The Great MAHA Betrayal Continues

This week on Paging America, Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson break down the growing cyclospora outbreak spreading across 34 states and the CDC’s alarmingly slow, under-resourced response.
They also trace the widening rift between the “Make America Healthy Again” movement and the Trump administration, from the EPA’s rollback of truck emissions standards to its redefinition of PFAS “forever chemicals,” moves environmental and health advocates say directly contradict MAHA’s stated goals.MAHA and MAGA could be heading towards an ugly breakup.
Plus: a wave of troubling news out of HHS: RFK Jr.’s push to catalog alleged COVID vaccine injuries, his targeting of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and a proposed move to shift special education oversight from the Department of Education into HHS. The latter is a change disability advocates warn could reframe students as patients.
And more than half of CDC’s centers are without permanent leadership, a troubling rise in parents skipping newborn vitamin K shots, and new data showing ACA premiums are set for another round of double-digit increases in 2026.
Finally, we talk to Andrew Perez of Zeteo News to unpack a new poll on Medicare for All. The data shows broad support for more government involvement in healthcare, but that support drops once people are asked to give up private insurance, which reveals a public that’s fed up with the system but split on the fix. Perez and host Miles Baker discuss that contradiction, the coming wave of ACA and Medicaid coverage losses, and what it’ll take to actually build a universal healthcare movement.
LINKS
* WBALTV: Map: Cyclospora outbreaks reported across more than half of U.S. states. See how many cases are in each state
* PBS News: The EPA promised a MAHA agenda. It has yet to materialize, frustrating activists
* CBT News: EPA looks to relax emissions rules for heavy-duty trucks, buses
* CNN: PFAS pesticides approved after EPA adopts new toxicity definition
* STAT: RFK Jr. plans to create list of injuries caused by Covid-19 vaccines
* Scientific American: RFK, Jr. is turning his attention to the U.S. Preventive Services Taskforce
* The Hill: RFK Jr.’s focus on preventive health panel provokes new fears
* NPR: In private call, Education Dept. tried, but failed, to reassure disability advocates
* The Arc: Moving Special Education and Civil Rights Out of Education Department Risks a Patchwork of Rights for Students With Disabilities
* Video of RFK Jr. talking about kids with autism is HERE
* MedPage Today: More Than Half of CDC Centers Lack Permanent Leadership
* The Hill: Senate Democrat requests investigation into whether RFK Jr. broke Hatch Act
* The New York Times: As Parents Reject Vitamin K Shots, Some Babies Develop Devastating Bleeding
* ProPublica: Lawmakers Call for CDC to Track Vitamin K Shot Refusals, Cite ProPublica Report
* KFF Health News: Affordable Care Act Insurers Want More Premium Increases as Enrollment Sags
* AP (via STAT): Obamacare rolls shrank dramatically in many states over the past year, new federal data shows
* Zeteo: ‘A First-of-Its-Kind’ Poll About Medicare for All
* Find Zeteo News online HERE
* Andrew Perez on X
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