Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Senate Finance Committee Clears Dr. Oz To Run Medicare, Medicaid
Stat: Dr. Oz Clears Senate Panel Vote, On Path To Run Medicare, Medicaid
Mehmet Oz has been a heart surgeon, a TV show host, an author, and a Senate candidate. On Tuesday, he inched closer to adding CMS administrator to the list. The Senate Finance Committee voted along party lines to send Oz’s nomination to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to the full Senate for a vote, where he’ll likely be confirmed. (Bannow, 3/25)
The New York Times: Senate Confirms Bhattacharya And Makary To H.H.S. Posts
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Dr. Martin A. Makary as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya as director of the National Institutes of Health, installing two critics of the medical establishment to influential posts amid a Trump administration campaign to cut spending at health agencies. (Mueller, 3/25)
The Washington Post: Vaccine Skeptic Hired To Head Federal Study Of Immunizations And Autism
A vaccine skeptic who has long promoted false claims about the connection between immunizations and autism has been tapped by the federal government to conduct a critical study of possible links between the two, according to current and former federal health officials. The Department of Health and Human Services has hired David Geier to conduct the analysis, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. (Sun and Nirappil, 3/25)
Modern Healthcare: Trump Taps Controversial GOP Aide For Chief HHS Watchdog
President Donald Trump's pick to be the top official investigating waste, fraud and abuse at the Health and Human Services Department has firsthand experience with improper payments at government agencies. Attorney March Bell, whom Trump nominated to be HHS inspector general on Monday, lost his job as deputy director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in 1997 after an audit accused him of authorizing an improper payment to a former employee. Bell was senior adviser and chief of staff at the HHS Office for Civil Rights during Trump's first term. (Early, 3/25)
On USAID —
Bloomberg: China Swoops In To Replace Asian USAID Projects Axed By Trump
The US canceled two aid projects in Cambodia in late February — one to encourage child literacy and another to improve nutrition and development for kids under five. A week later, China’s aid agency announced funding for programs to achieve almost identical goals. “Children are the future of the country and the nation,” China’s ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wenbin said at the event, standing next to the country’s health minister and a UNICEF official. “We should care for the healthy growth of children together.” (Marlow and Heijmans, 3/26)
NPR: Pete Marocco Dismantled USAID -- And Will Set The Agenda For Future Foreign Aid
Within the span of seven weeks, the Trump administration delivered major blows that left the 64-year-old United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in shreds. The quick and sweeping actions that decimated the agency and dismantled the bulk of its $40 billion foreign aid programs had the hallmarks of a relatively unknown member of the new Trump administration: Pete Marocco. (Tanis, 3/25)
Also —
AP: Transgender Americans Aim To Block Trump's Passport Policy Change
When Ash Lazarus Orr went to renew his passport in early January, the transgender organizer figured it would be relatively routine. But more than two months on, Orr is waiting to get a new passport with a name change and a sex designation reflecting who he is. The delay has prevented him from traveling overseas to receive gender-affirming care this month in Ireland since he refuses to get a passport that lists an “inaccurate sex designation.” (Casey and Ngowi, 3/25)
KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
Jackie Fortiér reads this week’s news: Recent firings at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could make it harder to control infectious disease outbreaks, and hoarding disorder can be especially dangerous for older people. Sam Whitehead reads this week’s news: Trump voters may favor government regulation to cut health care costs, and health workers are being trained on the law to deal with possible raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in health care settings. (3/25)
