⛔ Last year, this administration shut down work on topics they didn't like, including our LGBTQ health research. We sued. Courts restored thousands of grants. 📜 Now the Office of Management and Budget wants to reverse that, for good. 🔒 👇👇Here's what you have to do before Monday to stop it. 👇👇🧵

I know there is, um, other stuff happening right now, but HHS under RFK Jr. has postponed yet another meeting of the US Preventive Services Task Force, while also failing to provide public access to nominees' application materials as promised in a Federal Register notice

Key Health Care Panel Is Again Blocked From Meeting

nytimes.com

"Tucker Collins, an 18-year-old freshman at USC, attended a 'No Kings' protest in Los Angeles on Mar. 28. He ended up getting shot in the eye with a less-lethal projectile by a Department of Homeland Security agent and is now blind."

Teen who went to photograph L.A. 'No Kings' rally shot, blinded by Homeland Security agent, attorney says

Tucker Collins, an 18-year-old freshman at USC, attended a 'No Kings' protest in Los Angeles on Mar. 28. He ended up getting shot in the eye with a less-lethal projectile by a Department of Homeland S...

latimes.com

Breaking News: Robert S. Mueller III, the former FBI chief who led the Russia inquiry during President Trump’s first term, has died at 81.

Robert S. Mueller III, 81, Dies; Rebuilt F.B.I. and Led Trump Inquiry

After he concluded that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election, he became a target of the president’s anger.

nyti.ms

What a great chart! MN Center for Health Care Affordability Legislative Report 2025. #healthpolicy tinyurl.com/mr3mew2r

PEPFAR, the program to stop hundreds of thousands of children and adults from dying of HIV/AIDS, was $6.5 billion a year.

Leah McElrath@leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Preliminary Pentagon cost estimate of the war in Iran is $1 BILLION a day. So far.

Tens of thousands of Americans are losing access to treatment for H.I.V. as nearly 20 states impose restrictions on assistance programs and several others weigh such changes. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/h...

States Move to Limit Access to H.I.V. Treatment

nytimes.com

Congress rejected massive cuts to US science budgets for 2026, but much of the money still isn’t flowing to researchers. The culprit? The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly slow-walking the release of funds. 🧵👇

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets

The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

nature.com

In more than 700 cases over five years, Georgia reported inadequate housing as the sole reason for taking a child into foster care, a @wabe.org and ProPublica analysis found. Advocates say it would be cheaper to help families get housing. (Published Jan. 2024)

When Families Need Housing, Georgia Will Pay for Foster Care Rather Than Provide Assistance

In more than 700 cases over five years, Georgia reported inadequate housing as the sole reason for taking a child into foster care, a WABE and ProPublica analysis found. Advocates say it would be chea...

propublica.org

THE EPSTEIN CLASS

Acyn@acyn.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Ossoff: We were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich. It’s the wealthiest Cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class. They are the elites they pretend to hate.

Late Wed., Sen. Amy Klobuchar told us there is bipartisan support for AI rules and bipartisan oppo to the moratorium: “By preventing cities and states from protecting renters and allowing landlords to leverage AI to collude, House Republicans would raise rents even more while reducing competition."

Heather Vogell@heathervogell.bsky.social · last yr.

To read more about how RealPage has shaped the nation’s rental markets, read our “Rent Barons” series here: www.propublica.org/series/rent-...

In the search for spending savings, House Republicans could've gone after overpayments to insurers & hospitals in Medicare. Instead, they singled out people w/ the lowest incomes for the lion's share of cuts. Then re-directed that $$ mainly for more high-income tax cuts.

The original House bill would have led to about 10 million more uninsured people, according to CBO. The amended version that passed would lead to more people losing health insurance. If this bill gets enacted, it would represent the biggest rollback in federal support for health care ever.

Farce of a process, disaster of a bill

Join ISGMH on May 22 for our annual Postdoctoral Fellow Showcase! This year’s event features exciting LGBTQ health research presentations from 5 postdocs: Emily Esposito, John Guigayoma, @tim-levengood.bsky.social, @jonathanlpzmts.bsky.social, and Mariajosé Paton. Register today: buff.ly/rUSA6Yh

Are you a health equity researcher who has lost federal funding for a project? RWJF’s Evidence for Action is offering Rapid Response grants to support community-centered, social science research disrupted by cuts. ☀️ More details: www.rwjf.org/en/grants/ac...

Research to Advanced Racial and Indigenous Health Equity

We seek to build an actionable body of evidence to construct fair systems that determine resource distribution and support health equity. Deadlines: Rapid Response brief proposal 5/28/25; New Research...

rwjf.org

This isn't about saving money: the program costs just a fraction of the dept's budget. This isn't about making Americans healthier: over 2k people use the service every day. This is about scoring cheap political points by taking advantage of some of the most vulnerable members of society.

Mother Jones@motherjones.com · last yr.

The federal government plans to eliminate services for LGBTQ youth who call 988, the national suicide and crisis hotline, according to a Health and Human Services budget draft leaked last week.

Speaking in Utah today, Secy Kennedy called for end of water fluoridation. An HHS official now tells us they're "directing the CDC to reconvene the Community Preventative Services Task Force to study and make a new recommendation on fluoride" tinalexander.github.io/notes/2025/0...

👇🎯 The public isn't going to understand this, unless the presidents of R1 universities around the country <loudly> & <collectively> get out into the public square & start explaining this & calling out the existential threat to the entire 🇺🇸 university system. The silence is deafening right now.

Tom Pepinsky@tompepinsky.com · 2y ago

The public really needs to understand this. Every university system in the world rests on public funding, there has never been an alternative model at any time in history. We have universities for literally the same reason that we have roads and armies.

100%. One of the most professionally rewarding dimensions of my job the last few years has been in working with clinical teaching colleagues to integrate systems and policy thinking into our med student curriculum.

JAMA@jama.com · 2y ago

Viewpoint: Medical students and residents need to be educated on health policy issues like insurance, payment models, and drug regulation to better understand the factors that impact patient health outcomes. https://ja.ma/3BuTE7P

Prescription drug spending in the US increased by $30 Billion between 2022 and 2023, including: ⬆️$11B spent by Medicare ⬆️$4B spent by Medicaid ⬆️$15B spent by Private Insurers #healthpolicy #healthcarespending #cost #affordability More details: www.healthsystemtracker.org/health-spend...

CBO's out with their new deficit reductions options. Just look at all that $$ on the table if we paid Medicare Advantage plans closer to what the law intended. www.cbo.gov/system/files...

New in @AJMC_Journal from Mark Fendrick, MD of the Univ. of Michigan Center for Value Based Insurance Design: a reflection on the tumultuous events of the past week and the broader issues facing American healthcare & insurance: www.ajmc.com/view/sharing... #healthpolicy

Just had an idea

GO DAWGS!!!

Pfizer, Lilly, PhRMA execs meet with Trump and RFK Jr. www.axios.com/2024/12/05/t...

Scoop: Trump, RFK Jr. dine with Pfizer and Lilly execs

The dinner could indicate that Trump's administration will see the pharmaceutical industry as a partner — not just an adversary.

axios.com

"More than 90% of expenditures in the early years have gone to administrative and consulting costs –mostly to Deloitte Consulting, according to data obtained by investigative reporters." This includes an $11 million ad & outreach campaign.

Joan Alker@joanalker1.bsky.social · 2y ago

A reminder that Georgia's "Pathways to Coverage" has failed to cover many Georgians (c. 5,000 enrolled) but has been very successful at rewarding Deloitte a large global financial firm with millions of dollars in contracts. My blog explains: ccf.georgetown.edu/2024/10/30/g...

The MN Dept of Health just released a first of its kind report on MN 340B covered entities’ acquisition costs, net revenue, and external operational/admin expenses. It includes (select) entity-level and drug family-level data. The report is here: www.health.state.mn.us/data/340b/do.... #Healthpolicy

The possible “catastrophic success” of CAR-T cells in cancer and autoimmune disease @science.org. A nice story on dramatic diseases, biomedical technology and sustainability.. bit.ly/4i9FXf1 #oncosky #medsky #oncsky 🧪

A breakthrough cancer immunotherapy is now taking aim at autoimmune disease

CAR-T therapy is generating excitement for lupus, scleroderma, and other conditions as clinical trials expand

bit.ly