VA updates FY 2025 health care budget shortfall to $6.6B, nearly half its previous estimate

The Department of Veterans Affairs is cutting its request for additional funding by almost half after officials told lawmakers last week that a shortfall in its health care budget wasn’t as severe as earlier estimates showed. The VA is now asking Congress for a $ 6.6 billion supplement to its fiscal 2025 budget to keep providing more health care to more veterans than ever before. Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal said in an interview Tuesday that the PACT Act, which expands eligibility for VA health care and benefits to…

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What Going ‘Wild on Health’ Looks Like

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the bear-fondling, gravel-voiced Camelot scion, is President-Elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, where presumably he will “go wild on health,” to quote Trump. His nomination has raised concerns among public-health experts because many of Kennedy’s views on health are, well, wild. To be sure, among Kennedy’s battier ideas are a few reasonable ones, such as reducing obesity and cracking down on direct-to-consumer drug commercials and conflicts of interest among researchers. But these are eclipsed by some troubling ones, such…

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And old health network is about to get a shot in the arm

For the first time in decades, the Health and Human Services department plans to shake up an obscure system. It’s the one controlling human organs destined for transplant patients. The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network serves some 100,000 patients and their families and officials say it’s overdue for modernization. The Federal Drive with Tom Temin  got more details from the administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, Carole Johnson. Interview transcript: Tom Temin And you’re kind of like the small agency does so much that nobody has heard of…

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‘We Will Not Stand By’: Florida Sues Biden Admin to Block New Trans Health Care Rule

Florida filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s administration Tuesday after it released a rule barring health care providers from discriminating based on “gender identity” or “sexual orientation.” The Department of Health and Human Services released the rule on April 26 as a part of the Affordable Care Act and bans health care and insurance providers receiving federal funding from denying care because of a patient’s gender identity or sexual orientation. Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody of Florida announced that her office had filed a lawsuit against the department for attempting “to force…

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Data brokers selling veterans’ sensitive health, financial data online, study shows

A historic year of hiring at the Department of Veterans Affairs has lead to a record year for veteran care and benefits. The VA is staffing up its health care and benefits workforce to levels never seen before in the department’s history. It provided more than 116 million health care appointments to veterans and their survivors in fiscal 2023. That is three million more appointments than its previous record. VA also processed nearly two million benefits claims, a nearly 16% increase from the year prior. VA Secretary Denis McDonough said…

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MoveOn Slams Advertisers Sticking with Fox News After Outrageous Segment Asserting Canadian Wildfire Smoke Causes No Adverse Health Issues and Denying Impact of Climate Change

Washington, D.C. – Today, MoveOn released a new video as part of its Stop Funding Fox campaign to spotlight consumer brands that are still inexplicably advertising on Fox News, despite the network’s track record of promoting lies and propaganda. The group debuted another “Bought and Paid For” video highlighting a segment on Fox News from June 7 where host Laura Ingraham egged a guest on to promote rampant falsehoods and deny the health emergencies resulting from the air pollution caused by the Canadian wildfires.  On last night’s “The Ingraham Angle,”…

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