Just a sample of Trump healthcare news
I’ve been avoiding writing about the impact of the Trump administration’s policies on healthcare. It’s overwhelming and it changes daily. But waiting for it to settle out isn’t working. It’s time to dig in.
Reporters, in Connecticut and nationally, are doing an exceptional job of documenting this as it happens. Here are a small sample of the articles we’re reading.
Science —
Cuts to science research funding cut American lives short − federal support is essential for medical breakthroughs, The Conversation — Cuts to research, and more importantly, training new scientists, is massive stupidity. We may not see the impact, but our children and grandchildren certainly will — in further erosion in Americans’ life span and quality of life.
Why we study shrimp on treadmills: The case for curiosity-driven research, STAT — We can never know what we’ll need to know — to counter future threats we’ve never heard of and to seed innovation and cures. Human curiosity is our silver bullet.
Federal agency cuts —
What’s Lost: Trump Whacks Tiny Agency That Works To Make the Nation’s Health Care Safer, KFF Health News — An early funder of the CT Health Policy Project, AHRQ does critical research to keep patients safe, identify which new treatments work (and which don’t), quality of care, trainings for clinicians and researchers to use the knowledge so Americans are healthier, and so much more. They also field the massively useful MEPS survey that has been tracking healthcare costs and access to care across states and health conditions since 1996.
CDC’s top laboratory on sexually transmitted diseases is shut by Trump administration, STAT — There is now only one drug that can treat gonorrhea that the bugs aren’t resistant to – yet. That is only one of the infectious diseases of concern.
CDC division responsible for asthma control and lead poisoning prevention effectively eliminated, STAT– Serious public health threats, especially for American children.
Unique pain research office eliminated in HHS purge, STAT — The office focused on non-opioid medication for chronic pain sufferers.
Tracking The Trump Administration’s Early Deregulation Agenda, Health Affairs Forefront — “Swift deregulation could result in chaos for patients, hospitals, and other health care providers as well as health insurers, drug manufacturers, and other regulated parties.”
Connecticut impact —
DSS commissioned a sobering analysis modeling the impact of proposed federal Medicaid on Connecticut’s state budget. CT News Junkie’s reporting is here. You can see DSS’s presentation to MAPOC here starting at 1:03. It’s pretty grim.
CT loses $155M in federal aid for public health programs, CT Mirror — Public health has the best Return on Investment of any government spending.
Connecticut sues Trump administration, Kennedy over health cuts, $120 million to state at risk, CT Insider — Connecticut is fighting back.
Hundreds protest Trump at CT Capitol over Medicaid cuts, Hartford Courant — There’s strength in numbers.
But there is hope in politics –
The House Speaker’s Eyeing Big Cuts to Medicaid. In His Louisiana District, It’s a Lifeline, KFF Health News
And
Five Reasons Republicans Won’t Cut Medicaid (Much), Health Affairs Forefront
Fingers crossed.