preventive care
RFK Jr. has doctors on edge
Chelsea Cirruzzo explains why the country's largest doctor lobbying group is worried about a Wall Street Journal report that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to dismantle the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
The panel was created in the 1980s, and Obamacare gave it more power by requiring health insurers to cover services it recommends, from cancer screenings to drugs that prevent HIV.
The American Conservative criticized the task force earlier this month for "advocacy of left-wing ideological priors" and for recommending HIV prevention drugs. Read more.
research funding
Projecting the long-term impact of NIH cuts
The impact of President Trump's proposed cuts to NIH research is probably much bigger than initial estimates, Anil Oza reports.
Analyses have focused on the short-term losses from research funding cuts, and the authors of the new research, published in JAMA Health Forum, wanted to contemplate the long-term consequences.
They predict that the effects will be sprawling and cost the country more than is being saved through the cuts. Read more.
mental illness and addiction
Well, that's one way to reduce homelessness
Trump wants to make it easier to force people with severe mental illness into treatment facilities. It's part of his plan to end homelessness, O. Rose Broderick reports.
Research has shown that the Biden administration's "housing first" approach to homelessness works better than treatment-first models in helping people stay healthy and off the street. Trump's approach, part of an executive order he signed last Thursday, reverses the approach.
Read more for public health professionals' thoughts on involuntary commitment.
Lev Facher wrote about the executive order's threat to withhold funds from supervised drug consumption sites and potentially pursue criminal penalties against them.
Read more from Lev about the two sites in New York that are the most vulnerable to the executive order.
women's health
FDA asks public to weigh in on menopause hormone therapy
The FDA is asking for public input on the risks and benefits of hormone therapy for women in menopause, Lizzy Lawrence reports.
The products' labels contain a black box warning consumers of potential stroke and breast cancer risk. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary says the warning should be removed; a panel he recently organized at the agency included experts who mostly agreed with him.
The FDA has hosted a slew of expert panels in recent months that tend to be one-sided, including a recent one on SSRI use during pregnancy that featured mostly skeptics of the drugs. The solicitation for comments on menopause hormone therapy is the first example of one of these panels potentially leading to concrete regulatory action.
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