Much remains to be seen, but many clues can be found not only in the advisor The Promises of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to help Trump »Making America Healthy Again“, but in Trump’s own sense Agenda 47 and in Project 2025the Heritage Foundation’s 500-page conservative policy plan to reshape the federal government. Because if Trump has distanced himself from them, he sharing many links with its architects, many of whom worked in his last administration and on his transition or campaign team.
Below is a look at what could happen in the United States when it comes to health, according to these two documents.
Trump could ban abortion pills and so-called ‘abortion tourism’
Without going into detail, the Trump administration says it “will oppose a late mandate.” abortion“, according to the official GOP platform that Trump’s website links to via his brief 47 Point Agenda. He will do so, he says, “while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control and IVF (fertility treatments).
Draft 2025 goes further, suggesting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should stop “promoting abortion as health care” and that any research and creation of vaccines involving embryonic or fetal stem cells “be prohibited by law and politics. (several vaccines are made by culturing viruses in fetal embryonic cells from tissues obtained from legally aborted fetuses). He also wants the Department of Health and Human Services to accurately state “exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the state of residence of the mother and by what method. This, he explains, is because “liberal states have now become sanctuaries for abortion tourism,” using conservative rhetoric. sentence to refer to the 171,000 women who had to cross state lines to have an abortion or obtain abortion pills following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Additionally, the document asks the FDA to reverse its approval of abortion pills and stopping “mail-order abortions” and banning Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds, declaring that “abortion is not health care.” THE American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the World Health Organizationhowever, disagree, calling abortion an “essential” part of health care.
Trump wants to further restrict the rights of transgender people
“Republicans will end left-wing gender madness,” promises Agenda 47. “We will keep men out of women’s sports,” a reference to transgender women and girls being included in sport that match their gender identity, “prohibit taxpayer funding for sex reassignment surgeries,” which would end life-saving treatment for transgender people who rely on the state for their care, and “prevent taxpayer-funded schools from promoting gender transition.” This can mean anything from allowing students to use the restroom that matches their gender identity to allowing teachers or counselors to consult children about their gender identity without alerting parents, so to avoid unwanted revelations.
Trump promises to cut federal funding for any school “pushing…radical gender ideology,” which, as GLAAD explains“is a malicious rhetorical construct that falsely asserts that LGBTQ, particularly trans, people are an ideological movement rather than an intrinsic identity,” and that the term is “just one example of anti-LGBTQ hate and misinformation online “.
Additionally, Trump says he will “rescind Biden’s sweeping rewrite of Title IX education regulations,” referring to the new policy that came into force in Augustwhich extends Title IX civil rights protections to LGBTQ students, expands the definition of sexual harassment in schools and colleges, and adds safeguards for victims.
Agenda 47 also states that Trump will ask Congress to pass a bill ensuring that the U.S. government recognizes only two genders: male and female, both assigned at birth. He says he will also investigate “big pharmaceutical companies” and “major hospital networks” to see if they are illegally marketing hormones and puberty blockers-both used in gender affirming care for minors with gender dysphoriathe latter being a reversible off-label use – “which are in no way authorized or approved for this use”. But while it’s true that puberty blockers (used for decades to treat “early” or precocious puberty) are not approved for use in gender-affirming care, unauthorized uses of the drugs are legal and common. Gender-affirming care for minors, while endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Pediatric Endocrine Society, and the American Psychological Association, is currently banned or severely limited in 20 states.
Seniors could face more expensive Medicare
Trump says he ‘won’t cut a dime Health insurance», and will work with seniors “to enable them to be active and in good health”.
Even if Project 2025 does not propose reductions Health insurancesome of his proposals could increase costs for beneficiaries, including a proposal to make Medicare Advantage the default plan, ending the Medicare Part D price negotiation program and effectively privatize the program. Critics of this plan, including Center for Economic and Political Research (CEPR)say there is not enough evidence that Medicare Advantage provides better patient outcomes than traditional Medicare. (As for Medicaid, Draft 2025 proposes cuts but does not call for its complete elimination.)
Trump, through the Republican Party platform, pledges to “protect seniors” and support “increased focus on chronic disease prevention and management, long-term care, and benefit flexibility “. In addition, notes the platform, “we will expand access to primary care and supportive policies that help older people stay in their homes and maintain their financial security, shifting resources to”elderly care at home“, support an end to the shortage of social workers and support unpaid family caregivers with tax credits.
Trump wants to end drug shortages, making ‘big pharma’ and the CDC more accountable
Trump, through his program, promises end pharmaceutical shortages and “return the manufacturing of life-saving medicines to the United States” by reinstating his 2020 mandate. Executive Order 13944. “American doctors should never have to administer a drug to a patient from an unlicensed facility in China or India,” he notes on his website. “We can and must produce these essential medicines at home. »
Additionally, Trump wants to hold the pharmaceutical industry responsible for chronic childhood illnesses – without being more specific. Trump also said he would hold the pharmaceutical industry responsible for drug addiction, particularly opioid crisis.
Project 2025 wants to reduce prescription drug costs. “Specifically,” he notes, “the FDA should prohibit pharmaceutical companies from deliberately relying on their legally available right to be first to sell pharmaceutical products.” generic versions of their medications. This apparently refers to the practice by manufacturers of branded pharmaceutical products of seeking to “delay the market entry of generic competitors”, according to to the Commonwealth Funda nonprofit organization that aims to improve health care in the United States. “Strategies include obtaining and registering additional patents on their drugs with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), participating in strategic patent litigation settlements, and restricting drug manufacturers’ access. generics to drug samples.”
He also says he aims to disentangle the CDC from what he says is a practice of accepting pharmaceutical contributions, dating back to the 1990s, through the “loophole.” from the non-profit CDC Foundation.
“The money started flowing in immediately: From 2014 to 2018, the CDC Foundation received $79.6 million from pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, BiogenicAnd Merck», notes the political plan. “This practice presents a serious conflict of interest that should be prohibited. »
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