Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Experts Question RFK Jr.'s Push For More Preventive Care
Politico: RFK Jr. Wants You To Get More Preventive Care. Some Experts Say That's A Bad Idea
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s about to remake another government panel with power over Americans’ access to health care. This time around, unlike his push to downsize the vaccine schedule, the health secretary is eager to expand the care Americans get. Kennedy’s denunciation of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for not requiring insurers to cover testing for Alzheimer’s disease has sparked lobbying by manufacturers of tests who’d benefit if Kennedy were to also encourage the task force to recommend coverage of more testing for colon cancer. (Paun, 7/5)
More news from the Trump administration —
AP: Trump Administration Plans New Rule To Cut Drug Prices
The Trump administration is proposing a new rule on Thursday to keep hospitals from charging markups on discounted drugs for Medicare patients and says that could save consumers $1.1 billion next year, according to estimates obtained by The Associated Press. The rule would apply to hospitals that serve low-income patients under what is known as the 340B program, which lets hospitals buy outpatient prescription drugs at discounted prices. But in many cases, hospitals can bill insurers at rates that exceed those costs, allowing hospitals to keep the difference and resulting in higher costs to patients. (Boak, 7/2)
The Hill: Ex-CDC Official Debra Houry Describes Lack Of Trust In Robert F. Kennedy's Leadership
Dr. Debra Houry, the former chief medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), decried the direction of the agency under Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “I think the secretary has caused a lot of irreparable harm, and when you look at many of the polls out there, the trust in public health, specifically CDC, has decreased dramatically, over 20 points in many polls,” Houry told host Margaret Brennan in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.” (Rego, 7/5)
ABC News: RFK Jr. Has Promoted Using Beef Tallow Over Seed Oils But The Animal Fat May Not Be Healthier, Some Cardiologists Say
Over the past several months, restaurants, fast food chains and major companies have said they are transitioning away from seed oils and adding beef tallow to their products instead. In February, Utz announced it was planning to launch a new line of kettle chips cooked in beef tallow under its Boulder Canyon brand, tapping "into growing consumer demand for snacks made without seed oils." Other Utz products are cooked in a blend of seed oils. (Kekatos and Davis, 7/3)
The Hill: FDA Elevates Zapp's, Dirty Chip Recall To Highest Risk Level
Nearly two months after a voluntary recall of certain limited varieties of Zapp’s and Dirty brand potato chips, the recall has been upgraded to the Food and Drug Administration’s most serious risk level over possible salmonella contamination. Utz Quality Foods initially recalled the chips in May. The FDA has now classified it as a Class I recall. This means the recall concerns “a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death,” according to the FDA. (Delandro, 7/2)
The effects of administration policies —
AP: Cuba's Healthcare System, Once A Source Of National Pride, Is In Decline
Cuba’s once-vaunted system of free universal healthcare has deteriorated sharply. The crisis, say analysts, has been compounded by fuel shortages they attribute to tightened U.S. sanctions on the island’s energy sector, worsening an economy that had already been struggling for years. The Trump administration is pressuring Cuba’s socialist government to implement major economic reforms and change its way of governance in return for a lifting of sanctions. (Rodríguez, 7/2)
