Tag Archives: HHS

Peter Montgomery reports at Right Wing Watch: The push by the Department of Health and Human Services to impose a trans-denying definition of “sex” onto federal civil rights law “would essentially eradicate federal recognition” of an estimated 1.4 million transgender Americans, according to the Times story. The effort is being led by Roger Severino, who has taken the anti-LGBT agenda …

The New York Times reports: Activists in the L.G.B.T. community mobilized a fast and fierce campaign on Sunday to say transgender people cannot be expunged from society, in response to an unreleased Trump administration memo that proposes a strict definition of gender based on a person’s genitalia at birth. The existence of the memo, the administration’s latest effort to roll …

Yahoo News reports: The Department of Health and Human Services is diverting millions of dollars in funding from a number of programs, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, to pay for housing for the growing population of detained immigrant children. In a letter sent to Sen. Patty Murray, D.-Wash., and obtained by …

Just in from the Democratic National Committee: Today, the Sunlight Foundation reported that the Trump-Pence administration’s Department of Health and Human Services removed and altered language from its website on the provision of the Affordable Care Act that prohibits discrimination in health care services.  The move limits access to information and resources that protect women and LGBTQ people, particularly transgender …

Talking Points Memo reports: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters on a conference call on Thursday that his department will meet the deadlines imposed by federal courts to reunify thousands of immigrant children who were taken from their families and detained in separate facilities, but admitted they have yet to send a single child to rejoin their …

NBC News reports: The Trump administration has selected Tornillo, Texas, for the construction of tents to house the overflow of immigrant children, many of whom have been separated from their parents under a new “zero tolerance” policy, according to three sources familiar with the decision. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will erect a “tent city,” full of …

Politico has published a deep dive into the myriad ways the Trump administration is rolling back, curtailing, or completely ignoring the many pro-LGBT advances won during the Obama administration. The piece begins: The nation’s health department is taking steps to dismantle LGBT health initiatives, as political appointees have halted or rolled back regulations intended to protect LGBT workers and patients, …

ABC News reports: The Trump administration announced on Thursday a new division within the Department of Health and Human Services devoted to “conscience and religious freedom.” Social conservatives and religious liberty leaders have anticipated conscience and religious freedom protections to come out of HHS, and the work of the new division, which will fall under the purview of the Office …

Politico reports: The Trump administration is poised to overhaul the HHS civil rights office as part of a broader plan to protect health workers who don’t want to perform abortions, treat transgender patients seeking to transition or provide other services for which they have religious or moral objections. Under a proposed rule — which has been closely guarded at HHS …

USA Today reports: President Trump said Monday he would name former pharmaceutical company executive Alex Azar as secretary of Health and Human Services. If confirmed by the Senate, Azar would replace Tom Price, who resigned in September amid a scandal over his use of charter aircraft for personal and official travel. It’s the first time Trump has had to replace …

CNBC reports: The Trump administration is expanding exemptions to an Affordable Care Act rule requiring employers to include birth control coverage in health plans. On Friday, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury and Labor issued “interim final rules” to make more entities exempt from providing plans that cover contraceptives without a co-payment. They will create what a senior …

Last week hate group leader Tony Perkins declared that Democrats had “invented” Tom Price’s private jet scandal in order to keep him from stopping abortions. In a separate press release, Perkins also claimed that “most STDS are incurable.” It took Perkins six days, but he’s finally issued a reaction to Price’s resignation that manages to link both of those lies. …

Swampity swamp swamp! Politico reports: In a sharp departure from his predecessors, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price last week took private jets on five separate flights for official business, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial travel. The secretary’s five flights, which were scheduled between Sept. 13 and Sept. 15, took him to …

Bloomberg reports: The Trump administration will slash spending meant to help enroll people in Obamacare, making good on the president’s threat to let the law wither after Republicans failed to repeal it earlier this year. Arguing that the promotional spending was ineffective, the Health and Human Services department will cut the sign-up advertising budget to $10 million for 2018 coverage …

The Daily Beast reports: The Trump administration has spent taxpayer money meant to encourage enrollment in the Affordable Care Act on a public relations campaign aimed at methodically strangling it. The effort, which involves a multi-pronged social media push as well as video testimonials designed at damaging public opinion of President Obama’s health care law, is far more robust and …

The Associated Press reports: The White House says President Donald Trump is appointing the former president of a leading anti-abortion organization to a senior position at the Department of Health and Human Services. Charmaine Yoest, who actively supported Trump in his campaign, will serve as assistant secretary of public affairs at HHS. From 2008 until February 2016, she was president …

NBC News reports: Advocates are outraged that questions about LGBTQ seniors have suddenly been removed from an annual survey that determines services for elderly Americans. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) uses the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants (NSOAAP) to decide how to allocate federal funding to groups that work with the elderly. For years, LGBTQ …

The Hill reports: During an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show, Price said President Trump’s promise to ensure coverage for every American was “absolutely right.” But when explicitly asked about whether anyone would lose coverage under the Republicans’ plan, Price demurred, talking instead about the Affordable Care Act’s faults. “Are you saying no one is going to lose coverage under this …

Politico reports: Rep. Tom Price refused to say how aggressively he’ll implement President Donald Trump’s order instructing federal agencies to pare back Obamacare — and he refused to promise that Obamacare enrollees wouldn’t lose coverage as a result of the order. Price, Trump’s pick to run Health and Human Services, dodged questions from lawmakers Tuesday about whether Trump’s order would …

Salon reports: President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, introduced legislation last year that would help a biotech company only days after he purchased stock in it. Less than a week after buying between $1,001 and $15,000 of shares in Zimmer Biomet, Price introduced a bill known as the HIP Act. …