Selena Simmons-Duffin
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-19-2025 7PM EST
Residents of small towns and rural areas are more likely to rely on Medicaid than people living in cities. That's the key takeaway of a new report from the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. The center presented its findings Wednesday. Here's Benjamin Anderson, president of Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System in rural Kansas.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-19-2025 7PM EST
He said drastic Medicaid cuts from the federal government would be devastating for middle America. Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
Morning, Michelle.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
Well, what happened is that scientists around the country started getting emails yesterday about travel and meetings that had been set up being suddenly canceled with very little explanation. Remember, NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world.
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Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
It invests more than $40 billion in research every year, and it gathers together scientists outside the agency into what are called study sections to help them figure out how to spend that money, what research is the most important to fund.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
Dr. Crystal Starbird is a cancer researcher and a professor at UNC Chapel Hill, and yesterday she got an email about her study section that was scheduled for next week.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
Well, Dr. Starbird told me that these are not the kinds of meetings that can easily be rescheduled. There are a lot of moving parts, different institutions, different timetables, and a delay, especially an indefinite delay like this one, could really have a negative impact on important cancer research.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
The full scope of these cancellations isn't clear at this point, but a lot of scientists are concerned that biomedical research of all kinds could be disrupted.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
We don't know yet if it's related, but yes, the acting HHS secretary on Tuesday sent a memo instructing the leaders of NIH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, all the other health agencies to refrain from most external communication until they can be approved by, quote, a presidential appointee.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
NPR obtained that memo and several internal emails that indicate travel is suspended for HHS staffers as well. In addition to the government-wide hiring freeze, So workers I've heard from at HHS are quite concerned about all of this. Several said they weren't sure if information in papers that were set to be submitted and published this week will be delayed.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
So we're waiting to see if infectious disease dashboards will be updated on schedule. And, you know, Michelle, looming over all of this is the fact that in Trump's first term, there were instances where of political appointees attempting to alter CDC reports on COVID-19.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
So some worry that these developments are a sign that political appointees intend to exert a new kind of control on the federal health and research agencies.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
Well, his confirmation hearing was just scheduled for next Wednesday. There has been a big lobbying effort to block his confirmation. It's not clear if he does have the support in the Senate to be confirmed, particularly because of his positions in favor of abortion access and against vaccine requirements.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
And adding to that uncertainty is an ethics document posted online yesterday that appears to show Kennedy can still financially benefit from lawsuits against Merck's vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. So definitely it's going to be an interesting hearing next week, and I'll be here to cover it.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
Well, Secretary Kennedy says HHS is a huge bureaucracy filled with silos and that he wants to streamline things. Here he is in a video he posted to social media.
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ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
He says they'll do that by consolidating administrative work like IT and human resources, but that the restructuring won't affect the work the agencies do. Kennedy draws a direct line between the problems with America's overall health and the way HHS has been set up.
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ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
My inbox was flooded with shocked responses yesterday from Democratic lawmakers, nurses groups, public health groups, advocates for seniors. They say this isn't an overhaul, it's a wrecking ball. I asked former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for her reaction. She was incredulous that Kennedy thinks he can cut HHS staff so steeply and not affect services.
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ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
She was especially critical of the plan to cut the number of regional offices from 10 to 5 and to combine certain agencies. Like she questioned how it would help efficiency to combine CDC, which is in Atlanta, with the Strategic Preparedness Agency, which is in D.C.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
It looks like the steepest cuts are coming from CDC and FDA, also a lesser known agency called the Administration for Community Living, which helps seniors and people with disabilities live independently. They do work like meal delivery, transportation support for caregivers.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
Under the plans, that agency will be dismantled and its, quote, critical services will get spread out over a few different agencies. So employees whose jobs are getting cut could get notices as soon as today with the cuts effective in May. And HHS did not respond to NPR's request for an interview with Secretary Kennedy or give answers to a list of questions about the plans.
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ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
Republican lawmakers have been fairly quiet so far, especially compared to Democratic members of Congress who have quickly put together press conferences, quote, sounding the alarm about this plan. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the Republican chair of the Health Committee, did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
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ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
What Republicans have said is that the details aren't out yet, that they believe there is administrative sprawl at HHS, that it can be streamlined, and that they trust Kennedy.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
You're welcome.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
I have been proud to be a team player. The president knows that.