HHS News
The Daily Signal covers hhs with reporting and conservative commentary. Reports on HHS leadership, regulations, and federal health initiatives. Includes conservative commentary and opinion on the agency’s role in U.S. policy.
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HHS Scraps Obama Rules on Gender Identity, Abortion
Federal health officials announced a final rule Friday scrapping an Obama-era regulation that forced medical workers to perform abortions despite their religious beliefs. The Obama administration’s 2016 regulation, already vacated by a court ruling, also redefined sex-based discrimination in health care to include questions of gender identity. The old rule would have imposed nearly $3 billion…Fred Lucas -
Delivering Better Health and Human Services to Americans
Eric Hargan, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, joins The Daily Signal Podcast to discuss the nation’s coronavirus recovery. Hargan also describes his priorities in cutting red tape at HHS, focusing on values-based health care that is primarily about outcomes and not just services, and making health care records more…Rachel del Guidice -
‘Time Is of Essence’: Cruz Asks HHS to Expedite Ventilator Production
Sen. Ted Cruz has asked Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to expedite production and distribution of medical supplies such as ventilators for those infected by the coronavirus. “On Wednesday, March 18, 2020, President Trump signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA) and delegating authority to you, as the…Rachel del Guidice -
HHS to Lift Obama-Era Restrictions on Grants for Faith-Based Adoption Services
Under a new proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday, the federal government no longer will withhold federal grant money from faith-based adoption providers that won’t compromise their views on same-sex marriage. “I don’t want to discriminate against anyone. I want groups to be able to continue their work without…Fred Lucas -
HHS Secretary Calls Trump Most Pro-Life President Ever
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar called President Donald Trump the most pro-life president in U.S. history Friday as he noted the accomplishments of his department and the administration. “When I think about the very core of our mission, and why I am so proud to do the work we are doing, it’s pretty…Fred Lucas -
HHS Secretary Tells UN General Assembly: ‘There Is No International Right to an Abortion’
The U.S. health and human services secretary condemned efforts to provide international access to abortion at a United Nations conference Monday. Secretary Alex Azar spoke Monday morning at the U.N. General Assembly in New York and told the gathered nations abortion is not an international right. Azar also condemned the use of “ambiguous terms and expressions such…Mary Margaret Olohan -
Vermont Hospital Violated Nurse’s Conscience Rights on Abortion, HHS Says
The University of Vermont Medical Center forced a nurse to participate in an abortion, despite her objections, in violation of federal law protecting conscience rights, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday. The hospital denied the allegation. HHS cited provisions of 42 U.S.C. 300a-7, known as the “Church amendments,” named for then-Sen….Fred Lucas -
EXCLUSIVE: HHS Makes $5.1 Million Grant to Pro-Life Community Clinics
The founder of an organization of community care clinics that cater to women praises the Trump administration for deciding to give her group $5.1 million over three years for use in California, a grant that once might have gone to Planned Parenthood. “With this grant, the administration has opened up a new avenue of health…Rachel del Guidice -
Podcast: HHS Secretary Azar on How Trump Administration Can Improve Health Care
While the Trump administration remains committed to repealing Obamacare, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has additional ideas for how to boost health care in the United States. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal’s Genevieve Wood, he shares his thoughts. Plus: A new study indicates adults are spending over 11…Katrina Trinko -
Trump Aims to Increase Value and Decrease Costs of Health Care, HHS Secretary Says
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday that the Trump administration is working to deregulate health care with the goals of reforming the individual insurance market, lowering prescription drug prices, and creating a “value-based” health care system. “Today, fixing American health care requires disrupting government-dictated systems, building new ones that encourage choice and…Rachel del Guidice -
Exclusive: 56 Lawmakers Ask HHS Probe of Planned Parenthood’s Response to Child Sexual Abuse
A group of 56 lawmakers led by Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., is urging federal officials to investigate the extent to which Planned Parenthood fails to report suspected sexual abuse of minors. In a letter Thursday to the Department of Health and Human Services, Hartzler and 55 other Republicans ask the agency to probe whether Planned…Rachel del Guidice -
HHS Pushes Back Against Narrative That It ‘Lost’ 1,500 Alien Children
The federal agency responsible for caring for unaccompanied alien children is pushing back against accusations that it has lost nearly 1,500 of them, knocking critics that “confuse and spread misinformation” about the issue. Most of the children were not lost, but were temporarily unaccounted for because their sponsors did not respond to inquiries from government…Will Racke -
Daily Signal Exclusive: HHS Secretary Alex Azar on 3 Steps to Combating the Opioid Crisis
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar spoke to The Daily Signal’s Rob Bluey about the Trump administration’s response to the opioid crisis. Azar spoke Thursday at Generation Next, a White House forum for millennials. An edited transcript of his Daily Signal interview is below. Rob Bluey: You were with President Trump earlier this week in…Rob Bluey -
Tom Price Resigns as HHS Secretary
President Donald Trump accepted the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on Friday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced late Friday afternoon. Price had been under fire for his use of private charter flights. “Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price offered his resignation earlier today and the…Fred Lucas -
Why Is HHS Contraception Order Still Standing?
After meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on May 4, I sat in the Rose Garden and listened as the president promised the Little Sisters of the Poor that their “long ordeal” with the government’s contraceptive mandate “would soon be over.” Yet here we are, nearly three months later, and the Health and Human…Cardinal Daniel DiNardo -
Pro-Life Advocates Optimistic as One of Their Own Gets Key HHS Job
President Donald Trump’s appointment of a national pro-life leader to serve as the top communicator at the Department of Health and Human Services is great news for the pro-life cause, leaders at associated organizations say. Charmaine Yoest, longtime head of the group Americans United for Life, will assume the responsibilities of assistant secretary for public…Rachel del Guidice -
Tom Price Clears Senate, Ready to Dismantle Obamacare as HHS Chief
The Senate voted 52-47 early Friday morning to confirm Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., a surgeon who has fought to repeal Obamacare, as the 23rd secretary of health and human services. Not a single Democrat voted for Price, an outspoken critic of Obamacare who is expected to oversee the dismantling and replacement of the health care law…Rachel del Guidice -
Trump’s HHS Nominee Holds Firm on Importance of Patient Choice
On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee completed a confirmation hearing for Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., to become America’s next secretary of health and human services. Price had previously undergone a confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Combining the two hearings, Price underwent almost eight hours of tough questioning on the Affordable…Jean Morrow -
HHS Nominee Tom Price Urges Medicaid Changes to Improve Health Care
President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services pushed Tuesday for changes to Medicaid, telling senators the program is in need of repair. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., testified before the Senate Finance Committee, where Democrats pressed him for details on Republicans’ plan to replace Obamacare. Their questions included whether that plan would…Melissa Quinn -
HHS Pick Tom Price Pledges to Meet ‘Needs of All’ After Obamacare Repeal
Rep. Tom Price, who is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, countered Democrats’ claims about the consequences of repealing Obamacare, telling senators that “nobody’s interested in pulling the rug out from under anybody.” Price, R-Ga., appeared Wednesday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in a…Melissa Quinn