One Month in Review: Health updates under the new federal administration
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Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash [/caption]
Health News by Sara Post
It has been one month since the inauguration of Donald Trump, who has spent the time issuing an unprecedented number of executive orders and other mandates. Some of these impact healthcare in the United States, which also impacts health and healthcare locally in Jefferson County. This month, we’ll attempt to sift through national news headlines to pull out six updates relevant to local healthcare. The Beacon seeks to present information that is nonpartisan and verified. The following list is non-comprehensive. If you see errors or missing locally relevant events, please email us.
Trump issues an executive order to withdraw from the WHO. The World Health Organization is an agency of the United Nations (UN) which oversees coordinated response to global health emergencies, including pandemics. Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, says: “We in the U.S. don’t experience many of the infectious diseases we see around the world in large part because they are stopped in these countries, oftentimes through the support and coordination of the WHO.” Until countered, the US will officially withdraw all support and coordination with the WHO in Jan 2026.
CDC information is paused or shuttered. CDC’s infectious disease tracker was unavailable for several weeks, resulting in a lawsuit by Doctors of America. During that time, a CDC study reporting animal-to-human transmission of bird flu was delayed to the blanket pause on CDC communications as ordered by Trump. Although some webpages were restored, CDC, FDA, and HHS pages reporting research on reproductive health are still unavailable.1 “Removing critical clinical information and datasets [...] not only puts the health of our patients at risk, but also endangers research that improves the health and health care of the American public,” said Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, a member of the board of directors for Doctors for America. Jefferson County Public Health relies on the CDC tracker to make public health recommendations, as does the local hospital when it considers up-to-date recommendations for staff safety. Campaigns advocating for the flu vaccine have also been taken down from the CDC website despite 2024 marking the worst flu season in 15 years according to Seattle-King County Public Health.
Federal staff cuts in the healthcare sector affect veterans, including those who seek care at the closest VA hospital in Seattle, which is already understaffed. The Veteran Affairs (VA) division is 16% healthcare workers, all of whom received an email earlier this month suggesting they take early retirement. “We’re already facing a staffing crisis in our hospitals,” said Irma Westmoreland, a registered nurse who heads the Veterans Affairs unit for National Nurses United. “We cannot afford to lose any more staff.” Other federal cuts include cuts to the FDA, which oversees food safety as well as the safety of medical devices.
Republicans propose cutting Medicaid in a bill that would result in loss of coverage for up to 20 million Americans in 2025, including some of the 23% of Jefferson County adults enrolled in Medicaid. Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, states: “People still have health care needs even if you cut their coverage,” Alker said. “Their health care needs are not going to go away.”
Healthcare for transgender persons is paused in response to an order by Trump to withhold federal research and education grants from hospitals who offer healthcare to transgender people under 19 years old. Following the order, multiple hospitals across the country canceled scheduled care; among them, Seattle Children’s. However, an essay published this month by Mike Glenn, Jefferson Healthcare CEO, states: "Jefferson Healthcare is, and always will be, a place of healing for everyone regardless of who you are or why you need care." Discovery Behavioral Health in Port Townsend also continues to provide low-income mental health care for all persons seeking therapy, regardless of gender identity.
Immigrants are targeted for deportation. On February 21st, the Senate approved a $340 billion budget to fund mass deportations and expand the military. Relevant to health care is Trump’s removal of hospitals and clinics as federally "sensitive" areas, previously understood to be exempt from random ICE visitations. Despite this change in the status of hospitals, ICE would still need to provide a judicial warrant signed by a judge in order to enter "private" areas such as patient rooms and staff charting areas. Jefferson County Sheriff additionally notified the public on January 28th that the Keep WA Working Act is still in effect, which prevents local law enforcement from "sharing non-public personal information with federal immigration authorities or inquiring about immigration status unless necessary for criminal investigation." Providers and patients are encouraged to connect with the JCIRA Multicultural Center in Port Townsend at 360-232-6070 for further guidance on rights within health facilities.
Every day, there are changes in health information on both local and national levels. It can be overwhelming to know what has happened, who will be impacted, and what rules will be overturned. Luckily, we live in a relatively rural community in which we have the opportunity to continue connecting with each other in person with the goal of learning how best to support one another.
Author’s note: some of the missing government information has now been archived via the Wayback Machine
