February 2025

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has officially been confirmed and sworn in as Secretary of HHS despite being dangerous and deeply unqualified to lead our nation’s health care system. During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy doubled down on his anti-vaccine views, failed to answer basic questions about our health care system, defended his comments linking vaccines to autism, called Lyme disease a military bioweapon, proposed that Black Americans should be on a different vaccine schedule, and much more. Instead of putting the health and safety of Americans first, Republicans rolled over for Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The consequences of his confirmation will touch nearly every household in the nation and every single preventable illness and death that results from his confirmation lands solely on the shoulders of Republicans. 

HEADLINES

New York Times: Opinion: When ‘Just Asking Questions’ About Science Turns Into 300,000 Dead.

Dr. Gonsalves is an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health.

• “The Senate has just confirmed as health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a science denialist who once said there is no vaccine that is safe and effective, who has suggested that Covid might have been genetically engineered to spare Jewish and Chinese people and who spent more than 100 pages in his recent book breathing new life into the idea that H.I.V. does not cause AIDS. All of this is nonsense, of course, but hardly a laughing matter. I am afraid for our country because I know what happens when science denialism comes into power.”
• “Mr. Kennedy’s science denialism has the potential to be worse than that of his South African counterparts. Because it’s not only his AIDS denialism we need to worry about, it is his rejection of vaccines and flirtation with the rejection of germ theory, a key foundation of modern biomedicine.”

Rolling Stone: Republicans Confirm Anti-Vax Conspiracy Theorist to Run Nation’s Health Systems.

• “The position will allow him to inflict untold damage on the well-being of millions in his ruinous quest to ‘Make America Healthy Again.’”
• “Another potential item on his agenda is the prosecution of leading medical journals if they don’t start publishing what he calls “real science,” which presumably encompasses the many debunked conspiracy theories he repeats. He has been especially critical of the FDA, accusing the agency of waging a “war on public health” and vowing to eliminate entire departments of the agency.”
• “But given his long, messy, alarming history of spreading misinformation and advocating for the downfall of the medical establishment, Trump’s promise that he will ‘go wild’ in this new job feels like something of an understatement.”

Time: ‘Terrifying’: Public Health Experts React to Senate’s Confirmation of RFK Jr. to Lead HHS.

• “Kennedy tried to distance himself from his previous anti-vaccine statements during his confirmation hearings, saying that he’s not ‘anti-vaccine’ but ‘pro-safety,’ and he has said that he and the Trump Administration wouldn’t take vaccines off the market. But experts cast doubt on whether the Administration would hold true to that statement, and many worry that Kennedy could appoint people to agencies like the FDA and CDC who could impede or revoke vaccine approvals, not only limiting access to but also sowing distrust in a powerful public health tool.”
• “Experts worry that Kennedy could exacerbate public distrust in science and medicine, and many say that his confirmation and the support he’s received is already a concerning sign of that.”

Common Dreams: Senate Confirms ‘Profoundly Unqualified’ RFK Jr. to Lead Nation’s Health Agencies. 

• “He insisted that Americans ‘would prefer to be on private insurance’ and displayed a lack of knowledge about Medicaid and Medicare, appearing to confuse the two. He also denied being anti-vaccine while refusing to reject the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism, a failure that Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is a physician, claimed to be troubled by—but Cassidy went ahead with his vote for Kennedy nonetheless.”

MSNBC: As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Heads to HHS, One Fear Tops the List.

• “I’m instead going to shine a light on what I consider to be the single biggest concern about Kennedy and our near future: Americans might confront serious public health challenges during his tenure, and we won’t be able to count on the man leading HHS.”

Washington Post: RFK Jr. Confirmed, Elevating Anti-Vaccine Activist to Nation’s Top Health Post.

• “His refusal to recognize the reams of evidence that contradict him and years of anti-vaccine advocacy have alarmed public health leaders as he takes over the nation’s vast health portfolio and could shape vaccine policy. It’s unprecedented for a HHS secretary to hold such views, health policy leaders said.”

Bloomberg: What RFK Jr.’s New Power Means for Vaccines, Weight-Loss Shots and Drug Ads.

• “As HHS secretary, Kennedy will have the power to influence immunization policies and approvals. Yet before he was nominated, an organization he founded, Children’s Health Defense, linked vaccines to autism and said they’d never properly been tested, among other disproven claims. Though he walked back some of his vaccine rhetoric during his confirmation hearings, telling senators he’s not ‘anti-vaccine or anti-industry,’ Kennedy refused to denounce the disproven theory that vaccines cause autism.”

New York Times: Senate Confirms Kennedy, a Prominent Vaccine Skeptic, as Health Secretary.

• “Mr. Kennedy will now  lead the federal Department of Health and Human Services, a sprawling agency with 13 operating divisions, including some — the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — that he has called corrupt.”

Scientific American: Scientists React to RFK, Jr.’s Confirmation as HHS Secretary

• “‘The future of America as a superpower in research appears grim,’ says Theodora Hatziioannou, a virologist at the Rockefeller University in New York City, who creates new models for studying HIV ― which Kennedy has falsely suggested is not the cause of AIDS. ‘Even on issues he claims he supports, he does not follow scientific evidence. Picking a person like this to lead is like having the wolf guard the sheep.’”

NPR: RFK Jr. Confirmed as Trump’s Health Secretary, Over Democrats’ Loud Objections.

• “There is a lot Kennedy could do on vaccines in terms of appointing advisors, directing NIH research, and changing public health messaging about the importance of vaccines.”

Wall Street Journal: Kennedy Confirmed as Health Secretary.

• “Now, following the 52-to-48 vote and his subsequent swearing-in at the White House’s Oval Office, Kennedy is in position to apply his unconventional views to U.S. health policy. On vaccines, he could create a new panel to review their safety, appoint allies to the federal panel that oversees vaccine recommendations and even expand the vaccines or injuries covered by a federal program compensating victims.”

Politico: RFK Jr.’s Plans Could Make Musk’s Look Small.

• “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now in charge of the nation’s health agencies. His plans to upend them could make Elon Musk’s budget-cutting spree look modest by comparison.”

Washington D.C. — This morning, Republicans in the Senate voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. RFK Jr. is dangerous and deeply unqualified to lead our nation’s health care system. During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy doubled down on his anti-vaccine views, failed to answer basic questions about our health care system, defended his comments linking vaccines to autism, called Lyme disease a military bioweapon, proposed that Black Americans should be on a different vaccine schedule, and much more. There are alarming revelations about RFK Jr. coming out every day, but Republicans rolled over for Donald Trump and Elon Musk and refused to do the right thing and put the health and safety of Americans first. 

Protect Our Care will track all of RFK Jr. and Donald Trump’s attacks on health care and public health via our “Health Care Sabotage Tracker.” 

In response, Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement:

“RFK Jr.’s confirmation is a devastating blow to the American health care system. A radical, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist has no place leading America’s health care – especially as we face a slew of public health threats. It is shameful that Republicans have put American lives at risk despite widespread opposition from experts, medical professionals, and scientists. With Democrats voting in unison to stop RFK Jr., every single preventable illness and death that results from this vote lands solely on the shoulders of Republicans. The consequences of his confirmation will touch nearly every household in the nation.”

Background:

• REPORT: RFK Jr. Is An Anti-Vaccine Extremist
• REPORT: Misinformation Kills: RFK Jr’s Deadly Visit To Samoa
• FACT SHEET: RFK Jr. Spread Conspiracy That Lyme Disease Came From a Military Bioweapon
• HEADLINES: ‘Grave Concerns’ About RFK Jr.’s Anti-Vaccine Lies, Lack of Qualifications, and Conflicts of Interest After Disastrous Confirmation Hearing
• ROUNDUP: New Polling Shows the Majority of Americans Don’t Trust RFK Jr. to Lead Our Health Care System

 

GOP Attacks Include Devastating Cuts To Medicaid To Fund Tax Breaks for the Ultra-Wealthy and Freezing Life-Saving Medical Research

The Trump administration and its Republican allies are ramping up their war on American health care. Right now, Republicans in Congress are plotting devastating Medicaid cuts that would rip away health care from millions of Americans in order to fund tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. They are also working behind the scenes to hike premium costs for working families and ban Medicare from negotiating lower prescription drug prices. The Trump administration has also been wreaking havoc on the health care system by freezing funding for life-saving medical research, attempting to fire thousands of federal health workers, and blocking critical health information from reaching the American people. In the weeks since Donald Trump took office, Republicans have made clear that health care is under attack, putting millions of children, seniors, and families at risk. 

New polling from Hart Research shows broad opposition across party lines to the Republican health care agenda, including cutting Medicaid, raising prescription drug prices, and using health care cuts to fund tax breaks for the wealthy. A majority of voters think the government should spend more on health care — not less — and a majority of voters, including Trump voters, have a favorable view of Medicaid, seeing it as an important source of health care. 

Read more about the Republican war on health care here. 

Medicaid Cuts

Politico: ‘Bare Bones’: Dread Over Potential Medicaid Cuts. “If Republicans follow through with plans to restrain Medicaid spending, the pain will fall unevenly across the states… While Republicans have not decided how far to overhaul Medicaid, the state-federal health insurer for low-income people, the federal government’s $600 billion annual contribution is in play in budget talks.” [Politico, 2/11/25]

Daily Yonder: Commentary: If Federal Healthcare Spending Is a Target, Then So Is Rural America. “The Medicaid program is an attractive target because it is so large… While the effects of these proposed cuts would be widespread, rural America will feel the most pain, because Medicaid and the ACA marketplace play a disproportionately important role in the financially fragile health care systems of rural communities. And while Medicaid is important everywhere, in rural America it is a lifeline.” [Daily Yonder, 2/11/25]

The Hill: Progressive Group Sounds Alarm On Medicaid Cuts. “Republicans see Medicaid as a program rife with fraud and abuse, and have long sought to rein in its spending. Work requirements, one proposal most often floated, would save about $100 billion over a decade.” [The Hill, 2/10/25]

Newsweek: Millions of Americans Could Lose Health Insurance. “Republican lawmakers in several states are moving to either shrink or repeal Medicaid expansion in a move which could mean millions of Americans would lose their access to health insurance… The proposed changes are driven by the return of President Donald Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress looking to cut spending. Critics of Medicaid expansion argue that it is financially burdensome and shifts resources away from vulnerable populations. However, critics of changes to Medicaid warn that repealing expansion would leave many uninsured, increase emergency room usage and strain state finances.” [Newsweek, 2/10/25]

CNN: GOP Fight Over Medicaid Cuts Stalls Trump Agenda in the House as Senate Forges Ahead. “As GOP hardliners spent the weekend pushing party leaders to cut deeper into Medicaid in an effort to advance Donald Trump’s tax and border agenda, swing-district Republicans have been warning the president directly that it would cost him control of the House. ‘There are people who want to cut to the bone,’ said one GOP lawmaker who has recently spoken to Trump to urge him not to accept major cuts to Medicaid and other benefit programs. ‘I’m willing to cut a lot. But if you cut the essential stuff that affects people every day, you will lose the majority in two years. I can guarantee it.’” [CNN, 2/10/25]

Jacobin: A Key Opportunity to Check Trump: Stopping Medicaid Cuts. “For months, Republicans have said that their budget will cut spending in order to pay for making permanent Trump’s tax cuts for the rich, which are set to expire this year. Their targeted proposed cuts: Medicaid, by over $200 billion over the next decade. Defeating these Medicaid cuts is as urgent a priority as defeating Trump’s seizure of power. It’s a chance to defend the welfare state, to expose and deepen the fractures in Trump’s coalition, and to shatter the illusion that he can’t be stopped.” [Jacobin, 2/10/25]

Axios: Medicaid Could Take Brunt of Larger Budget Cuts. “Medicaid is facing new pressure as House Republicans eye bigger cuts of perhaps close to $2 trillion in their budget resolution, sources say… House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie has been pushing for per capita caps, saying last week that they are ‘one way to get a handle’ on the ‘out-of-control, rising cost of medical care.’” [Axios, 2/10/25]

CNN: Moving Past Repealing Obamacare, Republicans Still Plan Major Health Care Cuts. “As GOP leaders in the House and Senate scramble to pull together a massive legislative package with Trump’s pricey priorities, they are looking for ways to offset the costs. One of their prime targets is Medicaid, which provides health coverage to more than 72 million low-income Americans… ‘The way this is written means only one thing: Republicans have their knives out for Americans’ health care,’ Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement. ‘It’s been clear from the start that congressional Republicans plan to gut health care for working families to fund their ideological priorities.’” [CNN, 2/10/25]

NPR: Why Many Republicans Think Shrinking Medicaid Will Make It Better. “Congressional leaders are looking to make big reductions to federal spending to pay for President Trump’s priorities, and they’ve singled out Medicaid as a program where they could find significant savings… Conservative Medicaid experts noted that some of the cuts would likely overlap, making it misleading to simply add them all up. Other experts said some of the proposals could reduce Medicaid spending even more than congressional leaders estimate, meaning they could still amount to more than $2 trillion in cuts — and could potentially push millions of people off the program.” [NPR, 2/10/25]

Modern Healthcare: Rural Hospitals Push To Be Spared From Possible Funding Cuts. “Rural hospital operators had warned the situation would get worse unless Medicare and Medicaid rates went up — and any additional cuts could cement service reductions and layoffs that limit access. Republican congressional members are targeting spending reductions in Medicaid, among other federal programs, to make way for President Donald Trump’s expected tax cuts in the looming budget reconciliation bill.” [Modern Healthcare, 2/7/25]

Politico: DOGE Working With Two Trump Health Appointees To Examine Medicare And Medicaid Books. “The Trump administration has tasked two top political appointees with monitoring the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to key systems inside the health agency responsible for managing Medicare and Medicaid, according to internal emails obtained by POLITICO… On Friday, the agency told POLITICO that the DOGE representatives are scrutinizing CMS systems technology and the funds that flow through it with a focus on ‘fraud and waste.’” [Politico, 2/7/25]

STAT: Hospitals Could Be Congress’ Next Target As GOP Looks To Extend Trump’s Tax Cuts. “The tax cuts alone are estimated to cost the government about $4 trillion over a decade, according to the Treasury Department and the Congressional Budget Office… It’s the messier tax cut debate that is expected to rope in health care spending cuts, with a particular focus on Medicaid, the federal-state program that covers more than 70 million low-income and disabled adults and children, as well as many older adults. Cuts to Medicaid will weigh on hospitals’ finances, in particular, because they can reduce the number of people who have insurance or result in reductions to how much state Medicaid programs pay for services.” [STAT, 2/7/25]

KFF: 5 Key Facts About Medicaid Coverage For People With Disabilities. “Options under consideration in Congress to reduce Medicaid spending by up to $2.3 trillion, nearly one-third over ten years, could have major implications for people with disabilities. Medicaid is the primary program providing comprehensive health and long-term care coverage to one in three with disabilities, including 2.3 million children, 8.8 million working-age adults, and 4.4 million adults ages 65 and older.” [KFF, 2/7/25]

Politico: Johnson Aims To Announce GOP Agenda Framework On Friday, Including Permanent Tax Cuts. “Speaker Mike Johnson said House Republicans are aiming to announce an overarching framework on their party-line agenda on Friday morning. It would include a permanent extension of the 2017 tax cuts, according to two people who were in a meeting between House Republicans and President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon.” [Politico, 2/6/25]

Politico: Trump May ‘Love And Cherish’ Medicaid. He And Congress Aren’t Ruling Out Cutting It. “After rarely mentioning the safety-net health insurance program — including over the course of his 2024 campaign — Trump last week said Medicaid was on the list of programs he wants to protect. He said he won’t ‘do anything’ to Medicaid, except for in the case of abuse or waste, claiming beneficiaries wouldn’t be impacted. ‘It will only be more effective and better,’ Trump said. The comments came as Republicans are exploring a sweeping overhaul of existing health policies that would likely include major changes to Medicaid in order to fund a significant portion of party-line legislation to enact Trump’s domestic agenda.” [Politico, 2/6/25]

Axios: GOP Leans Toward Medicaid Work Rules. “Republicans say work requirements are the most likely Medicaid change in a reconciliation bill, though a conservative push for deeper cuts could force more changes to the safety net program… Medicaid is caught in the middle as House Republicans debate the extent of budget cuts, with conservatives pushing for as much as $2.5 trillion in spending reductions.” [Axios, 2/5/25]

Axios: Trump Wants To “Cherish” Medicaid As Cuts Loom. “President Trump appeared to extend his pledge not to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits to Medicaid on Friday — a change that could complicate Republicans’ plans for a reconciliation package. House Republicans are discussing significant cuts to the safety net program to pay for an extension of tax cuts. But Trump, in his remarks, left enough wiggle room to keep the option alive in some form.” [Axios, 2/3/25]

Federal Funding Freeze

Mother Jones: Project 2025 Is Gutting Medical Funding That Helped Russell Vought’s Own Kid. “But some of those so-called insiders—that is, the NIH—funded research that helped scientists better understand cystic fibrosis, which led to Vertex Pharmaceuticals developing a cutting-edge treatment that Vought’s daughter Porter benefited from. In a 2021 Instagram post, Vought’s then-wife shared that the couple’s daughter had started Trikafta, a drug that has shown great promise in managing pulmonary issues associated with cystic fibrosis, which affects some 40,000 Americans.” [Mother Jones, 2/11/25]

STAT: Halt On Trump Administration’s Cuts To NIH Research Payments Expanded Nationwide. “A federal judge in Boston ordered a nationwide temporary pause on plans by the National Institutes of Health to substantially slash research overhead payments to universities, medical centers, and other grant recipients… The pause, which is to remain in place until otherwise ordered by the court, comes after Kelley granted another temporary restraining order earlier Monday in response to a lawsuit filed by attorneys general from 22 states. That pause only applied to those specific states, meaning that the NIH policy change was still in effect in the rest of the country.” [STAT, 2/11/25]

Reuters: Health Clinics Grapple with US Funding Squeeze. “President Donald Trump’s executive orders have begun to disrupt patient care in the United States, as some providers cannot access essential federal funding, according to interviews with a dozen healthcare providers and policy advocates. Facilities in Virginia and West Virginia told Reuters they were forced to shutter primary care clinics or lay off staff. Other community health clinics in California and Virginia said they received notices of termination for federal grants that support HIV prevention care.” [Reuters, 2/10/25]

ProPublica: The Courts Blocked Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze. Agencies Are Withholding Money Anyway. “Her federal dollars were accompanied by an ominous note from the payment processing arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Citing ‘Executive Orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments,’ the agency said that it would continue ‘taking additional measures to process payments’ and that its reviews ‘will result in delays and/or rejections of payments…’ The notice Leach received was one of several indications over the past week that the Trump administration is not backing down in its fight to slash spending and dramatically reshape the federal government, despite multiple court orders explicitly restraining the president’s sweeping executive actions.” [ProPublica, 2/10/25]

HuffPost: Scientists Warn Trump’s NIH Cuts Will Drop ‘Atomic Bomb’ On Health Research. “President Donald Trump’s drastic cuts to National Institutes of Health funding will cripple biomedical research, stifle innovation and eliminate thousands of jobs, including in red states that voted for the president, scientists warned this week. Over the weekend, the NIH announced it is sharply reducing federal funding for overhead costs at universities, hospitals and institutes required to conduct research.” [HuffPost, 2/10/25]

Politico: How HHS Gets DOGE’d. “Staffers of a government effort to cut federal spending have been targeting HHS programs over the past few days — and are poised to target more of the agency’s programs. On Friday night, the Trump administration dramatically cut NIH grants that support research institutions, with the change taking effect today… The change will save about $4 billion annually, the NIH said.” [Politico, 2/10/25]

NPR: Stress And Uncertainty at Head Start and Clinics as Federal Health Funding System Sputters. “For more than a week, Paula Tomko of Central Virginia Health Services waited for federal funding from the Department of Health and Human Services. The organization runs 20 community health centers across the state… But the funds never came. Many other organizations that receive federal funding through the same portal also found that they could not draw down reimbursements starting last week. The timing of the system’s failures coincides with the Trump administration’s ordered freeze of federal grant funding, including a White House Office of Management and Budget memo issued on Jan. 27, which was later blocked by a federal judge and rescinded by OMB.” [NPR, 2/8/25] 

The Washington Post: NIH Cuts Billions Of Dollars In Biomedical Funding, Effective Immediately. “The Trump administration is cutting billions of dollars in biomedical research funding, alarming academic leaders who said it would imperil their universities and medical centers and drawing swift rebukes from Democrats who predicted dire consequences for scientific research. The move, announced Friday night by the National Institutes of Health, drastically cuts its funding for ‘indirect’ costs related to research. These are the administrative requirements, facilities and other operations that many scientists say are essential but that some Republicans have claimed are superfluous.” [The Washington Post, 2/8/25]

STAT: NIH Plans To Slash Support For Indirect Research Costs, Sending Shockwaves Through Science. “The National Institutes of Health, the nation’s premier funder of biomedical research, announced Friday night that it will immediately slash support for “indirect costs” paid to universities, medical centers, and other research grant recipients, funding that the nation’s science enterprise relies on for basic operating costs. In an announcement issued by the NIH Office of the Director, the agency noted that it has historically supported indirect costs — administrative, facility, and other expenses not directly linked to the goals of a scientific project — with a quarter of the agency’s grant expenses going to these costs. Many of the nation’s most elite research universities receive 50% or more in addition to direct research expenses to cover indirect costs. Going forward, the rate of support will now be 15% for new and existing grants.” [STAT, 2/7/25]

The New York Times: Trump Administration Cuts Put Medical Progress at Risk, Researchers Say. “The nation’s universities and academic medical centers were reeling on Saturday from a directive by the Trump administration to slash funding for medical research, a decision that doctors and scientists said would have a devastating effect on studies aimed at finding treatments for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. The change is aimed at reducing the amount of tax dollars that universities spend on overhead costs. The National Institutes of Health, which announced the move Friday evening, said $9 billion of $35 billion — or about 26 percent — of grant dollars distributed last year had gone to overhead. The new policy, which takes effect on Monday, will cap “indirect funds” for costs like buildings, utilities and support staff at 15 percent and is aimed at saving $4 billion.” [The New York Times, 2/7/25]

Dogwood: Musk, Trump Funding Chaos Force Virginia Community Health Centers to Close. “A Virginia Democrat in Congress wants accountability for the impact of last week’s federal funding chaos to local health facilities. Speaking at a hearing in Washington yesterday, Rep. Jennifer McClellan of Virginia said when President Donald Trump halted federal payments last week, it abruptly cut off 16 of Virginia’s 31 community health centers from federal funding. Her comments come after Virginia Public Media first reported on the federal funding struggles of Virginia’s community health care centers, which have over 200 facilities across the state… The number of Virginia community health centers still cut off from federal funding now stands at seven, according to Joseph Stevens, a Virginia Community Healthcare Association spokesperson.” [Dogwood, 2/7/25]

The New York Times: Abandoned in the Middle of Clinical Trials, Because of a Trump Order. “Ms. Zondi’s trial is one of dozens that have been abruptly frozen, leaving people around the world with experimental drugs and medical products in their bodies, cut off from the researchers who were monitoring them, and generating waves of suspicion and fear… Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the agency is wasteful and advances a liberal agenda that is counter to President Trump’s foreign policy.” [The New York Times, 2/6/25]

CNN: Musk Associates Sought To Use Critical Treasury Payment System To Shut Down USAID Spending, Emails Show. “Four days after Donald Trump’s inauguration, Elon Musk’s top lieutenants at the Treasury Department asked its acting secretary, a career civil servant, to immediately shut off all USAID payments using the department’s own ultra-sensitive payment processing system… The ensuing controversy set off a chain reaction around Washington this week, sparking a tense political debate and emergency court proceedings over DOGE’s access to the system and the administration’s potential interest in using it to turn off payments as it chooses.” [CNN, 2/6/25]

Newsweek: Community Health Centers Are Closing Amid Funding Confusion. “About 400,000 Virginia residents rely on community health centers, according to the Virginia Community Healthcare Association. The state has 31 federally qualified health centers, encompassing over 200 locations. The sites provide primary health, behavioral health, dental, pharmaceutical and substance abuse care to people with Medicaid and Medicare. They also help people with private insurance on a sliding fee scale. As of January 28, the morning after Vaeth’s memo, almost half of the federally qualified health centers could not access federal funds to pay employees, Virginia Community Healthcare Association spokesperson Joe Stevens told VPM News.” [Newsweek, 2/6/25]

Axios: Musk’s Team Accesses Medicare, Medicaid Records. “Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has gained access to the inner workings of Health and Human Services, including data systems of the agency that manages a nearly $2 trillion budget, handles Medicare and Medicaid benefits and runs the National Institutes of Health, the world’s biggest biomedical research institution. As they march through the federal bureaucracy, Musk and his team now have a seemingly unfiltered view of the sensitive inner workings of much of U.S. health care. DOGE is looking for examples of waste, fraud and abuse as it pursues ‘opportunities for more effective and efficient use of resources’ at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency spokesperson said. But it’s not clear how wide a net it’s casting or how it’s defining those words.” [Axios, 2/6/25]

The Hill: DOGE Officials Home in on Medicare, Medicaid Offices. “Representatives of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have turned their focus to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency confirmed Wednesday. It was unclear which systems DOGE had access to and whether any sensitive medical information was part of the efforts. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Wednesday that DOGE aides had been granted access to key payment and contract systems. The CMS did not respond to a request to clarify.” [The Hill, 2/5/25]

NBC: Head Start Child Care Programs Are Still Unable To Access Federal Money After Trump’s Funding Freeze. “Dozens of Head Start programs, which provide child care and preschool education to low-income children, have been unable to access previously approved federal funding, putting some programs at risk of having to close their doors in the coming days, according to a survey by the National Head Start Association. The programs say they haven’t been able to draw down the funds to pay for expenses, like payroll and utilities, since a federal funding freeze was announced in the second week of the Trump administration. The freeze started last week with an Office of Management and Budget memo, which was then quickly rescinded.” [NBC, 2/5/25]

NPR: Virginia Community Health Centers Close Over Federal Funding Access. “Half of Virginia’s community health centers have been cut off from federal grant money, forcing some to stop providing certain services and others to close branches. The commonwealth has 31 Federally Qualified Health Centers with over 200 locations — a majority of which serve rural areas with limited access to medical care. Annually, about 400,000 Virginians rely on the care provided by these nonprofit, community-based centers, according to the Virginia Community Healthcare Association. They provide primary health, dental, behavioral health, and pharmaceutical and substance abuse services to people with Medicaid or Medicare, the underinsured and the uninsured. They also treat those with private insurance on a sliding fee scale.” [NPR, 2/4/25]

The Washington Post: Trans Health, Research Programs Ordered to Stop by Trump Administration. “The Trump administration is moving forward with its campaign to eradicate federal funding intended to improve the lives and health of transgender people, including by sending notices in recent days that terminate grants for transgender health services and research… The actions are causing mass confusion among organizations that serve LGBTQ+ people. They are assessing their options and drafting contingency plans. For now, the groups are largely carrying on while Trump administration orders that seek to cut off funding for programs that promote diversity, equity, inclusion and “gender ideology” are mired in legal challenges.” [The Washington Post, 2/4/25]

Politico: How to Get Money from Trump’s DOT? No Vaccine Mandates. High Birth Rates. “The Transportation Department is working to steer federal money toward communities with higher rates of marriages and births and away from communities that impose mask and vaccine mandates or refuse to enforce federal immigration law.” [Politico, 2/3/25]

NBC: Some Nonprofits Say They Still Can’t Access Federal Funds Despite Rulings Blocking Trump’s Freeze. “Some forms of federal aid spending still appear to be frozen, a federal judge in Washington said Monday, despite a court order blocking the Trump administration’s funding pause and the Office of Management and Budget’s move last week to rescind its own memo announcing the policy.” [NBC, 2/3/25]

Firing and Hire Freezes

The Wall Street Journal: White House Preparing Order to Cut Thousands of Federal Health Workers. “The White House is working on an executive order to fire thousands of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services workers, according to people familiar with the matter… The agencies are responsible for a range of functions, from approving new drugs to tracing bird-flu outbreaks and researching cancer. A loss of staff could affect the efforts depending on which workers are cut and whether they are concentrated in particular areas.” [The Wall Street Journal, 2/6/25]

The Washington Post: Judge Temporarily Pauses Trump Administration’s Federal Worker Buyout Program. “A judge in Massachusetts temporarily paused the Trump administration’s buyout program for federal workers Thursday afternoon, two days after unions representing more than 800,000 federal workers filed a lawsuit to delay the program’s deadline… The change further plunged workers into limbo, as the administration pushes to drastically reduce and reshape the federal workforce. Federal employees originally had until 11:59 p.m. Thursday to decide whether they would take up the offer to resign and be paid through the end of September.” [The Washington Post, 2/6/25]

Politico: Science Funding Agency Threatened with Mass Layoffs. “One of the United States’ leading funders of science and engineering research is planning to lay off between a quarter and a half of its staff in the next two months, a top National Science Foundation official said Tuesday… ‘A large-scale reduction, in response to the President’s workforce executive orders, is already happening,’ a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management said in an email. ‘The government is restructuring, and unfortunately, many employees will later realize they missed a valuable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in the deferred resignation offer.’” [Politico, 2/4/25]

Information Freeze

CBS: Trump Officials Exerting Unprecedented Control Over CDC Scientific Journal. “Trump administration political appointees have taken steps in recent weeks to exert unprecedented influence over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s flagship medical research publication, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report… The interference included dictating what to cover and withholding studies on the growing bird flu outbreak. The Trump administration’s moves to control the research published by the agency ends a decades-long streak of independence for the journal, known as the MMWR.” [CBS, 2/7/25]

STAT: NIH Resumes Grant Reviews After Two-Week Pause, Along With Some Communications And Travel. “On Tuesday morning, the National Institutes of Health hosted the first study section to review grant applications in over two weeks, following an abrupt and indefinite pause by the Trump administration on Jan. 22. Such meetings — in which expert scientists from around the country consider whether the agency should support proposed research projects — are a core part of how the NIH fulfills its mission to improve human health and reduce illness and disease.” [STAT, 2/4/25]

Axios: Doctors Sue Trump Administration Over Removed Health Data. “A national physicians group sued the Trump administration Tuesday for removing thousands of pages of health data and information from federal websites. Doctors for America claims that in taking public health data offline without advance notice, agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration abused their discretion and arbitrarily deprived clinicians and researchers of tools necessary to treat patients. The complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia also named Health and Human Services and the White House Office of Personnel Management, which directed agencies to remove or modify websites in accordance with executive orders from President Trump.” [Axios, 2/4/25]

Axios: Trump Health Info Blackout Shocks Providers. “Thousands of webpages containing federal health guidelines and data went dark last week, only for some to reappear over the weekend without clarity on what had been changed or removed — and with disclaimers noting that the pages could be further modified. The removed sites, primarily maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, covered issues like contraception, transgender health and climate change that President Trump and Republicans have repeatedly targeted. The blackout shook health researchers and providers and raised the specter of the Trump administration limiting what public health information Americans can see.” [Axios, 2/3/25]

HuffPost: CDC’s Advisers Demand Agency Provide Answers On Removal Of ‘Critical’ Health Data. “Nearly every member of an official advisory committee to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has signed an open letter demanding the agency explain why it removed troves of vital health datasets from its website. The removal of the datasets took place on Friday, as part of a governmentwide effort to comply with Trump administration orders prohibiting public communication related to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, with an emphasis on anything tied to gender and sexuality.” [HuffPost, 2/2/25]

Health Agenda

Axios: Trump’s HHS Could Bypass Congress On Policy Changes. “As Congress figures out how much health policy gets done as part of reconciliation or the next funding package, the Trump administration can start advancing its agenda through rules and regulations issued by HHS… President Trump’s executive order to eliminate 10 rules or regulations for every one created could provide an opening to strike a variety of Biden-era regulations, such as minimum staffing rules for long-term care facilities. One key will be coordinating with Congress and figuring out which regulations GOP lawmakers want to address, in order to generate savings in the reconciliation process.” [Axios, 2/6/25]

Axios: Trump Tariffs May Play Havoc With Health Prices, Supply Chains. “A trade war with China could shock fragile global health care supply chains, driving up the cost of medical supplies, intensifying shortages of common drugs and limiting U.S. medical device makers’ ability to import critical parts. While President Trump’s tariffs are billed as a boon to America’s public health for the way they’ll cut off sources of fentanyl, experts say they risk upending a health network that buckled during the pandemic and relies on components sourced from around the world, with multiple intermediaries… A Black Book Market Research survey of 200 industry professionals found more than 80% predicted costs for hospitals and health systems will surge by at least 15% in the next six months due to increased import expenses.” [Axios, 2/5/25]

View Leslie Dach’s Opening Remarks Here.

Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach is testifying in front of the Committee on Ways and Means Health Subcommittee hearing titled “Modernizing American Health Care: Creating Healthy Options and Better Incentives.” During his opening remarks, Dach emphasized the importance of protecting and expanding access to quality affordable, and equitable health care. At this moment, Republicans in Congress are writing a budget resolution to pay for tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires by cutting health care for millions of American families. 

Read his full opening remarks below:

“Chairman Buchanan, Ranking Member Doggett, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Leslie Dach, and I am the Founder of Protect Our Care. Prior to founding Protect Our Care, I served as a Senior Counselor to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and as the Department’s global Ebola coordinator. I also served in senior leadership at Walmart, where I became deeply familiar with purchasing health care for over 1 million employees of America’s largest private employer.

At Protect Our Care we believe that access to quality, affordable, and equitable health care is key to America’s health and the single most important prevention tool that we can provide this country. 

American people agree. No matter where they live or work, or who they voted for, the American people want health care to be more affordable and accessible. About 80 percent of Americans believe the government spends “too little” or “about the right amount” on Medicare and Medicaid, including about 70%. Fewer than 1 in 5 think the government should spend less.

Yet, reconciliation proposals currently under consideration in Congress would increase health care costs and take away health coverage from millions, including our neighbors in nursing homes, children, individuals with disabilities, and people who take care of their children or elderly parents. 

These cuts would devastate families in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires and wealthy corporations and line the pockets of big drug companies. If lowering the deficit is the rationale the simplest and most popular solution would be to rein in these massive tax breaks 

Proposals before Congress would cut over $2 trillion from Medicaid, which provides health care to over 72 million people including six in 10 nursing home residents, 30 million children, 15 million adults with disabilities, and 14 million adults with mental illness. Medicaid serves as a lifeline in rural communities, and cuts to Medicaid will wreak havoc on state budgets. Over 2 million Americans are covered by Medicaid just in the districts represented by the Republican members of this subcommittee.    An overwhelming majority of Americans – including 69 percent of Trump voters – oppose cuts to Medicaid. 2 in 3 Americans say they personally know someone who benefits from it, including 38% of Trump voters who say that someone in their immediate family benefits from Medicaid. 

If Congress takes away existing ACA tax credits, over 20 million Americans will pay an average of 90% more for their health care and 5 million people will lose their health insurance. 150 million Americans are also at risk of losing the free preventive services guaranteed by the ACA in the Braidwood case. And the promotion of junk plans and high-risk pools will hurt millions and gut protections for preexisting conditions. 

Banning Medicare from negotiating for lower prices and gutting the prescription drug savings in the Inflation Reduction Act would increase costs for over 53 million people while padding the profits of drug companies. This year alone, 11 million seniors are expected to save an average of $600 thanks to the annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs. The newly negotiated lower drug prices will save seniors 1.5 billion out-of-pocket costs and taxpayers 6 billion dollars in the first year alone.

Congress is considering these proposals as the administration halts spending for community health centers, guts NIH biomedical funding, pushes out record numbers of government staff, and removes reliable scientific information from government websites. The chaos and withholding of funding has led to disruptions in care across the country as health centers close their doors and researchers pause clinical trials for patients. NIH is the envy of the world for the role it plays in developing cures for patients and the economic impact it generates. And the administration’s reckless attack on NIH will result in cures that we will never see and unnecessary deaths across the country in the world. 

The attack on vaccines that are promised by RFK Junior if he is confirmed as HHS secretary will result in a resurgence of preventable diseases and cost lives. Vaccine-preventable illnesses like measles and tuberculosis are resurging across the country as the administration plans to gut the agencies that prevent and stop disease outbreaks and keep our food and drug supply safe. 

Americans expect their leaders to lower costs,  expand affordable health care, and protect public health, not to make health care more expensive and tear it away for millions of Americans. 

Recently the press has reported that a number of Republicans in Congress are opposed to these cuts.

I hope we can work together to defeat Reckless proposals currently under consideration.”

View the Polling Deck Here.

Watch the Full Event Here.

Washington, D.C. — Today, President of Hart Research Geoff Garin joined Protect Our Care to release new polling. The survey looks at Americans’ attitudes on health care, especially the agenda of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress. The survey is also focused on the health care views of Republicans and Trump voters. Health care continues to be a top-of-mind issue: 

• A large majority of voters say health care is an important issue when voting in elections for U.S. Congress – over half say it is very important.
• A majority of voters think the government should spend more on health care.
• There is broad opposition across party lines to major elements of the Republican healthcare agenda, including among Trump voters.

“The clear message from the American people is they want Republicans to keep their hands off of health care,” said President of Hart Research Geoff Garin. “As voters learn about what the Republican health care agenda is, there is very widespread disapproval of the policies they have proposed. Americans don’t want Republicans taking away their health care but instead want their elected officials to protect it. Health care should be front and center in addressing the ongoing assault on the bedrock programs by Republicans and President Trump.” 

“Republicans are completely out of step with Americans both across the country and party lines,” said Protect Our Care Communications Director Maddie Twomey. “While people are struggling to pay their bills, Republicans will raise costs and take away the health care that millions of people count on while at the same time giving massive tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. Programs like Medicaid and Medicare are popular across the board with millions of Americans relying on them for health care coverage. Republicans are breaking the promises they made to the American people to address the cost of living so they can cut more taxes for the ultra-wealthy. Republicans should proceed with caution when using our health care system as their personal piggy bank.”

Key Findings: 

A large majority (86%) of voters say that the issue of health care is very or fairly important to them in voting, including 56% who say it is very important. 

A majority (78%) of voters say that it is important that Congress keep health care premiums low by extending tax credits.

A majority (67%) of Trump voters have a favorable view of Medicaid, seeing it as an important source of health care.

RFK Jr. Has Vowed to Pause All Research On Drug Development And Infectious Disease As Well As Fire and Prosecute Hundreds of NIH Employees

Washington, DC – As the Trump administration continues to push for large-scale NIH funding cuts that scientists warn will drop an “atomic bomb” on lifesaving medical research, some Republican senators are now claiming that they’re “concerned” about the impact of gutting NIH. Republican Senators like Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Senator Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), and Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) have pushed back on the NIH cuts, but these senators are also openly supporting the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the architect of the plan to slash NIH funding. In response, Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement: 

“If Republicans were truly concerned about Donald Trump’s NIH cuts, then they would not be lining up to confirm RFK Jr., the architect of the plan to gut NIH funding. The same Republican senators who are speaking out against NIH cuts are happily backing RFK Jr. to lead America’s health care system despite his promises to defund NIH, stop all research on drug development and infectious disease, and fire and prosecute NIH employees. Republicans are putting loyalty to Trump ahead of the health and well-being of the American people, and millions of families will suffer as a result of Trump, RFK Jr., and Republicans’ reckless decisions to slash medical research funding.”

Background

FACT SHEET: RFK Jr.’s Plans To Defund, Slash Jobs and Undermine the National Institutes of Health Would Be Disastrous For Americans

Kennedy Says He Will Pause All Research On Drug Development And Infectious Disease. At a June 2024 town hall meeting Kennedy said, “I’m going to go to NIH my first week and I’m going to call all the division heads and I’m going to call all the bureau chiefs and I’m going to say, we’re going to give drug development and infectious disease a break. A little break, a little bit of a break for about eight years.” These remarks echo what he told an anti-vaccine conference in November 2023, when he said, “I’m gonna say to NIH scientists, God bless you all. Thank you for [your] public service. We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.” Kennedy has also claimed that he will go after medical journals and redirect funding away from epidemiology, a practice that seeks to prevent and control the spread of disease. 

Kennedy Has Vowed to Fire and Prosecute Hundreds of NIH And FDA Employees. Kennedy claims to have a list of 600 employees of the NIH that he plans to fire on day one. Before the 2024 election, Kennedy posted on social media, “FDA’s war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma. If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.” During a “Make America Healthy Again” event in October 2024, Kennedy also said he would fire every nutritional scientist at the FDA “on day 1,” claiming he would otherwise “ship them to a new HHS headquarters in Guam” if unable to fire them. Kennedy has threatened to prosecute Dr. Anthony Fauci and he claimed that he would eliminate “entire departments” and hundreds of employees at the FDA.

Kennedy: “I Do Not Believe That Infectious Disease Is An Enormous Threat To Human Health.” At a 2023 roundtable, Kennedy said he does “not believe that infectious disease is an enormous threat to human health.” Kennedy also claimed that “medical research on these diseases and vaccine research has created some of the worst plagues in our history” and baselessly asserted that vaccine research was responsible for the creation of HIV, the Spanish flu, Lyme, and RSV.