Week of November 25–29, 2024

The Opioid Crisis

Donald Trump describes the word tariff as “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.” So, his announcement that he would be imposing 25% tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada was perhaps to be expected. He also separately outlined “an additional 10% tariff” on imports from China, which – even if enacted – would be well below the 60% rate that Trump had threatened on the campaign trail. More surprising is the U.S. president-elect’s claim that the tariffs are a response to China’s failure to curb the flow of fentanyl into the US. Read more here.

Gender-Affirming Care and LGBTQ Issues

Donald Trump's transition team is developing an executive order that would medically discharge the estimated 15,000 transgender service members from the military, according to several international news outlets. The sudden dismissal of so many troops would prove chaotic, advocates supporting LGBTQ+ service members say, and the military services would be forced to fill gaps and compensate for a loss of experience at a time when recruiting remains a struggle. Read more here.

Federal Policy

Mehmet Oz, Trump's pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is about to land in the middle of tensions among Republicans over how the Medicare Advantage program works. Privately run Medicare Advantage plans now enroll more than half of America's seniors, costing the federal government about $83 billion more per year than the traditional Medicare program would for the same enrollees. A burgeoning anti-big-business wing of the GOP is coinciding with growing concern among fiscal hawks about the program's cost and its overuse of prior authorization that adds hurdles to seniors' access to care. Read more here.

The announcements came one after another, President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for the country’s premier health leadership roles: a New York family physician and Fox News medical contributor for surgeon general; a Florida physician and former congressman to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a surgeon and researcher at Johns Hopkins for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Public health experts and former government officials and researchers — including 10 who spoke with CNN — had praise, critiques, and questions about Trump’s picks. Read more here.