Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Budget Would Cut HHS Funding By 12.5%, Move 340B To CMS
The White House is redoubling its efforts to overhaul the Health and Human Services Department and cut its funding by 12.5%, according to an outline for its fiscal 2027 budget proposal issued Friday. President Donald Trump is seeking to reduce HHS funding and revive last year鈥檚 efforts to reorganize the department, chiefly by moving the 340B Drug Pricing Program under the purview of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The administration also wants to establish a new agency that would oversee health priorities currently managed by multiple agencies. (Early, 4/3)
Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine who chairs the appropriations committee, called the funding cuts to biomedical research 鈥渦nwarranted鈥 in a statement responding to the president鈥檚 proposed budget. ... In January, Congress offered a near total refutation of the administration鈥檚 plan, slightly increasing the NIH鈥檚 budget for the current federal fiscal year. In that funding package, legislators included language intended to prevent the NIH from implementing a 15% indirect-cost reimbursement cap. (Molteni and Oza, 4/3)
Government agencies, health advocacy groups, and health-related businesses spent nearly $37 million over four years to advertise on news websites accused of promoting misinformation, a new study shows. Although authors of the report question the wisdom of financially supporting websites whose content undermines public health, marketing experts say it鈥檚 important to reach vaccine-hesitant consumers, wherever they鈥檙e found. (Szabo, 4/3)
On the immigration crisis 鈥
For five months, the young father waited for his 3-year-old daughter鈥檚 release from federal custody after she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with her mother, hoping through delays for their safe reunion. Only when he turned to the courts as a last resort did he learn that the girl had suffered alleged sexual abuse at the foster home where she鈥檇 been placed after immigration officials separated her from her mother. (Gonzalez, 4/5)
杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News: Immigrant Seniors Lose Medicare Coverage Despite Paying For It
Rosa Mar铆a Carranza leaned forward to hold a 3-year-old鈥檚 back as the girl climbed a rock in the forested hills of northeast Oakland. Dressed in hiking gear and beaded necklaces, Carranza, 67, maneuvered between trees and children on a sunny morning in December. 鈥淗old on to that branch,鈥 she said in Spanish. 鈥淵ou can do it, my love!鈥 (S谩nchez, 4/6)
Also 鈥
Republicans have found their health care message for the midterms: fraud. The White House and Congress have taken big public steps in recent months to highlight what they call rampant fraud in several blue states, taking action after YouTuber Nick Shirley went viral last year exposing fraudulent Medicaid providers in Minnesota. (King, 4/5)
RFK Jr.'s apparent contradiction on vaccines and peptides reflects a deeper belief: Americans have a right to try and can choose their own risks. (Todd, 4/6)
Studying labor law is not why Dr. Caspian Chouraya went to medical school. For more than two decades, he's worked in HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Now, he oversees HIV/AIDS programs in 12 African countries for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. But in recent months, Chouraya finds himself talking to legal advisors and burying himself in the law surrounding layoffs in various African countries. This is because for months, U.S. funding has been arriving in fits and starts. Not knowing when funds will arrive is undermining one of the U.S.'s most successful global health initiatives 鈥 the worldwide fight to combat HIV/AIDS. (Emanuel, Lambert and Tanis, 4/4)