Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: HHS Cuts Endanger Access To Crucial Information; Decimating Agencies Won't Make US Healthy
The DOGE cuts to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday will make America less safe. Unless something is done soon to change course, they will also make it easier to hide corrupt behavior by the agency鈥檚 leadership. (Kevin Griffis, 4/2)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.鈥檚 grand plan for Making America Healthy Again is taking shape. It centers on dismantling the public health systems that have kept Americans safe for decades. (Lisa Jarvis, 4/3)
There鈥檚 historical precedent for how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is handling his ascension to high office. It鈥檚 an episode that didn鈥檛 end well. (Donald G. McNeil Jr., 4/3)
Erythropoietin 鈥 also known as EPO 鈥 is mostly remembered as the drug that cyclist Lance Armstrong dishonestly used to win seven Tours de France. The blood thickener鈥檚 role in a cancer drug disaster that, by one estimate, cost nearly 500,000 Americans their lives has been forgotten. (Gardiner Harris, 4/3)
In recent debates about government funding, certain quirky-sounding research projects 鈥 like studying shrimp on treadmills 鈥 have grabbed headlines and become easy targets for criticism. Politicians and the public alike ask: 鈥淲hy should we pay for shrimp running on treadmills?鈥 Questioning these seemingly odd experiments, out of context, poses a serious threat to support for curiosity-driven basic science 鈥 the very engine that drives transformative discoveries. (Carole LaBonne, 4/3)