Trump Rejects Proposal for Medicare to Cover Wegovy and Other Obesity Drugs

Trump Rejects Proposal for Medicare to Cover Wegovy and Other Obesity Drugs

The Trump administration on Friday rejected a Biden plan that would have required Medicare and Medicaid to cover obesity drugs and expanded access for millions of people. Under the law that established Medicare’s Part D drug benefits, the program was forbidden from paying for drugs for “weight loss.” The Biden administration’s proposal last November had…

Read More
FDA Layoffs Could Raise Drug Costs and Erode Food Safety

FDA Layoffs Could Raise Drug Costs and Erode Food Safety

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced wide-ranging cutbacks at federal health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, that would eliminate duplicative services and paper pushers. But in interviews with more than a dozen current and former F.D.A. staff members, a different picture emerged of the far-reaching effects of the layoffs that would ultimately…

Read More
Entire Staff Is Fired at LIHEAP

Entire Staff Is Fired at LIHEAP

The Trump administration has abruptly laid off the entire staff running a $4.1 billion program to help low-income households across the United States pay their heating and cooling bills. The firings threaten to paralyze the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which was created by Congress in 1981 and helps to offset high utility bills…

Read More
H.H.S. Scraps Studies of Vaccines and Treatments for Future Pandemics

H.H.S. Scraps Studies of Vaccines and Treatments for Future Pandemics

The Trump administration has canceled funding for dozens of studies seeking new vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 and other pathogens that may cause future pandemics. The government’s rationale is that the Covid pandemic has ended, which “provides cause to terminate Covid-related grant funds,” according to an internal N.I.H. document viewed by The New York Times….

Read More