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Instead of a global leader in science, the CDC has devolved into “a propaganda machine for RFK Jr.'s fixed, immutable, science-resistant theories,” said Paul Offit, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine. “The CDC is being weaponized to promote RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine point of view. So why should you trust it?” Many public health experts who spoke to CIDRAP News sounded sorrowful. ... Many physicians worry that the CDC’s new message will dissuade parents from vaccinating their children. (Szabo and Bergeson, 11/20)

Career scientists at the agency responsible for information about vaccine safety and autism had no prior knowledge about the changes to the website and were not consulted, according to five agency officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. ... CDC communications staff who were first asked to post the revisions to the website were reluctant to do so without sign-off from scientific leadership, so a higher-level communications official did so, according to an agency employee and a former federal health official with direct knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. (Sun, 11/20)

Healthcare associations are raising concerns after the CDC this week removed messaging from its website stating that vaccines do not cause autism. The agency updated its webpage on vaccines and autism Nov. 19. Previously, the page said research has shown “no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder,” according to The New York Times. (Bean, 11/20)

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Thursday said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removing language from its website refuting the theory that vaccines are linked to autism was “deeply troubling.” Late on Wednesday, the CDC walked back its long-held position that vaccines do not cause autism. A CDC web page that previously stated “there is no link” between receiving vaccines and developing autism now says that statement “is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.” (Choi, 11/20)

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long said that vaccines cause autism, despite strong evidence to the contrary. His biggest problem: Giant Danish studies have consistently shown no link whatsoever between autism and various vaccines or vaccine components. (Langreth, 11/21)

More news about autism —

A federal appeals court is deciding whether to revive more than 500 lawsuits filed by parents who claimed their children's autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was caused by prenatal exposure to Tylenol. The lawsuits were dismissed in December 2023. (Kekatos, 11/21)

When Anthony Tricarico was diagnosed at 7 with autism spectrum disorder, his parents, Neal and Samara, were told that he might need extra support at school, so they made sure he got it. When doctors suggested therapies for his speech and motor skills, they sought those out too. But when their kind, popular, accomplished boy began to experience depression and suicidal ideation as a teenager, no one told them that the same thinking patterns that powered many of Anthony’s achievements might also be amplifying his most harmful thoughts, or that the effort of masking his autism could be hurting his mental health. (Purtill, 11/20)

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has issued his alternative to enhanced Obamacare subsidies. His “More Affordable Care Act,” released Thursday, enables Obamacare customers to use a “Trump Health Freedom Account” that resembles a health savings account. (King, 11/20)

Rising Obamacare premiums are a political problem for Republicans. Rising premiums for workers who get health insurance from their employers could be an even bigger one. Republicans in Congress are focused on finding a way to counteract an expected 26 percent rise in premiums for people who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act, without extending government subsidies that make insurance more affordable. (Hooper, 11/20)

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday offered an explanation for the slate of political quagmires Republicans are juggling, including persistent cost of living issues and even divisions within the Republican Party itself. He blamed them on the Democrats. Speaking at a fireside chat hosted by the MAGA-friendly news outlet Breitbart, the vice president chalked up affordability concerns that catalyzed steep GOP losses in state elections earlier this month to former President Joe Biden’s policies and a government shutdown he called Democratic “economic terrorism.” (Sentner, 11/20)

The government shutdown has ended without resolving a fight over health insurance. Congress failed to extend enhanced tax credits that have helped millions of Americans on Affordable Care Act plans cover their plan costs since 2021. Senate Republicans have promised a vote on the enhanced subsidies before the end of the year. But open enrollment for these plans is already underway and consumers are facing sky-high prices and little certainty about whether they'll get relief. (Wroth and Nair, 11/20)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: �鶹Ů�� Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: The GOP Circles The Wagons On ACA
Millions of people in Republican-dominated states are among those seeing their Affordable Care Act plan premiums spike for 2026 as enhanced, pandemic-era subsidies expire. Yet Republicans in the White House and on Capitol Hill are firming up their opposition to extending those additional payments — at least for now. Meanwhile, Democrats may not have achieved their shutdown goal of renewing the subsidies, but they have returned health care — one of their top issues with voters — to the national agenda. (Rovner, 11/20)

In related news about tariffs —

President Donald Trump on Thursday eliminated tariffs on a large swath of Brazilian agricultural goods, including beef and coffee, dropping steep tariffs he imposed this summer as he feuded with Brazil’s government and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. (Desrochers, 11/20)

In a Truth Social post on Nov. 8, Trump wrote that instead of “sending hundreds of billions” to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act, the money should go “directly to the people” so they can buy their own coverage. ... Even if lawmakers embraced the idea, there’s a much bigger hurdle: the math. A $2,000-per-person dividend — even if limited to Americans with low or middle incomes — would far exceed the roughly $200 billion that Donald Trump’s tariffs are expected to raise. (Bonn, 11/18)

On Medicare and telehealth —

Retirees received the good news in late October that those receiving average Social Security retirement benefits each month will see an inflation-adjusted increase of roughly $56 a month starting in January. The bad news hit in November: Retirees will hand over another $17.90 a month as the standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B hits $202.90 a month for 2026.And that's how an average $56 cost-of-living adjustment in monthly Social Security retirement benefits could end up at around $38 a month for many, but not all, people. (Tompor, 11/20)

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will retroactively pay claims for telehealth services provided during the government shutdown through Jan. 30, the agency said in an updated FAQ Nov. 20. Telehealth flexibilities will expire at the end of January if government funding is not extended. (11/20)

On the high cost of prescription drugs —

Democrats in the House have introduced a new bill that aims to further expand Medicare's ability to negotiate drug prices. The bill, titled the Lowering Drug Costs for American Families Act, would allow Medicare to negotiate prices for more drugs each year, from 20 to 50, and make those prices available in the commercial insurance market. It could cap annual out-of-pocket costs for prescriptions and insulin at $35 per month. (Minemyer, 11/20)

In a virtual fireside chat on Tuesday with Scripta Insights CEO Eric Levin, Mark Cuban spoke passionately about the potential of simplified contracting and cash pay. Scripta is a partner of Cuban’s company, Cost Plus Drugs. ... Though a few states already require this, Cuban also recommended that employers mandate that cash payments be applied to a member’s deductible. “If you’re self-insured, it’s your contract. You get to write it the way you want,” Cuban said. This is something many brokers do not have incentive to recommend, he said, because it doesn’t keep them in good standing with PBMs. (Gliadkovskaya, 11/19)

The Trump administration is considering a new executive order that would punish states for enacting laws on artificial intelligence and potentially speed plans to enact a national AI framework. The leaked copy of the draft document, obtained by Fierce Healthcare, lays out a plan to pursue legal action against states that try to regulate AI and a pathway to withhold grant funds for states that try to regulate AI. (Beavins, 11/20)

Popular AI chatbots are routinely steering users who ask for advice on reversing an abortion to a hotline that promotes an unproven and potentially dangerous treatment, according to a new report. The Campaign for Accountability found that five popular AI “answer engines” — including tools from OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc., Perplexity, and Elon Musk’s xAI — routinely steered users to an anti-abortion helpline that markets what opponents call “abortion pill reversal.” (Ghosh, 11/20)

On HIV prevention —

China will finance HIV-prevention programs in South Africa for the first time, taking a small step into the massive void left by US funding cuts earlier this year. The agreement to provide $3.5 million over the next two years compares with the roughly $400 million in HIV/AIDS funding to South Africa cut by the Trump administration earlier this year. The country has the world’s largest HIV epidemic, with about 8 million people living with the virus that causes AIDS. (Kew, 11/20)

Patient advocacy groups have urged the South African government to issue a compulsory license for a groundbreaking HIV prevention treatment after the Trump administration refused to include South Africa in a new program to distribute the drug to poor countries. (Silverman, 11/20)

Decades of progress in HIV treatment and prevention in the United States is being derailed by the Trump administration, public health experts say — and without reversing course, the damage will be devastating. (Rummler, 11/20)

Only about a third of patients with lung cancer met U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) screening criteria, according to results from a cohort study. Among 997 patients with lung cancer, only 35.1% met USPSTF screening criteria, while universal age-based screening (40-85 years) detected 93.9% of cancers, preventing at least 26,124 deaths annually, reported Ankit Bharat, MD, of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues. (Bassett, 11/20)

In 2024, Kara Goodwin started feeling a pain in her arm and shoulder that wouldn’t go away. She was diagnosed with bicep tendinitis and frozen shoulder. Doctors thought the resident of Brooklyn, New York, who has run multiple marathons, had an overuse injury from her active lifestyle. Two months later, when the pain hadn’t gone away, Goodwin got an MRI. “They could visibly see the giant tumor that was shattering my humerus bone from the inside out,” she said. Goodwin, now 39, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that had spread to her bones. (Kopf and Vespa, 11/20)

Endurance athlete Kevin Humphrey was used to discomfort. He regularly participated in ultramarathons and other intense events. Swimming, biking and running dozens of miles at a time was standard for him. His two young sons also kept him active even when he wasn't training. But in January 2024, a persistent back pain kept bothering him. The pain "just would not go away," Humphrey said. He couldn't sleep on his back. At the same time, he started coughing. (Breen, 11/16)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: After Series Of Denials, His Insurer Approved Doctor-Recommended Cancer Care. It Was Too Late
For nearly three years, Eric Tennant endured chemotherapy infusions, rounds of radiation, biopsies, and hospitalizations that left him weak and depleted. “It’s good to be home,” he said after one hospital stay in early June, “yet I’m tired and ready to get on with things.” In 2023, Tennant, of Bridgeport, West Virginia, was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer of the bile ducts that had spread throughout his body. (Sausser, 11/21)

Abbott Laboratories agreed to acquire cancer-screening company Exact Sciences Corp., in a deal with a total equity value of about $21 billion. In the biggest health-care deal in two years, Abbott will pay $105 per common share in cash, the companies said Thursday in a statement. The price represents a 51% premium to Exact Sciences’ closing price on Nov. 18, the last full trading day before Bloomberg reported that Abbott was nearing a deal. (Davis and Nair, 11/20)

Also —

�鶹Ů�� Health News: US Cancer Registries, Constrained By Trump Policies, To Recognize Only ‘Male’ Or ‘Female’ Patients
The top authorities of U.S. cancer statistics will soon have to classify the sex of patients strictly as male, female, or unknown, a change scientists and advocates say will harm the health of transgender people, one of the nation’s most marginalized populations. Scientists and advocates for trans rights say the change will make it much harder to understand cancer diagnoses and trends among the trans population. Certain studies have shown that transgender people are more likely to use tobacco products or less likely to receive routine cancer screenings — factors that could put them at higher risk of disease. (Pradhan, 11/21)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Cancer Stole Her Voice. She Used AI, Curse Words, And Kids’ Books To Get It Back
When doctors told her they had to remove her tongue and voice box to save her life from the cancer that had invaded her mouth, Sonya Sotinsky sat down with a microphone to record herself saying the things she would never again be able to say. “Happy birthday” and “I’m proud of you” topped the phrases she banked for her husband and two daughters, as well as “I’ll be right with you,” intended for customers at the architecture firm she co-owns in Tucson, Arizona. (Dembosky, 11/21)

Small hospitals and clinics are turning to mobile PET/CT scanner rental companies so they can offer advanced imaging to patients without the steep investment of owning the equipment. Mobile equipment rental is expanding most rapidly in cardiac imaging, as providers look to replace older technology and care for more patients with heart disease. A recent innovation in the space, an injectable radioactive imaging agent for cardiovascular scans that has a longer lifespan, is creating opportunities to bring the mobile scanning technology to more providers and communities. (Dubinsky, 11/20)

In other health care industry news —

Dialysis facilities will receive a 2.2% reimbursement increase next year under a final rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Thursday. That’s higher than the 1.9% bump CMS proposed in June under the End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System for 2026. The base rate for dialysis services will rise from $273.82 to $281.71, according to a news release. Hospital-based dialysis providers will get a 1.5% payment hike, CMS says. (Early, 11/20)

A federal judge has appointed a receiver to take over the operations of a nonprofit that runs health care clinics after a cascading series of issues in recent years. (Ferrise, 11/20)

After years of uncertainty regarding the future of the Connecticut hospitals owned by bankrupt operator Prospect Medical Holdings, two of the three facilities could have a new owner by the end of the year. (Golvala, 11/20)

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the family of Ashtyn Fellenz against Children's Wisconsin after the hospital accidentally discarded her brain, which was intended for research. Ashtyn Fellenz, diagnosed with Canavan disease as a baby, received a groundbreaking gene therapy treatment at age three. Despite the disease's grim prognosis, she lived to 24. (11/21)

New Jersey’s highest court ruled Thursday that expert testimony about shaken baby syndrome is scientifically unreliable and inadmissible in two upcoming trials, a decision that comes as the long-held medical diagnoses have come under increased scrutiny. The New Jersey Supreme Court determined that a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, which is also known as abusive head trauma, is not generally accepted within the “biomechanical community” and is therefore not “sufficiently reliable” for admission at the trials. (Marcelo, 11/20)

More health news from across the U.S. —

Physicians and public health experts in a number of states in the mid-Atlantic region are reporting an uptick in hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD). HFMD, which is caused by enteroviruses such as coxsackievirus, can occur among people of all ages, but it is particularly common in children, especially those younger than 5 years, according to the CDC. It is characterized by flu-like symptoms, mouth sores, and rash on the hands and feet, as well as the buttocks, legs, and arms. (Henderson, 11/20)

Roughly 70 former employees of a Metro East factory tied to the Manhattan Project, and the spouses of deceased workers, have become the first group in Illinois to receive workers’ compensation for radiation exposure. (Bauer, 11/21)

A nonprofit provider for people with severe developmental disabilities is going to court against the state, arguing Gov. JB Pritzker’s Department of Human Services improperly denied it permission to build a cluster of new homes in Elgin. (Olander, 11/20)

In 2022 and 2023, Kia A. Player received nearly $1 million in government funds to open and operate a homeless shelter for women and children in Richmond. She pocketed nearly $200,000 of it and bought herself airline tickets, a luxurious ferry ride in Miami Beach and splurged on a tattoo. Player, 41, pleaded guilty Tuesday to redirecting government funds for her homeless shelter into her personal coffers, according to a U.S. attorney’s office news release. (Munro, 11/20)

A year ago, the federal Indian Health Service posted dozens of flyers on Facebook promoting flu and COVID-19 vaccine clinics across the Navajo Nation, where the pandemic had inflicted a staggering toll just a few years earlier. ... Through mid-October, IHS had published far fewer posts on Facebook promoting vaccine clinics this year than last, ProPublica found. And in those posts as well as other notices, it replaced language touting immunization’s benefits with wording that frames both routine childhood vaccinations and annual flu and COVID-19 shots as a personal choice, advising patients to consult health care providers about their “options regarding vaccines.” (Hudetz, 11/21)

On the fentanyl crisis —

Slumped over in a wheelchair in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, Johnny White said he finally felt ready to quit fentanyl and try to rebuild the life he’d lost. White, 45, relapsed a few years ago, costing him his apartment and job as an ironworker in Santa Rosa. He plunged deep into his addiction and wound up homeless in San Francisco. But twice in recent months, he failed to pick up prescriptions for medication to treat his opioid addiction that outreach workers had helped arrange. (Angst, 11/20)

Eight months pregnant and in pain, Stephanie Rosell went to the Holy family hospital emergency room after an infection began spreading up her legs. Unemployed and homeless, estranged from her family, she lived in a shed she had built in a friend’s yard. She was also addicted to fentanyl. As doctors treated her infection, she began to panic. Withdrawal was setting in. She leaned over the bed and vomited. Stephanie finally broke down. “Listen, I gotta go. I have to go home and get high.” She had used fentanyl before coming to the ER and had just enough time to get treated before she needed to go home to get high again. (Neumann, 11/20)

A JetBlue pilot’s illness looked like food poisoning, but it was actually an increasingly common tick-borne meat allergy that can be fatal. (Goldstein, 11/20)

Patients with ‘low T’ complain they often can’t get prescriptions from their own doctors. (Merelli, 11/21)

“My year of unraveling” is how a despairing Christy Morrill described nightmarish months when his immune system hijacked his brain. What’s called autoimmune encephalitis attacks the organ that makes us “us,” and it can appear out of the blue. (Neergaard and Lum, 11/20)

For the brain organoids in Lena Smirnova’s lab at Johns Hopkins University, there comes a time in their short lives when they must graduate from the cozy bath of the bioreactor, leave the warm salty broth behind and be plopped onto a silicon chip laced with microelectrodes. From there, these tiny white spheres of human tissue can simultaneously send and receive electrical signals that, once decoded by a computer, will show how the cells inside them are communicating with each other as they respond to their new environments. (Molteni, 11/17)

An emerging area of research is uncovering hidden links between nature and human health. (Grandoni and Mara, 11/14)

The U.S. government is finally flexing its negotiating muscle to reduce GLP-1 prices and expand access to these medicines — for weight loss — in federal health programs. President Trump’s much-anticipated “deal” with GLP-1 manufacturers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk makes modest steps to expand patient access to the class of GLP-1 medications for the many millions of Americans who struggle with obesity. (Gavin Hart, 11/21)

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its website to surrender its steadfast adherence to vaccine science. The links between immunizations and autism, the site now reads, “have been ignored by health authorities.” (11/20)

Kennedy has a rhetorical advantage in that his deceptions can be definitive while scientific honesty has to come with caveats. (Jessica Grose, 11/20)

The recent news that the head of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug reviewing division had been ousted showed a federal health administration in chaos. Yet a peek behind the main storyline reveals that something more troubling is happening. (Daniel Carpenter, Thomas Hwang and Aaron S. Kesselheim, 11/21)

For carpenters in Missouri, every dollar counts. Between taxes, insurance and the rising cost of materials, it seems like money doesn’t go as far as it used to — because it doesn’t. That’s why I don’t understand why some in the Missouri Legislature would even consider prohibitive legislation that would raise the cost of health care for workers all across the state from all different walks of life. (Mark Dalton, 11/20)