Senate Democrats and the Biden administration dropped plans to set drug price caps based on the amount paid in other high-income countries, during talks years ago to push through the law that empowered Medicare to negotiate down the cost of prescription medications. A version of the idea was revived by President Trump in the executive […]
Head of worker safety agency NIOSH restored, ahead of RFK Jr. hearing
The head of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and a handful of teams at the agency had their layoff notices rescinded Tuesday, multiple officials say, and several worker safety programs that had been eliminated by layoffs last month are being restored. Letters reversing the layoffs arrived in the inboxes of some NIOSH […]
HHS moving to fire probationary employees again, officials say
The Department of Health and Human Services is moving for a second time to fire probationary employees at the nation’s health agencies, multiple federal officials said, after many previously had their terminations paused amid court battles over their fate. In mid-February, thousands of recently hired or promoted workers at the department had received letters firing […]
HHS to withhold some bonus pay earned by laid-off employees
The Department of Health and Human Services has decided to effectively block the payout of overdue bonuses to many of its laid-off employees, multiple health officials say. The bonuses were tied to high performance by the workers last year, before they were cut from the department. “If the savings from the layoffs were pennies from […]
More free COVID-19 tests can be ordered now, as uptick looms
2025 update:Â This program has ended and free tests are not current available from the government website. Americans can now order another round of four free COVID-19 tests for this season, the U.S. Postal Service announced Monday, as health officials have been preparing for an expected resurgence in the virus over the coming weeks. The four […]
CDC scraps plan to help Texas schools curb measles over layoffs, employee says
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has scrapped a plan to offer help curbing measles in Texas schools after some staff working on the agency’s response to this year’s record outbreak of the virus were warned they could face layoffs, an agency employee said. CDC officials had initially weighed expanding a service they […]
FDA head falsely claims no scientists laid off, as agency shutters food safety labs
The head of the Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly claimed in recent interviews that no scientists have been laid off at his agency, but one of the scientists in a food safety lab shuttered by the FDA’s cuts says he is either “blatantly lying” or “out of touch.” “There were no layoffs to scientists or food […]
19 states and D.C. sue Trump administration over mass HHS layoffs
Over a dozen states sued the Trump administration Monday for laying off thousands of Health and Human Services staffers, urging a court to reverse job cuts that they argue brought work at large swaths of the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-led health agency to a “sudden halt.” The lawsuit — filed in Rhode Island federal court by […]
Health agencies
A Department of Health and Human Services official said Friday that the health department is not creating an autism registry, contradicting an announcement made days ago by the director of the National Institutes of Health describing his plans to study causes of autism. “We are not creating an autism registry. The real-world data platform will […]
Dr. Casey Means, Trump’s new surgeon general nominee, is RFK Jr. ally and MAHA advocate
President Trump will nominate Dr. Casey Means, an ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and prominent advocate for his agenda, to serve as the U.S. surgeon general, the president announced Wednesday. Means replaces Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, whose nomination was withdrawn by the White House a day before she was scheduled to […]