Healthcare & Policy News
Reporting on health care policy, insurance coverage, and federal health programs. Includes news updates and conservative commentary from The Daily Signal.
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opinion
To Fix Health Care We Need Prices, Not Price Controls
You can’t have a market without prices, which is a major reason why health care is such a mess. Nobody knows what anything costs, even though the vast majority of medical services are not emergencies. In President Donald Trump’s first term, he took this problem on by mandating that hospitals that participate in Medicare and… -
opinion
Biden Turned Patient Protection Into Slush Fund, and Trump Is Doing Something About It
President Donald Trump signed the No Surprises Act in 2020 to stop patients from getting ambushed by medical bills they never agreed to pay. Under the Biden administration, it became one of the most lucrative slush funds for providers who use a loophole in the law to overbill for procedures and drive-up costs for all… -
news
MAHA Win in Arkansas: ‘Food, Not Junk’ for Food Stamps
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is celebrating a state ban on food stamps being used on candy and soda as part of the Make America Healthy Again effort, despite lawsuits against similar waivers. “Arkansas is getting soft drinks and candy OFF food stamps starting July 1 – because taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be wasted on unhealthy junk,” Sanders said on X. Health and Human… -
exclusive
EXCLUSIVE: House Committee Announces Fraud Investigation Into Autism Therapy Firm
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is investigating a Brooklyn-based autism therapy provider over allegations of excessive billing practices that may be driving up health care costs for workers and employers. Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., requested extensive records from The Perfect Child LLC,… -
news
US Death Rate Falls to Record Low
THE DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—The death rate in the U.S. declined to a new record low in 2025, according to new provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) out Thursday. The CDC reported that 3,094,593 total deaths occurred in the U.S. in 2025. The nation’s overall death rate was 689.2 per 100,000 people, a 4.6% decrease from… -
opinion
My Upset Primary Victory Shows Voters Are Hungry for Health Care Solutions
Last week, the Trump administration announced that it’s ramping up enforcement of its hospital price transparency rule to overcome widespread noncompliance. “Our message to hospitals is simple: Post your real prices,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Come into compliance immediately or prepare for serious consequences.” Actual, upfront prices, as President… -
exclusive
Dr. Oz Huddles With House Republicans Crafting Anti-Fraud Reconciliation Bill
Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, huddled with House Republicans on Wednesday to discuss anti-fraud measures, as House leadership seeks to pass a fraud-focused party-line budget bill. On Wednesday morning, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters Oz was coming to meet with a group of House Republicans… -
opinion
New Texas Clinic Flips the Left’s Gender Narrative on Its Head
People who have been hoodwinked by transgender ideology and the medical establishment telling them to physically damage their own bodies in pursuit of a false identity may have a strong new remedy. The Department of Justice and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced last week a seismic shift in medicine. For the first time, a… -
opinion
‘How Many Times Were We Lied To?’ Fauci & Top Officials Under Fire Over COVID-19 Claims
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words” from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to Victor Davis Hanson’s own YouTube channel to watch past episodes. Jack Fowler: OK, Victor, just to torture people further with the sound of my voice, here’s the headline: CIA… -
opinion
Texas Children’s Hospital Settlement Deals Massive Defeat to Medical Transgender Agenda
THE WASHINGTON STAND—The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday announced a settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) in which the hospital not only committed to never again carry out gender transition procedures on minors, but also agreed to open the nation’s first detransitioner clinic and fully fund it for five years. TCH gained notoriety in 2023 when… -
opinion
Trust, but Don’t Verify? FDA’s New Inspection Policy Causing Dramatic Increase in Food Recalls
A century ago, the U.S. federal government made a straightforward decision: If you sell food to Americans, the government will verify that it is safe. Not by reviewing self-submissions. Not by relying on self-representations, but by showing up and seeing for itself. The system relied on Food and Drug Administration officials making surprise inspections and… -
news
Acting FDA Commissioner Promises Transparency, Action on Abortion Pill
The acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration has promised to prioritize a safety review of the abortion pill after his predecessor was accused of delaying it, pro-life leaders say. Kyle Diamantas, FDA deputy commissioner for food, is serving as acting FDA commissioner in the wake of Dr. Marty Makary’s departure. Though the Trump… -
opinion
Dear Incoming FDA Leadership: I Lost My Brothers to a Rare Disease. Please Help My Son.
My 14-year-old son Ryu has a terminal rare disease. We were to travel from Texas to the District of Columbia on May 12 to attend a Senate hearing on the Food and Drug Administration budget. There, Ryu had hoped to meet our senator, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to shake his hand, and to tell him a… -
opinion
Mifepristone: Another Reason to Assert the Sanctity of Life
The abortion issue won’t go away, as so many politicians wish it would. It persists because the discussion and debate are about our very existence. What is life? The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, which has defined the abortion landscape in the United States… -
opinion
Medicaid Millionaires Are Hiding in Plain Sight
Fraud in government programs is often treated like an urban legend—something that happens in faraway blue cities run by corrupt political machines. But the truth is more unsettling: Some of the most brazen theft of taxpayer money is happening in places governed by Republicans, right under their noses. Consider Ohio. At one address in Columbus,… -
news
Trump’s New Pick for Surgeon General Splitting Pro-Life and MAHA Voices
President Donald Trump’s new pick for surgeon general is a resounding win for the pro-life movement but might not be for the Make America Healthy Again movement. Trump tapped former Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole B. Saphier to be his third nominee for U.S. surgeon general after withdrawing Dr. Casey Means’ nomination, which failed to… -
exclusive
Military Testimonies Raise Civil Liberties Questions Over COVID-19 Vaccine
“Duty to Disobey,” a documentary examining the experiences of U.S. service members who refused the COVID‑19 vaccine mandated by former President Joe Biden’s secretary of defense, is set to hit theaters in June. The film details what happened to men and women in uniform who declined the mandate. It explores physical injuries linked to the… -
news
Senate Report: Biden FDA ‘Ignored’ Early COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Warnings
A Senate report alleges that Biden administration health officials failed to act on early warning signs of potential COVID-19 vaccine side effects identified by a Food and Drug Administration scientist. The interim report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., says internal records show officials “ignored” findings from a… -
opinion
Monsanto v. Durnell Could Hand Pesticide Manufacturers Sweeping Liability Protections
Across the country, lawmakers and industry groups are pushing to make it harder to sue pesticide manufacturers when their products fail to adequately warn consumers about risks or how to protect themselves when using these chemicals. That debate between consumers and industry has now found its way to the Supreme Court. On April 27, the… -
exclusive
‘Worst of the Worst of Government’: How Trump Admin Is Ending ‘Orphan Tax’
When Assistant Secretary of Health Alex Adams led the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, he ended the state’s “orphan tax.” Now he is helping every other state do the same thing. “We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re gonna keep at this,” said Adams, who leads the Administration of Children and Families…