VA Doesn’t Have Enough Doctors; MAHA Falling Apart; NIH Spent Its Budget

The VA built dozens of new health centers for veterans, but it can’t find enough doctors or support staff to run them. (CNN)

The Make America Healthy Again movement is turning on its leader — and it’s not HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Politico)

The NIH will begin studying vaccine injuries as part of a new initiative, Kennedy said in an event at NIH. (Bloomberg News via the Union-Bulletin)

The agency also is redesigning its website, shifting attention away from individual institutes and centers and toward eight “hubs” including health, research, data, clinical studies, rare diseases, technology, cancer, and grants. (STAT)

And finally, the NIH awarded its entire extramural research budget of $34 billion for fiscal year 2026, funding around 58,000 projects — a slight drop from the 61,000 awarded the year prior. (STAT)

President Donald Trump can’t withhold more than $800 million in government agency funding that has been approved by Congress, according to a Government Accountability Office report. (AP)

On a related note, Republican and Democratic senators are workshopping a provision in a spending bill for next year that would prevent the Trump administration from exerting political influence over NIH grant-making. (Roll Call)

A federal appeals panel heard oral arguments in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ lawsuit against Kennedy’s changes to the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee. (The Hill)

The Trump administration issued an update to its hospital price transparency rule, which is aimed at making it easier for patients to compare prices for services and procedures. (The Hill)

Some CDC offices are closing abroad as the Trump administration makes deals with foreign countries requiring them to show healthcare improvement as they begin to wean themselves off of U.S. aid. (Politico)

Hospital and drug prices are spiraling out of control, and employers are getting more interested in having government become involved in curbing costs. (STAT)

Roughly two-thirds of Americans favor some form of “Medicare for All,” a KFF health poll found.

An HHS report characterizing transgender identity as illegitimate has some experts wondering about the agency’s impartiality when it comes to scientific research. (NPR)