Within hours of the Trump Administration announcing two new rules that would allow businesses to opt out of offering their employees insurance that covers birth control, the attorney general for the state of California has filed a lawsuit to block the regulations from going into effect. [More]
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California Sues To Stop Trump Administration Rollback Of Insurance Birth Control Requirement
By 10.6.17
Trump Administration Undoes Birth Control Requirement For Employer-Sponsored Insurance
By 10.6.17
Under current law, most employer-sponsored health insurance plans have to include birth control coverage, but that will soon change, with the Trump administration announcing today that it is rescinding this requirement, allowing employers to decide whether they want to include this coverage in the policies they offer. [More]
Health & Human Services Secretary Tom Price Resigns Amid Private Jet Scandal
By 9.29.17
Tom Price, the physician-turned-congressman who recently became Donald Trump’s first Health and Human Services Secretary, has officially resigned in the middle of a scandal involving Price’s apparent overuse of private jets for government — and possibly personal — travel. [More]
More Than 1-In-4 Nursing Home Abuse Cases May Go Unreported To Police
By 8.28.17
Just as the Trump administration is attempting to prevent nursing home residents or their families from ever being able to sue longterm care facilities for neglect or fraud, a federal audit claims that an alarming percentage of physical and sexual abuse cases at nursing homes may be going unreported to law enforcement. [More]
Watch Out For Department Of Health And Human Services Impostors On The Phone
By 3.10.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Health care and the government are in the news lately, but they shouldn’t be on your phone. If someone calls you up and asks for personal information, don’t give it to them, even if the caller ID says “HHS Tips” or “Federal Government,” or the call appears to be coming from the 202 area code in Washington, DC. The people making these calls are impersonating the government. [More]
DEA Denies Governors’ Petitions To Reclassify Marijuana For Medical Use
By 8.11.16 — Updated: 2.23.17
Half the states and the District of Columbia have passed laws legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes, but the plant remains an illegal, Schedule I drug on the federal level. Five years after the governors of Rhode Island and Washington petitioned the Drug Enforcement Administration to reconsider this classification, the DEA has denied their requests. [More]
International Partnership Created To Speed Up Antibiotic Development
By 7.28.16
Drug-resistant superbugs are on the rise, increasingly rendering a number of drugs useless even for infections that were once easily treated. At the same time, it’s been more than three decades since medical science found a new class of antibiotics, meaning the bugs may be outpacing the drugs. Today, the U.S. government, along with private organizations in the United Kingdom and stateside, announced a partnership intended to accelerate the development of new antibiotics. [More]
Does Walgreens’ New Up-Close-And-Personal Pharmacy Approach Violate Privacy Laws?
By 3.20.14
In an effort intended to provide pharmacy customers a less impersonal experience, some Walgreens stores have been redesigned to get pharmacists out in the store, consulting with customers at desks, without the traditional counter (and sometimes panes of bulletproof glass) between them. But the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services wants to see if this new “Well Experience” model is unintentionally revealing customers’ private medical information. [More]
Practice Good Hygiene Or Be Shamed By The White House
By 9.18.09
We at Consumerist understand the importance of washing your hands and practicing good hygiene. We’re also big fans of publicly humiliating people who endanger us with their gross germs. That’s why we love this video of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stopping a press briefing and scolding MSNBC reporter Chuck Todd for sneezing into his hand, instead of his elbow.
New FoodSafety Website Helps You Stop Accidentally Poisoning Your Family
By 9.10.09
The USDA and Health and Human Services (HHS) today unveiled a new website focused on food safety at foodsafety.gov. It’s got lots of info on how to keep food from spoiling, but better still it’s a good launching pad for filing complaints, or keeping track of what’s going on in your state (check the “state agency” widget in the bottom right column).
By 2.4.09
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Now that red-Harry-Potter-glasses-wearing-former-Sen. Tom Daschle has withdrawn his name from consideration for head of the Department of Health and Human Services, a movement to nominate Dr. Leo Spaceman for the position is forming. Hey, “If you want a shot you’re gonna have to dance for it.” [Facebook]
Seven States Sue Over Health Worker "Conscience" Rule
By 1.16.09
Seven state attorneys general, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU have sued to overturn the so-called “conscience” rule, which allows doctors, pharmacists, and other health care workers to refuse to perform procedures or dispense medication that conflicts with their beliefs.
