Tag Archives: HHS

Politico reports: The Trump administration is moving to scrap an Obama-era policy that protected LGBTQ patients from discrimination, alarming health experts who warn that the regulatory rollback could harm vulnerable people during a pandemic. The health department is close to finalizing its long-developing rewrite of Obamacare’s Section 1557 provision, which barred health care discrimination based on sex and gender identity. …

Reuters reports: On January 21, the day the first U.S. case of coronavirus was reported, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services appeared on Fox News to report the latest on the disease as it ravaged China. Alex Azar, a 52-year-old lawyer and former drug industry executive, assured Americans the U.S. government was prepared. As is now …

The New York Daily News reports: The Health and Human Services Department said Thursday it had distributed some 192,000 N95 respirator masks and a large haul of other scarce medical supplies that the FBI had seized during the arrest of a Brooklyn man. Baruch Feldheim, 43, was arrested Monday after he allegedly coughed on FBI agents and told them he …

Politico reports: Even as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention takes blame for testing delays that may have led to hundreds of Americans being quietly infected with the coronavirus, officials inside the health department and the White House are increasingly pointing the finger at one leader: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who they say failed to coordinate …

The Washington Post reports: Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services sent more than a dozen workers to receive the first Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, without proper training for infection control or appropriate protective gear, according to a whistleblower complaint. The workers did not show symptoms of infection and were not …

Politico reports: A federal appeals court on Friday ruled against Trump-approved Medicaid work requirements, the latest legal setback to the administration’s efforts to remake the safety net health care program. A three judge panel in a unanimous ruling said HHS didn’t have the authority to require some Medicaid enrollees to work in order to receive coverage. The decision, which upheld …

The New York Times reports: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified Congress on Sunday it may need to transfer up to $136 million to help combat the fast-moving coronavirus epidemic, a new sign of how the White House has increased its response in recent days. The notification came as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is …

The Hill reports: Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said Tuesday that “there’s really not a need” for the Trump administration to put forward an ObamaCare replacement plan at the moment. Azar was asked where the administration’s replacement for the health law is in an interview on the “Kevin Wall Radio Show.” He replied that there is not …

Axios reports: President Trump told his health secretary yesterday that he regrets getting involved in the administration’s policy on vaping, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. “I should never have done that f***ing vaping thing,” Trump said during an impromptu call on speakerphone in an Oval Office meeting. The administration’s ban on flavored vapes is one of its …

STAT News reports: In a bid to bolster a campaign to end HIV transmission in the United States, the Trump administration announced Tuesday that it will provide free pre-exposure prophylaxis — known as PrEP — for people at risk of contracting the virus who do not have prescription drug coverage. PrEP, which is taken daily, has been shown to be …

Politico reports: At least eight former White House, presidential transition and campaign officials for President Donald Trump were hired as outside contractors to the federal health department at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, according to documents newly obtained by POLITICO. They were among at least 40 consultants who worked on a one-year, $2.25 million contract …

The Washington Post reports: A federal judge on Wednesday voided the Trump administration’s “conscience rule” that would have allowed health-care providers to refuse to participate in abortions, sterilizations or other types of care they disagree with on religious or moral grounds. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan declared the so-called “conscience rule” unconstitutional in a 147-page decision stemming from …

New York’s 1010 WINS reports: Gov. Cuomo said today that New York State would go to court to block a Trump administration proposal that would allow adoption and foster care agencies to turn away members of the LGBTQ community who want to give kids a home. “This proposal isn’t just discriminatory and repugnant to our values—it’s also heartless and dumb …

Now breaking on Twitter…. “Today, the Trump Administration issued a proposed rule that would strip existing protections for sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, religion, and for individuals in same-sex marriages in all programs and grants administered by Health and Human Services.” Updates to follow shortly…. Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: The Department of Health & Human Services went …

Axios reports: Public health officials on Thursday urged Americans to get their seasonal flu vaccine early this year, in case the U.S. follows Australia’s season in which the virus hit many people early. While public health officials admit the vaccine is not 100% effective, there’s growing research showing that the vaccine reduces the severe and sometimes deadly complications from the …

Politico reports: The surgeon general Thursday issued an advisory cautioning young people and pregnant people against using marijuana, warning it poses risks to developing brains. HHS officials said the best science available suggests no amount of marijuana use during pregnancy or for youth is known to be safe. Surgeon General Jerome Adams’ advisory was the first his office issued on …

The Washington Post reports: When President Trump targeted mental illness as the cause of the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton that killed 31 people, federal health officials made sure no government experts might contradict him. A Health and Human Services directive on Aug. 5 warned communication staffers not to post anything on social media related to mental health, …

NBC News reports: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is delaying the implementation of its “conscience protection” rule until November to give the administration more time to deal with a lawsuit over the policy. HHS announced in a court filing Saturday that the rule, which was originally scheduled to take effect July 22, would not be implemented until …

Via press release from the ACLU: The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), Public Health Solutions (PHS), The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed a lawsuit today challenging the Trump administration’s rule that allows health care personnel to deny patients information and treatment based on personal religious or moral beliefs. …

Via press release from hate group leader Tony Perkins: In an HHS announcement that has pro-lifers cheering, Secretary Alex Azar confirmed that the agency was canceling a $2 million-a-year contract with the University of California that had been in place since 2013. “Promoting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities …