Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

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

The Top Three...

CBS News: Meta And YouTube Found Liable On All Charges In Landmark Social Media Addiction Trial A jury on Wednesday found that Meta and YouTube are liable for creating products that led to harmful and addictive behavior by young users, a landmark decision that could set a legal precedent for similar allegations brought against social media companies. The jury awarded $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages to the lead plaintiff in the case, a woman named Kaley. Identified in court filings by her initials "KGM," she alleged that using YouTube and Instagram from a young age led to addictive use of the platforms and contributed to her mental health problems, including depression, body dysmorphia and suicidal thoughts. (Cunningham and Pandise, 3/25)

The Washington Post: White House Holds Off On CDC Pick As Search For Permanent Chief Continues The White House has delayed nominating a new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is continuing a search, according to officials, as the Trump administration navigates mounting political and operational risks that have already complicated other high-profile health appointments. The responsibilities of leading the agency will remain with Jay Bhattacharya, the head of the National Institutes of Health, who has been serving as acting CDC director since last month. However, because of rules around temporary positions, he will no longer officially hold the title of acting director because his position as acting director expires at the end of Wednesday. (Sun, Roubein and Diamond, 3/25)

Los Angeles Times: Means' Surgeon General Nomination Is Stalled As Senators Question Her Experience And Vaccine Stance Wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means’ nomination to be U.S. surgeon general is stalled a month after senators of both major political parties grilled her on vaccines and other health topics during a tense confirmation hearing, deepening doubts about her ability to secure the votes she needs for the role. The nomination has languished despite ongoing efforts from the White House and Make America Healthy Again activists, revealing how intractable rifts over health policy can be even when Congress has shown deference to President Trump. It’s become the latest snag in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda after two legal setbacks last week. (Swenson, 3/25)

For a Deeper Dive...

The Hill: 'Medicare By Choice' Proposal Aims To Unite Democrats On Health Care A coalition of former congressional staffers and federal health leaders is putting forward a health care policy proposal around which it hopes Democrats will coalesce ahead of the 2028 campaign, a position it is calling “Medicare by Choice.” “Medicare for All,” the proposed single-payer national health care system that would replace private health insurance, proved to be a politically testy item during the 2024 election. Former Vice President Kamala Harris left it off her agenda when she became the Democratic nominee for president, despite having previously pushed for such a system. (Choi, 3/26)

The New York Times: Kennedy’s Vaccine Agenda Hits Roadblocks, Diminishing His Clout Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s crusade to scale back Americans’ reliance on vaccines has collided with political and legal realities that have endangered the Senate confirmation of one top health official, delayed the nomination of another and diminished his clout in Washington. A string of developments over the past several weeks have put Mr. Kennedy’s vaccine agenda at risk. The confirmation of Dr. Casey Means, President Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, is stalled on Capitol Hill, where three Republicans on the Senate Health Committee, including its chairman, have expressed concern about her views on vaccines. (Gay Stolberg, 3/26)

KFF Health News: Give And Take: Federal Rural Health Funding Could Trigger Service Cuts The emergency department at Big Sandy Medical Center is one room with a single curtain between two beds. It’s one of the many parts of the 25-bed rural hospital that need updating, former CEO Ron Wiens said. He said the hospital, an essential service in its namesake town of nearly 800 residents in the state’s sprawling north-central high plains, needs at least $1 million for deferred maintenance, including a failing HVAC system. But the facility has struggled to make payroll each month and can’t afford to make all the fixes, Wiens said. (Bolton and Zionts, 3/27)

The New York Times: Trump Officials Investigate Stanford, Ohio State And U.C. San Diego Medical Schools The Trump administration has opened investigations into admissions policies at three major medical schools, expanding the federal government’s pressure campaign beyond campus culture and taking aim at the heart of scientific authority in the United States. The Justice Department on Wednesday informed Stanford University, the Ohio State University and the University of California, San Diego, about the investigations and demanded that the schools turn over extensive lists of data by April 24 or risk interruptions to essential federal funding, according to two administration officials familiar with the inquiries and documents reviewed by The New York Times. (Bender and Blinder, 3/26)

KFF Health News: Demoralized CDC Workforce Reels From Year Of Firings, Funding Cuts, And A Shooting On the coffee table at her home in Atlanta, Sarah Boim has a pile of documents from her old job at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are printouts of her employment records. Boim lost her job in the first big wave of CDC firings — more than 1,000 people were suddenly let go last February. “This is the termination letter. I also printed off my performance review from 2024,” she said. “I knew I wouldn’t have access to it, and everything was so chaotic that I needed proof of what was happening.” (Mador, 3/25)

NPR: Number Of Abortions In The U.S. Holds Steady At 1.1 Million, A New Report Says Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, anti-abortion rights advocates have continuously pursued laws and court cases to make access to abortion more difficult. A report published Tuesday finds those efforts haven't worked in one basic way: the number of abortions in the country hasn't budged. (Simmons-Duffin, 3/24)

AP: Verdicts Against Social Platforms Validate Concerns Long Raised By Parents, Whistleblowers For years, parents, teenagers, pediatricians, educators and whistleblowers have pushed the idea that social media is detrimental to young people’s mental health and can lead to addiction, eating disorders, sexual exploitation and suicide. For the first time, juries in two states took their side. In Los Angeles on Wednesday, a jury found both Meta and YouTube liable for harms to children using their services. In New Mexico, a jury determined that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. Tech watchdog groups, families and children’s advocates cheered the jury decisions. (Ortutay, 3/26)

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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