Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
International Doctors Can't Start Medical Residencies Due To Visa Woes
NBC News: Hundreds Of International Doctors Due To Start Medical Residencies Are In Visa Limbo
A week before they are due to start work at U.S. hospitals, hundreds of doctors from abroad are still waiting to obtain visas granting them temporary stays in the country. Many of them have been in limbo since late May, when the State Department suspended applications for J-1 visas, which allow people to come to the U.S. for exchange visitor programs. The visas are the most common way for international doctors to attend residencies in the U.S., which provide medical graduates with training in a given specialty. (Bendix, McLaughlin and Berk, 6/24)
On federal research and funding cuts —
Bloomberg: States Step Up Fight With Trump Administration On Grant Cuts
Nearly two dozen US states sued the Trump administration to stop it from using what they say is a budget loophole to cut billions of dollars in federal grants that were already approved by Congress. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claims the administration is illegally using an Office of Management and Budget spending clause as a “limitless authority to cut grant funds that support essential services throughout the country.” (Larson, 6/24)
Axios: Trump Admin Cuts Contracts With Scientific Publishing Giant
The Trump administration has terminated millions worth of funding for Springer Nature, a German-owned scientific publishing giant that has long received payments for subscriptions from National Institutes of Health and other agencies, Axios has learned. (Bettelheim and Reed, 6/25)
The New York Times: The Evolution Of Trump’s Views On Foreign Aid
Foreign aid, a pillar of American foreign policy for generations, has been gutted since President Trump began his second term in office. The United States Agency for International Development and other government agencies that provide food, medical care and economic development assistance to the world’s poorest nations, have been largely defunded or eliminated in recent months. In justifying the administration’s destruction of the agency, Mr. Trump said U.S.A.I.D. had been run by “radical lunatics,” and he has made numerous false claims about the agency’s work in the developing world. (Jacobs, Datar and de Luca, 6/25)
In related news about the opioid crisis —
Colorado Public Radio: $3 Million From Colorado's Opioid Settlement Haul Will Be Used To Buy Overdose Reversal Kits As Federal Funding Dries Up
Coloradans will continue to have access statewide to a key medication that reverses overdoses — thanks to a $3 million grant. Attorney General Phil Weiser announced Tuesday that money from Colorado’s opioid settlement haul will go into a statewide fund to buy naloxone, also called Narcan, in bulk. ... Nationally, the Trump administration chopped a massive sum, $11 billion, that was slated to go to states. Colorado was set to receive nearly $230 million of that. (Daley, 6/25)
The New York Times: China Tightens Controls On Fentanyl But Calls It A U.S. Problem
China has strengthened controls on two chemicals that can be used to make fentanyl, its latest step in addressing an issue that has become tangled in its broader trade dispute with the United States. The Trump administration has accused Beijing of not doing enough to stem the flow of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, into the United States, where it kills tens of thousands of Americans each year. Earlier this year, the administration cited the issue as it imposed tariffs totaling 20 percent on Chinese goods. (Pierson and Bradsher, 6/25)
