six states next year, including Oklahoma, where Ms. Ayres lives. (Abelson and Rosenbluth, 8/28)

The Boston Globe: Massachusetts Insurers Will Cover Costs Of State-Recommended Vaccines, Governor Says Massachusetts became the first state in the country Thursday to require insurers to cover the cost of COVID shots and other inoculations recommended by state health officials, in another move to counter the Trump administration’s efforts to undo the long national consensus on vaccines. The rift was prompted by new federal limitations on who should receive COVID vaccines under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that have created confusion among consumers, pharmacies, and physicians and made it difficult for even those with demonstrated need to get booster shots. (Laughlin and Schmeiszer, 9/4)

The New York Times: What To Know About Jim O’Neill, The New Acting C.D.C. Director On Thursday, the Trump administration selected Jim O’Neill, a former biotechnology executive and the deputy to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to serve as the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The pick leaves the nation’s premier public health agency under the leadership of an official without medical or scientific training, and seems likely to tighten political control of the agency, critics in Congress said. (Anthes, 8/29)

The Guardian: Florida To End Vaccine Mandates For Children As State’s Surgeon General Likens Them To ‘Slavery’ Children in Florida will no longer be required to receive vaccines against preventable diseases including measles, mumps, chickenpox, polio and hepatitis, said Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general, on Wednesday in a speech during which he likened vaccine mandates to “slavery”. Ladapo, hand-picked for the role by Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, is a longtime skeptic of the benefit of vaccines, and has previously been accused of peddling “scientific nonsense” by public health advocates. (Luscombe, 9/3)

The New York Times: Health Care Costs For Workers Begin To Climb Employees of large and small companies are likely to face higher health care costs, with increases in premiums, bigger deductibles or co-pays, and will possibly lose some benefits next year, according to a large survey of companies nationwide that was released on Thursday. The survey of 1,700 companies, conducted by Mercer, a benefits consultant, indicated that employers are anticipating the sharpest increases in medical costs in about 15 years. Higher drug costs, rising hospital prices and greater demand for care are all contributing factors, experts said. (Abelson, 9/4)

The Washington Post: Medicaid Cuts Threaten Rural Hospitals — And Access To Maternity Care Jacalyn Stuff was nearing the end of her first trimester when doctors at UK St. Claire Regional Medical Center delivered shattering news: her twins were in danger. Then came a second blow: Those doctors — the ones she had come to know and trust, the ones less than 10 minutes from her home — could no longer treat her. During the following 10 weeks, Jacalyn — then 19 — had to travel repeatedly to hospitals able to provide more advanced maternity care. Appointments at the one 70 miles away in Lexington required $30 for a tank of gas. Appointments at the one 100 miles away in Cincinnati required gas and a hotel stay. And they all required Jacalyn either to bring her infant son or to find a babysitter. (Abutaleb, 9/1)

The New York Times: Inside The C.D.C., A Growing Sense Of Despair In interviews, about two dozen C.D.C. employees said that the mood inside the agency was bleak. Some blamed Mr. Kennedy for what they felt was a campaign waged against science. Others said they were terrified for the future of the C.D.C. and the nation’s health. Some said they were in shock. All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “We’re scared for ourselves and for the country,” one said. At one small group meeting Thursday morning, two people broke down in tears, according to an employee who was present. At another meeting, a senior leader who has always stayed calm under pressure was visibly shaking, another scientist said. (Mandavilli, 8/28)

Politico: RFK Jr. Is Forcing Doctors To Make A Tough Choice The most powerful lobbying group for America’s doctors has a big decision to make: Go to war with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or try to work with him. For many members of the American Medical Association, publicly opposing Kennedy feels right. It means defending public health against policies — from changes to vaccine guidance to cuts to Medicaid — they see as dire threats. But it could come at a big cost if Republicans decide to overhaul how doctors are paid, as Kennedy has said he wants to do. (Levien, 8/30)

For the Visual Among Us...

A few years ago I started a weekly e-mail for friends and colleagues who want to keep up on major federal health policy developments but did not have time to plod through all the minutiae--they were busy doing important things like running organizations and taking care of patients! Much to my surprise, it became pretty popular. I have now converted to a weekly newsletter format so you can manage your own subscription preferences and forward to others that might be interested.

These summaries represent my judgement on health policy issues that may not on the front pages, but are relevant to clinicians, administrators, and educators. I monitor many news sources and clipping services to identify content for this newsletter and I try hard to be as factual, balanced, and non-partisan as possible. While the articles are written by others (with credit attributed), the choice of what to include is entirely mine. If you are interested in receiving a daily summary of health policy news, you might consider signing up for the KHN Morning Briefing. If you enjoy podcasts, I suggest What the Health? and Tradeoffs.

-Gregg S. Margolis, PhD