Tag: Senator Susan Collins

Grants under threat at the US National Institutes of Health

Volume 406, Issue 10522
20 December 2025
WORLD REPORT  Changes to how research grants are assessed and awarded are undermining the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research. Washington Correspondent Susan Jaffe reports. 
So far this year, the Trump administration has fired more than 1000 scientists and grant administrators at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and cut thousands of its research grants, including clinical trials with 74 000 patients. But long-time grant recipients and former institute directors worry that changes in how grants are awarded—and who receives them—threaten the pathways for new discoveries and the many academic research centres that train future scientists. [Continued here.]
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Robert Kennedy Jr’s Promises

Volume 405, Issue 10480
1 March 2025
WORLD REPORT    To earn enough Senate votes for confirmation as Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F Kennedy Jr made some surprising promises for someone aspiring to become the nation’s top health official. He had to reassure a few sceptical Republican senators that he would not overturn years of accepted public health policies, medical practice, and scientific consensus. And yet, in just the short time since assuming his new post on Feb 13, Kennedy’s actions—and inaction—appear to undermine those commitments as thousands of HHS employees are laid off under President Donald Trump’s executive orders shrinking the size and cost of government. [Continued here.]

 

 

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New US initiative to prevent gun violence welcomed

Volume 402, Issue 10418
9 December 2023 

WORLD REPORT  Thwarted by Congress, President Joe Biden has created the first White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Susan Jaffe reports from Washington, DC.  

With Congress unable to ban even the most dangerous firearms made for war zones, US President Joe Biden announced a new strategy to deal with gun violence afflicting the nation: creating the first White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Frustrated by the congressional impasse, Biden essentially conceded that the new Office was not the best solution for reducing the unrelenting toll of gun violence in the USA.

“I’ll continue to urge Congress to take common sense actions that the majority of Americans support, like enacting universal background checks and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines”, Biden said in his announcement. “But in the absence of that sorely needed action, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention along with the rest of my Administration will continue to do everything it can to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our families, our communities, and our country apart.” [Continued here]…

No More Secrets: Congress Bans Pharmacist  ‘Gag Orders’  On Drug Prices

Update:  After this article was posted Oct. 10th, the President signed the legislation into law later that day.

By Susan Jaffe  | Kaiser Health News | October 10, 2018  | This KHN story also ran on 

For years, most pharmacists couldn’t give customers even a clue about an easy way to save money on prescription drugs. But the restraints are coming off.

When the cash price for a prescription is less than what you would pay using your insurance plan, pharmacists will no longer have to keep that a secret.

…But there’s a catch: Under the new legislation, pharmacists will not be required to tell patients about the lower cost option. If they don’t, it’s up to the customer to ask.  [Continued at Kaiser Health News and at NBC News]

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