KFF Health News Original Stories
Kennedy’s HHS Sent Congress ‘Junk Science’ To Defend Vaccine Changes, Experts Say
A look inside the Department of Health and Human Services document citing vaccine misinformation that could influence congressional perceptions. (Jackie Fortiér, 6/13)
KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: RFK Jr. Upends Vaccine Policy, After Promising He Wouldn’t
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week did something he had promised not to do: He fired every member of the scientific advisory committee that recommends which vaccines should be given to whom. And he replaced them, in some cases, with vaccine skeptics. Meanwhile, hundreds of employees of the National Institutes of Health sent an open letter to the agency’s director, accusing the Trump administration of policies that “undermine the NIH mission.”
Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. (6/12)
‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Would Batter Rural Hospital Finances, Researchers Say
Rural hospitals would take an outsize hit from Republicans’ proposed cuts to Medicaid and other federal health programs. Researchers say the financial erosion would trigger hospital closures and service cuts, especially in communities where large shares of patients are enrolled in Medicaid. (Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez, 6/12)
Summaries Of The News:
Teen Wins Supreme Court Case Over Disability Accommodations At School
In Thursday’s ruling, justices unanimously agreed that the burden placed on students to prove their school is not meeting their disability accommodations is too high. In other news: “Wheelchair rules” for airlines will not be enforced until August.
The rule, which was finalized by the Biden administration in December, requires annual training for airline staff and contractors who help people with disabilities or who handle wheelchairs. In addition, the regulations impose stronger standards for how assistance must be provided, specifying that it be “safe and dignified,” and detail the steps airlines must take if a wheelchair is damaged or delayed. (Heasley, 6/11)
Bipartisan HALT Fentanyl Act Clears House, Heads To President Trump
The legislation makes permanent an emergency rule issued in 2018 that classifies copycats of fentanyl as Schedule I controlled substances. However, it does not add funding for public health or anti-drug-trafficking efforts to combat addiction and deaths. Another bill advancing in the House would legalize for-profit VA claims consultants, a measure veterans’ advocates have fought against.
