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February 2025

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In News

NEW: With Republicans Set To Vote On Medicaid Cuts, Protect Our Care Continues Nearly $10 Million Campaign Slamming GOP Health Care Attacks

Ads in Key House Districts and New Mobile Billboard Campaign On Capitol Hill Will Run This Week As Republicans Vote On Cutting at Least $880 Billion From Medicaid

Watch Protect Our Care’s Ads Here

View Protect Our Care’s New Mobile Billboard Here

Washington, D.C. – Protect Our Care is continuing its $10 million “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign to defend Medicaid from devastating cuts this week with ads in 10 key House districts and a mobile billboard on Capitol Hill. Republicans are set to vote this week on cutting between $880 billion and $2 trillion from Medicaid in order to fund tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. 

Hart Research polling shows strong opposition across party lines to cutting Medicaid from a majority of voters, including Trump voters, who have a favorable view of Medicaid and see it as an important source of health care.  

The extreme Republican budget proposal to slash Medicaid — endorsed by Donald Trump — threatens health care for over 70 million Americans who rely on the program, and the consequences could touch nearly every household in America. Republicans are pushing to gut Medicaid, and if they get their way, millions will lose coverage, including children, new moms, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities — all to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. 

“Republicans in Congress are preparing to vote in favor of devastating cuts to Medicaid that threaten the coverage of millions,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “The American people won’t let them get away with these extreme attacks on our health care just so they can pay for more tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. Voters are already voicing their anger at town hall meetings and the more voters learn, the angrier they will be. Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have put Medicaid on the chopping block, and the vote in Congress this week will show just how many House Republicans are willing to make everyday Americans sicker and poorer by ripping away coverage from those who need it most.”

The 30-second ads will continue to run on television and digitally in the following districts: David Schweikert (AZ-01), David Valadao (CA-22), Young Kim (CA-40), Ken Calvert (CA-41), Nick LaLota (NY-01), Andrew Garbarino (NY-02), Mike Lawler (NY-17), Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07), Rob Bresnahan (PA-08), and Dan Newhouse (WA-04). Throughout the recess, Protect Our Care is also hosting events across the nation, including in front of Republican offices, to make sure people understand the devastating consequences of Republican plans to cut health care.

In addition to the ads, Protect Our Care will launch a mobile billboard campaign on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, February 25. The mobile billboard will circle Capitol Hill from 10 AM to 7 PM on Tuesday, targeting the same 10 House Republicans ahead of the vote in Congress to cut Medicaid in order to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. You can watch the mobile billboard campaign video here.

Links to each of the 30-second ads can be found below:

David Schweikert (AZ-1)
David Valadao (CA-22)
Young Kim (CA-40)
Ken Calvert (CA-41)
Nick LaLota (NY-01)
Andrew Garbarino (NY-02)
Mike Lawler (NY-17)
Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07)
Rob Bresnahan (PA-08)
Dan Newhouse (WA-04)

Sample Ad Script for CA-22

With costs as high as they are right now. No one can afford to lose their healthcare. 

But that’s exactly what’ll happen if Congress cuts Medi-Cal. 

Over three hundred thousand of us in the Central Valley could have our health care ripped away.

We’re talking veterans, seniors,
Kids with disabilities,
Everyday working people …

All losing their health care…while Congress passes another tax break for billionaires. 

Congressman Valadao, we’re counting on you to be there for us. 

Background

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In News

HEADLINES: Republicans Hit By A Deluge of Pleas to Protect Medicaid

As members of Congress headed home over the recess, Republican lawmakers were hit by a deluge of pleas to protect Medicaid for the 72 million Americans who rely on it for health care. From California to Maine, during town halls and press conferences, constituents across the country made it clear: cuts to Medicaid are unacceptable. 

Tomorrow, Republicans in the House of Representatives will vote on their budget resolution after the GOP Senate approved its own last week. Recent reporting shows congressional Republicans intend to slash Medicaid funding by at least $880 billion and up to $2 trillion to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations, resulting in millions losing coverage, including children, new moms, seniors, and people with disabilities. Last week, President Trump endorsed the House budget plan and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick confirmed the GOP plan to dismantle Medicaid includes at least “a trillion” in cuts. Americans across party lines oppose cuts to Medicaid, and new polling finds that a majority of Americans think the government should spend more on health care — not less.

HEADLINES:

New York Times: Republicans Face Angry Voters at Town Halls, Hinting at Broader Backlash.

  • “It was a nod to the uncertainty surrounding the Republican budget plan, even as House leaders hope to hold a vote on it within days. Already, the level of cuts they are contemplating to Medicaid has drawn resistance from some G.O.P. lawmakers whose constituents depend heavily on the program, raising questions about whether they will have the votes to pass their blueprint at all.”

Axios: Some Republicans Shrug Off DOGE Protests and Town Halls.

  • “Why it matters: The muted reaction signals at least some willingness, even by electorally vulnerable Republicans, to continue marching into this firestorm on behalf of the president to whom they’ve tethered their fates.”
  • “‘House Republicans have galvanized voters across the country to come out in protest against their Medicaid cuts, veteran layoffs, and defunding of health care for 9/11 first responders,’ said CJ Warnke, a spokesperson for Democrats’ House Majority PAC.”

New York Times: Medicaid Cuts Pose Budget Conundrum for Valadao and Republicans Nationwide.

  • “With the House in recess this week, angry constituents across the country, even in deep-red districts, confronted Republicans about the sharp cuts they are proposing and Mr. Trump is making to every corner of the government.”
  • “Further complicating the picture for Republicans, Mr. Trump promised on the campaign trail not to touch Medicare — and added in an interview that aired this week that he also did not want to lay a finger on Medicaid. The next day, he endorsed the House blueprint that calls for doing just that.”

Wisconsin Public Radio: US Rep. Glenn Grothman Faces Hostile Crowd at Oshkosh Town Hall Meeting.

  • “One woman asked Grothman if he would oppose the House’s upcoming government funding bill if it includes cuts to Social Security and Medicaid. ‘Certainly, if Social Security is cut,’ he answered. ‘And Medicaid, we’ll have to see.’ In response to a different question, Grothman said cutting Medicaid funding ‘would be a mistake.’”

Hermiston Herald: Bentz’s Pendleton Town Hall Draws Major Crowd, Criticism.

  • “Harry Geller, CEO of CHI St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, was one of a few people asking about Medicare and Medicaid. Bentz said he understands how ‘terrifically important’ rural hospitals are and told Geller someone from his office would reach out.”

The New Republic: Republican Congressman Faces Backlash at Town Hall Furious at Trump.

  • “McCormick’s comments on Medicare and Medicaid also drew immediate backlash. ‘If you don’t do something with Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which is 75 percent of our budget–’ This comment, a far cry from the Republicans’ earlier promise not to touch these programs, led to an uproar from the crowd, as some constituents even yelled out ‘no it isn’t’ in response to the 75 percent line McCormick rattled off. Others implored him to tax billionaires rather than cut programs that people use every day.”

The Arizona Republic: Rep. Juan Ciscomani Signals Doubt About GOP’s Proposed Medicaid Spending Cuts.

  • “Slashing Medicaid, which is a government health insurance program for primarily low-income people, ‘would have serious consequences, particularly in rural and predominantly Hispanic communities where hospitals and nursing homes are already struggling to keep their doors open,’ Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., and seven other Hispanic GOP members of the House of Representatives wrote in a Feb. 19 letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.”
  • “The advocacy group Protect Our Care has invested in a “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign that’s part of a $10 million national effort. The campaign includes examples of how the program helps lower-income people access care without going into medical debt.”

Politico: California Playbook: Can Valadao Avoid His Health Care Kryptonite?

  • “The Republican congressman, whose Central Valley district is being bombarded with TV ads pressuring him not to slash Medicaid, is parrying the Democratic-led campaign by withholding his support for a House resolution to cut at least $1.5 trillion from the federal budget — a goal that would be impossible to meet without reductions to the popular health care program.”

Georgia Public Broadcasting: Georgia Today: Possible Medicaid Cuts; Child Care Tax Credit; Postmaster General Dejoy to Step Down.

  • “Republicans are weighing billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, jeopardizing health care coverage for some of the 80 million U.S. adults and children enrolled in the safety net program. Georgia’s Democratic congressional delegation says possible cuts to Medicaid will endanger those who depend on it, and among those people are seniors. Georgia Representative Hank Johnson says more than 60% of nursing home patients are on Medicaid.”

Fox23: State Lawmaker Joins Portland Rally Against Medicaid Cuts.

  • “Members of the group “Protect Our Care Maine” say potential budget cuts could jeopardize funding for hospitals, strain the state budget, and hurt Maine families.”
  • “‘The GOP is putting healthcare at risk for 417,000 or 30% of Mainers, including 61,000 seniors, 109,000 children, and 60,000 people with disabilities,’ State Rep. Anne Graham said.”

Maine Morning Star: U.S. Senate Dems Issue Warning on ‘Massive Cuts’ to Medicaid Predicted in GOP Budget.

  • “Pushback also occurred in Maine on Wednesday, with State Rep. Annie Graham (D-North Yarmouth) joining Protect Our Care, a Democratic-aligned health care advocacy group, for a press conference in Portland to similarly criticize possible GOP cuts to Medicaid. Since rural communities rely on Medicaid more than urban areas, cuts to the federal program would hurt states like Maine disproportionately, potentially leaving thousands in the state without affordable health care.”

WGME: State Lawmaker Joins Portland Rally Against Medicaid Cuts.

  • “A state lawmaker joined a group in Portland on Wednesday, calling for the protection of Medicaid funding and slamming proposed cuts by President Trump and Congress. Members of the group “Protect Our Care Maine” say potential budget cuts could jeopardize funding for hospitals, strain the state budget, and hurt Maine families.”

Maine Public: Health Care Advocates Are Calling On State Lawmakers to Protect Medicaid Funding.

  • “At a Portland press conference Wednesday, some raised concerns that failure to pass the supplemental budget next week will jeopardize funding for hospitals, strain the state budget and prevent Mainers from receiving the care they need.”

The Tip Sheet: Experts Warn Medicaid Cuts Threaten New Hampshire’s Budget and Health Care Access.

  • “Research Director, New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute and Lisa Beaudoin – Disability policy professional, Strategies for Disability Equity joined Protect Our Care NH to highlight the devastating impact of proposed Medicaid funding cuts on New Hampshire’s families, hospitals, and state budget. The discussion focused on how block grants, spending caps, and restrictive reporting measures could force the state to absorb up to $493 million annually in lost federal Medicaid funds, putting essential health care services at risk.”

Long Island Herald: Medicaid Cuts Threaten Long Island Healthcare Access.

  • “According to Nate Jackson, NY Director of Protect our Care, these cuts will hurt Long Island families, jeopardize funding for hospitals and strain the state healthcare budget. Children, new moms, seniors and people with disabilities across Nassau and Suffolk counties rely on Medicaid to cover essential health care costs.”

NCNewsline: US, NC Representatives Blast GOP Plan to Slash Medicaid Funding for North Carolina.

  • “U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross and state Rep. Sarah Crawford spoke at a virtual press conference Wednesday sponsored by the advocacy group Protect Our Care to condemn congressional Republicans for including cuts to Medicaid funding in their latest proposed budget plan.”

Lehigh Valley News: Outside Congressman’s Office, Protesters Make Noise Over Potential Medicaid Cuts.

  • “Bearing signs and chanting, “Stand up, fight back!,” more than 100 protesters gathered outside U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie’s office Wednesday to urge him to stand against potential cuts to Medicaid.”

WFMZ: Rally Held Outside Local Congressman’s Office, as Lawmakers Consider Cutting Funding From Medicaid.

  • “A rally was held outside Congressman Ryan Mackenzie’s South Cedar Crest, 7th Congressional District office. ‘He’s going to vote on this and it’s going to be so tight, every vote is going to make a difference. He can make a difference to our kids,’ said pediatrician Linda Famigilo.”

Fox43: PA. Healthcare Workers Rally Against Medicaid Cuts Concerns in Nursing Care Push.

  • “Healthcare workers from across Pennsylvania gathered in Cumberland County for a rally this week, voicing their concerns about the future of skilled nursing facilities and possible Medicaid funding cuts.”

WJAC: Area residents protest proposed cuts to Medicaid

  • “Local residents were protesting in Blair County on Friday, outside of Representative John Joyce’s office, ahead of a vote on a budget that could affect Medicaid.”

WTAJ: Local federal, healthcare workers demand Joyce vote ‘no’ to Medicaid cuts

  • “Local veterans, federal employees and healthcare workers protested outside of Congressman John Joyce’s (R-13th District) Altoona office Friday, asking him to vote, “No” to proposed cuts to Medicaid spending.”

Altoona Mirror: Dozens protest Medicaid cuts

  • “About 25 individuals demonstrated Friday in front of the local office of U.S. Rep. John Joyce, R-Altoona, in opposition to the Trump administration’s budget proposal to cut billions from Medicaid, a federal-state program that covers health care costs for people with limited income and resources.”

Dominion Post: Local Health Systems Concerned Over Possible Medicaid Cuts.

  • “The Trump administration effort to trim the federal deficit and the national debt has many worried that Medicaid might take a hit – affecting the healthcare for low-income citizens.”

Your Alaska Link: Alaskans Rally Against Trump’s Government Overhaul, Demanding Change.

  • “People are protesting right along the street here to protect their democracy, Medicaid, access to education and other rights.”
  • “‘Don’t take the Medicare and Medicaid. Do not let the children starve, people. It doesn’t matter what party you’re on,’ stated Ana.”

Detroit News: Opinion: Brian Peters: Protecting Medicaid Protects Michigan.

Brian Peters is CEO of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association.

  • “As the CEO of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, I know firsthand what Medicaid cuts would do to hospitals, essential services, Michigan’s healthcare industry and the economy as a whole. Medicaid is an important program across all state hospitals, but especially for the 65 rural hospitals that depend on it to keep their doors open.”

VIDEOS

California

  • KPFA: Health Care Policy Advocate Leslie Dach Analyzes the New Republican Budget With Proposed Radical Dismantling of Medicare and Medicaid.
  • KUSI [San Diego FOX]
  • KPBS [San Diego NPR]
  • KOGO [San Diego Radio]
  • KNSD [San Diego NBC]
  • KGTV [San Diego ABC]

Iowa

  • WHO-DM: Iowans call on Rep. Nunn to save Medicaid
  • KDSM: Iowans deliver a petition to Rep. Nunn’s office

North Carolina

  • WPTF: Protect Our Care launches a multimillion dollar “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign
  • WPTF: Protect Our Care launches a multimillion dollar “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign 
  • WPTF: Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach Interview

 

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In News

Trump’s War on Health Care: Public Health Watch

Welcome to Public Health Watch, a weekly roundup from Protect Our Care tracking catastrophic activity as part of Donald Trump’s sweeping war on health care. From installing anti-vaccine zealot RFK Jr. as Secretary of HHS to empowering Elon Musk to make indiscriminate cuts to our public health infrastructure, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, Donald Trump is endangering the lives of millions of Americans. Protect Our Care’s  Public Health Watch will shine a spotlight on the worst of the Trump/RFK/Musk war on vaccines, science and public health and serve as a resource for the press, public and advocacy groups to hold them accountable.  

What’s Happening In Public Health?

Catastrophic Cuts Are Creating Chaos And Endangering Americans’ Health And Scientific Innovation

Associated Press: Judge extends temporary block to huge cuts in National Institutes of Health research funding A federal judge on Friday again blocked the Trump administration’s drastic cuts in medical research funding that many scientists say will endanger patients and delay new lifesaving studies. The new National Institutes of Health policy would strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars to cover so-called indirect expenses of studying Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease and a host of other illnesses — anything from clinical trials of new treatments to basic lab research that is the foundation for discoveries. Separate lawsuits filed by a group of 22 states plus organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions nationwide sued to stop the cuts, saying they would cause “irreparable harm.”

  • New York Times: Trump Administration Stalls Scientific Research Despite Court Ruling The Trump administration has blocked key parts of the federal government’s apparatus for funding biomedical research, effectively halting progress on much of the country’s future work on illnesses like cancer and addiction despite a federal judge’s order to release grant money. The blockage, outlined in internal government memos, stems from an order forbidding health officials from giving public notice of upcoming grant review meetings. Those notices are an obscure but necessary cog in the grant-making machinery that delivers some $47 billion annually to research on Alzheimer’s, heart disease and other ailments. 

Talking Points Memo: CDC Shutters PRAMS Program on Maternal and Infant Health The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a federal data collection system, run out of CDC, “designed to identify groups of women and infants at high risk for health problems, to monitor changes in health status, and to measure progress towards goals in improving the health of mothers and infants,” in the words of the program’s website. It has run continuously since 1988 and covers everything from the particulars of newborn health and morbidity to issues like post-partum depression in mothers. I can report that the Trump CDC has shuttered the program as part of its general clampdown on medical research and public health information.

Science: Ax falls on elite group of Ph.D.s training to lead U.S. public health labs Facing a furor after news reports last week that the prestigious corps of young epidemiologists being trained as “disease detectives” at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had been targeted for termination, the administration of President Donald Trump reversed course. The roughly 100 trainees at the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) were spared. But another outstanding group of young CDC trainees wasn’t so lucky. At least 15 of 21 fellows in CDC’s lesser known Laboratory Leadership Service (LLS) were axed last weekend. The ultracompetitive, 2-year program, which trains Ph.D. scientists in the intricacies of public health laboratory work, has spawned leaders at state and local labs from Milwaukee to Tennessee to New York City.

The New Republic: Oops: Trump-Musk Cuts Just Wrecked an NIH Org Championed by GOPers One downsizing just started attracting notice among insiders at the National Institutes of Health, because it seems particularly inexplicable: According to people familiar with the situation, approximately one-tenth of the workers have now been let go at the NIH’s Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias, or CARD, including its incoming director, a highly regarded scientist credited with important innovations in the field. What makes this particularly jarring is that it could set back efforts to treat and develop cures for these awful afflictions, as these insiders and other experts fear. But it’s also that the potential for this center to do good—and the importance of the broader cause of battling Alzheimer’s—have both been championed by Republicans. Indeed, CARD’s full name—the Roy Blunt Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias—honors former Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, an influential Republican who spoke glowingly about its potential to advance human progress when its opening was announced in 2022.

Stat: The lasting human impact of Trump funding freeze: An 86-year-old’s ride to dialysis now feels tenuous For Nancy Hastings, the face of the federal government is the young man who picks her up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:45 a.m. to drive her to dialysis. She’s 86, and frail, and he stands behind her in the smoky half-light as she maneuvers down her front stairs. “If you happen to fall, don’t get scared,” he tells her. “Just fall on me, and I’ll shield you.” Then suddenly, in late January, word came that he was gone. With the Trump administration’s spending freeze, the five-person nonprofit where he’d worked didn’t have money to keep paying everyone, and he was among the three workers laid off. One of the two remaining employees called Hastings to let her know. “She said, ‘We’ll come and get you one way or the other,’” Hastings recalled — both a reassurance and a reminder of her own fragility. The staff calls her dialysis “life-sustaining,” which is a nice way of saying that if she doesn’t receive it, she’ll die. In President Trump’s description, the freeze “in no way affected Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or other entitlements that Americans depend on.” Rather, it targeted “big bureaucracy” and its “fraud and waste and abuse.” The words conjured a cartoon of box-checking, do-nothing functionaries, pushing paper for paper-pushing’s sake. But part of what government staffers do is distribute federal dollars, often to programs that Americans do indeed depend on, in red and blue states alike. Turn off the spigot, even briefly, and it’s felt far from Washington, D.C.

ProPublica: They Worked to Prevent Death. The Trump Administration Fired Them. Every day, they tackled complex issues with life-or-death stakes: A failure to get donor organs to critically ill patients. Tobacco products designed to appeal to kids. Maternal and infant death. They were hired after lawmakers and bureaucrats debated and negotiated and persuaded their colleagues — sometimes over the course of years — to make those problems someone’s job to solve. Then, this month, they were fired as part of President Donald Trump’s widespread purge of federal workers. Suddenly, the future of their public health missions was in question. The White House hasn’t released figures on how many have been fired, but news reports have begun to take stock: about 750 workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which plays a central role responding to pandemics; more than 1,000 staffers at the National Institutes of Health, which funds and conducts life-saving research; dozens at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which manages public health care and insurance programs; and scores of employees at the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees the safety of food, drugs and medical devices. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has vowed to gut the federal health centers, stating “entire departments” at the FDA should be cut. Neither the administration nor the federal agencies responded to ProPublica’s questions, but a White House spokesperson has previously said they were removing newer employees who were “not mission critical.”

Major Staff Departures: 

Chaotic Firings and Re-Hirings:

RFK Jr. Is An Extreme Anti-Vaxxer Who’s Already Breaking His “Assurances” To Key Republicans To Get Confirmed

Politico: Inside RFK Jr.’s health department takeover Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrived at the headquarters of the Health and Human Services Department earlier this week with a request for his new employees: Drop your preconceived notions of what I’m going to do. The health secretary’s first days are testing that sentiment. Kennedy has taken control of the nation’s health apparatus amid a barrage of firings and abrupt policy shifts, marking the start of a tenure that allies and adversaries alike equate to a hostile takeover of the agencies he spent the last two decades maligning. An anti-vaccine activist widely dismissed as a fringe political figure just six months ago, Kennedy in his first week began steering the 80,000-person department in a radically new direction — preparing to dismiss key vaccine advisers, vowing to alter longstanding public health priorities and standing by as the Department of Government Efficiency gutted elements of the workforce at health agencies that he’s openly accused of “corruption.”

Stat: HHS orders CDC to halt some vaccine ads, saying RFK Jr. wants message focused on ‘informed consent’ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was ordered to shelve promotions it developed for a variety of vaccines, including a “Wild to Mild” advertising campaign urging people to get vaccinated against flu, two sources familiar with the decision told STAT. The Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for public affairs informed the CDC that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wanted advertisements that promote the idea of “informed consent” in vaccine decision-making instead. Informed consent is the principle that people should be notified of all the risks, as well as benefits, of any medical intervention they receive or any drug they are prescribed. It is a cornerstone of health care delivery. Shifting the framing of advertising for vaccines that the CDC has long recommended — like flu shots — to more heavily focus on the risks of vaccines could undermine people’s willingness to get vaccinated, or to have their children immunized. 

Associated Press: Kennedy says panel will examine childhood vaccine schedule after promising not to change it

To earn the vote he needed to become the nation’s top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a special promise to a U.S. senator: He would not change the nation’s current vaccination schedule. But on Tuesday, speaking for the first time to thousands of U.S. Health and Human Services agency employees, he vowed to investigate the childhood vaccine schedule that prevents measles, polio and other dangerous diseases. “Nothing is going to be off limits,” Kennedy said, adding that pesticides, food additives, microplastics, antidepressants and the electromagnetic waves emitted by cellphones and microwaves also would be studied. Kennedy’s remarks, which circulated on social media, were delivered during a welcome ceremony for the new health secretary at the agency’s headquarters in Washington as a measles outbreak among mostly unvaccinated people raged in West Texas. The event was held after a weekend of mass firings of thousands of HHS employees. More dismissals are expected.

Politico: RFK Jr. prepares shake-up of vaccine advisers HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is preparing to remove members of the outside committees that advise the federal government on vaccine approvals and other key public health decisions, according to two people familiar with the planning. Kennedy plans to replace members who he perceives to have conflicts of interest, as part of a widespread effort to minimize what he’s criticized as undue industry influence over the nation’s health agencies, said one of the people, who were granted anonymity to speak freely. Kennedy has long argued that drugmakers have too much sway over the approval of their products.

Axios: HHS postpones first vaccine advisory meeting of RFK era The first CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as HHS secretary has been indefinitely postponed, the department confirmed. Why it matters: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, offers guidance on vaccine approvals and influences which shots insurers cover. “The ACIP meeting will be postponed to accommodate public comment in advance of the meeting. The ACIP workgroups met as scheduled this month and will present at the upcoming ACIP meeting,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon wrote in an email The big picture: ACIP meetings have been rescheduled under previous administrations, but the delay throws into question whether the Trump administration will follow precedent with a leading vaccine critic at the helm of the federal health department.

Inside Health Policy:  Trump Orders Shutdown Of Long COVID Advisory Committee, Leaving Advocates Wanting Answers Long COVID advocates were left puzzled following the Trump administration’s order to terminate the Advisory Committee on Long COVID and wondering whether the White House solely views the committee’s annual funding as too steep or if it signals a broader shift away from supporting long COVID efforts. President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Wednesday (Feb. 19) directing the HHS secretary to terminate the Advisory Committee on Long COVID, which was established under the previous administration to boost research on the causes and treatments for Long COVID. 

  • PBS:  RFK Jr. commits to prioritizing funding for long COVID research Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., asked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to commit to directing funding for long COVID research toward potential treatments and diagnostics if he were to be confirmed as health and human services secretary. “Absolutely, senator, with enthusiasm,” Kennedy said in his hearing Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Finance.

Boston Globe: RFK Jr.’s campaign organization uses official health department seal in fund-raising solicitation Though Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is finally installed as President Trump’s health secretary, his longshot 2024 presidential campaign is still carrying nearly $2 million in debt, and it’s already using the trappings of his new office to help eliminate his cash burden. On Tuesday, Kennedy’s campaign organization — rebranded as the official arm of the “Make America Healthy Again Movement”— emailed supporters for donations. At the top of the email was a large photo of Kennedy, speaking in the Oval Office after being sworn in last week, with the official seal of the Department of Health and Human Services imposed prominently next to him. Using an official federal government seal for non-official purposes is prohibited under federal laws and rules, unless written authorization is obtained. “HHS emblems are for use by HHS employees conducting official HHS business,” reads an agency rule from 2014, which makes clear that violators would be subject to fines or other penalties.

Politico: Trump defends Obamacare at the Supreme Court — stressing RFK Jr.’s in charge now The Trump administration surprised groups across the political spectrum this week by taking the same side as President Joe Biden in a Supreme Court case that will decide whether a government task force can determine what health insurance companies have to cover. But the administration’s first brief since President Donald Trump inherited the case from Biden came with a big caveat: the argument that his new health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., can remake the independent panel of health experts in his image or overrule it.

Mother Jones: RFK Jr., Onetime Environmentalist, Kills NIH Climate Change Programs In 1999, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then an environmental lawyer, was named by Time magazine as a “hero of the planet” for his pioneering work to clean up America’s waterways. On February 14 of this year, his second day as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, he ended HHS funding for climate change and health programs at the National Institutes of Health, a move that will likely terminate this work. 

New York Times: Citing ‘Biological Truth,’ Kennedy Issues Guidance Recognizing Only Two Sexes Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration had adopted a set of official government “sex-based definitions” to give the public and federal agencies precise terms with which to describe categories including “male,” “female,” “woman” and “man.” The definitions are listed in a one-page “guidance” that is aimed, in part, at keeping transgender women and girls out of female sports, discouraging gender-affirming care for young people and fulfilling President Trump’s pledge that the federal government will recognize only two sexes: male and female. “This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government,” Mr. Kennedy said in a statement. “The prior administration’s policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over.”

Public Health Threats

Washington Post: Measles, once eliminated in the U.S., sickens 99 in Texas and New Mexico Nearly 100 people across Texas and New Mexico have contracted measles, state officials say, escalating anxiety over the spread of a potentially life-threatening illness that was declared eliminated in the United States more than two decades ago. Ninety cases of measles — the majority affecting children under 17 — were detected in Texas’s South Plains, a sprawling region in the state’s northwest, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Friday. The spread marks a significant jump from the 24 cases reported earlier this month. The DSHS said “additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities.”

The Guardian: Alarm as bird flu now ‘endemic in cows’ while Trump cuts staff and funding A newer variant of H5N1 bird flu has spilled over into dairy cows separately in Nevada and Arizona, prompting new theories about how the virus is spread and leading to questions about containing the ongoing outbreaks. The news comes amid a purge of experts at federal agencies, including employees who were responding to the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Department of Agriculture.

The Hill: Trump moves hamper bird flu response as egg prices spike The Trump administration’s efforts to impose its will on the federal workforce through mass firings, funding freezes and communication blackouts is hampering the ability of public health professionals to respond to the growing threat of avian flu.  As egg prices continue to rise and more cases are detected, state and local health officials say there is no clear plan of action from the administration. Dozens of people in the U.S. have also contracted the disease, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting the first human death from H5N1 last month.

New York Times: Trump Administration Has Fired Health Inspectors at Some Border Stations At the nation’s borders, federal workers keep the country safe in many ways: Some investigate sick passengers. Some examine animals for dangerous pathogens. And some inspect plants for infestations that could spread in this country. Late last week, the Trump administration dispatched hundreds of those federal employees with the same message that colleagues at other agencies received: Their services were no longer needed. The absence of these federal officers at the borders leaves Americans vulnerable to pathogens carried by plants, animals and people, experts warned. The firings come even as the Trump administration is said to be readying plans to turn back migrants on the grounds that they might bring diseases like tuberculosis and measles into the country.

Washington Post: U.S. reverses plan to shut down free covid test program The Trump administration reversed a plan late Tuesday to shut down the government website that ships free coronavirus tests to households, after The Washington Post reported that the administration was preparing to end the program and was evaluating the costs of destroying or disposing of tens of millions of tests. The Post reported Tuesday afternoon that the administration was looking into the costs of destroying tests that would otherwise be provided free to Americans, citing two officials at a federal public health preparedness agency and internal documents reviewed by The Post. A half-hour before the planned shutdown, Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon sent a statement to The Post confirming that COVIDtests.gov would shut down at 8 p.m. Tuesday. But he said the tests would not be destroyed and “will remain in inventory until they meet their expiration date.”

Opinion and Commentary

Wall Street Journal (Editorial): RFK Jr. Makes His First Anti-Vaccine Move Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been Health and Human Services secretary for all of a week, but he’s already pressing what looks like an anti-vaccine agenda. Mr. Kennedy never did disavow his vaccine views in the runup to Senate confirmation. He merely said he wouldn’t take away anyone’s vaccines. But the HHS secretary has many tools to undermine vaccines, and his early moves are revealing.

New York Post (David Harsanyi): Misinformation alert — RFK Jr. keeps peddling his detestable autism lies Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spread many detestable theories in his life, but none is more detestable than his scaremongering over autism and vaccines. It’s not merely that the new Health and Human Services secretary has convinced thousands of Americans that they’re partially responsible for their children’s autism — a trend he once compared to a “holocaust.” It’s that he’s ensuring thousands more will put their children in needless danger for absolutely no scientific or rational reason.

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IN THE STATES: Lawmakers and Advocates Underscore The Importance of Medicaid As Republicans Want to Slash Funding

Headlines Across The Nation Show Americans Agree That Large Cuts to Medicaid Proposed by the GOP Are a Bad Idea

Over the past week, Democratic lawmakers and health care advocates joined Protect Our Care for 14 events across 11 states to tell Republicans to tell Congress that Medicaid cuts must be off the table as Republicans negotiate a budget reconciliation package. Protect Our Care also hosted an event with Democratic governors in Washington D.C. to call out the dangerous plans to cut Medicaid and how it would impact the states. 

Recent reporting shows congressional Republicans intend to slash Medicaid funding by at least $880 billion and up to $2 trillion to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations, resulting in millions losing coverage, including children, new moms, seniors, and people with disabilities. This week, President Trump endorsed the House budget plan while Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has confirmed the GOP plan to dismantle Medicaid, saying Elon Musk will cut at least “a trillion” from Medicaid. Americans across party lines oppose cuts to Medicaid, and new polling finds that a majority of Americans think the government should spend more on health care — not less. 

NATIONAL

On Thursday, Governors Josh Green, M.D. (HI), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM), Ned Lamont (CT), Tina Kotek (OR), and Matt Meyer (DE) joined Protect Our Care to highlight how Medicaid is a lifeline in their states.

NBC: Democratic Governors Warn Against Potential Medicaid Cuts in Upcoming Budget Package.

  • “Democratic governors in town for the National Governors Association conference railed against Republican proposals to cut billions of dollars in Medicaid funding, warning that it could imperil millions of children and patients in rural areas.”
  • “‘People will die if we break this healthcare system, especially in rural America,’ Green told reporters during a press conference organized by Protect Our Care and the Democratic Governors Association.”

WBOY: Democratic Governors Sound Alarm Over Proposed Medicaid Cuts.

  • “Democratic governors from across the country are speaking out against proposed Medicaid cuts, warning that millions of Americans could lose access to essential healthcare services. As congressional Republicans push forward with their budget plan, Democratic leaders argue that the proposal threatens the future of Medicaid.”

WSPA: Democratic Governors Sound Alarm Over Proposed Medicaid Cuts

  • “Democratic governors from across the country are speaking out against proposed Medicaid cuts, warning that millions of Americans could lose access to essential healthcare services.”

IN THE STATES

ALASKA

Tuesday, February 18 – Event with Alaska Caregivers: Members of the SEIU Alaska Caretakers Union who recently traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with Alaska’s Congressional Delegation and discuss the importance of protecting Medicaid joined Protect Our Care Alaska to discuss their experience and why they are fighting for Medicaid. “We can’t just sit around and wait for this to get better,” said B.J. Redd Mendez of Wasilla Alaska. “I went to D.C. to fight for change. Without Medicaid my clients can’t get the care they need, and I won’t get paid for the care I provide.” You can watch the event here, and read the post-event release here.

ARIZONA

Thursday, February 20 – Medicaid Defense Event with First Responders and Advocates: Emergency physician Dr. Larry DeLuca, PA and SEIU member Joy Watson and AARA president Linda Somo joined Protect Our Care Arizona to discuss how unpopular cuts to Medicaid will hurt Arizona families, jeopardize funding for hospitals, and strain the state budget. “We have been through this before,” said Dr. Larry DeLuca. “It was a complete disaster. Our hospitals, which are already busy now, were completely overrun with patients. We lost access to primary care, to specialty care, and what happened was we saw people who were incredibly sick that didn’t have to be. Depression became suicidality, heart  disease became heart failure, and so we ended up having a lot more hospital admissions.” You can read the post-event release here, and watch the full event here.

CALIFORNIA

  • KPFA: Health care policy advocate Leslie Dach analyzes the new republican budget with proposed radical dismantling of Medicare and Medicaid
  • Playbook CA: Can Valadao avoid his health care Kryptonite?

Tuesday, February 18 – Medicaid Defense Event with U.S. Rep. Mike Levin and California Health Care Advocates: Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49), medical providers, and patients with Medi-Cal demanded that Congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration halt proposals to cut Medicaid funding and endanger health care services for millions of Americans. “We don’t have to guess what happens when Medicaid funding is slashed. We’ve seen it before. These proposed cuts would hit Vista Community Clinic and health centers like it the hardest. Clinics could be forced to lay off staff, cut programs, and reduce the number of patients they can treat. Patients could lose access to preventative care, end up in emergency rooms, and face skyrocketing medical bills,” said Rep. Levin. “Congressional Republicans want to cut Medicaid to pay for massive tax breaks to the ultrawealthy and giant corporations. They are telling working families, seniors, and people with disabilities that it is OK for them to get sicker so that billionaires like Elon Musk can get even richer.” You can view the post-event release here.

  • KUSI [San Diego FOX]
  • KPBS [San Diego NPR]
  • KOGO [San Diego Radio]
  • KNSD [San Diego NBC]
  • KGTV [San Diego ABC]

Tuesday, February 18 – “Hands off Medi-Cal” Town Hall Targeting Rep. Valadao with SEIU Members, Advocates and Labor Groups: Healthcare workers, patients, and community advocates mobilized to stop devastating Medicaid cuts — known as Medi-Cal in California — before it’s too late. This week, town hall meetings happened across California to send a clear message: “Hands Off Medi-Cal!” Leaders and locals came together to defend healthcare access for all Californians and call on Rep. David Valadao to stand against any proposed Medicaid cuts. Cuts to Medi-Cal would put healthcare at risk for 15 million Californians who rely on the program, endanger local hospitals and healthcare jobs, reduce essential home care services that help seniors and children with disabilities remain in their homes, and drive up healthcare costs for everyone in the state.These town halls are part of a broader national movement pushing back against efforts by billionaires to gut federal programs like Medicaid to fund tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. You can view photos, interviews, and footage of the town hall here.

Wednesday, February 19 – “Hands off Medi-Cal” Town Hall Targeting Rep. Calvert with SEIU Members, Advocates and Labor Groups: Healthcare workers, patients, and community advocates mobilized to stop devastating Medicaid cuts — known as Medi-Cal in California — before it’s too late. This week, town hall meetings happened across California to send a clear message: “Hands Off Medi-Cal!” Leaders and locals came together to defend healthcare access for all Californians and call on Rep. Ken Calvert to stand against any proposed Medicaid cuts. Cuts to Medi-Cal would put healthcare at risk for 15 million Californians who rely on the program, endanger local hospitals and healthcare jobs, reduce essential home care services that help seniors and children with disabilities remain in their homes, and drive up healthcare costs for everyone in the state. These town halls are part of a broader national movement pushing back against efforts by billionaires to gut federal programs like Medicaid to fund tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. You can view photos, interviews, and footage of the town hall here.

Thursday, February 20 – “Hands off Medi-Cal” Town Hall Targeting Rep. Kim with SEIU Members, Advocates and Labor Groups: Healthcare workers, patients, and community advocates mobilized to stop devastating Medicaid cuts — known as Medi-Cal in California — before it’s too late. This week, town hall meetings happened across California to send a clear message: “Hands Off Medi-Cal!” Leaders and locals came together to defend healthcare access for all Californians and call on Rep. Young Kim to stand against any proposed Medicaid cuts. Cuts to Medi-Cal would put healthcare at risk for 15 million Californians who rely on the program, endanger local hospitals and healthcare jobs, reduce essential home care services that help seniors and children with disabilities remain in their homes, and drive up healthcare costs for everyone in the state. These town halls are part of a broader national movement pushing back against efforts by billionaires to gut federal programs like Medicaid to fund tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. You can view photos, interviews, and footage of the town hall here.

GEORGIA

Thursday, February 20 – Medicaid Defense Event with Congressman Hank Johnson and Georgia Health Care Advocates: Congressman Hank Johnson and Protect Our Care visited a Care One Franchise personal care home to discuss the GOP’s latest budget plan to slash Medicaid funding by at least $880 billion to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations. These cuts would result in millions of the most vulnerable  Americans losing health care, including children, new moms, seniors, and people with disabilities. “President Trump and House Republicans promised they would lower costs for everyday Americans,” said Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04). “They lied. Instead, they just announced a new push to cut Medicaid and take health care away from kids, parents, and seniors. The Trump-Musk-House Republican budget includes hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid and food assistance for kids, seniors, and veterans.” You can watch the event here, and view the post-event release here.

IOWA

Thursday, February 13 – “Have a Heart, Protect Medicaid” Petition Drop-Off Event with Health Care Advocates: Protect Our Care Iowa coordinated a petition drop-off event with local storytellers at the Indianola office of Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Storytellers arrived at the office with over 575 printed petitions to share their stories with staff and call on their representatives to stop these harmful attacks on working families, seniors, people with disabilities, and children by opposing plans to cut critical programs like Medicaid in order to fund more tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy corporations.

Friday, February 14 – “Have a Heart, Protect Medicaid” Petition Drop-Off Event with Health Care Advocates: Protect Our Care Iowa coordinated a petition drop-off event with local storytellers at Representative Nunn’s Des Moines office. Constituents delivered a petition with hundreds of signatures demanding that Representative Nunn protect Medicaid instead of giving more tax cuts to billionaires. House Republicans released a budget plan this week that proposes deep cuts to Medicaid in order to pay for more tax cuts for corporations and the ultra-wealthy. “Our representatives must stand up for us and put a stop to destructive funding cuts to health care for working families, children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities,” Matt Chapman, from Waukee said. “We demand that they oppose budget proposals to cut essential programs like Medicaid just to fund additional tax breaks for the rich and huge corporations.” You can view the post-event release here.

  • WHO-DM: Iowans call on Rep. Nunn to save Medicaid
  • KDSM: Iowans deliver a petition to Rep. Nunn’s office (also ran during the subsequent 4am news hour)

MAINE

Wednesday, February 19 – Medicaid Defense Event with Maine Rep. Annie Graham and Cancer Survivor Marie Follaytarr: Maine Rep. and retired pediatric nurse Annie Graham and Leukemia survivor Marie Follaytar joined Protect Our Care Maine for an in-person press event discussing the latest GOP plan to drastically cut Medicaid funding and what this would mean for Mainers. Speakers also called on Senator Collins to protect this critical funding. “When I say health care is at risk for 417,000 Mainers, I can tell you one of those lives might be mine,” said Marie Follaytarr. “When we defund Medicaid, we are taking away a line item in a hospital’s budget, your PCP’s budget, your local clinic’s budget and even if you aren’t on Medicaid your health care system will be impacted. Senator Collins can wield her gavel and appropriate securing healthcare and hospitals for Mainers. She can choose to let people like me who rely on Medicaid for medical food to live or die. She is the Chair of Appropriations, and it is within her power to negotiate every penny we need or not.” You can read the post-event release here.  

  • FOX 23 Maine: State lawmaker joins Portland rally against Medicaid cuts
  • Maine Morning Star: U.S. Senate Dems issue warning on ‘massive cuts’ to Medicaid predicted in GOP budget
  • WGME: State lawmaker joins Portland rally against Medicaid cuts
  • Maine Public: Health care advocates are calling on state lawmakers to protect Medicaid funding

MICHIGAN

Thursday, February 20 – Detroit News Op-Ed by Michigan Hospital Association CEO Brian Peters about Protecting Medicaid: Protect Our Care Michigan placed an opinion piece by Michigan Health and Hospital Association CEO Brian Peters about how affordable, high-quality health care is essential for a community to thrive, which is why cutting funding for Healthy Michigan Plan, the state’s Medicaid program, would hurt communities across Michigan. “As the CEO of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, I know firsthand what Medicaid cuts would do to hospitals, essential services, Michigan’s healthcare industry and the economy as a whole” Peters writes. “Medicaid is an important program across all state hospitals, but especially for the 65 rural hospitals that depend on it to keep their doors open.” You can read the full op-ed here. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Friday, February 14 – Medicaid Defense Event with New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute and Strategies for Disability Equity: Phil Sletten of the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute and Lisa Beaudoin of Strategies for Disability Equity joined Protect Our Care New Hampshire to discuss Governor Ayotte’s proposed state budget and how cuts to Medicaid would put essential health care services at risk. “Small changes to Medicaid funding can have a big impact on the rest of the budget,” said Phil Sletten of the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute.”If you were to see a swing in federal funds of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, that would affect other parts of the state budget around health services and other services to fund that Medicaid shortfall, or Medicaid services themselves may have to change to stay in line with the budget.” You can watch the full event here, and view the post-event release here. 

  • Patch: Experts Warn Medicaid Cuts Threaten New Hampshire’s Budget and Health
  • The Tip Sheet: Experts Warn Medicaid Cuts Threaten New Hampshire’s Budget and Health Care Access
  • Boston Globe: 7 Key Takeaways from NH Governor Kelly Ayotte’s ‘recalibration’ budget

NEW YORK

Wednesday, February 19 – Medicaid Defense Event with U.S. Representative Laura Gillen, Assemblymember Solages, 1199SEIU, and Health Care Advocates: Rep. Laura Gillen (NY-04), Assembly Member Michaelle Solages, 1199SEIU and local advocates joined Protect Our Care New York to discuss the GOP’s latest budget plan to put billionaires over Americans. Recent reporting shows congressional Republicans intend to slash Medicaid funding by at least $880 billion to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations, resulting in millions losing coverage, including children, new moms, seniors, and people with disabilities. “I’m calling on my colleagues – on both sides of the aisle – to join me in protecting Long Islanders’ access to health care. The proposed cuts to Medicaid would devastate Nassau County, putting over 100,000 of my constituents’ health care in jeopardy and raising health care costs for tens of thousands more,“ said Rep. Gillen. “We need to be working to protect and strengthen access to health care, not ripping it away from the seniors, children, and veterans on Long Island who count on Medicaid to access the life-saving care they need.” You can view the post-event release here.

NORTH CAROLINA

  • WPTF: Protect Our Care launches a multimillion dollar “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign
  • WPTF: Protect Our Care launches a multimillion dollar “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign (includes quote from Leslie’s interview)
  • WPTF: Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach Interview

Wednesday, February 19 – Medicaid Defense Event with Congresswoman Deborah Ross, State Representative Sarah Crawford, and Health Care Advocates: Congresswoman Deborah Ross, State Rep. Sarah Crawford, and Retired Storyteller Haywood Watson joined Protect Our Care North Carolina to discuss the GOP’s latest budget plan to put billionaires over Americans. “In 2023, North Carolina opted into Medicaid Expansion. We received $14 billion in federal Medicaid funding. 59% of all federal dollars that our state received –  and let’s be clear, those are your tax dollars coming back to North Carolina – to help your family, your friends, and your neighbors. From the mountains to the coast,  particularly in our rural areas, millions of North Carolinians rely on this funding to access the health care they need,” said Congresswoman Deborah Ross.  “Federal funding for Medicaid has the power to save and enrich lives. President Trump, Elon Musk and Congressional Republicans who refuse to speak up are putting lives at risk in their quest to cut funding for rich donors. I am committed to doing everything that I can to fight back and I’m doing it every day. We need to protect these essential benefits and services that North Carolinians rely on. Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and VA benefits support so many people’s well-being.” You can watch the event here, and view the post-event release here.

  • NCNewsline: US, NC representatives blast GOP plan to slash Medicaid funding for North Carolina
  • WPTF: Protect Our Care launches a multimillion dollar “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign

PENNSYLVANIA

Wednesday, February 19 – Medicaid Defense Event with Health Care Advocates: Constituents from Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, community groups, and local advocates rallied outside Congressman Ryan Mackenzie’s District Office to protest his potential vote to slash billions in Medicaid funding. “This shouldn’t surprise us,” said Allentown City Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach. “We’ve seen from Day One they are going to come for the most vulnerable, the most marginalized.” Pediatrician Linda Famigilo said, “He’s going to vote on this and it’s going to be so tight, every vote is going to make a difference. He can make a difference to our kids.”

  • Lehigh Valley News: Outside congressman’s office, protesters make noise over potential Medicaid cuts
  • WFMZ: Rally held outside local congressman’s office, as lawmakers consider cutting funding from Medicaid

Thursday, February 20 – Medicaid Defense Event with Health Care Advocates: Constituents from Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, along with community groups and local advocates, gathered outside Congressman Scott Perry’s District Office for a candlelight vigil to mourn health care losses, should Rep. Perry vote to slash billions in Medicaid funding.

  • FOX43: Pa. healthcare workers rally against Medicaid cuts concerns in nursing care push

WEST VIRGINIA

  • Dominion Post: Local health systems concerned over possible Medicaid cuts
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Week One: RFK Jr. Begins His Tenure As HHS Secretary By Enacting Fringe, Anti-Science Agenda

This week marks the beginning of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Just one week in, Kennedy has already begun enacting some of the most radical parts of his health agenda, blatantly ignoring promises he made to on-the-fence Senators to maintain existing vaccine protocols and trust scientists and experts. 

Just this week, he announced that he would investigate the childhood vaccination schedule, end the CDC’s successful campaign promoting the flu vaccine, scrutinize childhood use of antidepressants, stimulants and other common psychiatric drugs, end recognition of transgender Americans, and even kill NIH climate change programs, turning his back on a decades-long legal career as an environmental advocate. Meanwhile, as Kennedy abandons gold-standard practices and longstanding health protocols and focuses on fringe policies, Texans face a rapidly expanding measles outbreak, bird flu continues to spread and evolve across the country, and Americans are facing their worst flu season in 15 years. Even as the threat from these infectious diseases escalates, Kennedy has stuck to his word and turned his back on public health – and this is only the beginning.

What RFK Has Done

Associated Press: Kennedy Says Panel Will Examine Childhood Vaccine Schedule After Promising Not To Change It.

  • “To earn the vote he needed to become the nation’s top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a special promise to a U.S. senator: He would not change the nation’s current vaccination schedule. But on Tuesday, speaking for the first time to thousands of U.S. Health and Human Services agency employees, he vowed to investigate the childhood vaccine schedule that prevents measles, polio and other dangerous diseases. ‘Nothing is going to be off limits,’ Kennedy said, adding that pesticides, food additives, microplastics, antidepressants and the electromagnetic waves emitted by cellphones and microwaves also would be studied. Kennedy’s remarks, which circulated on social media, were delivered during a welcome ceremony for the new health secretary at the agency’s headquarters in Washington as a measles outbreak among mostly unvaccinated people raged in West Texas. The event was held after a weekend of mass firings of thousands of HHS employees. More dismissals are expected.”

Stat: HHS orders CDC to halt some vaccine ads, saying RFK Jr. wants message focused on ‘informed consent’ 

  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was ordered to shelve promotions it developed for a variety of vaccines, including a “Wild to Mild” advertising campaign urging people to get vaccinated against flu, two sources familiar with the decision told STAT. The Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for public affairs informed the CDC that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wanted advertisements that promote the idea of “informed consent” in vaccine decision-making instead. Informed consent is the principle that people should be notified of all the risks, as well as benefits, of any medical intervention they receive or any drug they are prescribed. It is a cornerstone of health care delivery. Shifting the framing of advertising for vaccines that the CDC has long recommended — like flu shots — to more heavily focus on the risks of vaccines could undermine people’s willingness to get vaccinated, or to have their children immunized.

Axios: HHS Postpones First Vaccine Advisory Meeting of RFK Era.

  • “The first CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as HHS secretary has been indefinitely postponed, the department confirmed. Why it matters: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, offers guidance on vaccine approvals and influences which shots insurers cover.”
  • “The big picture: ACIP meetings have been rescheduled under previous administrations, but the delay throws into question whether the Trump administration will follow precedent with a leading vaccine critic at the helm of the federal health department. An agenda for the meeting, which was scheduled for Feb. 26-28, included discussions about vaccines for COVID-19, meningococcal virus, influenza, RSV, HPV and mpox. Catch up quick: Earlier this week, Kennedy said in an address to HHS staff that “nothing is off limits” in examining the causes of chronic disease, including examining childhood vaccine schedules.”

Washington Post: Trump Casts Psychiatric and Weight-Loss Drugs as Threats to Children.

  • “President Donald Trump has instructed his administration to scrutinize the ‘threat’ to children posed by antidepressants, stimulants and other common psychiatric drugs, targeting medication taken by millions in his latest challenge to long-standing medical practices. The directive came in an executive order Thursday that established a ‘Make America Healthy Again’ commission led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has criticized the use of those drugs and issued false claims about them. The order said the commission should prepare a ‘Make Our Children Healthy Again’ assessment within 100 days that examines ‘the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants, and weight-loss drugs.’ The directive comes as children and teens endure a mental health crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Kennedy also has made childhood nutrition and healthful food a signature issue. He has been critical of the boom in weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mounjaro.”

Mother Jones: RFK Jr., Onetime Environmentalist, Kills NIH Climate Change Programs.

  • “In 1999, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then an environmental lawyer, was named by Time magazine as a ‘hero of the planet’ for his pioneering work to clean up America’s waterways. On February 14 of this year, his second day as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, he ended HHS funding for climate change and health programs at the National Institutes of Health, a move that will likely terminate this work. That day, Ken Callahan, a senior adviser for policy and implementation in the Immediate Office of the Secretary for HHS, sent an email to Dr. Matthew Memoli, the acting director of NIH, noting that HHS would no longer support three programs run by the agency: the Climate Change and Health Initiative, the Climate Change and Health Research Coordinating Center, and the Climate and Health Scholars Program.”

New York Times: Citing ‘Biological Truth,’ Kennedy Issues Guidance Recognizing Only Two Sexes.

  • “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration had adopted a set of official government ‘sex-based definitions’ to give the public and federal agencies precise terms with which to describe categories including ‘male,’ ‘female,’ ‘woman’ and ‘man.’ The definitions are listed in a one-page ‘guidance’ that is aimed, in part, at keeping transgender women and girls out of female sports, discouraging gender-affirming care for young people and fulfilling President Trump’s pledge that the federal government will recognize only two sexes: male and female. ‘This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government,’ Mr. Kennedy said in a statement. ‘The prior administration’s policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over.’’

Politico: RFK Jr. Prepares Shake-Up Of Vaccine Advisers.

  • “HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is preparing to remove members of the outside committees that advise the federal government on vaccine approvals and other key public health decisions, according to two people familiar with the planning. Kennedy plans to replace members who he perceives to have conflicts of interest, as part of a widespread effort to minimize what he’s criticized as undue industry influence over the nation’s health agencies, said one of the people, who were granted anonymity to speak freely.”

Rising Public Health Threats 

Axios: U.S. Facing Worst Flu Season Since 2009, Experts Say.

  • “The worst flu season in 15 years has left hundreds of thousands of Americans hospitalized while straining physicians’ offices and emergency departments. Why it matters: The virus is causing more severe complications and hitting young children especially hard. “The two predominant strains that are circulating right now are known to be more severe and have more severe outcomes, especially in high-risk patients,” said Carol McLay, president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. ‘It’s really clogging up our ERs and our outpatient facilities. And for the first time, we’ve seen cases of influenza that have surpassed COVID-19 in hospitalizations and deaths, since the COVID pandemic began,’ she said. By the numbers: This flu season is classified as a “high-severity” season, with estimates of at least 29 million cases, the most since the 2009-2010 flu season, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.”

CNN: West Texas Measles Outbreak Doubles to 48 Cases.

  • “The measles outbreak first reported in Gaines County, Texas, has doubled to 48 cases since a count released earlier this week, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Friday. The first two cases were identified in late January, and the numbers have been rising since. Forty-two cases are reported in Gaines County. Surrounding counties have also reported cases, three in Terry County, two in Yoakum County and one in Lynn County. With the contagious nature of the disease, the state health department says it expects that more cases will be reported in Gaines County and the surrounding areas. All of the cases are in unvaccinated people or those who have unknown vaccination status. Most cases are in children 5 to 17 years old. All experienced an onset of symptoms in the past three weeks. Among the 48 cases, 13 have been hospitalized. Two measles cases were also reported in bordering Lea County, New Mexico, on Friday, bringing the total there this week to three. The first case involved an unvaccinated teenager, and the vaccination status in the other cases is unknown.”

The Hill: Trump Moves Hamper Bird Flu Response As Egg Prices Spike.

  • “The Trump administration’s efforts to impose its will on the federal workforce through mass firings, funding freezes and communication blackouts is hampering the ability of public health professionals to respond to the growing threat of avian flu. As egg prices continue to rise and more cases are detected, state and local health officials say there is no clear plan of action from the administration. Dozens of people in the U.S. have also contracted the disease, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting the first human death from H5N1 last month.”
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Republican Plans to Gut the Affordable Care Act Will Raise Health Care Costs For 24 Million Americans

A record 24.2 million Americans are enrolled in quality, affordable coverage because of the enhanced premium tax credits passed by President Biden and Democrats in 2021. Not only did Republicans in Congress unanimously oppose these tax credits to lower costs for middle-class families, but they are now refusing to extend them, which will raise costs and rip away health care from millions of Americans. Republican efforts to take away these tax credits mean costs will skyrocket by an average of $2,400 for millions of families, and 5 million people will lose their health care entirely. 

With a Republican trifecta and so many enrolled in affordable coverage, the Republican threat to affordable health care looms large. Middle-class families are already struggling to keep up with the cost of living, and their health care costs would go up by an average of 90% per year. At the same time, Republicans in Congress want to give more tax breaks to billionaires and big companies. 

Premiums for individuals, families, and older Americans will skyrocket if Republicans allow the tax credits to expire. On average:

  • A 45-year-old making $60,000 (411% of the federal poverty level) will see their annual premium go up by $1,367.
  • A family of four making $125,000 (416% of the federal poverty level) will see their annual premium go up by $7,700.
  • A 60-year-old couple making $80,000 (405% of the federal poverty level) will see their annual premium go up by $17,511.

Democrats are united on this issue and fighting to stop premium increases. As of January 2025, a record 24 million Americans are enrolled in quality, affordable coverage because of the tax credits passed by Democrats in Congress without a single Republican vote – that’s more than twice as many people with insurance as when Trump held office. 

Americans cannot afford Republican premium hikes. Hardworking families are depending on lawmakers to act.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: In Their Own Words: Marketplace Enrollees Would Struggle to Afford Premium Hikes if Congress Refuses to Extend Improved Tax Credits.

  • Olivia, 22, Michigan: “‘I might have to go without my psych meds, which would not be ideal. … It would definitely be harmful for my life.’”
  • Michael, 54, Arizona: “‘If it does happen, we’ll have to cut costs elsewhere and that’s now digging into basic necessities, like, food, car, gas, rent. We’re struggling already as it is.’”
  • Ximena, 35, Texas: “Her health insurance premium will likely increase by more than $200 a month if Congress refuses to extend the enhanced premium tax credits. ‘That $200 currently is going to other things,’ she said. ‘Gas is expensive, food is like exponentially expensive.’ If her increase ends up being closer to $400 a month, Ximena would drop her coverage, despite the anxiety it would cause.”
  • Erin, 62, Georgia: “Dropping health coverage isn’t an option for many people with chronic conditions. ‘If I didn’t have health insurance I probably wouldn’t be here.’ … If Congress takes away the enhanced premium tax credit, Erin’s health insurance cost will likely increase by around $180 a month. Erin doesn’t know how she’d afford it.”
  • Lisa, 55, Ohio: “‘I already feel like I have cut costs in every area of my life that I possibly can. I would have to look at everything in my life to determine what could be slashed even more. And if I couldn’t do that, it’s almost like I would have to just give up on trying to keep my health at a point where I can tell my kids that I would continue to do everything I could to be there for them…’”

The Commonwealth Fund: Enhanced Premium Tax Credits for ACA Health Plans: Who They Help, and Who Gets Hurt If They’re Not Extended.

  • “With the implementation of enhanced tax credits, marketplace plan premiums fell for people at all income levels, and plan choices increased.”
  • “The enhanced subsidies are especially beneficial to people in rural areas of the country. Benchmark premiums in rural areas are about 10 percent higher than in urban areas, meaning that rural residents benefit the most from enhanced premium subsidies.”
  • “The enhanced tax credits also expanded the number of affordable coverage options for workers who were in employer plans they couldn’t afford, and they provided small businesses with more cost-effective options for their employees.”
  • “If Congress does not extend the premium tax credits, the ACA marketplaces could become unstable…The combination of a smaller market, higher average health risk among enrollees, and less competition among insurance carriers could drive premium costs even higher.”

The Center for American Progress: 5 Ways the ACA’s Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Have Improved Health Coverage Affordability and Access.

  • “The ACA’s enhanced tax credits have made health insurance more affordable and accessible for American families across the country. By lowering premiums, reducing out-of-pocket costs, increasing enrollment, narrowing racial disparities, and stabilizing the marketplaces, the enhanced tax credits have strengthened the ACA’s foundation and expanded health coverage to a record number of people. Without congressional action to extend the enhanced tax credits beyond 2025, millions of Americans shopping for coverage this fall will see higher premiums and reduced plan options, and many will become uninsured. Policymakers must act to preserve affordable health coverage.”
ashoup
In News

“Real Consequences for Real People”: Democratic Governors Join Protect Our Care to Call Out Republicans’ Devastating Plans to Slash Medicaid

Watch the Event Here

Republicans Want to Rip Away Health Care from Millions to Fund Tax Breaks for the Wealthy 

Washington D.C. — Today, Governors Josh Green, M.D. (HI), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM), Ned Lamont (CT), Tina Kotek (OR), and Matt Meyer (DE) joined Protect Our Care to highlight how Medicaid is a lifeline in their states. Republicans are trying to slash Medicaid, and if they get their way, millions will lose coverage, including children, new moms, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities — all to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations. 

In the last week, President Trump endorsed the House budget plan which slashes Medicaid funding by at least $880 billion and up to $2 trillion, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has confirmed the GOP plan to dismantle Medicaid, saying Elon Musk will cut at least “a trillion” from Medicaid. Americans across party lines oppose cuts to Medicaid, and new polling finds that a majority of Americans think the government should spend more on health care — not less. 

“The Democratic governors with us today are fighting every day to improve the health care of the people in their states,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “While Republicans in Congress wage a war against American health care, these governors are at the front lines working to improve access and lower costs — often with bipartisan support in their state legislatures and always with bipartisan support from their constituents. They are on the frontline of this battle, and we owe them our thanks.”

“I came to be a family physician in rural Hawaii, where almost all of my patients were on Medicaid,” said Governor Josh Green (HI). “Without Medicaid, there would be no care for those individuals in rural Hawaii, and that plays out over and over again all across America. Can you imagine a country that doesn’t have critical access to hospitals, or rural hospitals, where people instead have to drive hundreds of miles to be cared for? This is an existential moment for America where so many millions of Americans are about to have their health care taken away from them.”

“This is a life and death situation for so many of our citizens and all of our states,” said Governor Ned Lamont (CT). “All they’re going to do is cut back on Medicaid, cut back on health care for our poor citizens, and push costs to the states. That’s going to be tough for our smaller hospitals, our rural hospitals, and making sure that access is available throughout our states –  big and small. That’s what we’re really at risk of right now.”

“Medicaid is absolutely critical to making sure Oregonians have the care they need,” said Governor Tina Kotek (OR). “Medicaid cuts at the federal level will have real consequences for real people in my state and in states around the country, and it’s not what people are asking for. I am not hearing from Oregonians that we need big tax breaks for billionaires and large corporations. They’re worried about their household budgets, and they need predictability from their federal government. We need the federal government to do their part, continue to maintain Medicaid, continue to be a funding partner for health care in our states.”

“Americans are seeing health care harder to access, and by cutting Medicaid, it just puts an additional burden on us,” said Governor Matt Meyer (DE). “The challenge we have right now is that we’re not sure we have a partner in Washington who wants to work with us. They’re looking at the federal budgets that have a deep and direct impact on Americans, and they’re slashing it with a machete. Our care is going to be directly affected by this act.”

“Cuts to Medicaid affect every American,” said Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM). “If we don’t have funding in health care, your own private insurance options are diminished, your prescription drug access will be diminished, and your costs will skyrocket. The right answer is to invest in a meaningful health care system that protects every American.”

ashoup
In News

STATEMENT: Cassidy Got Played: RFK Jr. Breaks His Promise on Vaccines His First Week on the Job

Washington, DC – Just one week in, RFK Jr. has already begun enacting some of the most radical parts of his conspiracy theory-filled agenda, breaking promises he made to on-the-fence Senators during his confirmation process. Coverage confirms that RFK Jr. will be removing members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee after canceling a critical meeting on vaccine approvals. In response, Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement: 

“RFK Jr. played Bill Cassidy like a fiddle. It hasn’t even been a week and he is already breaking his promises. After saying anything to on-the-fence senators to get confirmed, RFK Jr. is now showing his true colors as the anti-science, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist he always has been. The consequences of RFK Jr.’s broken promises, which were always bullshit, will be more sick and dead Americans, including children, and Senator Cassidy and his colleagues who bought what Kennedy was selling will bear responsibility.”

Background: 

RFK Jr. Committed To Not Change Vaccine Review Standards, Nor Deprioritize Or Delay Vaccine Approval. During Kennedy’s confirmation hearings, Senator Cassidy asked, “[Do you] promise that the FDA will not deprioritize or delay review and/or approval of new vaccines, and that vaccine review standards will not change from historical norms?” Kennedy replied, “Yes.” [Science, 1/30/25]

RFK Jr. Assured Cassidy He Would Maintain The CDC’s ACIP Without Changes. Cassidy said, “If confirmed, [RFK] will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes.” [Chief Health Care Executive, 2/11/25]

RFK Jr. Assured Murkowski He Would Not Make It Difficult For People To Take Vaccines Or Discourage Vaccination Efforts. “I continue to have concerns about Mr. Kennedy’s views on vaccines and his selective interpretation of scientific studies, which initially caused my misgivings about his nomination. Vaccines have saved millions of lives, and I sought assurance that, as HHS Secretary, he would do nothing to make it difficult for people to take vaccines or discourage vaccination efforts.” [Sen. Lisa Murkowski, X, 2/12/25]

ashoup
In News, Research

GREED WATCH: As Trump Conspires With Drugmakers to Raise Costs on Americans, Records Show Massive 2024 Earnings

Drugmakers Raked in $610 Billion in 2024, Spent $90 Billion Rewarding Shareholders, And Sued The Government To Rip Off Seniors For Even More Profit

View the Report as a PDF Here.

Later today, just months after treating them to dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump is scheduled to meet with chief executives representing big drug companies – including the head of top lobbying group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which is still fighting in court to ban Medicare from negotiating drug prices and hike costs for millions of seniors and families. At a time when drug companies are cutting checks to shareholders rather than making their products more affordable to patients, Republicans are looking out for these greedy corporations at the expense of Americans.

Not only does Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress want to ban Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices, but they are trying to increase costs for seniors and taxpayers, and line the pockets of big drug companies at a time when the majority of Americans believe Congress should make it a “top priority” to expand negotiations – not repeal them. 

BY THE NUMBERS

  • We followed the 2024 earnings reports of 13 publicly-traded drug companies that have reported 2024 results and have drugs selected for negotiation in round 1 or round 2.
  • These 13 companies reported $610 billion in total global revenue and have announced dividend payments and stock buybacks totaling $90 billion.
  • The ten publicly held companies currently suing to ban Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices reported $480 billion in revenue. Those same companies reported shareholder compensation in the form of stock buybacks and dividends totaling $67 billion.

In 2024, 13 drug companies with products selected for price negotiation by Medicare reported $610 billion in earnings, a figure that is higher than the gross domestic product (GDP) of 88 percent of the countries in the world. This eye-popping revenue reflects the record-high prices drug companies set for drugs they launched in 2024, and overall prices that are three times higher for U.S. patients than for patients in other high-income countries. 

For too long, drug companies have been allowed to charge whatever they want, gouging patients to the point that 1 in 3 Americans report cutting pills or skipping doses because they can’t afford their medication. Fortunately, Democrats passed a law to lower drug costs for people on Medicare, including by finally allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of patients. 

Research establishes that pharmaceutical manufacturers could lose $1 trillion in revenue over a decade and still be the most profitable industry, yet big drug companies claim the new Medicare drug price negotiation program threatens their ability to invest in bringing innovative drugs to market. However, in the years following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, drug companies increased investment in bringing new drugs to market through higher spending on research and development. While drug companies increased their research and development budgets, they also rewarded their shareholders handsomely. Amgen, NovoNordisk, Novartis, and Teva spent more lining the pockets of shareholders than on their research and development budgets. 

Table 1: 2024 Big Drug Company Earnings and Spending

Spotlight on Medicare Negotiation: Drug Companies Suing to Block Medicare from Negotiating Lower Prices Reported Over $480 Billion in Revenue and Spent $67 Billion on Shareholders

In 2024, the ten publicly held companies that are currently suing (either directly, through a subsidiary, or through a trade organization) to ban Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices reported over $480 billion dollars in revenue. Those same companies reported shareholder compensation in the form of stock buybacks and dividends totaling $67 billion – more than the economies of Monaco, Iceland, and Albania combined. 

  • Novartis, the manufacturer of Entresto, reported $50.3 billion in revenue and spent $15.9 billion on shareholder compensation. 
  • Johnson and Johnson, which manufactures three of the ten drugs with lower prices being negotiated – Xarelto, Stelara, and Imbruvica – made $88.8 billion in revenue and spent $14.2 billion on shareholder compensation.
  • Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic/Wegovy/Rybelsus and Fiasp/NovoLog, far exceeded even their earnings expectations, bringing in $40.5 billion and spending $9.9 billion on shareholder compensation. 
  • Eli Lilly, which manufactures Jardiance and Tradjenta, made $45 billion in revenue and spent $7.4 billion on stock buybacks and dividends for shareholders.
  • AstraZeneca, the manufacturer of Calquence and Farxiga, raked in $54.1 billion in revenue and spent $4.6 billion on shareholder compensation. 
  • GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which manufactures Trelegy Ellipta and Breo Ellipta, reported $39.4 billion in revenue and spent $3 billion on stock buybacks. 
  • Amgen, which manufactures Otezla and Enbrel, reported $33.4 billion in revenue while spending $5 billion on investors. 
  • Bristol Myers Squibb, which manufactures Pomalyst and Eliquis, raked in $48.3 billion and spent $4.9 billion on shareholder compensation.
  • Teva, the manufacturer of Austedo, reported $16.5 billion in revenue and spent $1.4 billion on stock buybacks and dividends. 
ashoup
In News

STATEMENT: Trump Endorses Congressional Republicans’ Plan To Gut Hundreds of Billions From Medicaid and Rip Away Health Care

Trump and Republicans’ Medicaid Cuts Would Threaten the Health Care of Over 70 Million Americans To Pay For Tax Cuts for Billionaires

Washington, D.C. — After making claims that Republicans would “not touch Medicaid,” Donald Trump endorsed the Republican plan to cut between $880 billion and $2 trillion from Medicaid — threatening health care for over 70 million Americans who rely on the program.

The consequences of cuts to Medicaid would touch nearly every household in America. Hart Research polling shows strong opposition across party lines to cutting Medicaid from a majority of voters, including Trump voters, who have a favorable view of Medicaid and see it as an important source of health care. In response, Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach issued the following statement:

“By endorsing this Republican proposal to slash hundreds of billions from the country’s largest health insurance program, Donald Trump is putting the health care of over 70 million Americans on the chopping block. Trump knows the damage these Medicaid cuts will do – he admitted it just last night – but he is joining Republicans in Congress in their quest to rip away coverage from those who need it most. Trump and Republicans’ plan all along has been to gut Medicaid, and they will stop at nothing to devastate millions of American families so they can give billionaires another tax cut.”

Protect Our Care’s eight-figure “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign is sounding the alarm on Republicans working to slash Medicaid funding to pay for another round of tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. The campaign includes paid advertising, on-the-ground events, and organizing to make sure people understand the devastating consequences of Republican plans to cut health care.

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