Medicaid cuts could be needed to pass GOP budget
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Gaza food crisis is ‘worst-case scenario,' say experts
The worst-case scenario of famine is playing out in the Gaza Strip, the leading international authority on food crisis said in an alert Tuesday as aid workers urge immediate action to avoid thousands of preventable deaths. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, issued the alert but stopped short of a formal famine declaration. The warning comes amid international outrage over images of emaciated children and increased reports of death due to starvation in Gaza. The crisis follows months of Israel's tightening of humanitarian aid deliveries in the Strip amid its war against Hamas for the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack. On Monday, President Trump said there was 'real starvation' in Gaza, signaling a break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had said there was no starvation in Gaza. The president said the U.S would look into setting up 'food centers' in Gaza. But the administration is drawing scrutiny and criticism for its support of the American-founded Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has handled distribution of food in the Strip for months and is criticized for contributing to chaotic, dangerous and undignified aid deliveries with people killed and injured searching for food. Amid international pressure and France's declaration it will recognize an independent Palestinian state last week, the Israeli government announced over the weekend it would carry out tactical pauses in fighting to allow for aid distribution. Jerusalem said it opened up additional corridors for humanitarian assistance and carried out and granted air drops of aid. But humanitarian workers in the Strip say this is far short of the response needed to prevent thousands or potentially tens of thousands of people from dying. 'Air drops are just not a solution. They're a spectacle. They're theatrics,' Bushra Khalidi of Oxfam said during a briefing of humanitarian workers organized Tuesday by the nongovernmental organization Save the Children. 'You can't feed starving children by tossing energy bars from the sky. People have already been injured by falling palettes. They've died by falling palettes, and the chaos around these drops only adds to the suffering.' The Gaza Health Ministry is reporting that 147 people, including 88 children, have died from malnutrition and starvation since October 2023, part of the more than 60,000 people killed since the start of the war. Hamas killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in its 2023 attack on Israel. While the health ministry does not distinguish Hamas militants in the figures, the numbers are widely accepted by the United Nations and other international organizations. Israel estimates it has killed 20,000 Palestinian militants. The IPC alert said malnutrition has been rising rapidly in the first half of July and has reached the famine threshold in Gaza City. More than 20,000 children have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July, with more than 3,000 severely malnourished, the report said. 'We have many children now in our child protection services saying that they wish to die. In heaven, in paradise, there is food, there is water,' Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save the Children International in Gaza, said in the briefing. 'Yesterday, in the clinic, one of the things that struck me, not only was the sort of visual impact of seeing so many people extremely thin, it was nearly silent … because children cry, but they're so exhausted, they're so sick, they're no longer able to cry. And that, I think for me, was really one of the most significant things I've ever seen in my career.' Tarek Loubani, a Canadian doctor working in Gaza, said the malnutrition numbers are extremely conservative and that death due to malnutrition is only classified when there is no other comorbidity. 'What we've seen every other time is that the numbers are about 10 percent of the reality, and probably that's what we're looking at here in terms of malnutrition and starvation,' said Loubani, who is also the medical director for the Glia Project, which provides medical supplies to impoverished locations. Loubani also pointed out that malnutrition is another devastating hardship on top of scarce resources for patients. Families donating blood for relatives wounded in bombings or shootings have difficulty replenishing their own blood supply because 'there's no iron, there's no nutritious food.' Loubani said he has lost about 44 pounds living and working in Gaza because there is so little food to eat for medical and aid workers. He said a handful of rice was his recent meal. 'In terms of the physicians and health care workers I work with, they are suffering. Their families are suffering. Everybody here is suffering,' he said. The IPC report said the sufficient delivery of humanitarian assistance can only be possible with a ceasefire, and that would require scaling up the flow of goods, restoring basic services and ensuring safe, unimpeded access to life-saving assistance. Trump's special envoy for peace missions left talks with Hamas last week blaming the U.S.-designated terrorist group as being the obstacle to a deal. He said the administration will consider 'alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.' Hamas holds about 20 living hostages it kidnapped from Israel on Oct. 7 and about 30 bodies. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Epoch Times
2 hours ago
- Epoch Times
Trump Admin Restores Long‑Standing Ban on Taxpayer‑Funded Abortions at VA Hospitals
The Trump administration has announced a proposal to rescind a Biden-era rule and bar medical centers operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from performing taxpayer-funded abortions except when the mother's life is in danger. The regulatory change will be formally proposed by VA in the Aug. 4 edition of the Federal Register, with a 30-day public comment period before it can enter into force.
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Why many women over age 52 have a higher risk of getting STIs
STIs are on the rise — but it's not just frat bros and free-lovers feeling the burn. While younger people still account for the majority of cases, studies show that some of the steepest spikes are happening in people 55 and up. Experts have offered several explanations for the surge, but research suggests there's a risk factor affecting many midlife and older women that has largely flown under the radar and could be playing a key role. Advertisement 4 More Americans are having sex in their senior years thanks to advancements in medicine. Monkey Business – More than a million American women hit menopause each year — and it's not just hot flashes and mood swings they're facing. The transition, which wraps up around age 52 on average, marks the end of reproductive years and is driven by a drop in estrogen as the ovaries slow hormone production. While vaginal dryness and loss of elasticity are well-known symptoms, research from Ohio State University (OSU) shows that menopause can also weaken the vaginal tissue itself, making it more prone to tearing. Advertisement That vulnerability comes down to changes at the cellular level. The vagina's surface is made up of multiple layers held together by key proteins like desmoglein-1 (DSG1) and desmocollin-1 (DSC1). 'These proteins strengthen the vaginal lining and restrict pathogen access to deeper tissue, reducing the risk of infection,' Dr. Thomas L. Cherpes, associate professor of otolaryngology at OSU, wrote in The Conversation. Advertisement 4 Menopause can bring a host of uncomfortable symptoms, including vaginal changes. – In their research, Cherpes and his colleagues found that postmenopausal women have significantly lower levels of DSG1 and DSC1 than women who haven't gone through the transition. To see how this might impact infection risk, the researchers removed the ovaries of mice in a lab to mimic estrogen loss in postmenopausal women. Compared to mice with intact ovaries, those without had far lower levels of DSG1 and DSC1 in their vaginal tissue. Advertisement The team also found that these mice were more vulnerable to infection with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), which causes genital herpes. They were less able to clear chlamydia infections from the lower genital tract as well. The findings help explain why postmenopausal women are more susceptible to STIs than their younger counterparts. Notably, when Cherpes and his colleagues applied estrogen cream to the mice without ovaries, it restored the vaginal lining's integrity and fully protected them from HSV-2 infection. 4 The vaginal tissue is more vulnerable to tearing after menopause, opening the door to infection. megaflopp – 'While additional research is needed, findings from our lab suggest that estrogen-containing compounds used to relieve vaginal irritation and other symptoms of genitourinary syndrome of menopause can also reduce susceptibility to STIs among older adults,' Cherpes wrote. Sex doesn't stop — and neither do the risks Americans might not like to talk about it, but older adults are still very much having sex. A 2018 survey found nearly 40% of people aged 65 to 80 are sexually active, and almost two-thirds remain interested in sex. Advertisement More recent AARP data shows that 26% of 60- to 69-year-olds and 17% of those 70 and older have sex weekly. 'Hormone-replacement therapy, vaginal lubricants and the approval of sildenafil (Viagra) and its relatives have extended people's sex lives,' Dr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer told the American Medical Association. But while more people are living longer and staying sexually active, more are also paying the price. 4 Sex-crazed seniors are fueling a major spike in STIs nationwide. David – Advertisement 'Rates are highest in the under 25 age group, which accounts for about 50% of STIs, but we're definitely seeing a rise in infections in the older population, particularly in people over 65,' Dr. Angelina Gangestad said in an interview with University Hospitals. Between 2010 and 2023, the number of Americans over 65 diagnosed with chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis rose by roughly three-, five- and sevenfold, respectively, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Research also suggests women over 50 are at greater risk for HIV than their younger peers. Advertisement In addition to the effects of menopause, experts say several other factors are likely fueling the rise. Condom use is significantly lower among older adults compared to younger people. One study found that just 3% of Americans aged 60 and older have used a condom in the past year. Older adults also tend to have less knowledge about STIs, including how they spread, what symptoms look like and how to prevent them. Advertisement To make matters worse, research suggests that many doctors don't ask older patients about their sex lives — and seniors aren't exactly jumping to bring it up with their family or friends, either. 'No one wants to think about grandma doing this,' Matthew Lee Smith, an associate professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, told NBC News. 'You certainly aren't going to ask grandma if she was wearing condoms — and that's part of the problem, because every individual regardless of age has the right to intimacy.'
