Health Glance
Vinay Prasad, a top vaccine regulator ousted from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) late last month, is set to return to his post, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“At the FDA’s request, Dr. Vinay Prasad is resuming leadership of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told The Hill in a statement. “Neither the White House nor HHS will allow the fake news media to distract from the critical work the FDA is carrying out under the Trump administration.”
Prasad’s July 30 resignation as the FDA’s chief science officer followed criticism from right-wing figures — including activist Laura Loomer and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) — that ran parallel to a regulatory showdown with drug manufacturers over a gene therapy treatment for boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Loomer, a key ally of President Trump with noticeable influence, lavished attacks on the FDA official in recent weeks — calling him a “saboteur” and “trojan horse” for HHS’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative.
FDA reinstates ousted top vaccine regulator Vinay Prasad
Largest National Org Of OB-GYNs Cuts Financial Ties With Trump Admin
The country’s largest organization of OB-GYN providers announced this week that it will stop accepting funds from the federal government.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which has more than 60,000 members nationwide, will reject federal funding for all programs and contracts in response to the Trump administration’s policies, Axios reported Friday.
ACOG appears to be the first nationwide physician organization to cut ties with the Trump administration since President Donald Trump enacted his large-scale campaign to slash all federal initiatives for diversity, equity and inclusion. The national organization states on its website that diversity, equity and inclusion are part of the group’s core values, which are integral to combating racism and oppression in medical care.
Donald Trump's cuts to Planned Parenthood get blocked
A federal judge blocked enforcement of a provision in President Donald Trump's recently enacted tax and spending bill that would deprive Planned Parenthood and its members of Medicaid funding, saying it is likely unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued a preliminary injunction on July 28 after finding the law likely violated the Constitution by targeting Planned Parenthood's health centers specifically for punishment for providing abortions.
That provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by the Republican-led Congress, denied certain tax-exempt organizations and their affiliates from receiving Medicaid funds if they continue to provide abortions.
The Department of Justice argued that "the bill stops federal subsidies for Big Abortion" and urged Talwani not to let Planned Parenthood and its members "supplant duly enacted legislation with their own policy preferences."
Talwani, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, said the law's text and structure made clear that it was crafted to cover every member of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the parent organization, even if they were not named.re
RFK Jr. to remove controversial ingredient from all flu vaccines in the US
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. signed a controversial recommendation July 23 from a vaccine panel that advised removing thimerosal from all influenza vaccines.
Thimerosal is a preservative that has largely been phased out of U.S. vaccines and has long been targeted by anti-vaccine advocates despite broad scientific consensus on its safety.
The call against thimerosal was first presented by Lyn Redwood, former leader of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, during a June 26 meeting for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Judge blocks Trump administration from cutting Planned Parenthood funding
A federal judge Monday blocked the Trump administration from cutting funding to Planned Parenthood as part of the GOP’s new tax cut and health law.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston granted Planned Parenthood’s request for a temporary injunction while the lawsuit progresses.
Planned Parenthood two weeks ago sued over a provision in the new law that imposes a one-year ban on state Medicaid payments to health care nonprofits that also offer abortions and received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023.
Talwani’s ruling still allows the administration to enforce the provision against other providers, and the legislation did not mention Planned Parenthood by name. But the organization says it comprises almost the entirety of the impacted entities.
Health insurance costs to spike again: What to expect in 2026.
Consumers who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace will likely face double-digit rate hikes next year.
Insurers plan a median premium increase of 15% for 2026 plans, which would be the largest ACA insurance price hike since 2018, according to a Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker analysis published on July 18.
And many working-age consumers who get their health insurance through the workplace won't be spared, either. Benefits consultant Mercer said more than half of big employers expect to shift a larger share of insurance costs to employees and their families next year by raising deductibles, copays, or out-of-pocket requirements.
KFF said the ACA insurer cited factors such as medical cost inflation, the expiration of tax credits instituted during former President Joe Biden's administration that made plans cheaper, and tariffs on prescription drugs and medical device imports.
Half of New Orleans clergy abuse claims could be tossed in US bankruptcy court
As New Orleans’s bankrupt Roman Catholic archdiocese finalizes a plan to settle 633 clergy abuse claims filed against it, the church’s investors are arguing in US bankruptcy court that about half of those survivors could have their claims thrown out.
Church officials said on Wednesday they would not necessarily seek that, though the eligibility of claims will be determined by a court-appointed examiner. If the investors’ arguments prevail, it could have major effects on whether the US’s second-oldest Catholic archdiocese settles its expensive, five-year-old bankruptcy case – or if victims of abuse by its clergy will pursue their claims individually in civil court.
Meanwhile, documents filed in court on Tuesday outlined how the church has agreed to pay at least $180m into a settlement trust, with the total growing to between $210m and $235m if a number of affordable apartment complexes owned by a church affiliate can be sold.
After the eligible claimants are determined, they will get to vote to approve or reject the settlement by 29 October.
If two-thirds of the voting claimants do not approve the settlement, Judge Meredith Grabill has said she will have no choice but to throw the church out of bankruptcy.
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