Gary Schwitzer
@garyschw.bsky.social
Health care journalist for 50 years, now retired except for his Substack. Published HealthNewsReview.org for 16 years. Helping people improve their critical thinking about health care.
RFK Jr. went off the rails on CNN, the second ugly health policy related TV event in a week, close on the heels of the Fauci hearing. Losing Americans’ trust. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/is-this-th...
Is this the “trust in science & health policy” that taxpayers deserve?
The question of how to prevent the next pandemic was posed - repeatedly - by CNN’s Dana Bash to HHS secretary RFK Jr. He never answered the question.
garyschwitzer.substack.com
How to evaluate news about a new blood test screening for colorectal cancer. What was missing in what I read. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/how-to-eva...
Continuing clash between MAGA and MAHA advocates over environmental health issues. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/the-contin...
26-year old son-in-law of US Transportation Secretary, running for Congress, endorsed by Trump, spreads misinformation about alleged “transgender goat surgery.” garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/politician...
Wisconsin Congressional candidate claims the government is wasting $$$ on transgender goat surgery. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/politician...
Good story by @kristinafiore.bsky.social on expensive multifocal lenses for cataract surgery - with reminders that they’re not for everyone. www.medpagetoday.com/ophthalmolog...
Eye Specialists Flag Concerns About Pricey Lenses in Cataract Surgery
Multifocal lenses are not for everyone, experts say
medpagetoday.com
RFK Jr. promotes more preventive health screening while slashing the funding that would provide the evidence to support such screening. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/questions-...
Does RFK Jr. understand what potential problems come with Alzheimer's screening? garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/questions-...
Questions about RFK Jr.'s promotion of Alzheimer's screening
An Alzheimer's screening test is a much more complicated issue than what's seen at first glance.
garyschwitzer.substack.com
Interesting blog post. chrisickler.org/2026/07/03/t...
The Replication Crisis 2: How Current Statistical Practice Confuses Science
Please raise your hand if you like statistics. Oh dear, I see no hands up. Well, I rather anticipated that—I mean, who does? (Other than me [eye-roll].) In this post, I promise not to subject you t…
chrisickler.org
Death by a thousand cuts. And a NY Times reporter was denied access to materials that were supposed to be available for public review. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/u...
The National Institutes of Health are experiencing some unhealthy times. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/235-words-...
Coffee - the icon of miscommunicated observational studies. And we saw another round this week. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/coffee-ico...
RFK Jr. & Trump administration cannot truthfully imply or claim that they are the reason for a drop in US obesity rates. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/wrong-rfk-...
When you see X was “linked to” Y in a study, what does that really mean? Count the number of “linked to” stories you see in a day. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/what-does-...
A couple of gems from Howard Wolinsky, veteran health care journalist-turned-prostate cancer patient advocate. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/men-are-no...
Politicians who act like they understand science are often shown to be in over their heads. There’s no such thing as transgender mice, but this lawmaker wants to ban them anyway. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/us-rep-nan...
Lost in Trans-lation. US Rep. Nancy Mace confuses transgenic mice with transgender mice (no such thing). Worthy of our 4th Health News Pinocchio Award. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/us-rep-nan...
Even the reflecting pool has become an anti-science blame game www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Science Has a Name for What’s Plaguing the Reflecting Pool
Testing reveals that efforts to suppress one algal bloom seem to be fueling another.
theatlantic.com
Brain aging reversed by nasal spray?!? Rats…it’s only in mice. The headlines couldn’t squeak by us. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/brain-agin...
If @notus.com is right about this, it feels like the latest threat against the integrity of the US Preventive Services Task Force. open.substack.com/pub/garyschw...
RFK Jr. aide may get her Dad hired to head a key federal health task force. What are his qualifications? garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/rfk-jr-aid...
There is a hierarchy of evidence; not all studies carry equal weight. So news about what a bunch of observational or animal studies “may” show to lower dementia risk is shaky. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/common-med...
Be careful with claims about what "may lower your dementia risk"
A closer look at a New York Times story.
garyschwitzer.substack.com
My analysis of this The New York Times story, in brief: “Why not wait until there’s far more robust evidence on all of these things?” At this stage, “may” also means “may not.” garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/common-med...
“With support from Markwayne Mullin & RFK Jr., the kratom industry is pursuing a potentially lucrative policy. Mr. Mullin owns equity in a company that could benefit.” www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/u...
How an Addictive Gas Station Drug Found Allies in Trump’s Cabinet
nytimes.com
You can’t assume that viewers know the key differences between traditional Medicare & Medicare Advantage. In my experience, many don’t have a clue. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/journalist...
What many have worked so hard to get away from, RFK Jr. has reintroduced regularly in a short time as HHS secretary. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/rfk-jr-bri...
What you should know about claims that GLP-1 drugs cut breast cancer risk by 30%. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/glp-1-drug...
RFK Jr. calls one study “garbage” but then sees 3 of his oft-cited papers retracted, removed or under scrutiny. His data cherry-picking is catching up with him. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/rfk-jr-rec...
Four bad federal health policy moves you should know about. 2 on federal health grant decisions, 2 on Medicare/Medicaid. garyschwitzer.substack.com/p/4-troubles...
