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  • Report Calls for Gender Industry Accountability

    Published September 15, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    Describing the accounts of several people who underwent gender medical treatments and later regretted it,  a new report makes a case as to why the transgender industry must be stopped and held accountable for the harms and abuses it inflicts on vulnerable individuals. The American Principles Project (APP) published the report in July because “transgenderism […]

  • Congress Aims to ‘Bust Up the PBM Monopoly’

    Published September 11, 2025
    Publication -
    Congress is considering a bill to protect patients and pharmacies from pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), middlemen who administer drug plans and negotiate prices between pharmacies and insurance providers. Eleven members introduced the bipartisan “PMB Reform Act” on July 10. The bill is now in the hands of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. PBMs […]

  • Court Decision Favoring California Telehealth Restrictions Appealed

    Published September 9, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    A renowned radiation oncologist trying to help a woman in California suffering from a rare bleeding disease is appealing their failed court challenge to the Golden State’s restrictions on telehealth. The plaintiff is Sean McBride, M.D., of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The patient, Shellye Horowitz, lives in a small California coastal […]

  • U.S. Rejects WHO Health Regulations

    Published September 5, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    The Trump administration has formally rejected the 2024 International Health Regulations (IHR) amendments put forward by the World Health Organization (WHO). A joint statement issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the State Department on July 18 said the WHO regulations would give the organization to much power over the United […]

  • Trump to Cut Funding to Hospitals Performing Child Gender Transition

    Published September 3, 2025
    By Harry Painter
    Publication -
    The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will soon begin the rulemaking process to defund chemical and surgical alteration of children for gender transition. The Trump administration is in “the final stage of review for a new rule that would make it a condition of hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid that they not […]

  • Nebraska Town Says CON Laws Are Blocking Nursing Home Care

    Published September 2, 2025
    By Kenneth Artz
    Publication -
    The people of Butte, Nebraska say the state’s certificate of need (CON) laws are saving nursing home care in their community. The Butte Senior Living Facility closed in April 2025 when its owner, Accura HealthCare, decided to shut down the facility. The town, with a population of 274, is now trying to find a solution […]

  • Congress Considers Three-Year Auto-Enrollment in Medicare Advantage

    Published August 27, 2025
    By Kevin Stone
    Publication -
    A bill before Congress would allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to automatically enroll newly eligible citizens into a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan with a mandatory three-year enrollment. H.R. 3467, sponsored by Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), would amend the Medicare Advantage Reform Act to mandate automatic MA enrollment for plan years on or […]

  • Man Admits to Medicaid Fraud—and That’s Not the Worst Part – Commentary

    Published August 26, 2025
    By Michael Cannon
    Publication -
    KFF health news correspondent Katheryn Houghton posted a fascinating article on a Montana man who admits to an ongoing fraud against Medicaid. I rail against health care fraud. I edited and published a 500-page book full of examples of rapacious health care fraud and government indifference. What this guy is doing is clearly illegal. I would rather he stop. Yet I’m not sure I could vote […]

  • Lawsuit Challenges New COVID-19 Shot Recommendation

    Published August 25, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    A federal lawsuit filed by multiple major medical groups is challenging vaccination guideline changes initiated by Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, several other medical organizations, and an anonymous physician filed […]

  • Congress Considers Repealing Vaccine Makers’ Lawsuit Protections in Public Emergencies

    Published August 22, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    A bill currently before Congress would restore federal and state civil remedy protections for those harmed by vaccines and other products in a Presidentially-declared emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The PREP Repeal Act (H.R. 4388), introduced on July 15 by U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), would end blanket immunity for […]

  • Showdown at the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force – Commentary

    Published August 21, 2025
    By Devon Herrick
    Publication -
    Reports began circulating this July that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might fire all 16 members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). (See related article, page 1). The task force is an all-volunteer group of experts who make recommendations about which preventive services Americans should receive. Preventive services—think immunizations, […]

  • Future of U.S. Prevention Task Force in Question as Kennedy Cancels Meeting

    Published August 20, 2025
    By Kevin Stone
    Publication -
    A meeting cancellation has raised speculation over what Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has in store for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) The task force is an advisory panel that recommends what preventive services health insurers must cover fully under the Affordable Care Act. The task force was scheduled […]

  • Study: Illegal Immigrants Are Costing Texas Hospitals $122 Million Per Month

    Published August 13, 2025
    By Kenneth Artz
    Publication -
    Texas hospitals spent $121.8 million in November 2024 on health care for individuals in the United States illegally, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) reports. Noncitizens without legal status made more than 31,000 hospital visits across Texas that month alone, the report states. The data was collected in compliance with Gov. Greg Abbott’s […]

  • ICE Uses Medicaid Enrollee Data to Facilitate Deportations

    Published August 12, 2025
    By Harry Painter
    Publication -
    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is using Medicaid enrollment data to facilitate deportations of people illegally in the United States. A coalition of 20 states, mostly Democrat-run, is suing the federal government to prevent ICE from accessing Medicaid enrollee data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Plaintiffs include California, Colorado, and […]

  • Illegal Immigrants Will Have Health Care Options – Interview

    Published August 11, 2025
    By Kenneth Artz
    Publication -
    The era of “free health care” for people not living lawfully in the United States is waning as states such as California, Illinois, and Minnesota begin to pause or eliminate Medicaid enrollment for this population. Fourteen states and Washington, DC provide coverage for low-income immigrant children, and seven of those states and DC cover eligible […]

  • New Analysis Shows Medicaid Cuts Will Have Smaller Impact on Medicaid

    Published August 8, 2025
    Publication -
    The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the Medicaid provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will leave 7.8 million people without health insurance by 2034, not 10.3 million or more as claimed in earlier estimates. House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) wrote […]

  • Big ACA Plan Price Hikes Expected

    Published August 7, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    Preliminary filings by insurers on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges indicate premiums for the coming year will be 15 percent higher over last year, the biggest increase since 2018. An analysis by Peterson-KFF noted two factors insurers have already cited to justify higher premiums: the elimination of premium tax credits and imposition of tariffs […]

  • Florida Takes New Approach to Hospital Price Transparency: Subpoenas

    Published August 6, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    Florida Attorney General James Ulthmeier has taken action against several hospital systems in his state, including subpoenas, to ensure they are complying with President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring hospitals to provide “clear, accurate and actionable health care pricing information.” Ulthmeier issued subpoenas on May 30 to Southern Baptist of Florida and AdventHealth, the Orlando […]

  • Medicare Advantage ‘Coding’ Loopholes Targeted in New Bill

    Published August 5, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    Responding to criticisms lodged against an otherwise popular program among seniors, Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced a bill to improve the way Medicare Advantage (MA) providers determine patients’ health risks, to eliminate overpayment. The bipartisan No Unreasonable Payments, Coding, and Diagnoses for the Elderly (No UPCODE) Act aims at saving […]

  • Senate Considers Ending More-Expensive Hospital Rates Under Medicare

    Published July 30, 2025
    Publication -
    The U.S. Senate is considering legislation that would mandate “site-neutral” reimbursement in Medicare, eliminating the rule that pays hospitals more for services that can often be provided at a lower cost elsewhere. The Congressional Budget Office estimates implementing site-neutral payments for hospital outpatient departments could save taxpayers roughly $157 billion over 10 years. Over that […]

  • New Iowa Law Reins in Pharmacy Benefit Managers

    Published July 29, 2025
    Publication -
    A new law in Iowa requires pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to reimburse pharmacies based on average state or national drug prices instead of negotiated rates and stops PBMs from favoring a specific pharmacy to fill a prescription. Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa signed the bill on June 11, saying it was necessary to improve accountability […]

  • CVS Faces Lawsuits for Using Patient Database to Evade PBM Law

    Published July 28, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    Pharmacy giant CVS is facing several lawsuits over allegedly sending text messages to customers in its prescription database to stop the state of Louisiana from enacting a law that would have threatened the company’s pharmacy benefit management (PBM) business. House Bill 358 would have banned ownership of a pharmacy and a PBM by the same […]

  • HHS Cracks Down on Removing Organs from Patients Declared Brain Dead

    Published July 25, 2025
    Publication -
    HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy announced a move to tighten oversight of the practice of removing vital organs from neurologically impaired patients. In a July 21 news release, Kennedy announced a “major initiative” toward reforming the organ transplant system. “Our findings show that hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs […]

  • AMA Rejects Doctor-Assisted Suicide Despite More State Approvals

    Published July 24, 2025
    By Harry Painter
    Publication -
    With several states having approved physician-assisted suicide, the American Medical Association (AMA) staked out a firm position opposing the practice. Reaffirming its long-held position at the annual meeting of its House of Delegates, which took place from June 6 to 11 in Chicago, the AMA “overwhelmingly rejected” a proposed change in policy, according to the […]

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