Public Health Archives - Page 13 of 186

Digesting Trump’s Big Budget Law

Episode 405

July 10, 2025

President Donald Trump’s big budget bill became his big budget law on July 4, codifying about $1 trillion in cuts to the Medicaid program. But the law includes many less-publicized provisions that could reshape the way the nation pays for and receives health care. Meanwhile, at the Department of Health and Human Services, uncertainty reigns as both staff and outside recipients of federal funds face cuts. Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Bloomberg News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Julie Appleby, who reported the latest KFF Health News’ “Bill of the Month” feature, about some very pricey childhood immunizations.

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Demonstrators march in a street holding signs, including one that says "Freeze cancer, not funding"

World’s Premier Cancer Institute Faces Crippling Cuts and Chaos

After spearheading a 34% cut in cancer mortality, the National Cancer Institute at the NIH is bleeding resources and staff and could see its budget cut by nearly 40%.

By Rachana Pradhan and Arthur Allen

July 9, 2025

A portrait of a man sitting in a wheelchair outside.

In a Nation Growing Hostile Toward Drugs and Homelessness, Los Angeles Tries Leniency

A new care center for homeless people on Los Angeles’ infamous Skid Row embraces the principle of harm reduction, a more lenient approach to drug use and addiction. County officials say criminalization only worsens homelessness.

By Angela Hart

July 8, 2025

What the Health? From KFF Health News

Trump’s Bill Reaches the Finish Line

Episode 404

July 3, 2025

The House on Thursday moved to approve the largest-ever cuts to federal safety net programs, the last step before the measure goes to President Donald Trump’s desk. After the Senate very narrowly passed the bill, House GOP leaders ushered it past resistance from conservatives wary of adding trillions to the federal debt and moderates concerned about its cuts to Medicaid. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has continued to pursue his anti-vaccine agenda, despite promising that he would not. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

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A line chart of reported dengue cases per million residents in Florida, California, the U.S., and Texas from 2015 to 2024 showing that rates have been rising since 2021 and Florida's rate at least two times of the other metrics in 2024.

As Mosquito Season Peaks, Officials Brace for New Normal of Dengue Cases

In recent years, locally acquired dengue cases have appeared in California, Florida, and Texas, parts of the U.S. where the disease isn’t endemic. Health and vector control officials worry that with climate change and the lack of a vaccine, dengue will take hold in a larger swath of North America.

By Phillip Reese

July 2, 2025

A family portrait taken indoors. From left to right, the adolescent son, mother, father, and young daughter. They are wearing matching T-shirts.

HHS Eliminates CDC Staff Who Made Sure Birth Control Is Safe for Women at Risk

The Trump administration eliminated the CDC team that developed national guidelines for prescribing contraception safely for millions of women with underlying medical conditions.

By Rachana Pradhan

July 1, 2025

A young boy sits on his father's lap on a mattress covered in a green fitted sheet on the floor.

Bill of the Month

A Texas Boy Needed Protection From Measles. The Vaccine Cost $1,400.

A family living in Galveston was surprised to be charged thousands of dollars for immunizations for their children. Their insurance plan didn’t cover the shots, and the cost of the measles vaccine in particular was more than five times what health officials say it goes for in the private sector.

By Julie Appleby

June 30, 2025

The Week in Brief

Trump Administration Cuts Leave Park Service With Fewer Lifeguards

Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.

By Stephanie Armour

June 27, 2025

An older man in a suit and tie with glasses is seated while a sign that reads "CDC" is in the distance behind him

Kennedy’s Vaccine Advisers Sow Doubts as Scientists Protest US Pivot on Shots

A new vaccine advisory panel appointed by the HHS secretary, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, reflected his unsupported claims about the safety of childhood inoculations.

By Arthur Allen and Sam Whitehead

June 27, 2025

What RFK Jr. Isn’t Talking About: How To Make Vaccines Safer

Vaccines are under fire from the top of the Trump administration. Federal programs to monitor them and make them safer have always been underfunded.

By Arthur Allen

June 25, 2025

A man sits at an office desk that shows lots of signs of activity; stacks of paper, an open computer, and a name plate.

‘We Need To Keep Fighting’: HIV Activists Organize To Save Lives as Trump Guts Funding

While Congress fails to stave off cuts to HIV care, community leaders in Mississippi and beyond race to limit the damage.

By Amy Maxmen

June 24, 2025

A photo of an older man having his arm bandaged after getting a vaccine.

The New Old Age

Many Older People Embrace Vaccines. Research Is Proving Them Right.

Newer formulations are even more effective at preventing illnesses that commonly afflict seniors — perhaps even dementia.

By Paula Span

June 23, 2025

A woman in a maroon longsleeve shirt and glasses, sits at a table with her hands folded. A portable oxygen machine is helping her breathe

With Property Seized and Federal Funding Uncertain, Montana Asbestos Clinic Fights for Its Life

The Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby, Montana, closed in May after a court judgment allowing BNSF Railway to seize its assets. Now, the clinic’s federal funding is in jeopardy, too.

By Aaron Bolton, MTPR

June 20, 2025

The Week in Brief

NIH Workers Risk Retaliation by Openly Protesting Trump Policies

Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.

By Rachana Pradhan

June 13, 2025

CDC Staffing Upheaval Disrupts HIV Projects and Wastes Money, Researchers Say

Researchers laid off in April were putting the finishing touches on in-depth HIV surveys that guide treatment and prevention. Some staff have been reinstated, but data remains in limbo.

By Amy Maxmen

June 13, 2025

A photo of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Senate hearing.

Kennedy’s HHS Sent Congress ‘Junk Science’ To Defend Vaccine Changes, Experts Say

A look inside the Department of Health and Human Services document citing vaccine misinformation that could influence congressional perceptions.

By Jackie Fortiér

June 13, 2025

What the Health? From KFF Health News

RFK Jr. Upends Vaccine Policy, After Promising He Wouldn’t

Episode 401

June 12, 2025

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week did something he had promised not to do: He fired every member of the scientific advisory committee that recommends which vaccines should be given to whom. And he replaced them, in some cases, with vaccine skeptics. Meanwhile, hundreds of employees of the National Institutes of Health sent an open letter to the agency’s director, accusing the Trump administration of policies that “undermine the NIH mission.” Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

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