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Health Care
Health Care
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The Big Story
CDC to restore overdose prevention funds
The Trump administration is restoring full funding for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program that provides grants to reduce and track drug overdoses, including fentanyl.
(John Bazemore, Associated Press file)
Grant recipients had been sounding the alarm after the administration held up money that had already been appropriated to the CDC’s Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) program. Advocacy groups on Tuesday said they had been informed the program will be fully funded.
Raynard Washington, health director of Mecklenburg County in North Carolina, told reporters on Monday that the program had previously only been guaranteed half its $280 million apportionment. That funding is now going to be distributed, though grantees had not yet been told.
“Every delay, every spending freeze — these translate to lost time and lives,” Sharon Gilmartin, director of the Safe States Alliance, a public health advocacy group, told reporters Monday.
“There has been a lack of transparency in the [funding] process,” Gilmartin told The Hill Tuesday, “The people that suffer are the communities and the people doing the work.”
CDC’s OD2A cooperative agreement provides funding to 90 health departments.
NPR first reported last month that the administration had delayed and might cancel about $140 million of the program’s grants. It was also first to report on the restoration of funding.
The Office of Management and Budget told The Hill it was never withholding funding, and CDC had the authority to release the funds.
Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.
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Essential Reads
How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:
HHS ends millions in federal funding for mRNA vaccines
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is winding down its mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the agency announced Tuesday. “We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. The winding down will include the cancellation of some contracts, he added. “BARDA is terminating …
Trump administration allows six more states to bar SNAP benefits for processed food
The Trump administration on Monday approved six additional states seeking to ban food stamp recipients from purchasing processed food. Colorado, Louisiana, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Texas and Florida received federal waivers to adjust Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) guidelines outlawing the purchase of junk food with state funds in 2026. Colorado was the first blue state to adopt the measure. …
Trump threatens pharma tariffs of up to 250 percent
President Trump on Tuesday threatened to impose tariffs of up to 250 percent on pharmaceutical imports, the highest rate he’s discussed to date. “We’ll be putting a, initially small tariff on pharmaceuticals,” Trump told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “But in one year, one in a half years maximum, it’s going to go to 150 percent, and then it’s going to go to 250 percent, because we want pharmaceuticals …
In Other News
Branch out with a different read:
Gates Foundation promises $2.5B for ‘sidelined’ women’s health
The Gates Foundation has announced that over the next five years, it will spend $2.5 billion on research for issues that affect women’s health, such as menopause and preeclampsia. “Women’s health continues to be ignored, underfunded and sidelined,” Bill Gates said in a news release announcing the donation. “Too many women still die from preventable causes or live in poor health. That must change.” According …
Around the Nation
Local and state headlines on health care:
Federal judges block Colorado from enforcing abortion pill reversal plan, uphold abortion ‘bubble law’ (The Colorado Sun)
Florida officials warn about risks of drinking raw milk after 21 infections (NBC)
What We’re Reading
Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:
Bird flu may be airborne on dairy farms, scientists report (The New York Times)
For some, a new approach to infertility is revolutionary. For others, its old wine in a new bottle (Stat)
What People Think
Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill:
You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow!