US HHS drops advisory labeling gun violence a public health crisis
A spokesperson for the health agency said "HHS and the Office of the Surgeon General are complying with President Trump's Executive Order on Protecting Second Amendment Rights", referring to the right to bear firearms under the U.S. Constitution.
The web page that previously had information on gun violence in America as well as a 40-page advisory issued by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in June no longer exists on the HHS website.
The page with the advisory has been down since Saturday, according to internet archive Wayback Machine.
The advisory had called for more research funding, better mental health access and other steps such as secure storage to reduce harm from gun violence.
Last month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the attorney general to review orders, specific documents and other actions taken by former President Joe Biden's administration regarding firearms.
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The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Democrats use new tactic to highlight Trump's gutting of Medicaid: billboards in the rural US
The road to four struggling rural hospitals now hosts a political message: 'If this hospital closes, blame Trump.' In a series of black-and-yellow billboards erected near the facilities, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) seeks to tell voters in deep red states 'who is responsible for gutting rural healthcare'. 'UNDER TRUMP'S WATCH, STILWELL GENERAL HOSPITAL IS CLOSING ITS DOORS,' one sign screams. The billboards are outside hospitals in Silex, Missouri; Columbus, Indiana; Stilwell, Oklahoma; and Missoula, Montana. The fate of rural hospitals has become a politically contentious issue for Republicans, as historic cuts pushed through by the GOP are expected to come into effect over the next decade. Trump's enormous One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) cut more than $1tn from Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans, insuring more than 71 million adults. 'Where the real impact is going to be is on the people who just won't get care,' said Dave Kendall, senior fellow for health and fiscal policy at Third Way, a center-left advocacy organization. 'That's what used to happen before we had rural hospitals – they just don't get the care because they can't afford it, and they can't get to the hospital.' In response to criticism, Republicans added a $50bn 'rural health transformation fund' just before passage of the OBBBA. The fund is expected to cover about one-third of the losses rural areas will face, and about 70% of the losses for the four hospitals where Democrats now have nearby billboards. The rural health fund provides money through 2030, while the Medicaid cuts are not time-bound. That is already becoming a political football, as Democrats argued in a letter that the money is a 'slush fund' already promised to key Republican Congress members. 'We are alarmed by reports suggesting these taxpayer funds are already promised to Republican members of Congress in exchange for their votes in support of the Big, Ugly Betrayal,' wrote 16 Democratic senators in a letter to Dr Mehmet Oz, Trump's head of Medicare and Medicaid. 'In addition, the vague legislative language creating this fund will seemingly function as your personal fund to be distributed according to your political whims.' Rural hospitals have been under financial strain for more than a decade. Since 2010, 153 rural hospitals have closed or lost the inpatient services which partly define a hospital, according to the University of North Carolina Sheps Center for Health Services Research. 'In states across the country, hospitals are either closing their doors or cutting critical services, and it's Trump's own voters who will suffer the most,' said the DNC chair, Ken Martin, in a statement announcing the billboards. The OBBBA is expected to further exacerbate those financial strains. A recent analysis by the Urban Institute found rural hospitals are likely to see an $87bn loss in the next 10 years. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'We're expecting rural hospitals to close as a result – we've already started to see some hospitals like, 'OK, how are we going to survive?'' said Third Way's Kendall. A June analysis by the Sheps Center found that 338 rural hospitals, including dozens in states such as Louisiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma, could close as a result of the OBBBA. There are nearly 1,800 rural hospitals nationally, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a healthcare research non-profit. That perspective was buttressed by the CEO of the National Rural Health Association, Alan Morgan, who in a recent newsletter said 45% of rural hospitals are already operating at a loss. 'When you remove $155bn over the next 10 years, it's going to have an impact,' he said. In the fragmented US healthcare ecosystem, Medicaid is both the largest and poorest payer of healthcare providers. Patients benefit from largely no-cost care, but hospitals complain that Medicaid rates don't pay for the cost of service, making institutions that disproportionately rely on Medicaid less financially stable. In rural areas, benefit-rich employer health insurance is harder to come by; therefore, more hospitals depend on Medicaid. But even though Medicaid pays less than other insurance programs, some payment is still better than none. Trump's OBBBA cut of more than $1tn from the program over the coming decade is expected to result in nearly 12 million people losing coverage. When uninsured people get sick, they are more likely to delay care, more likely to use hospital emergency rooms and more likely to struggle to pay their bills. In turn, the institutions that serve them also suffer. 'This is what Donald Trump does – screw over the people who are counting on him,' said Martin, the DNC chair. 'These new DNC billboards plainly state exactly what is happening to rural hospitals under Donald Trump's watch.'
Reuters
5 hours ago
- Reuters
Israel to pause fighting in Gaza areas each day for aid corridors
JERUSALEM/GAZA, July 27 (Reuters) - Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors in the shattered enclave, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world. Israel has been facing growing international criticism, which the government rejects, over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have broken off with no deal in sight. Military activity will stop from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian area which stretches along the coast, in central Deir al-Balah and in Gaza City, to the north. The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. starting from Sunday. U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said staff would step up efforts to feed the hungry during the pauses in the designated areas. "Our teams on the ground ... will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he said in a post on X. Health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in the central Gaza Strip said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. A spokesperson for Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thousands of Gazans gathered in locations where they expect aid trucks to roll through on Sunday, Reuters witnesses and locals said. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Gaza health ministry reported six new deaths over the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133 including 87 children. On Saturday, a five-month-old baby, Zainab Abu Haleeb, died of severe acute malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, health workers said. "Three months inside the hospital and this is what I get in return, that she is dead," said her mother, Israa Abu Haleeb, standing next to the baby's father as he held their daughter's body, which was wrapped in a white shroud. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending on Sunday more than 100 trucks carrying over 1,200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people and international alarm over the humanitarian situation has increased, driving French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September. A group of 25 states including Britain, France and Canada last week condemned the "drip feeding of aid" and said Israel's denial of essential humanitarian aid was unacceptable. The U.N. said last week humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance", adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access. Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people. Israel and the U.S. appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear that the militants did not want a deal. Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about Sunday's announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently. "People are happy that large amounts of food aid will come into Gaza," said Tamer Al-Burai, a business owner. "We hope today marks a first step in ending this war that burned everything up." Some others voiced concern about how aid will be delivered and whether it will reach people safely. "When aid is airdropped, it causes injuries and damage," said displaced Gaza resident Suhaib Mohammed. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement. He called it a capitulation to Hamas' deceitful campaign and repeated his call to choke off all aid to Gaza, conquer the territory and encourage Palestinians to leave. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a question about Ben-Gvir's comments. After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the United Nations was failing to distribute it. The U.N. said it was operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions. The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population.
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
RFK Jr. looks to boot panel that decided which HIV and cancer screenings would be free: report
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly planning to remove all the members of an influential health task force that helps determine what preventative care services insurers must cover for free, after removing all members of a vaccine advisory board last month. Kennedy wants to clean house at U.S. Preventative Services Task Force next because he believes its 16 members have become too 'woke,' The Wall Street Journal reports. Under 2010's Affordable Care Act, the task force makes evidence-based, public recommendations on a variety of treatments, ranging HIV prevention to prenatal care to mental health, that insurers must cover at no cost to patients. Health and Human Services has said the secretary hasn't made a final decision regarding the task force. The Independent has contacted the agency for comment. Kennedy's reported dissatisfaction with the group comes after the American Conservative magazine accused the task force of being a 'festering corner of woke bureaucracy' in an article earlier this month. 'The task force is packed with Biden administration appointees devoted to the ideological capture of medicine,' the author argued, pointing to 'sinister' recent task force actions committing to removing racial inequities in health care and using more inclusive language around gender. Earlier this month, a July meeting of the task force was postponed. At the time, a letter from over 100 health organizations warned about the politicization of the task force's work. 'The loss of trustworthiness in the rigorous and nonpartisan work of the Task Force would devastate patients, hospital systems, and payers as misinformation creates barriers to accessing lifesaving and cost effective care,' the letter reads. 'When something works well and helps inform doctors about how to take care of their patients, to postpone the task force's work just doesn't make any sense,' Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, president of the American Medical Association, told The New York Times after the meeting was postponed. 'This flies in the face of what is good for the country's health.' In June, the Supreme Court upheld the task force's ability to recommend free coverage for preventative services, in the face of a challenge from individuals and businesses objecting to the body's recommendation regarding HIV prevention medication. Concern over the fate of the task force comes after Kennedy removed all the members of a vaccine advisory board, replacing them with some members who share the secretary's vaccine skepticism.
