Letter: Health care in the dark

Published 12:15 am Saturday, February 1, 2025

We want to make everyone aware of an important event in the current administration that isn’t getting a lot of attention, but impacts every single person. The current administration is stopping all communications, hiring and education from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What does this mean to all of us? With no updates from either of these organizations, your health care professionals are in the blind about what is going on, and any new recommendations and developments.

You and your family will be unaware of any new ideas, implementations, news that may impact all of us. You may not agree with some of the past information and recommendations, but you at least knew what they were, so you, your family and health care professional could make informed decisions.

The NIH is the U.S. leader in conducting and funding biomedical research. This work impacts the health of millions nation and worldwide, and has kept the United States at the forefront of improving healthcare outcomes. Another worry will be even if this is “lifted,” will the messages and recommendations from any of these important organizations be filtered, and not based on science?

Another potential outcome of this will be that the best and brightest will find someplace else to work. That could set the United States back years, and impact your kids and family. The current course the Trump administration is taking for U.S. health care, regardless of your political ideology, must be closely monitored to ensure we get the information we all deserve.

MIKE BROSIUS

Astoria