Silence on E. Coli Outbreak Highlights How Trump Team鈥檚 Changes Undermine Food Safety
Food safety inspections are being scaled back and the public was not notified after an investigation into E. coli contamination.
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Food safety inspections are being scaled back and the public was not notified after an investigation into E. coli contamination.
The House narrowly passed a budget reconciliation bill, including billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy along with billions of dollars in cuts to health program spending. But the Senate is expected to make major changes to the measure before it can go to President Donald Trump for his signature. This week鈥檚 panelists are Julie Rovner of 吃瓜不打烊, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.
吃瓜不打烊 gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Monica Soni, Covered California鈥檚 chief medical officer, oversees an effort to hold health plans financially accountable for the quality of care they provide, including childhood vaccination rates, which have fallen in California and nationwide. She worries federal spending cuts could soon bring turbulence to the state鈥檚 Affordable Care Act marketplace.
In the wake of an executive order by President Donald Trump opposing gender-affirming surgeries for minors, hospitals are pausing procedures 鈥 even those already scheduled. Families fear the eventual loss of all gender-affirming care for their transgender kids.
Attitudes about a debunked link between measles vaccines and autism haven鈥檛 budged that much. But there鈥檚 a sharp partisan divide over whether the vaccine is safe.
Amid a youth mental health crisis and a shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds, residents of a St. Louis suburb opposed a plan to build a 77-bed pediatric mental health hospital. Resistance to such facilities has occurred in other communities as misconceptions about mental health spur fear.
Federal funding cuts, though temporarily blocked by a judge, have upended vaccination clinics across the country, including in Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, Texas, and Washington state, amid a rise in vaccine hesitancy and a resurgence of measles.
It鈥檚 the Trump administration vs. the federal courts, as the Department of Government Efficiency continues to try to cancel federal contracts and programs and fire workers. But in the haste to cut things, jobs and programs are being eliminated even if they align with the new administration鈥檚 goal to 鈥淢ake America Healthy Again.鈥 Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post join 吃瓜不打烊鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
California鈥檚 governor is pressuring Oakland to allow more police pursuits as part of a crackdown on crime. But more pursuits mean a greater risk to public health, with more potential injuries and deaths among bystanders. Policies in cities including New York and San Francisco reflect divergent local priorities.
Republicans in Congress have suggested big cuts to Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for people with low incomes or disabilities. The complex, multifaceted program touches millions of Americans and has become deeply woven into state budgets and the U.S. health care system.
Health officials expect a measles outbreak in West Texas to exceed 100 cases because of low vaccination rates and undetected infections. Vaccine misinformation and new laws may make such situations more common and harder to contain.
Congressional Republicans are pushing plans that could make deep cuts to Medicaid to finance President Donald Trump鈥檚 tax cuts and other priorities. At stake is coverage for millions of low-income Americans, as well as a huge revenue source for hospitals 鈥 and every state.
President Donald Trump has said he won鈥檛 support major cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program for people with low incomes, but he has endorsed a House budget plan that calls for major cuts, leaving the program鈥檚 future in doubt. Meanwhile, thousands of workers at the Department of Health and Human Services were fired over the holiday weekend, from the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with possibly more cuts to come.
Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join 吃瓜不打烊鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
With hospitalizations and at least nine confirmed cases, health officials race to contain a growing outbreak in a community with low vaccination.
It鈥檚 common for young people leaving jails and prisons to end up back behind bars, often after lapses related to untreated mental health issues or substance abuse. A new law is aimed at getting them on Medicaid before they鈥檙e released. But the government coordination required to make it happen is significant.
Several states require schools to assemble teams of law enforcement and education officials to identify students who could become mass shooters and intervene before it鈥檚 too late. But some experts say the efforts often face a lack of guidance and significant pressure, putting them at risk of maligning innocent students.
The Jan. 28 executive order directs federal regulators to cut insurance coverage for hormonal or surgical treatments that help in young people's gender transitions and cut federal funding for medical professionals or institutions that provide such care. It will likely be challenged in court.
With continuous glucose monitors, students with Type 1 diabetes no longer have to visit the school nurse for a finger prick. But some parents say it falls to them to keep an eye on blood sugar levels from home or work 鈥 even though they may not be able to quickly reach their child when something鈥檚 wrong.
Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia 鈥 states with some of the worst health outcomes 鈥 also have some of the highest childhood vaccination rates. But doctors and health officials worry a rising tide of vaccine skepticism is causing those public health bright spots to dim.
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