MAHA to reveal plan on kids' chronic diseases

Politico

19-05-2025

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Driving The Day
CHRONIC DISEASE CHRONICLES — The Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again commission is set to release its much-awaited report this week that should shed light on its strategy to combat the chronic disease epidemic among American children.
The report, to be released Thursday, is expected to identify the key drivers of chronic childhood illness, such as asthma and autoimmune diseases, in the U.S. It could indicate how HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might shift key health policy and research focuses within the nation's health agencies as he seeks to further his MAHA agenda.
Background: President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the MAHA commission in February, just after Kennedy was confirmed as secretary. The commission's goals align with Kennedy's MAHA agenda: identifying and addressing the root causes of chronic health issues and ending childhood chronic disease.
Trump named Kennedy commission chair and directed the group to first study the scope of childhood chronic disease in the U.S. and any contributing factors — such as diet and environment — and provide government-wide recommendations on addressing the contributing causes. The order directed the commission to submit the 'Make Our Children Healthy Again Assessment' to the president by May 24.
What to expect: The EO directs the commission to assess and recommend actions on childhood chronic disease, including:
— Assessing the threat of potential overuse of medicine, certain food ingredients and chemicals
— Identifying best practices for preventing childhood health issues, including through nutrition
— Evaluating the effectiveness of existing federal programs and funding aimed at preventing and treating childhood health issues
— Eliminating undue health industry influence in scientific findings and establishing a framework for transparency and ethics review in industry-funded projects
Key context: Agriculture industry groups worry that the MAHA report could target pesticides and warn that a crackdown on the chemicals' use could negatively affect farmers and consumers. The report is widely expected to assess whether pesticides and other food ingredients are linked to health problems in children.
What's next: By mid-August, the commission must submit to Trump a 'Make Our Children Healthy Again' strategy based on the initial report's findings. The strategy should address restructuring the federal government's response to the childhood chronic disease crisis and add new solutions to tackle chronic disease, according to the executive order.
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In Congress
GOP ADVANCES MEGABILL — The House Budget Committee voted to advance the GOP's sweeping domestic policy agenda late Sunday night, keeping alive House Speaker Mike Johnson's goal of getting the 'big, beautiful bill' across the finish line by Memorial Day.
The legislation — central to President Donald Trump's agenda, including tax cuts, border security and energy policy — advanced through the committee in a 17-16 vote, with four conservatives voting 'present.'
Key context: The bill, which would cut federal Medicaid spending by more than $600 billion, initially failed to get through the Budget Committee in a vote Friday, when five Republicans joined the panel's Democratic cohort by voting in opposition. Some conservatives took issue with the legislation's line on work requirements for Medicaid recipients, set to take effect in 2029, wanting them to start sooner.
Just before the reconvened markup on Sunday night, Johnson told reporters that 'minor modifications' were promised to those holdouts.
House Republican leaders haven't publicly detailed possible changes or briefed the full House GOP Conference, and those concessions to fiscal hawks could endanger support among moderate Republicans wary of changes like speeding up enforcement of Medicaid work requirements.
Committee member Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of the holdouts Friday who then voted 'present' Sunday night, said in a post on the social media platform X that the bill 'does not yet meet the moment' because it doesn't go far enough in slashing federal dollars going to state Medicaid programs. Roy joined three of his colleagues to 'vote 'present' out of respect for the Republican Conference and the President to move the bill forward,' he said.
What's next: Top House Republicans want to push the megabill through the Rules Committee and the House floor by Thursday when lawmakers are set to leave for Memorial Day recess.
HEALTH CARE
BIDEN'S DIAGNOSIS — Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his personal office Sunday, POLITICO's Adam Wren and Gregory Svirnovskiy report.
Doctors diagnosed Biden last week with a prostate nodule after he experienced increasing urinary symptoms. By Friday, they diagnosed him with cancer, which has spread to the bone.
Biden's office said the cancer 'appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.' The former president, who is 82, and his family are reviewing treatment options with his doctors, the statement said.
What to know: Metastatic prostate cancer is not curable, but it is treatable and can typically be managed for a number of years, according to Dr. Geoffrey Sonn, an associate professor of urology at Stanford University School of Medicine who specializes in treating patients with prostate and kidney cancer. Sonn is not involved in Biden's care.
About 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and it is more common among older men — with about 60 percent of cases diagnosed in men 65 and older, according to the American Cancer Society.
'People can live for years on these hormonal therapy medicines, and there are other backup treatments once the initial ones start to fail, too, and those work longer, too,' he said. 'There's been a number of new medicines that have been improved and shown to be effective in the last 10 years or so.'
The hallmark treatment for prostate cancer that's spread to the bones is hormone therapy, which typically involves reducing the patient's testosterone level and can cause the cancer to shrink or stop growing, Sonn said. The median survival for patients undergoing the treatment is four years, though it can vary widely and sometimes be extended when patients use additional therapies or participate in clinical trials.
Quality of life with the diagnosis 'can be quite good with appropriate exercise and diet,' though the hormone treatment does have side effects, including sexual dysfunction and weakened bone density, according to Sonn.
'This is very different than if you hear someone that shows up with metastatic pancreatic cancer, where you know most are going to be dead within three to six months,' he said. 'Prostate cancer is very different in that regard, in that it can be managed for years.'
Even so: Prostate cancer is typically slow-moving, but Biden's advanced diagnosis suggests it's a faster-moving tumor, which could make it more difficult to treat, said Dr. Cory Abate-Shen, a professor of urologic sciences at Columbia University. Abate-Shen is not involved in Biden's care.
'It's pretty serious if it's so advanced, because you wouldn't imagine that from someone who's being monitored,' she said.
Vaccines
NOVAVAX COVID SHOT APPROVED — The FDA on Friday green-lighted Novavax's Covid-19 vaccine — but with some restrictions.
The FDA granted the company full approval for the protein-based and non-messenger RNA Covid shot, which previously had only emergency authorization for use in people 12 and older. But the agency approved the shot for use only in people 65 and older or for those ages 12 to 64 who have at least one underlying condition putting them at high risk for severe Covid outcomes.
Novavax competitors Pfizer and Moderna received full approval for their mRNA Covid-19 vaccines for certain age groups during the pandemic.
Why it matters: The vaccine's approval for certain groups of people comes amid uncertainty over whether the Trump administration will continue to recommend yearly Covid shots for all Americans ahead of a meeting of the CDC's top vaccine advisers next month. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, also plans to stop recommending routine Covid vaccines for pregnant women, teenagers and children, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Key context: The agency had initially set an April 2025 deadline to decide whether to license the shot. But the decision was delayed after a top FDA official directly intervened in the agency's review and asked for more data on the shot — a highly unusual move that cut against longstanding precedent at the FDA designed to shield scientific assessments from political interference.
WHAT WE'RE READING
The Associated Press' Eric Tucker, Gene Johnson and Alanna Durkin Richer report on the FBI investigating an explosion at a California fertility clinic as an act of terrorism.
POLITICO's Hassan Ali Kanu reports on the Trump administration asking the Supreme Court to allow mass layoffs of federal workers.