Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

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

The Top Three...

NPR: House To Vote On Funding Bill, But Health Care Fight Risks Shutdown House Republicans are working to avert a government shutdown with a Friday vote on legislation that funds federal agencies through November 21 and boosts money for security for government officials. But few, if any, Democrats are expected to go along. Their fight to inject health care into the funding debate could mean Congress could fail to approve spending legislation before the September 30 deadline. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Thursday he expected the bill to pass. (Grisales, Walsh and Sprunt, 9/19)

NBC News: CDC Advisory Panel Recommends Restricting Access To The MMRV Vaccine A closely watched advisory panel to the CDC voted Thursday to tweak recommendations for a measles vaccine that includes protection against the varicella, or chickenpox, virus. The new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) suggests the vaccine, called MMRV, shouldn’t be recommended for children under age 4 because of a small risk for febrile seizures in that age group. The seizures can be prompted by fevers associated with viruses or, sometimes, vaccines. They usually last for a few minutes and, while they are scary for parents to witness, are generally harmless, doctors say. (Bendix, Edwards, Lovelace Jr. and Szabo, 9/18)

Fierce Healthcare: RFK Jr. Demanded Vaccine Policy Change Without Evidence, Fired CDC Director Testifies Ousted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez, Ph.D., testified Wednesday that ahead of her firing, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told her there was “no science or evidence” in support of the current childhood vaccine schedule and that he planned to change it in September. ... Monarez recounted her side of the conflict with the secretary that occurred during multiple meetings Aug. 25. “We got into an exchange where I had suggested I would be open to changing the childhood vaccine schedule if the evidence or science were supporting,” Monarez said. “And he responded that there was no science or evidence associated with the childhood vaccine schedule, and he elaborated that CDC had never collected the science or the data to make it available [in relation] to the safety and efficacy." (Muoio, 9/17)

For a Deeper Dive...

CNN: Five New Members Named To Influential CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee Days Ahead Of Key Meeting Five new members have been named to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee, the US Department of Health and Human Services said Monday, just days ahead of a key meeting about vaccines for Covid-19 and other diseases. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been preparing to appoint as many as seven new members for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which is tasked with reviewing the latest science on vaccines and then making recommendations to the CDC on how they should be used. (Dillinger and Goodman, 9/15)

Politico: Trump’s Health Care Cuts May Hit Voters Sooner Than He Thinks The conventional wisdom in Washington is that by pushing off big changes to Medicaid until after the 2026 midterms, Republicans shielded themselves from voter backlash. Don’t be so sure. A full year before anyone casts their vote in November 2026 — meaning now, in the fall of 2025 — the American health care system will begin transitioning from an era of unprecedented expansion of coverage to an era of unprecedented cutbacks. And President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress will be easy to blame. (Kenen, 9/18)

The Hill: State Department Outlines Plans To Move From Global Health Aid To Self-Reliance The State Department outlined a new plan Thursday to move from global health aid to fostering the self-reliance of countries the U.S. has supported in prior years. The U.S. will focus on working directly with nations, requiring them to co-invest in global health initiatives in order to tackle diseases such as tuberculosis, polio and HIV/AIDS as part of a new strategy from President Trump’s administration. (Timotija, 9/18)

KFF Health News: Kennedy’s Take On Vaccine Science Fractures Cohesive National Public Health Strategies Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has had a busy few months. He fired the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, purged the agency’s vaccine advisory committee, and included among the group’s new members appointees who espouse anti-vaccine views. The leadership upheavals, which he says will restore trust in federal health agencies, have shaken the confidence many states have in the CDC and led to the fracturing of a national, cohesive immunization policy that’s endured for three decades. (Armour, Mai-Duc, Maxmen and Allen, 9/19)

U.S. News & World Report: Will The $50 Billion Rural Health Fund Be Enough To Offset Medicaid Cuts? Rural health providers are skeptical that federal Medicaid cuts will be offset by a $50 billion fund – the implementation of which is already off to a rocky start. (Mathur-Ashton, 9/15)

Becker's Hospital Review: 55% Of Healthcare Workers Plan To Change Roles Within 1 Year: Survey More than half of U.S. healthcare workers plan to change roles in the next year, according to a recent survey from Strategic Education. Fifty-five percent of respondents said they plan to search for job openings, interview for new positions or switch roles within a year — either within their current organization (38%) or externally (40%). (Kuchno, 9/15)

The Washington Post: Trump Officials To Link Covid Shots To Child Deaths, Alarming Scientists Trump health officials plan to link coronavirus vaccines to the deaths of 25 children as they consider limiting which Americans should get the shots, according to four people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe confidential information. The findings appear to be based on information submitted to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which contains unverified reports of side effects or bad experiences with vaccines submitted by anyone, including patients, doctors, pharmacists or even someone who sees a report on social media. (Sun, Roubein and Diamond, 9/12)

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