Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

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

The Top Three...

The New York Times: Senate Confirms Kennedy, A Prominent Vaccine Skeptic, As Health Secretary. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccine skeptic and former presidential candidate who fled his family’s party and threw his “medical freedom” movement behind President Trump, has been confirmed by the Senate as the nation’s next health secretary. The vote 52-48, capped a remarkable rise for Mr. Kennedy and a curious twist in American politics. He was confirmed by a Republican Senate, without a single Democratic vote, in a chamber where his father, Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncles, John F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, all held office as Democrats.

Politico: Energy And Commerce Committee's Medicaid Problem Just Got Tougher It was always going to be tough for House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie to rally his members around cuts to Medicaid; his job could soon get even harder. The House GOP budget blueprint unveiled Wednesday would direct several congressional committees to achieve at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts across programs under their panels’ purviews — necessary to offset a party-line, budget reconciliation bill to enact President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda. ... The bulk of those savings would have to come from making changes to Medicaid, which currently insures more than 70 million Americans. And, in an interview Wednesday, Guthrie acknowledged that one major savings option probably won’t have the support to pass the House. (Leonard, 2/12)

The New York Times: Court Halt On Trump Cuts For Medical Research Is Extended Nationwide A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to hold off on a plan that would cut $4 billion in federal funding for research at the nation’s universities, cancer centers and hospitals. The funds disbursed by the National Institutes of Health cover the administrative and overhead costs for a vast swath of biomedical research, some of which is directed at tackling diseases like cardiovascular conditions, cancer and diabetes. (Jewett and Rosenbluth, 2/11)

For a Deeper Dive...

NPR: Judge Orders HHS, CDC And FDA To Restore Webpages And Data A federal judge has ordered federal health agencies to restore websites and datasets that were abruptly pulled down beginning in late January, prompting an outcry from medical and public health communities. The temporary restraining order was granted in response to a lawsuit filed against the federal government by Doctors for America (DFA), a progressive advocacy group representing physicians, and the nonprofit Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group. (Stone, 2/11)

NBC News: DOGE And Trump May Pose Biggest Hurdles For RFK Jr. At HHS Now that he’s got the job, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may struggle to navigate his new position as secretary of Health and Human Services as the agency contends with potential job cuts and the administration works to pursue President Donald Trump’s agendas, experts say. The high-profile anti-vaccine activist, known for spreading misinformation, was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote on Thursday. (Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was the only Republican to break with his party and vote no.) His selection in November sparked outrage within the scientific community, with many fearing his appointment could undermine decades of public health — particularly vaccination efforts — in the United States. (Lovelace Jr., 2/13)

Time: RFK Jr. Outlines Priorities On Food, Vaccines, And Personnel In an interview just hours after his confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. outlined his priorities in response to specific prompts by Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “It’s MAHA time” read a chyron as Kennedy joined the program, later changing to “MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN!”—a variation on Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan. Kennedy asserted that the U.S. is “the sickest country in the world,” a talking point he has repeated many times in reference to its low ranking on various metrics among developed nations. He said that Americans face not only a health crisis but also a “spiritual crisis.” (De Guzman, 2/14)

Bloomberg: What RFK Jr.'s New Power Means for Vaccines, Weight-Loss Shots and Drug Ads For vaccine makers, there’s a lot at stake. The Covid-19 shot, which Kennedy once-called the “deadliest vaccine ever made,” is still one of Pfizer’s largest-selling products. Merck & Co.’s HPV shot, Gardasil, is the company’s second-best-selling product, and the company also makes one of the MMR vaccines Kennedy refused to say don't cause autism during his confirmation hearings. Moderna Inc.’s entire business so far, and most of its late-stage pipeline, is focused on various vaccines. And it’s not just manufacturers that are potentially at risk. In its annual report, CVS Health Corp. said that “regulatory changes or consumer sentiment shift for immunizations” may hurt demand at its stores. (Muller and Shanker, 2/13)

The Hill: GOP Leaders Downplay Medicaid Cuts As They Seek $2T In Savings House Republican leaders on Tuesday downplayed the possibility of cuts to Medicaid benefits as they seek a reconciliation bill with up to $2 trillion in savings. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) sought to reassure the public — and potential jittery members of their own caucus — that the Medicaid changes under discussion include work requirements and fraud reduction, not drastic cuts like lowering the federal match for Medicaid expansion states or instituting a per capita cap. (Weixel, 2/11)

Politico: Republicans May Find It Harder To Cut Medicaid Than They Think Amid the chaos of President Donald Trump’s now-rescinded domestic funding freeze, Medicaid portals across the country went offline, which meant states couldn’t get their Medicaid dollars. It was something the administration said was never supposed to happen and which provoked public outrage and a bipartisan outcry. Now Republicans are considering whether and how to target Medicaid as part of their effort to defray the cost of massive tax cuts, the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda. (Kenen, 2/13)

The New York Times: Top N.I.H. Official Abruptly Resigns As Trump Orders Deep Cuts The No. 2 official at the National Institutes of Health abruptly resigned and retired from government service on Tuesday, in another sign that the Trump administration is reshaping the nation’s public health and biomedical research institutions. The official, Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak, a dentist and researcher, was long considered a steadying force and had weathered past presidential transitions. ... One person familiar with the decision said Dr. Tabak had been confronted with a reassignment that he viewed as unacceptable. (Gay Stolberg, 2/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Insurers Deny 850 Million Claims A Year. The Few Who Appeal Often Win. After three years of doctors’ visits and $40,000 in medical bills didn’t cure their daughter’s rare condition, April and Justin Beck found a specialist three states away who offered a promising treatment. They set out before dawn last spring for the nine-hour drive to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, where Dr. Aravindhan Veerapandiyan explained how infusions of antibodies could help Emily, now 9 years old, and her misfiring immune system. (Wernau, 2/12)

The New York Times: How Trump’s Medical Research Cuts Would Hit Colleges And Hospitals In Every State A proposal by the Trump administration to reduce the size of grants for institutions conducting medical research would have far-reaching effects, and not just for elite universities and the coastal states where many are located. Also at risk could be grants from the National Institutes of Health to numerous hospitals that conduct clinical research on major diseases, and to state universities across the country. North Carolina, Missouri and Pennsylvania could face disproportionate losses, because of the concentration of medical research in those states. (Badger, Bhatia, Cabreros, Murray, Paris, Sanger-Katz and Singer, 2/13)

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