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Since September, 16 major drug companies have inked deals with the Trump administration to lower prices. But in January — the time of year when pharmaceutical companies typically roll out price hikes — all 16 companies released higher list prices for some of their drugs.

The agreements, nicknamed "most favored nation" deals, were aimed at getting lower prices for American consumers and pushing other wealthy countries to pay higher prices for new drugs.

But drug companies, including the 16 that made deals, raised the prices of 872 brand-name drugs in the first two weeks of 2026, according to a new analysis by 46brooklyn, a drug price research firm.The drugs with price hikes included medicines to treat cancer, heart failure and Type 2 diabetes. The price of some COVID shots also went up.

"The real truth serum is what's happening in the marketplace after those deals occur," says Antonio Ciaccia, CEO of 46brooklyn, a nonprofit that tracks the list prices of prescription medications. "January is prime time for list price changes on brand-name drugs. So in examining where we are today, we're pretty much in line with the last few years."

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told USA TODAY that “electromagnetic radiation is a major health concern” a day after his department launched a study of cellphone radiation.

“Generally speaking, electromagnetic radiation is a major health concern,” Kennedy said in the exclusive interview, when asked for his concerns about 5G towers. “I’m very concerned about it.”

The department said 22 states had restricted cellphone use in schools to improve health of children under the "Make America Healthy Again" movement. Since 2022, there's been a significant push by K-12 schools nationwide to ban cell phone use in classrooms. But this is to curb mental health effects of social media, prevent cyberbullying and being online at all times, not EMF radiation.

Cell providers' 5G networks promise faster connections but have long been the target of skeptics who say they have negative health effects. USA TODAY has previously debunked online claims that 5G is dangerous.

The Food and Drug Administration under Kennedy has taken down old webpages saying cellphones are not dangerous.

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The Trump administration has agreed to unfreeze millions in federal funding to Planned Parenthood and other family planning groups, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The union filed to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit on Jan. 13, citing the restoration of funds.investigation, citing potential violations of federal civil rights laws. In response, the ACLU sued the administration over the cuts.

The union filed to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit on Jan. 13, citing the restoration of funds.

“We are relieved all of our members now have access to their promised funds, but we know the fight for contraceptive access in this country goes on. We will continue to stand up for our members and the essential care they provide to millions of individuals,” Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, said in a statement.

The Trump administration ultimately paused 22 federal Title X grants, jeopardizing care for 842,000 patients across the country, according to the ACLU.

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Americans should eat more whole foods and protein, fewer highly processed foods and less added sugar, according to the latest edition of federal nutrition advice released Wednesday by the Trump administration.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins issued the 2025-2030 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which offer updated recommendations for a healthy diet and provide the foundation for federal nutrition programs and policies. They come as Kennedy has for months stressed overhauling the U.S. food supply as part of his Make America Healthy Again agenda.

"Our message is clear: Eat real food," Kennedy told reporters at a White House briefing.

The guidelines emphasize consumption of fresh vegetables, whole grains and dairy products, long advised as part of a healthy eating plan.

But they also take a new stance on "highly processed" foods, and refined carbohydrates, urging consumers to avoid "packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat or other foods that are salty or sweet, such as chips, cookies and candy." That's a different term for ultraprocessed foods, the super-tasty, energy-dense products that make up more than half of the calories in the U.S. diet and have been linked to chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity.

The new guidance backs away from revoking long-standing advice to limit saturated fats, despite signals from Kennedy and Food and Drug Commissioner Marty Makary that the administration would push for more consumption of animal fats to end the "war" on saturated fats.

Instead, the document suggests that Americans should choose whole-food sources of saturated fat — such as meat, whole-fat dairy or avocados — while continuing to limit saturated fat consumption to no more than 10% of daily calories. The guidance says "other options can include butter or beef tallow," despite previous recommendations to avoid those fats.


The dietary guidelines, required by law to be updated every five years, provide a template for a healthy diet. But in a country where more than half of adults have a diet-related chronic disease, few Americans actually follow the guidance, research shows.

The new recommendations drew praise from some prominent nutrition experts.

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The Trump administration is facing a legal complaint from a group of government employees affected by a new policy going into effect Thursday that eliminates coverage for gender-affirming care in federal health insurance programs.

The complaint, filed Thursday on the employees’ behalf by the Human Rights Campaign, is in response to an August announcement from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that it would no longer cover “chemical and surgical modification of an individual’s sex traits through medical interventions” in health insurance programs for federal employees and US Postal Service workers.

The complaint argues that denying coverage of gender-affirming care is sex-based discrimination and asks the personnel office to rescind the policy.

“This policy is not about cost or care – it is about driving transgender people and people with transgender spouses, children, and dependents out of the federal workforce,” the Human Rights Campaign Foundation president, Kelley Robinson, said in a statement announcing the move.

The complaint, filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, includes testimonies from four current federal workers at the state department, health and human services and the postal service who would be directly affected by the elimination of coverage.

For instance, the postal service employee has a daughter whose doctors recommended that she get puberty blockers and potentially hormone replacement therapy for her diagnosed gender dysphoria, which would not be covered under the new OPM policy, according to the complaint.

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The Department of Health and Human Services is freezing all childcare payments to all states, an official for Donald Trump’s administration told ABC News in a report published Wednesday. States’ funds will be released “only when states prove they are being spent legitimately”.

The report came a day after Jim O’Neill, the HHS deputy secretary, and Alex Adams, an HHS assistant secretary who oversees the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), appeared in a Tuesday evening video message. O’Neill declared that the department had “activated our defend-the-spend system for all ACF childcare payments across America” and would now require “justification, receipt or photo evidence before we make a payment”.

Originally, O’Neill and Adams’s message was interpreted as an announcement that HHS would stop childcare funding in Minnesota, not all 50 states. However, the Associated Press reported late Wednesday that the freeze would apply to every state and that all states would need to provide more documentation about their childcare programs before receiving federal money

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