Latest news with #BillCassidy
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
NCOA Applauds Reintroduction of Treat and Reduce Obesity Act
Bipartisan legislation would expand Medicare coverage of comprehensive obesity treatments View in browser Key Takeaways: The Treat and Reduce Obesity Act (TROA) has been reintroduced in the U.S. Senate. Reintroduction in the U.S. House of Representatives is expected soon. If passed and signed into law, TROA would require Medicare to cover anti-obesity medications, including GLP-1s, and expand access to intensive behavioral therapy for weight management. TROA has historically gained bipartisan support and was first introduced in Congress over 10 years ago. ARLINGTON, Va., June 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Council on Aging (NCOA), the national voice for every person's right to age well, applauds today's reintroduction of the bipartisan Treat and Reduce Obesity Act (TROA) in the U.S. Senate. Led by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., TROA would expand Medicare coverage for the full continuum of obesity care, recognizing obesity as a chronic, treatable disease that affects 40 percent of older Americans. First introduced in 2013, TROA aims to improve Medicare by removing outdated barriers to quality obesity care. The legislation has consistently received bipartisan support, highlighting a growing agreement among policymakers about the need to tackle the nation's obesity epidemic. "Obesity is a chronic condition that has affected millions of Americans for decades, but getting adequate care remains stubbornly difficult for too many older adults," said Ramsey Alwin, NCOA President and CEO. "The reintroduction of TROA is a welcome and vital step toward ensuring all Americans have access to the full range of obesity treatments." The legislation would repeal an outdated statute that prevents Medicare Part D from covering FDA-approved obesity medications. TROA also enhances access to intensive behavioral therapy (IBT) under Medicare Part B, which under current policy can only be provided by primary care doctors. TROA expands access to IBT to ensure a broader array of health care providers, including registered dietitian nutritionists, obesity medicine specialists, endocrinologists, bariatric surgeons, clinical psychologists, and community-based providers. By expanding access to lifestyle-based interventions like IBT, TROA ensures patients with obesity will have access to the full spectrum of obesity care. Obesity is linked to over 200 medical conditions and is responsible for an estimated 400,000 deaths annually. In addition to the health impacts of obesity, it is also an expensive disease, costing an estimated $173 billion in the United States in 2019. Expanding insurance coverage of obesity treatments could help reduce the cost burden of obesity to both patients and all Americans. According to the USC Schaffer Center, access to innovative anti-obesity medicines, including GLP-1s, can produce a 13% return on investment. Another recent study found that employees taking anti-obesity medications saw reduced growth in medical cost rates over two years compared to those not taking them, resulting in lower costs for their employers in addition to significant health improvements. NCOA has advocated for older adults with obesity to be treated fairly by providers free from weight stigma and bias. With the National Consumers League, NCOA helped develop the Obesity Bill of Rights in 2024. About NCOAThe National Council on Aging (NCOA) is the national voice for every person's right to age well. Working with thousands of national and local partners, we provide resources, tools, best practices, and advocacy to ensure every person can age with health and financial security. Founded in 1950, we are the oldest national organization focused on older adults. Learn more at and @NCOAging. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE National Council on Aging Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
E&E News
23-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
US carbon tariffs wouldn't cut global emissions, report says
Republican legislation that would impose a fee on imports of some products that generate high levels of greenhouse gas emissions during production would not cut global emissions overall, a new report said. The 'Foreign Pollution Fee Act' from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) would impose tariffs on products such as iron, steel, aluminum, cement and glass based on their carbon intensity when made compared with U.S.-manufactured products. Carbon intensity measures emissions per unit of production and allows facilities to increase production without automatically facing a penalty. The legislation would likely increase U.S. production of the products, which would ratchet up the country's greenhouse gas emissions, said the report Wednesday by Resources for the Future think tank. Domestic production of cement would increase by more than 9 percent, aluminum would increase by roughly 8 percent, and iron and steel by more than 7 percent. Advertisement But countries that produce less carbon-intensive materials might sell more products to the U.S., which could offset emissions from additional domestic production, the report says.
Fox News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Bipartisan Senate bill targets border human, drug trafficking with innovative technology
FIRST ON FOX: Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy are reaching across the aisle to roll out a measure that would quickly deliver new and effective technologies to strengthen law enforcement's ability to combat human and drug trafficking at the border, Fox News Digital has learned. Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Cassidy, R-La., are working together to introduce the "Emerging Innovative Border Technologies Act," which would make innovation teams at U.S. Customs and Border Protection permanent. Innovation teams were first created at the agency in 2018. The bill would authorize the Customs and Border Protection commissioner to maintain one or more innovation teams to research and adapt commercial technologies to assist in border security operations and urgent mission needs. It also would require the Department of Homeland Security to submit a plan to Congress that assesses the performance parameters and security impacts of potential technologies, as well as the deactivation of former Customs and Border Protection technology. "Technology continues to improve our everyday lives, and it's just common sense that we look for ways innovative technologies can help keep our border communities secure," Cortez Maso told Fox News Digital. "I am committed to helping CBP continue developing the tools they need to improve border security operations." "President Trump secured the southern border in his first 30 days," Cassidy told Fox News Digital. "Let's secure the border forever by using new technology." He added: "Let's stop fentanyl from flowing into our country." The senators told Fox News Digital that investments in border security technology will "strengthen CBP's detection and response time to cases of trafficking and illicit border crossings in remote areas." The legislation would make innovation teams a more permanent and long-lasting part of Customs and Border operations. A Cortez Masto aide told Fox News Digital that the senator has been working to crack down on cross-border crime since she was attorney general in Nevada. The aide highlighted Cortez Masto's work with Republicans in the state, along with Mexican officials, to combat the rise of methamphetamine manufacturing and cross-border drug trafficking. In the Senate, she has authored legislation to combat drug trafficking online, which was signed into law; and passed legislation to eliminate illegal fentanyl supply chains. Cortez Masto has also introduced a bill that would crack down on the deadly fentanyl additive xylazine. Meanwhile, a similar version of the "Emerging Innovative Border Technologies Act" was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., and Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas. Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have plummeted 93% under President Donald Trump's administration, according to new data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection released Monday. Customs and Border Protection says it averaged 279 apprehensions per day at the southern border in April, compared to 4,297 apprehensions in April 2024. The total apprehensions for April landed at 8,383, compared to April 2024's 129,000. Customs and Border Protection officials also noted that just five illegal aliens were temporarily released into the U.S. during April, compared to 68,000 during the same month in 2024.
CTV News
14-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
What to expect at RFK Jr.'s first U.S. Senate hearing as health secretary
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during an event in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington on May 12, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein / AP Photo) WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy wanted an assurance from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before he would vote to put him in charge of the nation's US$1.7 trillion health department. Kennedy's history of promoting conspiracy theories or misspeaking about vaccines alarmed Cassidy, he said during a confirmation hearing earlier this year. So, the Louisiana senator asked: 'Can I trust that that is now in the past?' Kennedy didn't give a direct answer that day. Now three months into the job, however, Kennedy's habit of casting doubts on vaccines has returned in interviews on television shows, public speeches and social media posts. Kennedy will make his first appearance as health secretary before Cassidy's powerful Senate health committee on Wednesday, when he's expected to face intense scrutiny about the thousands of jobs he's eliminated at the Department of Health and Human Services, the steep cuts he's made to vaccination campaigns and his response to a measles outbreak that's sickened 1,000 people. He will speak about the agency's budget request for the year, which includes a US$500 million boost for his 'Make America Healthy Again' initiative to promote nutrition and healthier lifestyles. The proposed budget also makes deep cuts, including to infectious disease prevention, maternal health and preschool programs. The secretary plans to 'share his vision on how HHS' transformation will improve health outcomes, eliminate redundancies to save the American taxpayer, and streamline operations to improve efficiency and service,' HHS said in a statement to The Associated Press. Kennedy's supporters, meanwhile, have viewed his first three months in the job as a successful delivery of 'MAHA' agenda items: He's pressured food companies to ditch artificial dyes, promised to study the cause of autism, vowed to reverse fluoride recommendations and earned buy-in from several Republican governors to ban soda from the food stamp program, for example. But many eyes and ears will be on Kennedy's dialogue with Cassidy, who extracted a number of guarantees from Kennedy about his approach to vaccines. Those included promises to keep the current childhood vaccination schedule, use the current vaccine monitoring system and not remove statements that say vaccines do not cause autism on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. 'I will watch carefully for any effort to wrongfully sow public fear about vaccines between confusing references of coincidences and anecdote,' Cassidy said earlier this year, after voting in favor of Kennedy's nomination. Kennedy has since delivered a mixed message on vaccines that public health experts have said are hampering efforts to contain the measles outbreak. He's offered endorsements of vaccinations but continued to raise questions about their efficacy or safety. He's said the childhood vaccine schedule will be examined in a study of autism's causes. He's called the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — a shot given to children to provide immunity from all three diseases — 'leaky,' although it offers lifetime protection from the measles for most people. He's also said they cause deaths, although none has been documented among healthy people. At the agency, too, he's made moves that support the anti-vaccine movement. He hired a man who has published research that suggests vaccines cause developmental delays to oversee a study on autism. And he's terminated some research and public health funds dedicated to vaccines. Kennedy, who has rejected the anti-vaccine label, has regularly said that he is 'pro-safety' and wants more research on vaccines, although decades of real-world use and research have concluded they safely prevent deadly diseases in children. 'His longstanding advocacy has always focused on ensuring that vaccines, and other medical interventions, meet the highest standards of safety and are supported by gold-standard science,' HHS said in a statement. 'As he did during confirmation, Secretary Kennedy is prepared to address questions surrounding this topic.' Article written by Amanda Seitz, The Associated Press
Toronto Star
14-05-2025
- Health
- Toronto Star
What to expect at RFK Jr.‘s first Senate hearing as health secretary
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy wanted an assurance from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before he would vote to put him in charge of the nation's $1.7 trillion health department. Kennedy's history of promoting conspiracy theories or misspeaking about vaccines alarmed Cassidy, he said during a confirmation hearing earlier this year.
