Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Extra Restrictions On NIH Will Slow Down Progress; Congress Must Stay Focused On PTSD Therapy
The Trump administration, seemingly determined to dismantle the National Institutes of Health, continues to devise new and insidious ways to politicize what has long been considered the crown jewel of US research. (Lisa Jarvis, 8/20)
After decades of underinvestment in new approaches to treating post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions, the Department of Veterans Affairs is finally turning a corner. In late 2023, the VA announced its first investment in psychedelic research in more than 50 years, launching clinical trials of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. Now, we must keep the momentum going. (Lou Correa, Jack Bergman and Juliana Mercer, 8/21)
Looking back, 2025 may be characterized as the year of measles in North America. The U.S. has recorded its highest number of measles cases in more than 30 years, although cases have tailed off significantly in the last eight weeks and are only slightly higher than they were in 2019. The current per capita incidence of measles in the U.S. is roughly 4 per 1 million people. (Cory Franklin and Robert Weinstein, 8/21)
Slashing SNAP-Ed, WIC, and SNAP isnt just shortsighted its scientifically indefensible. If Make America Healthy Again were anything more than a political catchphrase, wed be talking about how to expand not gut programs like SNAP-Ed, WIC, and SNAP. Instead, theyre on the chopping block. (Jaime S. Foster, 8/20)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services ... innately understands that Americans place a kind of halo on mothers when it comes to the nations health, and he uses that to bolster his message. And mothers who care about children need to wrest this moral authority from him. (Jessica Grose, 8/20)
Even through Zoom, I could tell she was unraveling. Her face was drawn, her shoulders hunched, her eyes darting just off-camera like she was bracing for bad news. She told me the incisions from her colon resection were healing well. Her vitals were stable. She said all the right things Im lucky, it couldve been worse, I just want to move on. But her body told another story. (Alexandra Kutnick, 8/21)
