Category Archives: US healthcare

Supreme court paves way for South Carolina and other states to defund Planned Parenthood

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Decision could embolden red states in US to block clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid funds

The US supreme court has paved the way for South Carolina to kick Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program over its status as an abortion provider, a decision that could embolden red states across the country to effectively “defund” the reproductive healthcare organization.

The case, Medina v Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, centers around a 2018 executive order from South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster, that blocked clinics that provide abortions from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. “Payment of taxpayer funds to abortion clinics, for any purpose, results in the subsidy of abortion and the denial of the right to life,” McMaster said at the time, even though the reimbursements could not be used for abortions. Abortions are also now banned in South Carolina after six weeks of pregnancy.

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RFK Jr and Dr Oz announce insurers’ ‘pledge’ to reform prior authorization

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Health secretary and chief of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid hail voluntary agreement as a ‘good start’

The US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and Dr Mehmet Oz announced a voluntary agreement with insurance companies to change prior authorization practices – where private health insurers require patients to ask for permission before they can receive medical treatment.

The majority of Americans receive health insurance through a private company, whether through an employer, or a privatization of public health insurance programs, such as Medicare Advantage.

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Republican representative’s ectopic pregnancy clashes with Florida abortion law

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Kat Cammack blames left’s fearmongering after medical staff hesitated to give her drugs needed to end pregnancy

A Florida Republican congresswoman is blaming fearmongering on the left for the reluctance of hospital staff to give her the drugs she needed to end an ectopic pregnancy that threatened her life.

Kat Cammack went to the emergency room in May 2024 where it was estimated she was five weeks into an ectopic pregnancy, there was no heartbeat and her life was at risk. Doctors determined she needed a shot of methotrexate to help expel her pregnancy but since Florida’s six week abortion ban had just taken effect medical staff were worried about losing their licenses or going to jail if they did.

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CDC vaccine panel to review ingredient RFK Jr has targeted for removal

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ACIP panel to discuss influenza vaccines that contain thimerosal, which Kennedy called ‘dangerous’ in 2014 book

A key vaccine advisory panel reconstituted by health secretary and vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr is slated to discuss thimerosal-containing influenza vaccines in its first meeting – an ingredient which has been a fixation of anti-vaccine activists for decades.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will hold two separate votes later this month: one on “influenza vaccines” and one on influenza vaccines that contain thimerosal.

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CDC official in charge of Covid data resigns ahead of vaccine meeting

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Fiona Havers says she does not have confidence data will be use to make ‘evidence-based vaccine policy decisions’

The scientist responsible for overseeing the CDC team that collects data on Covid and RSV hospitalizations resigned on Monday.

Dr Fiona Havers told colleagues in an email that she no longer had confidence the data would be used “objectively or evaluated with appropriate scientific rigor to make evidence-based vaccine policy decisions”, according to Reuters.

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Woman’s life-saving treatment delayed by Trump cuts to NIH: ‘Cancer shouldn’t be political’

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Natalie Phelps, who has stage 4 colorectal cancer, has raised the alarm over how patients in the agency’s clinical trials are facing setbacks in treatment

A 43-year-old woman and mother of two with advanced cancer says she is experiencing life-or-death delays in treatment because of the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Natalie Phelps, who has stage 4 colorectal cancer, has spoken publicly, raising the alarm about a setback in care for herself and others who are part of clinical trials run by the agency. Her story has made it into congressional hearings and spurred a spat between a Democratic senator and the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr. Behind the scenes, she and others are advocating to get her treatment started sooner.

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As Texas’s measles outbreak slows, officials warn of rise in other states

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Cases in New Mexico and Kansas give experts reason to be ‘concerned’ in second-worst US measles year since 2000

The measles outbreak in Texas is showing signs of slowing, though other states are seeing more cases and health officials are warning against complacency as the US continues to experience high rates of measles amid falling vaccination rates.

It has been a handful of days since anyone in Lubbock, Texas, has tested positive, and there are no known measles hospitalizations at the children’s hospital in the city, which has also cared for children from nearby Gaines county.

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As Texas’s measles outbreak slows, officials warn of rise in other states

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Cases in New Mexico and Kansas give experts reason to be ‘concerned’ in second-worst US measles year since 2000

The measles outbreak in Texas is showing signs of slowing, though other states are seeing more cases and health officials are warning against complacency as the US continues to experience high rates of measles amid falling vaccination rates.

It has been a handful of days since anyone in Lubbock, Texas, has tested positive, and there are no known measles hospitalizations at the children’s hospital in the city, which has also cared for children from nearby Gaines county.

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Dramatic dip in baby hospitalizations for RSV linked to vaccine and treatment

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But older children, who had no access to the shots, had higher rates this winter compared with last

New vaccines and treatments are linked to a dramatic decline in RSV hospitalizations for babies, according to a new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

This past winter was the first RSV season with widespread availability of a vaccine given during pregnancy and a monoclonal antibody treatment given in the first eight months of life to prevent RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

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RFK Jr tells Congress ‘people shouldn’t take medical advice from me’

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Health secretary demurs on questions about vaccine stance and defends Republican plans to cut healthcare

The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, refused to say whether he would vaccinate his children if he had to choose today, and defended Republicans’ proposal to cut healthcare to fund tax cut extensions.

Kennedy’s back-to-back testimonies before House and Senate committees were his first appearances before lawmakers since his confirmation in February. The secretary was called to discuss Donald Trump’s proposed budget, which would impose disproportionately large cuts to scientific enterprises at the health department.

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Critic of Covid boosters set to enact tough agenda as top US vaccines official

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Vinay Prasad, outspoken critic of pharmaceutical industry and of his peers in public health, to take over CBER

Vinay Prasad, an oncologist and hematologist who has called for more regulatory scrutiny of pharmaceuticals, including Covid vaccines, was named the top US vaccines official earlier this month.

Marty Makary, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced in a 6 May email obtained by the Guardian that Prasad would now lead the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), which oversees biological products like blood, vaccines, and cellular and gene therapies. Biotech stocks plunged at the news.

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UnitedHealth CEO steps down as company pulls 2025 financial forecast

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Andrew Witty exits for personal reasons as largest US health insurer responds to higher-than-expected medical costs

The UnitedHealth CEO, Andrew Witty, is stepping down for personal reasons and the nation’s largest health insurer suspended its full-year financial outlook due to higher-than-expected medical costs.

Stephen Hemsley, the company’s chairman, will become CEO effective immediately, the Minnesota company said.

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Private firms look to fill research gaps left by federal grant cuts: ‘We can’t wait four years’

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Trump and Musk have gut National Institutes of Health and experts are wary of private efforts’ ability to replicate public service

The federal government has slashed research since Donald Trump took office – hacking away at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its grants, staff and long-held partnerships with academia.

Now, some private companies said they want to pick up strands of research that might have otherwise been funded by the federal government. The effort has stoked little optimism among experts, who caution that private efforts cannot remotely replicate the breadth, depth or public service provided by federal funding.

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Autistic people and experts voice alarm at RFK’s ‘terrible’ approach to condition

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Health secretary is planning wide-ranging monitoring of autistic people’s health record and cuts to disability services

Autism experts and autistic people are pushing back on Robert F Kennedy’s “terrible” approach to autism as the health secretary plans more expansive monitoring of autistic people’s health records and proposes cuts to disability services.

A huge study on autism proposed by Kennedy will draw upon private medical records from federal and commercial databases, and a new health registry will track autistic Americans, CBS News reported on Monday.

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RFK Jr’s autism study collecting Americans’ private medical records

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The National Institutes of Health claims it is fulfilling RFK’s promise to find cause of autism by September

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is collecting the private medical records of many Americans from several different federal and commercial databases to give to researchers for US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s new autism study.

With this information being included in the database, the NIH is also reportedly crafting a new registry to track those with autism, per CBS News.

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Six Massachusetts hospital workers on same floor report getting brain tumors

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Newton-Wellesley hospital president says all six tumors benign as ‘rigorous ongoing investigation’ conducted

The number of staff members who have developed brain tumors while working on the same floor of a Boston-area hospital has increased to at least six, according to the facility’s leadership.

A recent statement attributed to the president of Mass General Brigham’s Newton-Wellesley hospital, Ellen Moloney, said the newly reported tumor was benign, as were five previously documented ones. The statement maintained that investigators had not turned up any evidence of environmental risks at the hospital, though their work remained ongoing.

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Tuberculosis could end if there’s more US public health funding, experts say

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Resurgence could be on horizon as outbreaks pick up speed in US and abroad amid public health program cuts

As tuberculosis outbreaks pick up speed in the US and abroad amid deep cuts in funding for local, state and international public health programs, a resurgence of the deadliest infectious disease – including drug-resistant tuberculosis – could be on the horizon.

Increasing funding for public health responses could end tuberculosis (TB) altogether, says James Brookes, an IT specialist from Idaho, who told this to his representatives in Congress on Wednesday.

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‘No guidance and no leadership’: chaos and confusion at CDC after mass firings

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On 1 April, thousands of workers at HHS and agencies like the CDC were let go, leaving those left to piece together the cuts and mourn the research that can’t go forward

For the past two months, members of the Elon Musk-led “department of government efficiency” (Doge) have stalked the halls of the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Atlanta headquarters.

Several employees told the Guardian that if a Doge staffer walked through their offices and saw a badge at an untended workstation, its owner would be fired promptly. Firing someone for a security violation gave Doge an excuse to circumvent the defenses of civil service protection, or performance reviews, or seniority.

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RFK Jr stayed silent on vaccine, says father of child who died from measles

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Pete Hildebrand says health secretary ‘never said anything’ about vaccine’s efficacy when he visited for funeral

A Texas man who buried his eight-year-old daughter on Sunday after the unvaccinated child died with measles says Robert F Kennedy Jr “never said anything” about the vaccine against the illness or its proven efficacy while visiting the girl’s family and community for her funeral.

“He did not say that the vaccine was effective,” Pete Hildebrand, the father of Daisy Hildebrand, said in reference to Kennedy during a brief interview on Monday. “I had supper with the guy … and he never said anything about that.”

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Biotech group warns exit of top FDA vaccine official will ‘erode scientific standards’

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Rare admonition from a sector that has largely been silent in the face of the second Trump administration

The US biotech industry’s main lobby group issued a rare warning following the forced and abrupt resignation of the nation’s top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), saying the loss of his experienced leadership would “erode scientific standards” and affect the development of transformative therapies to fight disease.

The statement, issued on Saturday by John Crowley of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), followed the news a day earlier that Dr Peter Marks – who led the FDA division that ensured the safety of vaccines – had resigned over what he called “misinformation and lies” from health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner contributed reporting

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