Tim Levengood

Late Wed., Sen. Amy Klobuchar told us there is bipartisan support for AI rules and bipartisan oppo to the moratorium:

“By preventing cities and states from protecting renters and allowing landlords to leverage AI to collude, House Republicans would raise rents even more while reducing competition."

In the search for spending savings, House Republicans could've gone after overpayments to insurers & hospitals in Medicare.

Instead, they singled out people w/ the lowest incomes for the lion's share of cuts.

Then re-directed that $$ mainly for more high-income tax cuts.

The original House bill would have led to about 10 million more uninsured people, according to CBO. The amended version that passed would lead to more people losing health insurance. If this bill gets enacted, it would represent the biggest rollback in federal support for health care ever.

Farce of a process, disaster of a bill

ISGMH's 2025 postdoctoral showcase. Thurs, Mary 22, 2025. 12:00 pm CT.

Join ISGMH on May 22 for our annual Postdoctoral Fellow Showcase!

This year’s event features exciting LGBTQ health research presentations from 5 postdocs: Emily Esposito, John Guigayoma, @tim-levengood.bsky.social, @jonathanlpzmts.bsky.social, and Mariajosé Paton.

Register today: buff.ly/rUSA6Yh

Research to Advanced Racial and Indigenous Health Equity We seek to build an actionable body of evidence to construct fair systems that determine resource distribution and support health equity. Deadlines: Rapid Response brief proposal 5/28/25; New Research...

Are you a health equity researcher who has lost federal funding for a project?

RWJF’s Evidence for Action is offering Rapid Response grants to support community-centered, social science research disrupted by cuts. ☀️

More details: www.rwjf.org/en/grants/ac...

This isn't about saving money: the program costs just a fraction of the dept's budget.

This isn't about making Americans healthier: over 2k people use the service every day.

This is about scoring cheap political points by taking advantage of some of the most vulnerable members of society.

A screenshot of text that reads: "Source: email Attribution: Department of Health and Human Services official Date: received April 7, 2025 HHS is directing the CDC to reconvene the Community Preventative Services Task Force to study and make a new recommendation on fluoride."

Speaking in Utah today, Secy Kennedy called for end of water fluoridation. An HHS official now tells us they're

"directing the CDC to reconvene the Community Preventative Services Task Force to study and make a new recommendation on fluoride"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2025/0...

👇🎯 The public isn't going to understand this, unless the presidents of R1 universities around the country <loudly> & <collectively> get out into the public square & start explaining this & calling out the existential threat to the entire 🇺🇸 university system. The silence is deafening right now.

100%. One of the most professionally rewarding dimensions of my job the last few years has been in working with clinical teaching colleagues to integrate systems and policy thinking into our med student curriculum.

Line chart showing year from 1960 to 2023 on the x axis, and spending in billions on the y axis. an exponentially growing green line ends at 449.73 billion USD inflation adjusted on retail prescription drugs.

Prescription drug spending in the US increased by $30 Billion between 2022 and 2023, including:

⬆️$11B spent by Medicare
⬆️$4B spent by Medicaid
⬆️$15B spent by Private Insurers

#healthpolicy #healthcarespending #cost #affordability
More details: www.healthsystemtracker.org/health-spend...

CBO's out with their new deficit reductions options.

Just look at all that $$ on the table if we paid Medicare Advantage plans closer to what the law intended.

www.cbo.gov/system/files...

Quote from opinion piece by Dr Mark Fendrick in AJMC: While capitalism is deeply entrenched in how Americans experience health care, the market is no longer working in the eyes of many Americans. Their dissatisfaction has manifested into a wave of anger unleashed at insurers. We can no longer pretend that, left undirected and unchecked, the market will efficiently and equitably deliver public goods like medical care.

New in @AJMC_Journal from Mark Fendrick, MD of the Univ. of Michigan Center for Value Based Insurance Design: a reflection on the tumultuous events of the past week and the broader issues facing American healthcare & insurance: www.ajmc.com/view/sharing...

#healthpolicy

Just had an idea

GO DAWGS!!!

Scoop: Trump, RFK Jr. dine with Pfizer and Lilly execs The dinner could indicate that Trump's administration will see the pharmaceutical industry as a partner — not just an adversary.

Pfizer, Lilly, PhRMA execs meet with Trump and RFK Jr.

www.axios.com/2024/12/05/t...

"More than 90% of expenditures in the early years have gone to administrative and consulting costs –mostly to Deloitte Consulting, according to data obtained by investigative reporters." This includes an $11 million ad & outreach campaign.

The MN Dept of Health just released a first of its kind report on MN 340B covered entities’ acquisition costs, net revenue, and external operational/admin expenses. It includes (select) entity-level and drug family-level data. The report is here: www.health.state.mn.us/data/340b/do.... #Healthpolicy

A breakthrough cancer immunotherapy is now taking aim at autoimmune disease CAR-T therapy is generating excitement for lupus, scleroderma, and other conditions as clinical trials expand

The possible “catastrophic success” of CAR-T cells in cancer and autoimmune disease @science.org. A nice story on dramatic diseases, biomedical technology and sustainability.. bit.ly/4i9FXf1 #oncosky #medsky #oncsky 🧪

New open access article from our team.

Event-driven / on-demand (AKA 2-1-1) PrEP use has tripled between 2019-2023 in Australia, with 28% of gay/bi men and other men who have sex with men now using event-driven PrEP in 2023.

Read here:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Trump’s tariffs could raise the cost of generic drugs in the U.S. Generic drugs make up the majority of prescriptions filled in the U.S.

NEW: How could Trump’s tariffs impact generic drugs, many of which come from abroad?

Dr. Janet Woodcock, a former acting FDA chief, said without some kind of exemption, importing is likely to become more expensive — a cost that could be passed on to patients.

www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

RFK Jr. weighs major changes to how Medicare pays physicians Kennedy and advisers say the system drives doctors to perform costly surgeries rather than combating chronic disease.

RFK Jr and aides are weighing changes to billions of dollars in Medicare physician payments.

Their thesis: the current payment model, which rewards specialty care and surgeries, has created bad incentives that harm our health.

Many experts + Democrats have also called for more $$ for primary care.

Curious about the 340B Drug Pricing Program? Check out our scoping review of the empirical literature (and the first paper of my dissertation) in The Milbank Quarterly
@MilbankFund. Many thanks to co-authors Rena Conti, Sean Cahill, and Megan Cole doi.org/10.1111/1468...

Republicans delay more than $1 billion in HIV program funding The funding delays are the latest complication facing PEPFAR, a life-saving program that has been ensnared in a broader political fight around abortion.

Scoop: Republicans are quietly delaying more than $1 billion in planned funding for a life-saving HIV program — demanding changes to terms like abortion, sexual reproductive health, even "human rights" in the program’s documents.

It’s the latest hurdle facing PEPFAR. More here.

We were so fortunate to share the results of our work (w/ @stecula.bsky.social ) on @npr.org 's All Things Considered yesterday.

What I appreciate most about the story is its focus on not just the prevalence of vax. hesitancy, but its potential public health risks.

www.npr.org/sections/hea...

Abstract of the paper 'How Power Shapes Behavior: Evidence from Physicians'

When the abstract says

❝We exploit the quasi-exogenous assignment of 1.5 million patients to physicians in US military, using the difference in ranks to measure their power differential❞

you know you're in for something great

@vinisingh.bsky.social
stschwab.github.io/images/power...