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Unless the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress act quickly, millions of working Americans could lose access to their health insurance at the end of this year. Among the most affected will be small businesses and middle-income earners — many of whom, ironically, live in congressional districts that vote Republican. (Mary Ellen Klas, 8/25)

“Our research … [has] been demolished with a sharpie,” said a researcher we asked about how federal funding changes have affected their work. As soon as a list of prohibited words from the National Science Foundation was leaked in February, it became clear U.S. scientific research had entered a new era. Whereas in the past federal agencies had supported expanding research to include marginalized populations, both as researchers and as participants in research studies, suddenly it seemed that work was likely to be at risk. (Arghavan Salles, Tiffany Do and Emily Mastej, 8/26)

Who cares if we are sicker, so long as we look good? That’s the gist of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-science approach to making America healthy. Kennedy poo-poos GLP-1s, not because they do not work for weight loss and diabetes, but because exercise and clean eating are more natural. He has suggested that eating glysophate-free grain could reduce eczema symptoms and that “organic,” cellphone-free “wellness farms” are suitable for people suffering from addiction or who take A.D.H.D. medication. (Tressie McMillan Cottom, 8/26)

At the Boston University School of Public Health, we took an unconventional approach to combat weight-loss supplement misinformation — not by designing public service announcements or campaigns, but by partnering with the very creators who shape the online infoscape. The idea was simple: If public health wants to compete with misinformation, it must engage social media strategically and partner with those shaping the conversation. (Monica L. Wang and Matt Motta, 8/26)

Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it will wind down funding for mRNA vaccine development, including new vaccines against COVID-19, seasonal flu, bird flu, and HIV. The move amounts to 22 projects being eliminated that total nearly $500 million, according to HHS. This retreat from one of the most powerful, proven scientific weapons the nation has to fight pandemics, biological weapons, and common infectious diseases is a stunningly bad idea. (Ashish K. Jha, 8/25)

I’ve spent more than a decade in hospice care, sitting at the bedsides of people facing the final days of their lives. I’ve held hands in hospital rooms, in tents, in prison cells, and in homes that barely qualify as such. And over time, I’ve come to see that dying in America is not just a medical event — it’s a mirror. It reflects everything we’ve failed to do for the living. (Christopher M. Smith, 8/26)