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Feb 1, 2025, 17:24

Gregg Margolis: Three things to read about health policy this week

Gregg Margolis, Director of Health Policy Fellowships and Leadership Programs at the National Academy of Medicine, shared on LinkedIn:

“If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest…

Politico:

RFK Jr. confirmation could hinge on one senator Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid to lead the Department of Health and Human Services could come down to one senator. That senator, Bill Cassidy (R-La.), said he was deeply torn about his vote during a hearing of the Senate committee in charge of health policy on Thursday. Cassidy, the panel’s chair and a gastroenterologist before entering politics, spoke of his own experience with life-saving vaccines and repeatedly asked Kennedy to disavow his past anti-vaccine advocacy. (Payne, Gardner and Cirruzzo, 1/30)

The Hill:

States’ Medicaid Portal Access Restored After Lapse Under Trump, But It’s ‘Not Functioning Correctly’ After losing access to a Medicaid federal funding portal after an aid freeze by the Trump administration, states say they’re regaining access, but some are reporting that the site isn’t functioning ‘correctly.’ One day after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo stating agencies must halt ‘all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance,’ state Medicaid offices reported they had lost access to the payment portal through which federal funds are drawn. (Choi, 1/28)

The New York Times:

Leaving The W.H.O. Could Hurt Americans On A Range Of Health Matters The W.H.O.’s work touches American lives in myriad ways. The agency compiles the International Classification of Diseases, the system of diagnostic codes used by doctors and insurance companies. It assigns generic names to medicines that are recognizable worldwide.

Its extensive flu surveillance network helps select the seasonal flu vaccine each year. The agency also closely tracks resistance to antibiotics and other drugs, keeps American travelers apprised of health threats, and studies a wide range of issues such as teen mental health, substance use and aging, which may then inform policies in the United States. (Mandavilli, 1/29).”

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More posts featuring Gregg S. Margolis.