Tag Archives: HHS

HHS Sec Overrode FDA Concerns On Testing Quality

Politico reports: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar led an escalating pressure campaign against his own FDA this spring and summer, urging the agency to abandon its responsibility for ensuring the safety and accuracy of a range of coronavirus tests as the pandemic raged.  Then in late August, Azar took matters into his own hands. Overriding objections from FDA …

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HHS Spox Apologizes To Staff For Wild Accusations

Politico reports: Top HHS spokesperson Michael Caputo called an emergency staff meeting on Tuesday to apologize for leveling a series of false accusations on Facebook Live over the weekend, according to three people with knowledge of the meeting. Caputo told staffers that his remarks — which included unfounded allegations the Centers for Disease Control was harboring a “resistance unit” — …

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Schumer Calls For Resignation Of HHS Sec. Alex Azar

CBS News reports: Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) on Tuesday called on Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to resign, arguing he has failed to stand up to President Trump in the response to coronavirus. The call from Schumer comes amid a series of controversies at HHS. On Monday, the New York Times reported that a top …

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HHS Spox Calls For Gassing Reporters, Deletes Account

Fox News reports: The top spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services deleted his Twitter in the aftermath of a late-night rant in which he suggested tear gassing journalists and battled with other users on the social media platform. Michael Caputo, who was using his verified Twitter account, commented “gas all of them” in response to a post …

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HHS Spox: The CDC Is “Going To Have To Kill Me”

The New York Times reports: Michael Caputo, 58, the assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, said without evidence that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was harboring a “resistance unit” determined to undermine President Trump. Mr. Caputo, who has faced criticism for leading efforts to warp C.D.C. weekly bulletins to fit Mr. …

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Politico: Former Kremlin Aide Turned Trump Official Has Been Interfering With CDC Reports On COVID Pandemic

Politico reports: Since Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign official with no medical or scientific background, was installed in April as the health department’s new spokesperson, there have been substantial efforts to align the reports with Trump’s statements, including the president’s claims that fears about the outbreak are overstated, or stop the reports altogether. Caputo and his team have attempted …

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Emails Show HHS Official Attempting To Muzzle Fauci

Politico reports: A Trump administration appointee at the Department of Health and Human Services is trying to prevent Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, from speaking about the risks that coronavirus poses to children. Emails obtained by POLITICO show Paul Alexander — a senior adviser to Michael Caputo, HHS’s assistant secretary for public affairs — instructing press officers …

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HHS Spox Praised Far-Right Extremists In His Podcast

Media Matters reports: On his now-defunct show Still Standing with Michael Caputo, the current HHS spokesperson pushed the debunked conspiracy theory that the coronavirus was invented “in a bioweapons facility in Wuhan,” used racist terms to refer to the virus, and said Democrats are calculating how long they can “actually keep the coronavirus concern ball in the air” in order …

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HHS To Spend $250 Million On PR Campaign Urging Americans To “Defeat Despair, Inspire Hope” On COVID

Politico reports: As the presidential election fast approaches, the Department of Health and Human Services is bidding out a more than $250 million contract to a communications firm as it seeks to “defeat despair and inspire hope” about the coronavirus pandemic.  Several weeks ago, the department sent out to a number of communications firms a “performance work statement,” which lays …

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Court Issues Last Minute Block On HHS Anti-Trans Plan

The Hill reports: A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked a Trump administration policy that would scrap ObamaCare’s nondiscrimination protections for sex and gender identity, one day before it was set to take effect. According to Judge Frederick Block of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, the Trump administration’s rule is contrary to a recent Supreme Court ruling that outlawed …

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New COVID Reporting Rule Burdens Health Providers

The Washington Post reports: State health leaders, public health experts and hospital officials warn that an abrupt change in how the Trump administration requires them to report coronavirus data will increase the burden on facilities already strained by the pandemic and could impede the distribution of critical medicines. The opposition came after the Department of Health and Human Services notified …

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Trump Admin Sued Over LGBTQ Patient Protections

Politico reports: A coalition of advocacy groups sued the Trump administration on Monday over its rollback of LGBTQ patient protections, arguing that last week’s Supreme Court decision extending workplace legal protections to gay and transgender employees invalidates the new rules. Big picture: The suit marks the first challenge stemming from the 6-3 high court decision that anti-discrimination protections based on …

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Biden Blasts “Despicable” Attack On LGBTQ Patients

The Hill reports: Former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday slammed the Trump administration’s decision to roll back LGBTQ protections in the Affordable Care Act, calling the move “unconscionable.” “This action is unconscionable — and to do so during Pride Month, on the fourth anniversary of the deadly terrorist attack at the Pulse Nightclub that claimed 49 lives, many of …

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Trump Admin Erases Protections For LGBTQ Patients

Bloomberg Law reports: The Trump administration has finalized a policy that would remove women seeking abortions and LGBT people from the Affordable Care Act’s non-discrimination protections, the HHS announced Friday. The regulation would let health-care workers, hospitals, and insurance companies that receive federal funding refuse to provide or cover services such as abortions or transition-related care. This continues the Trump …

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HHS To Scrap Medical Protections For LGBT Patients

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. …

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HHS Sec Tapped Labradoodle Breeder To Handle COVID

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 …

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Feds Distribute 192K Masks Seized From NY Gouger

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 …

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HHS Secretary Under Internal Fire Over Virus Response

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 …

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Whistleblower Alleges HHS Ignored Virus Protocols

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 …

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Appeals Court Rules Against HHS On Medicaid/Work

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 …

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