Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
President Trump used executive orders on his first day in office to start the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization and roll back a series of health policies issued by former President Biden.
Why it matters: The directives offered more clues about a health care agenda that Trump did not make a prominent part of his campaign platform.
Here's a rundown of the most noteworthy:
- Withdrawing from the World Health Organization, which would mean the U.S. no longer provides funds to the agency or participates in its global health efforts. The order cites "onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries' assessed payments."
- Rescinding a Biden-era executive order that built on the IRA and instructed the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test models to lower drug costs.
- Rescinding two Biden-era executive orders that made it easier to enroll in and retain access to Medicaid and ACA coverage, via special enrollment periods, extending the open enrollment periods and increasing funding and outreach for the navigators program.
- Trump also rescinded several pandemic-related EOs addressing issues like ensuring equity in the pandemic response, establishing a COVID-19 testing board, accelerating treatment for COVID therapies, and establishing COVID vaccine requirements for federal workers.
The other side: Democrats are already starting to message on the issue, saying Trump is trying to increase health care costs by rescinding the CMMI drug models executive order.
- "On the first day of the Republican trifecta, Donald Trump wasted no time in following through on exactly what House Republicans have been aiming to do for so long: make medicine more expensive," the DCCC charged in a statement Tuesday.
Between the lines: Health care rated only brief mentions in Trump's inaugural address.
- He made a reference to the public health system not delivering in times of disaster and said that "more money is spent on it than any country anywhere in the world."
- Trump also referenced his and HHS Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s shared interest in ending the chronic disease epidemic.
What's next: Trump will likely continue to issue EOs or rescissions in the next weeks that could include health-related measures, such as the so-called Mexico City policy or Title 42.
