"As Congress debates whether to extend the temporary federal subsidies that have helped millions of Americans buy health coverage, a crucial underlying reality is sometimes overlooked: Those subsidies are merely a band-aid covering the often unaffordable cost of health care."
KFF Health News
One Big Beautiful Bill Act Complicates State Health Care Affordability Efforts - KFF Health News
The federal budget bill President Donald Trump signed into law in July is creating uncertainty for states trying to rein in health care spending. I...
 #healthcare #ACA #obamacare #insurance #hospitals #CostsOfCare #USpol
"Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars to fill vacant medical and mental health positions at prisons and state hospitals, California has little to show for it, according to a new report from the state auditor."
AP News
Prison health workers are among the best-paid public employees. Why are so many jobs vacant?
Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars to fill vacant medical and mental health positions at prisons and state hospitals, California has ...
 #healthcare #prisons #incarceration #workforce #labor #unions #california
Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said the FDA’s move could be the first step toward making already weak supplement warnings even weaker. “Then you start saying things like, ‘We only need it on the actual bottle,’” Cohen said. “Then you say, ‘It only needs to be on the back.’ Then you let the print get smaller.”
NBC News
FDA says it may relax warning label rule for dietary supplements
Supplements aren’t reviewed for safety and effectiveness, but disclaimers about health benefits are required on products.
 #PublicHealth #FDA #DrugSafety #vitamins #supplements
Disparaging comments about immigrants was “pervasive,” said Munoz, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in Texas who became a US citizen after moving to the United States to work as a physician. “It was not just a mention here or there,” she said. “It's terrifying for government appointees to describe immigrants this way.”
CIDRAP
Racially charged language on mothers and babies taints vaccine advisory meeting
 #PublicHealth #ACIP #CDC #HHS #hepatitisB #HepB #immigrant #immigration #vaccines #immunizations #ChildrensHealth #racism #aapi #aanhpi
"Florida will be hit harder than any other state if ObamaCare subsidies expire at the end of the year, which is looking increasingly likely as Republicans in Congress struggle to unite behind a plan to extend the tax credits." https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5640956-rising-healthcare-costs-florida-obamacare-subsidies/ #healthcare #ACA #obamacare #insurance #florida #USpol
"We expect breakthroughs to occur on a regular basis, and 2025 delivered; successful trials of gene therapies for diseases that have no treatments, for example, filled scientists and the public with hope. But bright spots like these were overshadowed by a series of political decisions in the U.S. that have already started to set public-health care back instead of pushing it forward."
TIME
2025 Has Been a Year of Unraveling Progress in Health
From vaccine hostility to the dismantling of USAID, the consequences of this year’s retrenchments will be felt for years to come.
 #healthcare #PublicHealth #research #grants #funding #HHS #USAID #vaccines #USpol
"Now medical experts are concerned that a July panel discussion convened by the Food and Drug Administration could lead to more cases of untreated depression. Many of the 10 members of the panel expressed concern about the use of SSRIs, such as Zoloft, during pregnancy."
KFF Health News
FDA Panelists Questioned Antidepressants in Pregnancy. But Doctors Call Them a Lifeline. - KFF Health News
Participants in an FDA panel discussion warned the public about risks from using antidepressants in pregnancy. But mental health issues, including ...
 #healthcare #HHS #FDA #MentalHealth #PrescriptionDrugs #ReproHealth #pregnancy
"The Food and Drug Administration rarely uses its authority to pull dangerous medical devices off the market and is so poorly staffed that it’s sometimes unable to make sure companies are taking critical steps to protect patients during health emergencies, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office."
ProPublica
The FDA Rarely Forces Manufacturers to Recall Dangerous Medical Devices, Watchdog Report Finds
Lawmakers requested the report after a 2023 ProPublica and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette investigation revealed that the FDA had received hundreds of com...
 #healthcare #FDA #MedicalDevices #safety
"Just in the past six months, we've had two patients in the ICU with Hib. One child unfortunately succumbed at 4 months of age. No vaccines. One month ago, I was on call, and another patient also came into the ICU, a 2½-year-old, never vaccinated, Hib again. Abscesses in the brain, seizures, brain dead. Quote, unquote, mother's words: ‘Please give my child every vaccine you can.’ "
WUSF
Doctors sound alarm on meningitis cases at workshop on ending school vaccine mandates
There were speakers for and against keeping mandates during public comment. Doctors say one shot that could become optional prevents Hib, a deadly ...
 #PublicHealth #vaccines #immunizations #ChildrensHealth #prevention #florida
"By targeting diversity language, however, the administration has been able to make cuts to programs that benefit children with disabilities without specifically rolling back special education. In addition to the deafblind initiatives, the Education Department said it had slashed money for more than two dozen similar programs, including a school for the blind."
Born Deaf and Blind, She’s Caught in Trump’s Anti-Diversity Crusade
A program for deafblind children helped 3-year-old Annie Garner, born with poor vision and no ears, learn to communicate. The Trump administration ...
 #PublicHealth #disabilities #ChildrensHealth #deafblind #DEI #DOE #USpol