The Trump administration on Tuesday moved to remove eight common artificial dyes from the food supply over the next two years, continuing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s push to revamp what Americans eat.
Why it matters: The effort by the Food and Drug Administration is part of a broader push to target additives in sodas, snacks and processed foods that the administration contends are a risk to children's health, though decades of evidence suggests they're safe at the levels currently used.
President Trump has called himself the "fertilization president," but DOGE-directed cuts this month decimated Centers for Disease Control staff who track the safety, cost and outcomes of the nation's fertility clinics.
Why it matters: The CDC had been a source of unbiased information for families contemplating IVF or other assisted reproductive technologies, including estimates of of their chances for success.
The White House is emerging as a powerful ally of the burgeoning movement of people who want women to have more children, but there's little emphasis on the unique level of danger that birth poses in the U.S.
Why it matters: The U.S. population is aging, presenting complex economic and health care challenges that "pro-natalists" argue should be addressed through raising fertility rates. At the same time, the country is facing an ongoing maternal mortality crisis and a politically fraught debate over women's reproductive health that's had widespread ripple effects.
Walgreens Boots Alliance agreed to pay $300 million to settle a case alleging company pharmacists knowingly dispensed millions of illegal opioid prescriptions over more than a decade and billed Medicare and other federal health care programs for them.
Why it matters: The settlement will allow Walgreens to "close all opioid related litigation" with federal, state, and local governments, it told Axios in a statement Monday.
Supreme Court justices appeared inclined Monday to keep the Affordable Care Act's requirement that insurers cover certain recommended preventive services at no cost.
Why it matters: At stake is access to no-cost screenings, tests, HIV drugs and counseling for the roughly 150 million Americans with private health insurance.
The Trump administration, defending the task force, argued that the secretary of Health and Human Services has appropriate oversight over its members and recommendations.
But lawyers for Christian-owned companies challenging the mandate argued that the task force is unconstitutionally imposing coverage requirements because its members aren't politically appointed.
Where it stands: Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett appeared skeptical of the companies' reasoning.
The companies' argument views the task force as a "massively important agency that operates with unreviewable authority to make really critical decisions that are going to affect the economy," Kavanaugh said.
"Normally before that kind of thing would happen, Congress would have provided stronger indications that this task force is enormously important in the American economy, and would have treated it such," he said. "I just don't see indications of that."
What's next: The Supreme Court is expected to issue its decision in June or early July.
The professional association for OB-GYNs is recommending a shift in the way prenatal care is delivered, away from a dozen or more office visits to a more individualized approach built around social needs and patient choice.
Why it matters: The standard recommendation of 12 to 14 visits doesn't ensure that patients receive necessary care when nearly a quarter don't go to their first appointment until after the first trimester and almost half don't receive all the recommended services on time, clinicians say.
At least half a dozen states are weighing new restrictions aimed at limiting pharmacy benefit managers' ability to influence drug prices, including prohibitions on steering business to affiliated pharmacies.
Why it matters: With Congress gridlocked on PBM legislation, more states are taking the lead inaddressing industry practices that critics say drive up costs and are pushing independent pharmacies out of business.
Five years of legal battles over the Affordable Care Act's preventative services mandate will come to a head at the Supreme Court on Monday, in a case that will decide if millions of Americans will continue to have free access to certain screenings, tests, HIV drugs and counseling.
Why it matters: It's the fourth time the high court will review the ACA, this time over a technical question about the constitutionality of the task force that decides which services fall under that requirement.
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