Veteran Furor Prompts VA To Halt Rule Tying Disability Ratings To Treatment
The new Department of Veterans Affairs rule would have factored in whether medication effectively treats an ailment in determining compensation for veterans with a disability. “Disabled veterans should never be forced to choose between following their doctor’s orders and protecting their earned benefits,” VFW National Commander Carol Whitmore said.
The Washington Post:
In Rare Move, Veterans Affairs Pulls Back On Controversial Disability Rule
The Department of Veterans Affairs has halted plans to enforce a controversial rule that would have cut disability compensation for veterans making claims. The decision follows a backlash from veterans groups, which had criticized the rule’s impact on benefits. VA Secretary Douglas A. Collins posted on X on Thursday that the agency will not enforce the rule but will continue to collect public comments. The department had initially issued the rule Monday, saying it would take immediate effect. The new policy was set to require that examiners take into consideration the effects of medication, essentially making it easier for the agency to consider veterans less disabled if their medicine effectively treats their disability. (Kornfield, 2/19)
More health news from the Trump administration —
The Washington Post:
U.S. Considers Building Pricey Alternative To World Health Organization
After pulling out of the World Health Organization, the Trump administration is proposing spending $2 billion a year to replicate the global disease surveillance and outbreak functions the United States once helped build and accessed at a fraction of the cost, according to three administration officials briefed on the proposal. The effort to build a U.S.-run alternative would re-create systems such as laboratories, data-sharing networks and rapid-response systems the U.S. abandoned when it announced its withdrawal from the WHO last year and dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations. (Sun and Bogage, 2/19)
Stat:
FDA Taps AI Executive To Lead Digital Health Center
The Food and Drug Administration has tapped a former executive from a health artificial intelligence company to lead its digital health center. (Aguilar and Lawrence, 2/19)
MedPage Today:
16 NIH Institutes Have No Permanent Directors
During President Donald Trump's first term, former National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Director Jeremy Berg, PhD, said he and other former NIH officials worried about what he called a "nightmare scenario" -- that all institute and center directors could be dismissed at once. That didn't happen. But a more gradual version of it may now be unfolding. A MedPage Today review found that 16 of the NIH's 27 institutes and centers are currently either led by acting directors or have no permanent director in place. (McCreary, 2/19)
On the immigration crisis —
The New York Times:
HUD Revives First-Term Trump Proposal To Eject Undocumented Immigrants From Public Housing
The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it was reviving a proposal to prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving federal housing assistance, a policy that could displace tens of thousands of legal residents and citizens, many of them children, who live with unauthorized relatives in public housing. (Cameron, 2/19)
The New York Times:
Police Investigate ICE Arrest Of A Man Who Suffered Severe Head Injuries
The police in St. Paul, Minn., say they are investigating an immigration arrest last month that left a man with a fractured skull and bleeding in his brain. Immigration agents have claimed the injuries were a result of the man running into a wall, but he has said that the agents beat him. (Bogel-Burroughs, 2/19)
The 19th:
ICE Keeps Using Tear Gas Near Children. What Does It Mean For Their Health?
From the roof of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Portland, Oregon, federal agents late last month watched as thousands of people marched past the processing center in protest. Families and children were among the daytime crowd, which had gathered for an event advertised as family friendly. (Rodriguez, 2/19)
The Texas Tribune:
What You Need To Know About Texas ICE Detention Deaths
The 911 call reported an apparent suicide. A 55-year-old Cuban “tried to hang himself,” a federal contractor alerted emergency responders last month from a sprawling El Paso immigrant detention center. By the next day, records show that Geraldo Lunas Campos had died at the facility, marking the second fatality in weeks at the hastily constructed Fort Bliss Army tent structure known as Camp East Montana. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials attributed his death to “medical distress.” (Kriel and Deguzman, 2/19)
