Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
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)
KFF Health News: As States Mull Medicaid Work Requirements, Two Scale Theirs Back
President Donald Trump’s return to the White House sent a clear signal about Medicaid to Republicans across the country: Requiring enrollees to prove they are working, volunteering, or going to school is back on the table.
The day after Trump’s inauguration, South Carolina GOP Gov. Henry McMaster asked federal officials to approve a work requirement plan. Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine plans to soon follow suit. Republicans in Congress are eyeing Medicaid work requirements as they seek to slash billions from the federal budget. (Rayasam and Whitehead, 2/14)
KFF Health News: A Dose Of Love: The Winning Health Policy Valentines
Nothing sweeps us off our feet like a health policy valentine. Readers showed their love this season, writing poetic lines about surprise medical bills, bird flu, the cost of health care, and more. Here are some of our favorites, starting with the grand prize winner, whose entry was turned into a cartoon by staff illustrator Oona Zenda. (2/14)
KFF Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: Courts Try To Curb Health Cuts
Some of the Trump administration’s dramatic funding and policy shifts are facing major pushback for the first time — not from Congress, but from the courts. Federal judges around the country are attempting to pump the brakes on efforts to freeze government spending, shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, eliminate access to health-related webpages and datasets, and limit grant funding provided by the National Institutes of Health. (Rovner, 2/13)
USA Today: ‘God Sent Me President Trump’: RFK Jr. Sworn In As Secretary Of Health And Human Services
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was officially sworn in as leader of the nation’s leading public health department, in a ceremony at the White House Thursday. The newly minted Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has long been a vocal advocate for tackling rising rates of chronic illness in the country. “For 20 years,” he said Thursday, “I’m up every morning on my knees and praying that God would put me in a position where I can end the childhood chronic disease epidemic in this country.” “God sent me President Trump.” (Kuchar, 2/13)
Reuters: Trump Wants A Study Of Abortion Pills’ Safety, RFK Jr Tells Fox News
U.S. President Donald Trump has asked for a study on the safety of abortion pills and he has not made a decision on whether to tighten restrictions on the pills, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Fox News in an interview on Thursday. (2/13)
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: ‘Terrifying’: Public Health Experts React to Senate’s Confirmation of RFK Jr. to Lead HHS
“I think it’s a sad day for America’s children. I think it’s a sad day for public health when someone who is a science denialist, conspiracy theorist, and virulent anti-vaccine activist is [leading] the biggest public health agency in the United States,” says Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who has served on vaccine advisory committees for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “I think every Senator who voted for his confirmation should be ashamed of themselves for their unwillingness to stand up for the health of the American public.” (Lee, 2/13)
Provider organizations rushed to embrace Kennedy’s confirmation and his mission to “Make America Healthy Again” — and to subtley slip in points of self-interest — after the votes were counted. “We want to thank Secretary Kennedy for his commitment to protecting Medicare and Medicaid — programs that the majority of our residents rely on to cover their daily care. Proper federal resources and policies can help us strengthen the care being delivered and support those who deliver it,” said Clif Porter, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living. (Marselas, 2/13)
The Hill: McConnell On RFK Jr.: ‘I Will Not Condone The Relitigation Of Proven Cures’
Sen. Mitch McConnell issued a blistering indictment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday, with the Kentucky Republican saying his childhood bout with polio heavily influenced his decision to vote against Kennedy as Health and Human Services secretary.
“In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world. I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles,” McConnell said in a statement. (Weixel, 2/13)
The New York Times: Louisiana Health Department Says It Will Stop Promoting ‘Mass Vaccination’
Louisiana’s top health official said in an internal memo to the state’s Health Department on Thursday that it would no longer use media campaigns or health fairs to promote vaccination against preventable illnesses. The official, Dr. Ralph L. Abraham, Louisiana’s surgeon general, wrote in the memo that the state would “encourage each patient to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with their provider” but would “no longer promote mass vaccination.” (Balk, 2/13)
Doctors, nurses and other public health professionals are speaking out against a bill that would dismantle New Hampshire’s universal childhood vaccine purchasing program, saying it would increase barriers to vaccination and put kids’ health at risk. The bill – along with several others that would weaken childhood vaccination requirements – comes at a time of declining childhood vaccination rates, in New Hampshire and around the country. (Cuno-Booth, 2/13)
The Washington Post: Judge Blocks Trump Order On Transgender Youth Health Care
A federal judge on Thursday blocked executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that target transgender people and their health care, giving temporary relief to LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, who braced for legal battles to continue. At least one health system — the hospital affiliated with the University of Virginia — said it would resume providing services that had been paused under the order. (Portnoy and Rizzo, 2/13)
AP: Fourth Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order
A federal judge in Boston on Thursday blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump that would end birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally, becoming the fourth judge to do so. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin came three days after U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in New Hampshire blocked the executive order and follows similar rulings in Seattle and Maryland. (Casey and Catalini, 2/14)
The New York Times: Judge Extends Halt On Trump Plan To Dismantle U.S.A.I.D.
A federal judge on Thursday moved to extend by one week a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from carrying out plans that would all but dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development. The order, which Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said he would file later Thursday, continues to stall a directive that would put a quarter of its employees on administrative leave while forcing those posted overseas to return to the United States within 30 days. (Demirjian and Sullivan, 2/13)
CIDRAP: USAID Funding Freeze Disrupts Global Tuberculosis Control Efforts
The Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid delivered through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the subsequent shutdown and dismantling of the agency altogether, has sent shockwaves throughout the community of people working on tuberculosis (TB) treatment, diagnosis, and prevention. The 90-day funding freeze, which sources tell CIDRAP News came with no warning or ability to make contingency plans, has left no parts of the global TB control community untouched. (Dall, 2/13)
AP: Trump’s Foreign Aid Freeze Forces Health Clinics In A Vulnerable Region Of Syria To Close
In the town of Sarmada in northern Syria, Dr. Mohammad Fares unlocked a clinic that once bustled with patients. Now it’s empty, and shelves of medicine reduced to a few boxes of bandages and expired drugs. This is what it looks like after the Trump administration halted U.S. foreign assistance last month. The U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, issued stop-work orders during a 90-day review for what the administration has alleged is wasteful spending. (Badendieck and Alsayed, 2/14)
AP: Federal Funding Freeze Disrupts Rural Organizations Supporting Foster Youth, Job Growth
After surviving teen homelessness and domestic violence in West Virginia, 23-year-old Ireland Daugherty was finally feeling stable. … Ashley Cain, 36, was celebrating four years of sobriety and working with a nonprofit that trains workers to remediate long-abandoned factories and coal mines into sites for manufacturing and solar projects. Federally funded programs provided both women with a social safety net and employment in one of the nation’s poorest states, where nonprofits play a vital role in providing basic services like health care, education and economic development. (Willingham, 2/14)
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.