When it comes to health and healthcare, at the most basic level, I expect the federal government to do three things:

• Make it easier to get care
• Make it easier to stay healthy
• Accelerate the creation and improvement of treatment

Over the first 36 days, this administration has not just failed to make progress—it has actively thrown us in reverse on all three fronts.

Make it Easier to Get Care

Executive orders have gutted DEI programs, slashing cultural competence training for clinicians and dismantling initiatives that improve healthcare access for underserved populations. These aren’t just feel-good diversity checkboxes; they lead to better diagnoses, more effective treatments, and fewer disparities in care. Killing them isn’t just regressive, it’s fiscally irresponsible. Unchecked health issues turn into costly emergencies, and we all pay the price.

Then there’s the assault on gender-affirming care for minors. Beyond the sheer cruelty of targeting an already vulnerable group, the long-term physical and mental health consequences are staggering. This administration is deadset on erasing an entire community. More on that in a future piece, because I have much more to say.

And finally, looming threats to Medicaid and Medicare. As Congress bends over backward to fund massive tax cuts for the wealthy, millions of Americans are bracing for devastating healthcare cuts. If and when those cuts happen, access to care will crater, suffering will skyrocket, and costs will explode. But sure, tell me more about fiscal responsibility.

Make it Easier to Stay Healthy

COVID-19 derailed Trump’s first presidency, and you’d think that would make him double down on public health safeguards this time around. Instead, he’s lighting the whole thing on fire. This is exactly the kind of tantrum my frustrated six-year-old might throw.

Since nearly day one, Federal health agencies, including the CDC, have been gagged — banned from sharing important information with the public. This might be comical if we weren’t on the midst of a bird flu outbreak.

Meanwhile, the administration has deleted critical health data from CDC websites. Datasets on HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, and health disparities are gone. I used to work in public health and relied on these datasets daily. Public health leaders are without proper data to make decisions, leading to wasted resources, bad policy, and increased public health risk. But hey, who needs data when you have gut instincts and conspiracy theories?

There was also the abrupt withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), yanking nearly 20% of its funding overnight. The WHO plays a critical role in global disease monitoring and response, and our departure puts both international and American lives at risk. Meanwhile, Trump’s shiny new “Department of Government Efficiency,” helmed by Elon Musk, has gutted USAID’s global health initiatives. Infectious disease programs? Axed. International health security? Slashed. It’s almost like they want a global pandemic. 

And finally, the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health Secretary—an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist now in charge of national health policy. While no major regulatory changes have hit yet, his appointment alone emboldens misinformation. It is just a matter of time before we are dealing with the resurgence of diseases we once eradicated.

Accelerate the Creation and Improvement of Treatment

Perhaps most alarming is the scorched-earth approach to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), long considered a bipartisan pillar of medical research. Here are just a few of the greatest hits:

• Mass layoffs of probationary employees (aka, anyone with less than two years in their current job)
• Suspension of NIH grant reviews, effectively stalling critical medical research from even getting to the start line
• Blacklisting of grant proposals containing “problematic” DEI words like female, socioeconomic, trauma, barrier, LGBT, and victim (because apparently, these things are now controversial)
• A proposed 15% cap on indirect costs in grants, which sounds reasonable until you realize indirect costs cover lab space, utilities, and equipment necessary for actually doing the research

The result? Widespread uncertainty, paralyzed research, and a wave of talented scientists reconsidering their careers. The long-term damage is hard to overstate—we’re on the verge of losing an entire generation of researchers. This isn’t just an attack on academia; it’s an attack on innovation, medical progress, and ultimately, human lives. 

And for what? The NIH has historically been one of the least controversial institutions in the country. It has contributed to nearly every FDA-approved drug, supported Nobel Prize-winning discoveries, and provided research funding to every state and congressional district. Not to mention, every $1 spent on NIH funding generates $2.46 in economic return. Slashing NIH isn’t about fiscal prudence—it’s about control. It’s about gutting science to consolidate power and silence academia.

The Bottom Line: Hypocrisy in Action

This administration loves to talk about efficiency and fiscal prudence, but let’s be clear: every move they’ve made in healthcare is not only regressive but also wildly expensive in the long run. Defunding preventative care and public health initiatives leads to bigger crises and higher costs. Slashing access to care means more untreated conditions, increased ER visits, and more financial burden on the system. Undermining medical research slows down innovation, delaying life-saving treatments and driving up healthcare costs.

The hypocrisy is staggering. You don’t get to claim fiscal responsibility while making decisions that will cost taxpayers billions in preventable healthcare expenses. You don’t get to champion efficiency while dismantling the very institutions designed to improve public health and medical innovation. And you certainly don’t get to call this governance when it’s nothing more than ideological warfare at the expense of people’s lives.

We aren’t just standing still—we’re hurtling backward. And the cost? It’s measured in lives, in dollars, and in a future where getting sick is even more dangerous, more expensive, and more inevitable for millions of Americans.

So what do we do? Lawsuits are flying, but courts move at a glacial pace, and let’s be real, Trump has already shown he’ll ignore rulings he doesn’t like. That leaves Congress as the only real firewall. We have to crank up the pressure on our representatives, especially Republicans, who are blindly following Trump because they think it’s their golden ticket to re-election. Time to shatter that illusion. If they don’t stand up now to defend democracy, they won’t just lose their seats—they’ll help burn the whole system down. No democracy, no elections, no second chances. 

Call your senators and representatives. Check out https://5calls.org/ to get started.