Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pentagon Offers Troops $10,000 Reimbursement For Fertility Preservation
Active military personnel who decide to freeze their eggs or sperm are eligible for $10,000 maximum reimbursement per year under a new three-year pilot program, according to a Department of Defense notice. Active-duty personnel who have received orders for duty in a dangerous country are eligible, according to the notice. And troops likely to be on an active-duty order in a dangerous country within four months, or separated from their partner for at least six months, are also eligible. (Canino-Qui帽ones, 8/14)
On transgender care policies 鈥
President Donald Trump鈥檚 goal of ending gender-affirming care is not improper and cannot be the basis for quashing a subpoena issued by the Justice Department against a provider of medical treatment for transgender youth, a divided federal appeals court ruled Friday. The Justice Department announced last year that it had issued more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics that provide gender-affirming care as part of an effort to investigate healthcare fraud. Federal judges have quashed many of the subpoenas as illegitimate efforts to intimidate providers into ending care. (Thanawala, 8/15)
The Trump administration finalized a new health care policy that has been in the works for months: No federal dollars can be used to pay for gender-affirming care for children covered by Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Plan. The news hit one California mom hard. (Simmons-Duffin, 8/16)
In other Trump administration news 鈥
The Health Resources and Services Administration announced a $102 million tranche of funding for community health centers Thursday. Congress boosted federally qualified health center funding in a spending bill enacted this year. The dollars will support 158 new and existing community health centers, help establish new sites and promote primary care, the Health and Human Services Department said in a news release. (Early, 8/14)
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants America to 鈥渆at real food鈥 as a solution to the chronic disease epidemic, but that message is being lost amid outbreaks of foodborne illness and a health agency that has struggled with effectively tracking the sources and messaging about safety.聽This summer has seen a record number of cyclosporiasis infections, with nearly 30,000 illnesses and two deaths. Other foodborne outbreaks have also emerged in recent months affecting fresh produce.聽(Weixel, 8/16)
杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News: 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 鈥極n Air鈥: Gounder Brings Clarity To Egg Freezing, AI Virus Creation, And New Trump Vaccine Order
C茅line Gounder, 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 editor-at-large for public health, discussed Americans鈥 skepticism toward public health experts and President Donald Trump鈥檚 executive order on childhood vaccines on CBS News 24/7 and CBS News鈥 CBS Mornings, respectively, on Aug. 11. On Aug. 10, Gounder discussed the risks and benefits of egg freezing on CBS Mornings. (8/15)
Policies spanning two administrations 鈥
President Donald Trump has spent more than 18 months demolishing Joe Biden鈥檚 expansive green agenda. Yet pieces of the former president鈥檚 would-be legacy stubbornly cling to life 鈥 along with roughly $600 billion in congressionally approved spending that has so far escaped Trump鈥檚 wrecking ball, a new POLITICO analysis has found. The breakdown sheds fresh light on one of the most endlessly repeated pledges of Trump鈥檚 second term: his vow to unravel the nearly $1.6 trillion in spending and tax breaks that Biden had set in motion for a sprawling array of climate, clean energy and infrastructure programs. (Blaeser, Storrow and Tamborrino, 8/15)
The Biden administration brought thousands of student loan borrowers closer to debt forgiveness. Now the Trump administration is taking some of it back. Borrowers who work in public service jobs like teaching, nursing or are employed at qualifying nonprofits can have the remainder of their student debt forgiven if they stay on top of their payments and meet other criteria. (Carballo, 8/16)
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Friday declined a request to appear voluntarily before a second Senate panel after majority Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee voted along partisan lines last week to hold the longtime infectious disease expert in contempt. In a pointed letter to Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, a lawyer for the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said any effort to compel him to appear before a Senate subcommittee, after a contentious July 29 hearing, would be to 鈥渋mpermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.鈥 (Beaumont, 8/15)
