A doctor asked the Supreme Court to intervene in her battle against woke California medical education requirements she says stifle her free speech.
Dr. Azadeh Khatibi and the medical watchdog organization Do No Harm filed a <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/1032366223/Khatibi-Pet-for-Cert-1?_gl=1*158e1y2*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTg1NjQ4MTE0NS4xNzc3Mzg2MDE2*_ga_Z4ZC50DED6*czE3NzczODYwMTUkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzczODYwMTckajU4JGwwJGgw*_ga_8KZ8BV0P5W*czE3NzczODYwMTUkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzczODYwMTckajU4JGwwJGgw">petition</a> on Tuesday asking the Supreme Court to take up a case challenging continuing medical education requirements that mandate instructors teach doctors about “implicit bias,” which is the claim that a person can unconsciously discriminate against another. Khatibi argues that the requirements, which were signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, force medical professionals to push politically charged ideas.
“By mandating ideologically charged racial theories be taught in continuing medical education courses, California infringes on physicians’ free speech rights,” Do No Harm Chair Stanley Goldfarb told The Daily Wire. “We are asking the Supreme Court to intervene to protect these critical rights in the field of medicine. Doctors do not need lawmakers telling them what to think when providing medical advice to patients.”
The petition filed Tuesday wants the court to address the question of whether a state can “compel private professionals to convey a contested ideological message as a condition of teaching courses required for a professional license.” Khatibi and Do No Harm are both represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation.
The requirements being challenged say that those giving continuing medical education must give examples of “how implicit bias affects perceptions and treatment decisions of physicians and surgeons, leading to disparities in health outcomes,” or suggest strategies to address how “unintended biases in decision-making may contribute to health care disparities by shaping behavior and producing differences in medical treatment.”
Previous attempts to challenge the requirement at the federal district and appeals court levels have been unsuccessful. Those courts have said the requirements are part of the state’s prerogative to regulate medical practice.
The petition filed with the Supreme Court argues that the implicit bias mandate exceeds the state’s regulatory power.
“That sweeping ruling erases the constitutional boundary between government and private speech, threatens the speech rights of countless professionals, and directly conflicts with this Court’s precedents limiting the government speech doctrine and protecting against compelled speech,” the petition said.
Goldfarb said that there is no evidence of implicit bias in health care and that doctors should be trained to address each patient’s unique needs rather than focusing on race.
“There is no evidence so-called systemic implicit bias exists in health care, and propagating such debunked pseudoscience only deepens suspicion between patients and providers,” he said. “We urge the Court to take up our case and resolve California’s overreach once and for all.”

Governor Gavin Newsom in Hayward, California

Government Forcing Ideology Into Medicine Vs. Doctors’ Right To Think And Speak Freely

California

Courts

Gavin Newsom

Health

Health Care

medicine

Supreme Court

U.S.

New York City&#8217;s most elite hospital gave more than a million dollars to an &#8220;anti-racist,&#8221; pro-LGBTQ+ theater company as it laid off a thousand workers, records reviewed by The Daily Wire show.
New York-Presbyterian has donated more than 1.3 million to the People’s Theatre Project since 2021, financial <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133957095/202543189349306204/full" target="_blank" rel="noopener">records</a><a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133957095/202413189349304986/full" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> show</a>. In October 2023, Dr. Steven J. Corwin, then president and CEO of the hospital system, pledged to give another million to the theater — an arts program that &#8220;centers immigrants and members of the Latine, Black, and Queer communities&#8221; — to build a state-of-the-art performance center.
As the hospital was bankrolling the &#8220;anti-racist&#8221; organization&#8217;s quest to &#8220;build a world where the oppressed can find Liberation,&#8221; it was struggling financially. In May 2025, it <a href="https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/newyork-presbyterian-to-cut-1000-employees/">announced</a> it was slashing 2% of its workforce, laying off 1,000 people. In 2026 it <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/16/nurses-describe-escalating-tension-as-nyc-strike-continues-00734336">came under fire</a> when it offered nurses a lower-than-requested annual raise, a cut the hospital blamed on the Trump administration&#8217;s economic policies.
In October 2025, Corwin <a href="https://www.nyp.org/news/newyork-presbyterian-leadership-transition-announcement">announced</a> he would step down in early 2026.
New York-Presbyterian&#8217;s reputation took a serious hit in the final years of Corwin&#8217;s 14-year tenure. It&#8217;s financial troubles came as it became one of the <a href="https://www.centernyc.org/urban-matters-2/enough-to-make-you-sick-curbing-high-private-hospital-costs#:~:text=New%20York%20City%27s%20private%20hospitals%20are%20some,than%20one%20percent%20of%20private%20hospital%20spending.">most expensive hospitals</a> in the country. In March 2026, the Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-new-york-presbyterian-hospital-anticompetitive-contracts-increase">sued the hospital</a> for &#8220;anticompetitive contract restrictions that deny New Yorkers the choice of lower cost healthcare options.&#8221;
All the while, it was supporting the People’s Theatre Project.
In October 2023, Corwin appeared with New York Governor Kathy Hochul and &#8220;Hamilton&#8221; composer Lin-Manuel Miranda to pledge $1 million to the construction of the Centro Cultural Inmigrante, a 19,000-square-foot compound featuring multiple theaters and a gallery, meant to &#8220;amplify the voices of New York City’s diverse immigrant communities.&#8221; The State of New York contributed $4 million.
“NewYork-Presbyterian is proud to support the People’s Theatre Project, and we look forward to the future of the Centro Cultural Inmigrante,” Corwin said. “This will be a space where members of the community can come together to create meaningful social connections, build a sense of belonging, and help enrich the community and New York City through the arts.”
It is unclear if the hospital ever made the $1 million contribution. Neither NewYork-Presbyterian nor the People&#8217;s Theatre Project responded to a request for comment.
The relationship between the hospital and the radical arts organization dates back to 2009, when it was founded by Mino Lora, a leftist who has called for defunding the police and served on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani&#8217;s transition team. That year, New York-Presbyterian <a href="https://thepeoplestheatre.org/home/about-us/">partnered</a> with the group on &#8220;a health-focused theatre-making program for children ages 5–12.&#8221; New York Presbyterian’s Corporate Director of Community Affairs, Monica Hidalgo, serves on the theater&#8217;s board.
All told, NewYork-Presbyterian has given the People&#8217;s Theatre Project $1,312,500 since 2021. During that time, the theater has produced such plays as “The Diamond,” which “follows a group of detained immigrants who conspire against a dystopian government.” Earlier this month, it hosted a reading of the “Sombraluz,” a play about a marine whose life was “shaped by the trauma of Guantanamo Bay.”
The People&#8217;s Theater Project also hosts outright political events, including a “rapid response” and “safe space” to “share feelings, build resilience, and transform emotions into art&#8221; in the wake of President Donald Trump&#8217;s 2024 election. In January 2026, the theater hosted an “undoing racism” workshop.
&#8220;As an anti-racist organization, we believe in Equity for all,&#8221; the group&#8217;s website reads. &#8220;We see the full humanity and immense power that exists in immigrants, youth, people of color, the LGBTQIA community, and people living with disabilities. We work to build a world where the oppressed can find Liberation.&#8221;
The People&#8217;s Theatre Project<a href="https://thepeoplestheatre.org/education/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> works</a> with K-5 &#8220;young artists&#8221; to celebrate &#8220;their identities and communities&#8221; through theatre pieces and has a &#8220;social justice leadership program&#8221; for adolescents in grades 6-12. The organization also<a href="https://thepeoplestheatre.org/ptp-partnerships/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> partners</a> with elementary, middle, and high schools in New York City.
The organization views theatre &#8220;as a catalyst for change,&#8221; and its mission includes advocacy for progressive social causes such as dismantling systemic racism, immigrant rights, and LGBTQIA+ rights.
&#8220;Racial justice is an urgent priority because systemic racism persists in our society, perpetuating inequality at every turn,&#8221; the group&#8217;s <a href="https://thepeoplestheatre.org/advocacy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> says. &#8220;Theatre serves as a powerful platform to confront and dismantle these injustices.&#8221;

Untitled design – 2026-04-24T124659.019

Hospital System That Laid Off 1,000 Staff Gave $1.3 Million To ‘Anti-Racist’ Theatre Group

Hospitals

LGBTQ

New York

Zohran Mamdani

A senior official at the Department of Veteran Affairs pushed one of the largest healthcare companies in the country to improve its &#8220;diversity profile&#8221; while accepting thousands of dollars in poker chips and lavish gift cards from minority business executives, federal investigators say.
John Windom, a 64-year-old Navy veteran, was tasked with spearheading a billion-dollar revamp of the VA&#8217;s electronic health records system. He used that perch to steer business to his lover and rake in thousands of dollars worth of luxury gifts and push government contractors to embrace DEI, according to federal prosecutors. 
Windom, who is black, is accused of forming a self-described &#8220;Power Group&#8221; composed of executives from minority-owned businesses that allegedly sent him expensive gifts while some earned federal DEI contracts. These unreported gifts included $8,200 in Louis Vuitton gift cards, $2,000 in cash, a $631 HEPA filter, concert tickets, and $3,800 in casino chips, according to an indictment. 
Members of the Power Group were left anonymous in federal charging documents though one was described as a &#8220;romantic partner&#8221; of Windom. Some of the contracts with Power Group companies were related to the VA electronic record project, though not all were. 
Dr. Kurt Miceli, the chief medical officer of Do No Harm, told The Daily Wire that the case showed the danger of implementing DEI initiatives at the federal level. 

“Diversity initiatives in federal contracting elevate race, gender, or other demographic traits over merit and proven capability when awarding taxpayer‑funded work,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The result: set-asides and preferences that explicitly discriminate based on identity rather than awarding projects through competitive bidding and qualifications.&#8221;
Windom was, until recently, the executive director of the Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization at the VA. In August 2017, he was tasked with bringing the department&#8217;s records system — part of the VA&#8217;s notoriously broken healthcare system — up to par with the rest of the federal government.
Prior to his involvement with VA, Windom <a href="https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110555/witnesses/HHRG-116-AP18-Bio-WindomJ-20200227.pdf">rose</a> to the rank of captain in the Navy, where he mostly held HR-related management positions involving training personnel and overseeing the Pentagon&#8217;s electronic health record system overhaul. He retired from the Navy in 2017 to take the position with the VA.
Two years into leading the electronic records project, Windom allegedly created a “Power Group” of seven executives and employees from minority-owned businesses that contracted with VA. These executives gave Windom a variety of kickbacks while he worked to get them access to federal benefits, federal investigators said. One of the individuals, identified only as &#8220;Person 4,&#8221; was in a romantic relationship with Windom from August 2016 to December 2018. 
In communications with these executives, Windom reminded them that “loose lips sink ships,” asked one for concert tickets, and told another one to “get the f**k off this ride,” if the arrangement was making them uncomfortable, according to messages included in the indictment. 
“As alleged, the defendant exploited his senior position for personal gain and concealed gifts and financial relationships that created serious conflicts of interest in the health care of our nation’s veterans,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. “Such conduct is not only a betrayal of the public trust — it undermines confidence in the institutions dedicated to serving those who have sacrificed for this country.”
<div id="attachment_1074327" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1074327" class="size-full wp-image-1074327" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2259627360.jpg" alt="Jeanine Pirro, US attorney for the District of Columbia, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. A man suspected of being responsible for the deadly 2012 attack against the American embassy in Benghazi, Libya, is in US custody, FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday." width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2259627360.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2259627360-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2259627360-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2259627360-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Jeanine Pirro (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)</div>
Windom has been charged with concealment of material facts, false statements, and falsification of a record. His first court appearance is set for April 14. 
The <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/media/1432916/dl?inline">charges</a> come as the Trump administration moves to crack down on DEI practices among federal contractors. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/addressing-dei-discrimination-by-federal-contractors/">directing</a> that contractors not engage in &#8220;any racially discriminatory DEI activities” for federal government work. 
In June 2017, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin announced that his department would adopt the same electronic health record standards as the Pentagon. Since that time the program has been plagued with problems, including ballooning costs and patient deaths. The program, which has been paused the last few years, is set to start up again this month. 
A few months after the project was announced, Windom was placed in charge. He directed $10 billion to be allocated to the company Cerner, which has since been acquired by Oracle, for the project. At the time, the contract was one of the biggest information technology contracts for the federal government. 
Soon after, investigators say he created the Power Group of minority business executives and employees. 
“Between August 2017 and June 2021, in multiple locations, Defendant WINDOM attended events with other Power Group members and routinely accepted personal benefits such as gifts, meals, alcohol, entertainment, and other services from members of the Power Group,” the indictment says. 
These events took place at restaurants and bars in and around the MGM National Harbor casino, as he used his position to “coerce” improper personal benefits, investigators said. He would routinely &#8220;demand&#8221; poker chips for games at the casino, the indictment alleges. 

<div id="attachment_1074335" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1074335" class="size-full wp-image-1074335" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1055654346.jpg" alt="OXON HILL,MD-NOV30: The first anniversary of the MGM Casino at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, November 30, 2017. (" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1055654346.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1055654346-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1055654346-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-1055654346-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />(Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)</div>
In November 2019, Windom asked for concert tickets for himself and another member of the Power Group from one of the business leaders, according to text messages.
“Damn near sitting on the stage,&#8221; he wrote the day of the concert. &#8220;You da man.&#8221;
These benefits were hidden from VA officials and the Office of Government Ethics, according to investigators. 
At the same time, Windom used his position “to encourage, monitor, and facilitate contracting and subcontracting opportunities for members of the Power Group,” both connected and not connected to the electronic health record project, the indictment said. 
While pushing for personal benefits from members of the Power Group, Windom allegedly pressured them “to make business decisions unrelated to” the electronic records project that “advanced” his “diversity objectives” before he “demanded to be rewarded.” 
He also “threatened economic and reputational harm to members of the Power Group, particularly but not only when they were not meeting his diversity-related networking expectations,” according to the indictment. 
In July 2018, Cerner entered into a diversity contract with Windom&#8217;s romantic partner as the lead after he “demanded” that it “improve its diversity profile and inclusion efforts,” the indictment said. Around that time, Cerner started increasing its DEI efforts and it released a DEI report in 2019 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220411175937/https://www.cerner.com/-/media/cerner-media-united-states/pdf-downloads/cerner-hr-diversity-report-2019.pdf?vs=1&amp;hash=B80E8A916E1B68223F4AE46D6AA8CBDE701E80BD">showing</a> how the company took steps to &#8220;expand&#8221; on &#8220;diversity and inclusion efforts.&#8221;
In 2019, Windom allegedly worked to “pressure” a Power Group member “to complete diversity contract renewal negotiations with Cerner.”
Miceli said pushing DEI in contracting led to the most &#8220;qualified contractors&#8221; being sidelined and was particularly concerning when done in the healthcare realm. 
&#8220;When pushed aggressively at the federal level, DEI policies erode public trust, foster resentment, and violate core principles of equal treatment under the law, while inviting legal challenges and wasteful litigation that further burdens taxpayers,&#8221; he said. 
Messages included in the indictment paint a picture of Windom appearing to threaten Power Group members to stay silent about their relationship. 
In an October 11, 2017, message, Windom texted two Power Group members that one had made “a good comment to get you cut out” after that person suggested bringing another VA employee to where Windom was having drinks with a Power Group member. 
“Don’t mention to another person that you know me, interact with me or have any type of relationship with me,” he wrote on August 5, 2019.
One email included in the indictment appears to show that Windom was inadvertently announced to be in the audience of an event hosted by one of the Power Group members. 
“Weird last night. Not your fault personally but cleanup required. Can’t say I like [Person 4&#8217;s] cavalier response to these issues either. I was already exhausted but did not want to miss your event,” he wrote in an email. “The PA announcement of me let alone [Person 4] and me was ridiculous and did not kick the evening off right. I am a very discrete person as you know.”
<div id="attachment_1071187" style="width: 1197px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1071187" class="size-full wp-image-1071187" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-03-31-at-1.36.32-PM.png" alt="" width="1187" height="271" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-03-31-at-1.36.32-PM.png 1187w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-03-31-at-1.36.32-PM-300x68.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-03-31-at-1.36.32-PM-1024x234.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-03-31-at-1.36.32-PM-768x175.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1187px) 100vw, 1187px" />Indictment.</div>
In January 2020, Windom sent an email to the Power Group reminding them that “loose lips sink ships.” 
When one of the Power Group members expressed some concern about the contracting arrangement, Windom reacted angrily, according to a text message included in the indictment. 
“If you don’t like it, get off. You can get the f**k off this ride,” Windom said. 
In June and November 2021, Windom allegedly lied to federal law enforcement when they asked him if he had received any gifts from Power Group members. After being approached by investigators, Windom told Power Group members to tell law enforcement he paid for their meals, according to the indictment. 
Costs of the electronic health records project have quickly climbed from the $10 billion originally estimated. The department now estimates that costs could exceed $37 billion, while the Government Accountability Office <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2025/12/03/veterans-administration-va-hospitals-health/">said</a> costs could approach the hundreds of billions. 
Over 4,000 veterans have been harmed due to the health record modernization, which has led to four fatalities, <a href="https://fedscoop.com/va-ehr-six-cases-catastrophic-harm/">according</a> to lawmakers. The Government Accountability Office has continued to pressure the VA to take steps to speed up the rollout. 
The Daily Wire reached out to a publicly listed phone number for Windom and no lawyer has yet been listed yet in court records for his case.

MixCollage-08-Apr-2026-10-33-AM-4651

DEI, Louis Vuitton, And Casino Chips: Inside A Billion-Dollar VA Scandal

Corruption

Department of Justice

Department of Veterans Affairs

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

The nation’s top medical school accreditor has updated its standards, removing language related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) requirements without issuing a formal public announcement.
The <a href="https://lcme.org/about/">Liaison Committee on Medical Education</a> (LCME), which accredits medical schools across the United States, recently uploaded its updated 2027–2028 standards to its website. The <a href="https://donoharmmedicine.org/2026/03/24/dei-mandates-lcme-standards/">changes</a> were first flagged by the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/a-welcome-setback-for-medical-dei-fbac8fa0">Wall Street Journal</a>.
Among the most notable revisions is the overhaul of Standard 7.6, which in the 2026–2027 guidelines required that “the medical curriculum provides opportunities for medical students to learn to recognize and appropriately address biases in themselves, in others, and in the health care delivery process.”
The prior standard went further, mandating that medical students be taught about “the importance of health care disparities and health inequities,” the “impact of disparities in health care on all populations,” and “approaches to reduce health care inequities.” It also required instruction in “culturally and structurally competent health care” and emphasized training to treat patients in a “multidimensional and diverse society.”
In the newly published standards, that language has been removed entirely. The updated version of Standard 7.6 contains no reference to diversity, bias, disparities, or inequities.
More broadly, much of Standard 7 was rewritten and reorganized, with all references to bias and inequities stripped from the section. The 2027–2028 standards document is dated March 13 and indicates the changes were made in March 2026, though the LCME has not publicly announced the revisions. The prior 2026–2027 standards, which include the original language, remain available on the organization’s website.
The rollback follows years of scrutiny from the medical watchdog group Do No Harm, which has criticized the role of DEI requirements in medical education. <a href="https://donoharmmedicine.org/2023/01/12/is-the-lcme-forcing-racial-quotas-on-medical-schools/">In 2023</a>, the group called for an investigation into the LCME, and in March 2025 released a report highlighting accreditation standards, including Sections 3.3 and 7.6, that it said promoted ideological priorities over merit-based training.
The changes come after President Donald Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/reforming-accreditation-to-strengthen-higher-education/">executive order</a> aimed at reforming higher education accreditation, specifically naming the LCME and raising concerns about politicized standards. Shortly afterward, in May 2025, the LCME <a href="https://donoharmmedicine.org/2025/05/28/the-lcme-eliminates-key-diversity-requirement/">removed</a> Standard 3.3, which had required medical schools to maintain programs or partnerships focused on achieving diversity. At the time, however, Standard 7.6 remained in place.
The latest revisions appear to further that shift. “Do No Harm commends the LCME for finally removing the remaining DEI language from the latest version of its standards,” said Dr. Kurt Miceli, the organization’s chief medical officer, in a statement obtained by The Daily Wire. “This reflects a renewed commitment to high-quality clinical care over political ideology.”
“As a powerful institution with significant influence over medical education, the LCME has now made clear that scientific rigor and excellence are the top priorities — a change we have been advocating for years,” Miceli added. “This marks a major victory and step forward in the ongoing battle over the future of medical education in America.”
The LCME did not publicly comment on the changes or issue a press release announcing the updated standards. Critics say the changes reflect how rapidly the standards governing medicine and education are shifting amid <a href="https://www.highereddive.com/news/trump-end-dei-state-of-the-union/813091/">political and regulatory pressure</a>. And given the LCME’s outsized role in determining whether medical schools remain accredited, even subtle changes to its requirements can have sweeping effects on how future physicians are trained.
With the removal of this language from both admissions-related and curriculum standards, the updated guidelines reflect a significant change in how the LCME frames its accreditation requirements. Supporters of the move say it refocuses medical education on clinical training, while critics have argued that such standards are important for addressing disparities in patient care.

Nurses

Medical Gatekeeper Faces Reckoning After Years Of ‘Woke’ Push

Do No Harm

Hospitals across the country are still pushing woke policies, despite a nationwide backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), a watchdog warned Congress. 
Consumers’ Research said lawmakers must hold hospitals receiving federal tax privileges accountable for pushing racially-focused initiatives and transgender procedures on kids, according to a <a href="https://consumersresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/CR_Woke_Hospital_Letter_EC_Final.pdf">letter</a> obtained by The Daily Wire. The letter came ahead of a congressional hearing on Wednesday morning by the House Energy and Commerce committee on improving healthcare transparency. 
“As nonprofit hospitals keep prioritizing divisive woke ideology, Congress must hold them accountable,” Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild told The Daily Wire. “Federal funding and tax-exempt privileges should never be used by hospitals to advance a radical political agenda.”
“When hospitals go unchecked with access to taxpayer dollars, consumers are left footing the bill for woke policies that distract hospital support meant for patients. This pattern of waste and abuse at hospitals across the country needs to be stopped,” he added. 
Hild’s letter to House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie and other committee members highlighted multiple examples of hospital systems he said were “using federal funding streams and taxpayer-sponsored resources to fund political agendas at the expense of patient care.”
An example in the letter included the California-based Kaiser Permanente, the largest private nonprofit healthcare organization in the country. The provider made headlines for ending transgender surgeries on children, but still has several racially focused initiatives in place. 
The aim of its <a href="https://kpcenterforblackhealth.org/">Center for Black Health and Wellness</a> is to “improve the health of our Black members, elevate their care experience, continue to build trust, create culturally responsive care, and best practices that can be shared across our organization and the health care community.”
Kaiser Permanente cites <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/study-saying-black-babies-more-likely-to-die-under-white-doctors-didnt-control-for-1-key-factor">questionable research</a> that black patients require black doctors for better health outcomes. It says the center is rooted in “equity” with the purpose of enhancing and expanding “the care of our Black patients.”
Another example cited in the letter included the University of California-San Francisco Benioff Children&#8217;s Hospital, which has a “Child and Adolescent Gender Center.” The <a href="https://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/clinics/child-and-adolescent-gender-center">center</a> “offers comprehensive medical and psychological care, as well as advocacy and legal support, to transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children and adolescents.”
The clinic accepts patients between the ages of 3 and 17. 
“Before the onset of puberty, our care focuses strictly on social and emotional development, and we don’t offer gender-affirming medical treatments,” the clinic said. “Once a patient reaches puberty, gender-affirming medical treatments may be considered following a thorough mental health assessment by a gender specialist.”
The clinic offers puberty blockers to kids, treatments it claims are “reversible.” Groups like Do No Harm have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taxpayer-funded-medical-school-promotes-reversible-puberty-blockers-for-kids">highlighted</a> how puberty blockers can permanently impact bone development, particularly density in the hip and spine.
Consumers’ Research has launched the &#8220;<a href="https://consumersresearch.org/badmedicine/">Bad Medicine</a>&#8221; campaign targeting health systems it says push woke politics. Last week, it <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-major-health-system-scrubbed-the-woke-from-its-website-it-hasnt-really-changed">highlighted</a> how the University of Miami Health System recently scrubbed DEI and transgender-related content from its website. 
Hild told lawmakers that hospitals should be held accountable for woke policies. 
“This isn’t isolated activism. These kinds of misguided and potentially illegal policies must be stopped,” Hild wrote. “It is imperative for patients that hospitals return to their core mission of patient care and use federal funding as it was intended.”

CA Attorney General Announces 49 Million Settlement With Kaiser Foundation Over Illegal Disposal Of Hazardous Waste

Despite Nationwide DEI Backlash, Hospitals Still Pushing Woke Policies

House of Representatives

Transgender

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1917-assassin-storms-mar-a-lago-to-try-to-kill-president-trump">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
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One of the most common talking points you hear from the Left — and you’re going to hear it a lot heading into the midterms — is that America has terrible health care. We’re told that every civilized country in the world has universal, socialized medicine, and that we’re backward, retrograde, clinging to some barbaric capitalist system while enlightened Europeans enjoy cradle-to-grave care.
You hear it constantly: America is a disgrace. We need socialized medicine.
Now, before we go any further, let’s acknowledge something the Left rarely does: we already have a substantial amount of socialized medicine in this country. We have it for illegal aliens. We have it for the very poor. We have it for the elderly through Medicare. We have a massive social safety net.
But here’s the part they leave out: the only reason any of that works at all is because it’s sitting on top of a heavily capitalist health care system that funds the entire apparatus. The “free” part only functions because something productive underneath it is paying the bills.
Still, we’re told we should scrap the whole thing and go full European.
How about we take a little look at some of the socialist health care systems around the world? Let&#8217;s start with Europe.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1917-assassin-storms-mar-a-lago-to-try-to-kill-president-trump">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show on DailyWire+</a></h3>
A horrifying story recently came out of the United Kingdom. According to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15582277/Woman-dead-floor-home-told-wait-ten-days-ambulance.html?ns_mchannel=rss&amp;ns_campaign=1490&amp;ito=social-twitter_mailonline">The Daily Mail</a>, a 97-year-old woman, Babette Burge, was found nearly dead on the floor of her home after being told she would have to wait ten days — ten days — for an ambulance. Not ten days for surgery. Ten days just to be transported to a hospital.
<blockquote>Just five days earlier, a paramedic from a local GP surgery had attended Ms Burge&#8217;s home to assess her condition and found that her leg was &#8216;shortened and rotated&#8217; &#8211; a sign of a fractured hip.</blockquote>
She was nearly 100 years old, lying on the floor with a broken hip, and was told she’d need to wait ten days for an ambulance.
She was later discovered barely breathing. Then she died.
This is what we’re supposed to envy? “Everybody gets health care” in the UK — assuming you can get to the hospital. The catch is that no one comes to get you. Universal coverage is lovely in theory. In practice, however, if you can’t secure transportation, it doesn’t matter how free the surgery is.
Meanwhile, in Canada, a prominent Canadian writer — very much on the Left, by her own description — recently admitted something chilling. She said she was offered medical assistance in dying (MAID) instead of care.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I’m about as far left as you can get… but we do have problems with MAiD in Canada.
How do I know? It was “offered” to me in lieu of care.
I’m disabled, I was alone, my conditions expensive.
Yes I was allowed to say “No”, but no alternative care was offered.
That’s coercion. <a href="https://t.co/LvCWd55esk">https://t.co/LvCWd55esk</a>
— Kelly (@broadwaybabyto) <a href="https://twitter.com/broadwaybabyto/status/2025364112348188828?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @broadwaybabyto/X.com
That’s not compassion. That’s coercion.
And this isn’t an isolated anecdote. Canada has dramatically expanded medical assistance in dying, or MAID. In parts of Europe — particularly in countries like the Netherlands — similar policies are spreading. Elderly people, disabled people, chronically ill people, and even young people struggling with “seasonal depression” are increasingly being told that death is a “treatment option.”
Think about that.
In a system where the government is paying the bills, patients are not just patients — they’re line items. They’re costs. And when waitlists grow long and budgets grow tight, the incentives get dark very quickly. The cheapest patient is the one who isn’t there anymore.
On the one hand, American leftists insist we’re the only country in the civilized world without socialized medicine. On the other hand, you look at some of these “civilized” systems and see 97-year-olds waiting ten days for an ambulance and disabled citizens being nudged toward suicide because their care is expensive.
That’s not health care. That’s the opposite of health care.
Now, is the American system perfect? Of course not. It’s expensive. It’s complicated. It’s frustrating. But it is also the system that produces the vast majority of the world’s pharmaceutical innovation. It is the system that subsidizes global research and development. It is the system that people from all over the world come to when they need cutting-edge treatment.
It is not, however, a system where the government routinely suggests that you kill yourself because you’re inconvenient. There’s a reason that countries with fully socialized medicine struggle with wait times and rationing.
So before we swallow the talking point that America is uniquely cruel because we don’t have cradle-to-grave government medicine, it’s worth looking at what that actually looks like in practice. A nearly 100-year-old woman dying on the floor because no ambulance is available. A disabled Canadian writer being offered euthanasia in lieu of care.
Beware the supposedly greener grass on the other side of the fence. Especially when that fence is our northern border, separating us from the snow Mexicans.

Motion blur ambulance United States

Waiting 10 Days For An Ambulance — The Dark Side Of ‘Free’ Health Care

Waiting 10 Days For An Ambulance — The Dark Side Of 'Free' Health Care

Assisted Suicide

Canada

Death

England

Europe

Michael Knowles

United Kingdom

Welcome to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
I’m a Luddite in many ways, at least in theory. I hate social media, prefer to spend my free time in nature — usually with a gun, bow, or rod and reel in my hand — and long for the days when you could buy a truck with a manual transmission. In fact, I have often quipped that America went to heck in a handbasket when Ford stopped putting manuals in their F-150s (2008, for those keeping track). I’m not a big fan of governments regulating just about anything, but I applaud the fact that millions of Americans have gravitated toward the MAHA movement, which prioritizes <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rfk-flips-the-food-pyramid-and-announces-massive-changes-to-dietary-guidelines">whole foods</a> over modern, processed garbage.
If you called me a redneck or Jesus freak, I would have a hard time beating the allegations, but even as an old-school Midwesterner, I find many on the Right’s insistence that American life was better in the 1950s, or any glamorized bygone era, to be preposterous. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/24/americans-take-a-dim-view-of-the-nations-future-look-more-positively-at-the-past/">found</a> that &#8220;around six-in-ten (58%) say that life for people like them is worse today than it was 50 years ago.&#8221; This is unfounded. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/economist-thomas-sowell-alarmed-trumps-tariffs-may-spark-worldwide-trade-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/economist-thomas-sowell-alarmed-trumps-tariffs-may-spark-worldwide-trade-war&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1771705058176000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2LD7Zvboy56-RaMc8K3Mv_">The economist Thomas Sowell</a> is right about a great many things, including the fact that there are no solutions, only trade-offs.
I despise many of the side effects of the massive industry surrounding modern medicine. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/best-of-2025-the-experts-are-finally-admitting-that-adhd-is-a-scam" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/best-of-2025-the-experts-are-finally-admitting-that-adhd-is-a-scam&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1771705058176000&amp;usg=AOvVaw39O6UpkChLorueBKQd6UIK">Overmedication</a> is a serious problem, and a healthy lifestyle is often a far better option than whatever a doctor may be prescribing. But when trouble comes knocking, it sure is great to have the kind of doctors and hospitals we take for granted today.
In 1950, the infant mortality rate in the U.S. was 29 deaths per 1,000 live births. Today, that number is around five out of 1,000. Childbirth is so remarkably safe in the modern world, at least in developed countries, that most people never think about mortality rates, but a couple of generations ago, there was a strong chance neither of my children would have survived. My daughter required an emergency C-section after my wife labored for several hours with no progress. Of course, C-sections were not uncommon in 1950, but they were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-women-arent-50-more-likely-to-die-from-childbirth-today-than-a-generation-ago" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-women-arent-50-more-likely-to-die-from-childbirth-today-than-a-generation-ago&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1771705058176000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3NH7Rl_-azH8AWHB4aZR2p">riskier</a> for both the mother and baby.
The beginning of my son’s life in 2024 was more difficult by orders of magnitude. My wife’s water broke at 28 weeks, and the little man arrived at 29. As I sped to the hospital at 5 a.m., I assumed there was a 50-50 chance our boy would survive. He was well under three pounds, and I had never personally met anyone who had a baby at his gestational age. At the hospital, however, the doctors and nurses were shockingly calm and professional. I almost couldn’t believe it when they said, “He’s doing great.”
In 1950, there would have been essentially nothing that most hospitals could have done for my son. <a href="https://www.nicuawareness.org/blog/a-brief-history-of-advances-in-neonatal-care?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nicuawareness.org/blog/a-brief-history-of-advances-in-neonatal-care?utm_source%3Dchatgpt.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1771705058176000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0_dKbPiC3DLnDgSerQBJ8D">Neonatal</a> care was nonexistent or in its infancy, depending on where you lived. Specialized incubators, ventilation, and steroid treatments were primitive, if available at all. Today, babies born at 29 weeks survive at a miraculous clip north of 90%.
I wouldn’t wish a nearly three-month stay in NICU on my worst enemy. It was certainly the most trying time of our lives, but by my son’s original due date, we were bringing him home, something that would have been nearly impossible before NICUs became widespread in hospitals across the West in the early 1970s. In a generation, modern medical advancements completely transformed how premature births are viewed in the developed world, not to mention the countless diseases, such as polio and smallpox, that have been almost entirely eradicated in the West. When was the last time you thought about malaria? There is a reason why the deadliest killer in human history is an afterthought outside of the third world.
Even when I’m in the woods, away from modern technology and the worries of 21st century life, I’m still the beneficiary of modernity. Heroes of the American outdoors, such as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/episode-1-daniel-boone?elementPosition=4&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daniel Boone</a> and Davy Crockett, used inaccurate, expensive, and unreliable flintlock muzzleloaders to hunt big game. Terms such as “flash in the pan” and “keep your powder dry” are references to the myriad ways those rifles often failed to go boom, leading to an empty dinner table — or much worse in a combat scenario. I can get my cheap Ruger bolt-action rifle wet, forget to clean it, or even drop it out of a tree stand, and it&#8217;s still going to get the job done. Trail cameras, GPS mapping, modern camouflage, and scent control all give us a leg up on the tasty animals we love to hunt. Anyone who has fooled around with old, unreliable outboard motors will tell you how nice it is to power a boat with a modern, direct injection engine that fires up at the turn of a key.
I’m generally an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/what-will-power-the-ai-revolution">artificial intelligence</a> skeptic, but where did I go to find infant mortality rates from the 1950s? You guessed it: ChatGPT. Of course, I double-checked the numbers since AI is still notoriously, and sometimes hilariously, wrong on occasion. But as a writer, I’d be a fool not to use AI to source my work.
As much as I complain about the downfall of the manual transmission, my teenage, stick-driving self would never have imagined connecting a smartphone, which didn’t exist, to my truck using technology that didn’t exist, so I can listen to almost any song ever written for a measly $12.99/month. Modern life, the internet in particular, brings unique challenges that did not exist a generation ago. But I do know for a fact that those who insist that we got the short end of the stick never had a preemie.
***
Brady Leonard (<a href="https://twitter.com/bradyleonard" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/bradyleonard&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1771705058176000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3xW8B8U6olS-OfXAGfYCuk">@bradyleonard</a>) is a writer, musician, and host of <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-no-gimmicks-podcast/id1207009705" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-no-gimmicks-podcast/id1207009705&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1771705058176000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0eK8wJN6vsP-ActNqEXSSd">The No Gimmicks Podcast</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Human and robot polygonal hands

I’m A Manual-Driving, Gun-Toting Skeptic — And I’m Glad I Live In 2026

babies

Upstream

President Donald Trump on Thursday officially launched the federal government&#8217;s highly anticipated direct-to-consumer medication website called TrumpRx.
The site, which Trump lauded as a major win for his administration, will give Americans access to big discounts on popular and high-priced medicines. Now, consumers can pay low prices that are comparable to those in other developed nations, keeping in line with the Trump Most-Favored Nation policy.
&#8220;America was being overcharged for medicine. The same drugs, made in the same factories, at the same dosages, are costing Americans up to 1,000% more than in any other country,&#8221; the live <a href="https://trumprx.gov/">TrumpRx site</a> reads. &#8220;This is unacceptable.&#8221;
&#8220;Starting tonight, dozens of the most commonly used prescription drugs will be available at dramatic discounts for all consumers throughout our new website, it&#8217;s called TrumpRx.gov,&#8221; the president announced at Thursday&#8217;s launch.
&#8220;For years, politicians from both parties have promised to bring down prescription drug prices and make health care more affordable, but they all failed. It was all words, as usual,&#8221; he added. &#8220;But I&#8217;m actually getting it done; it is done, actually.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨 <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;Starting tonight, dozens of the most commonly-used prescription drugs will be available at dramatic discounts for all consumers throughout a new website: <a href="https://t.co/QSJ4wskHM1">https://t.co/QSJ4wskHM1</a>.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/tB9FdIZMWZ">pic.twitter.com/tB9FdIZMWZ</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2019566096836366586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
<div>
According to the White House, Trump was able to make deals with major companies like AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer to get the lower drug prices for Americans.
&#8220;Additional drugs from other companies that have signed MFN pricing deals will be made available through TrumpRx.gov in the coming months,&#8221; a press release said, adding, &#8220;Depending on the manufacturer of a given drug, patients with valid prescriptions will be able to access savings through user-friendly coupons that can be printed or downloaded onto their phones or through channels set up by the manufacturer and integrated into TrumpRx.gov.&#8221;
</div>
<div id="attachment_1039745" style="width: 935px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1039745" class="wp-image-1039745 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-05-at-7.33.51-PM-925x576.png" alt="" width="925" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-05-at-7.33.51-PM-925x576.png 925w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-05-at-7.33.51-PM-300x187.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-05-at-7.33.51-PM-768x478.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-05-at-7.33.51-PM-1536x956.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-05-at-7.33.51-PM-2048x1275.png 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 925px) 100vw, 925px" />Screenshot: Trump RX</div>
A White House fact-sheet sent to The Daily Wire listed the following examples of reduced-price medications:
<ul>
<li>The monthly prices of Ozempic and injectable Wegovy will fall from $1,028 and $1,349, respectively, to an average price of $350 and as low as $199, depending on dosage strength.</li>
<li>The monthly price of the Wegovy pill will fall from $1,349 to as low as $149, depending on dosage strength.</li>
<li>The monthly price of Zepbound will fall from $1,088 to an average price of $346 and as low as $299, depending on dosage strength.</li>
<li>Gonal-F, one of the most commonly-used fertility drugs, will see its price reduced to as low as $168 per pen, depending on dosage strength.</li>
<li>The price of Cetrotide, another commonly used fertility medicine, will drop from $316 to $22.50.</li>
<li>The price of Ovidrel will fall from $251 to $84.</li>
<li>Bevespi Aerosphere, an inhaler used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), will be discounted from $458 to $51.</li>
<li>Airsupra, an inhaler used to treat asthma symptoms and attacks, will see a price drop from $504 to $201.</li>
<li>Eucrisa, a topical ointment for atopic dermatitis, will be discounted from $792 to $158.</li>
<li>Insulin Lispro will be available for as low as $25 per month.</li>
<li>Duavee, a medication used to treat hot flashes and osteoporosis, will see its price cut from $202 to $30.</li>
</ul>
America&#8217;s HealthShare (AHS), a popular health sharing ministry, praised the development from the administration.
<div>
“America&#8217;s healthcare system is broken, and people are simply paying too much for medicine and hospital visits. America’s HealthShare enthusiastically supports the effort to offer working families and elderly people on fixed incomes access to more affordable prescription drugs,&#8221; America’s HealthShare President David Lejeune said in a statement sent to The Daily Wire.
&#8220;Our law and policy makers can and should work with this Administration, in bipartisan fashion, to address long-term solutions to America’s healthcare system,&#8221; he added. &#8220;At America&#8217;s HealthShare, we are proud to support the Make America Healthy Again movement by restoring freedom and accountability in healthcare through an innovative approach.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumprx-trump-scores-significantly-lower-prices-for-popular-weight-loss-drugs">TrumpRx: Trump Scores Significantly Lower Prices For Popular Weight Loss Drugs</a>
</div>

US-VOTE-TRUMP

TrumpRx Officially Launches With Promise To Dramatically Cut Drug Costs For Americans

Donald Trump

Executive

Politics

Prescription Drugs

When the Food and Drug Administration announced that the agency would be removing the black-box warning from hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, women everywhere threw their hands up in celebration.
And rightly so. America’s health agencies are finally acknowledging that women are not simply “little men,” and that research and clinical care must account for a woman’s unique biology and hormonal fluctuations across every stage of life.
But amid the cheering, some important nuance is being overlooked. The FDA’s decision to remove the black-box warning from HRT is just one example of how recommendations offered without adequate context or distinction may do more harm than good.
The idea that estrogen supplementation is a cure-all for the symptoms women commonly experience during perimenopause and menopause — hot flashes, disrupted sleep, fatigue, muscle aches, inflammation, weight gain, bloating, and mood swings — is a myth.
Often, women are not suffering from a lack of estrogen, but from what <a href="https://www.healthygutgirl.com/">Kitty Martone</a>, a holistic health educator who works with women to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1426024567689906">navigate perimenopause and menopause</a>, refers to as <a href="https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/what-is-estrogen-dominance/">estrogen dominance</a> — a state in which estrogen outweighs progesterone, producing symptoms that look identical to low estrogen.
Estrogen does not act in isolation, but the details are rarely explained to women. To be tolerated well, estrogen must be balanced by adequate progesterone and supported by a healthy metabolic rate. For many women, progesterone is the first hormone to decline — often years before estrogen meaningfully drops — due to chronic stress, under-eating, thyroid suppression, and blood sugar instability.
This creates a common paradox: estrogen may appear “normal,” or even low, on a lab test, yet functionally feel excessive in the body because there is not enough progesterone to counterbalance its effects. Women are then told they are estrogen-deficient and prescribed more estrogen, while symptoms such as anxiety, insomnia, migraines, heavy or irregular bleeding, bloating, and inflammation intensify rather than improve.
In these cases, simply prescribing more estrogen does not resolve symptoms. In fact, it can make them worse.
These mechanisms were not understood properly during the Women’s Health Initiative study, which was abruptly halted in the early 2000s upon a suggested correlation between HRT and breast cancer as well as heart disease. In an effort to recover from the fallout of the highly <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10758198/">flawed study</a>, which caused millions of women to abandon hormone therapy altogether, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction.
Cue the pharmaceutical ads: dancing women in sunflower meadows, singing about how wonderful life is with the latest HRT option. The fine print instructs women to “ask your doctor if it’s right for you,” but many doctors may not be properly equipped to offer nuanced guidance.
Over the past few decades, medical visits have been reduced to 15–20 minute symptom reviews that are translated into billing codes entered into a computer. While this system serves insurance and data collection, it fails to treat women as whole individuals. It leaves little room to explore how diet, stress, thyroid function, gut health, or metabolic status influence hormonal symptoms — particularly in perimenopausal women.
Martone argues that this system has created an environment where estrogen is prescribed casually, without sufficient context. “Doctors now essentially have carte blanche to prescribe estrogen for any hormone complaint — without evaluating detox pathways, metabolism, liver function, or estrogen clearance.”
Some clinicians have been cautioning against this oversimplification for decades. <a href="https://raypeat.com/">Dr. Ray Peat</a>, who studied hormones, metabolism, and stress physiology extensively, <a href="https://raypeat.com/articles/aging/aging-estrogen-progesterone.shtml">wrote about</a> how estrogen tends to accumulate under conditions of chronic stress and low thyroid function, while progesterone plays a stabilizing, protective role for both the nervous system and bodily tissues.
In plain terms, how a woman feels on hormones can have less to do with hormone levels and more to do with improper functioning of the liver, metabolism, and stress load at the time therapy is introduced. Two women can take the same prescription and have completely different outcomes — not because one is “doing it wrong,” but because their internal terrain is different.
This helps explain why so many women feel dismissed when HRT is presented as a simple solution. When symptoms worsen, they are often told to increase the dose or switch brands, rather than step back and ask whether the body is prepared to handle additional estrogen.
Martone emphasizes that women often need to experiment with hormones to discover individualized therapies that are right for them. Even low doses may require careful adjustment, alternative delivery methods, and significant trial and error — an experience that can be costly, frustrating, and far from straightforward.
Meanwhile, big pharmaceutical companies are circling middle-aged women like sharks around blood. With the FDA’s decision, they’ve gained an expanded customer base — one encouraged to start hormone therapy earlier and remain on it for decades.
The truth is no one — not even a doctor — can predict exactly how a woman will respond to HRT. Hormones are powerful biological signals, not cosmetic fixes. Their effects depend heavily on the body’s metabolic health, stress physiology, and ability to process and clear them.
The renewed interest in hormone therapy reflects a real and valid desire for relief for women. But before removing warning labels and declaring HRT a universal solution, it’s worth asking why those cautions existed in the first place.
Hormone replacement therapy is not a magic bullet. Women deserve care that honors complexity, not just convenience.
* * *
Jennifer Galardi is a Senior Policy Analyst for Restoring American Wellness in Heritage’s DeVos Center.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Nurse talks with female patient about prescription medication

What The FDA Doesn’t Tell Women About Hormone Replacement Therapy

Big Pharma

Doctors

Heritage Foundation

Pharmaceuticals

Women

There has been a clamor among some on the American Right for the United States to pull out of NATO, given Europe’s reflexively adversarial response to Trump’s Greenland saber-rattling. Whether we should remain in an alliance formed in a very different world back in 1949 is a question President Trump first raised during his initial term. The question actually has more merit than one might think at first blush.
One must ask what exactly NATO’s raison d’être was to begin with. It is difficult, eighty years on, to recall just how much of a mess Europe was at the time. Much of the continent had been razed by the most lethal of its many internecine conflicts. Europe was no longer at war, but it was not exactly at peace either. Stalin — a dictator with as much, if not more, innocent blood on his hands than Hitler — had advanced his Red Army all the way through Poland, then-Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and half of Germany. That Soviet presence was massive: nearly ten million infantry backed by tens of thousands of tanks and aircraft. By 1945, the Red Army had become a military colossus that had just annihilated the most professional army in the world.
Given this looming threat just over the horizon, by 1949 Western Europe needed to band together to offer a deterrent to Stalin’s hegemony. And given the circumstances, the only military body capable of giving this new North Atlantic Treaty Organization its muscle was, of course, the U.S. Armed Forces. While Western Europe was rebuilt under the auspices of the Marshall Plan, American troops, armor, and aircraft kept the Soviets at bay. This mission was performed successfully all the way to 1991, when the Soviet Union — the very threat NATO was created to contain — abruptly collapsed.
That was 35 years ago. And yet NATO did not ride off into the sunset with its mission accomplished. Instead, it continued to expand, adding 16 new nations — each creeping closer and closer to an increasingly alarmed Russia (a country that suffered roughly 25 million dead repelling the last Western invaders from its soil).
But why the steady eastward expansion? Some NATO supporters argue that Putin’s resurgence and his aggression in Ukraine are answer enough.
But Ukraine and Russia share a convoluted history. Ukraine has long been contested land, where its story and Russia’s overlap in a region that has seen over seven hundred conflicts since the fall of Rome. This is not the first time war has raged from Crimea to the Donbas. Nor will it be the last. There is no reason for a non-Ukrainian to die fighting for that territory.
In fact, the only credible reason to continue our involvement in NATO is if Putin’s Russia poses the same danger as Stalin’s USSR once did. But today’s Russian military is not the Red Army of 1945 in which anywhere from 30 to 35% of its personnel were non-Russians (including 20% Ukrainians). And today Russia is demographically dying. Between 1990 and now—owing to the breakup of the Soviet Union, low birth rates, emigration, and early mortality often linked to alcoholism—Russia’s population has shrunk by roughly three to five million; that is a around a 2 to 4% decline. Over that same period, the U.S. population grew by more than 95 million, or roughly 38%. Even without the United States, the EU today has roughly four times Russia’s population. History shows that in modern war, population is often the best predictor of who prevails in a protracted struggle.
Russia’s economy is both small and oil-dependent. It has been called the world’s largest gas station for a reason. Anywhere from 20 to 30% of its economy depends on crude oil sales, depending on the year and market conditions — making it extremely vulnerable to sanctions or blockades. As it stands, Russia’s entire economy is smaller than that of three American states.
Speaking of economies, since NATO’s establishment, the GDP of EU nations has grown from barely $2.5 trillion to as high as $23 trillion today, an increase of more than 800%. This prompts the obvious question: if these nations have grown so rich, why do they still need us as if they were clearing rubble out of Cologne?
In other words, whether one agrees with leaving NATO or not, Trump’s re-evaluation of an alliance nearing the end of its eighth decade is not grounded in anti-EU whimsy, but in a classic cost-benefit analysis of its service to American interests.
Polls show that while only about 15% of Americans favor leaving NATO, as many as 30% of European residents believe the United States should reduce or end its role in Europe’s defense. This is ironic. If the same Europeans who love to hold up their model social-welfare systems — especially their “free” health care — understood how much of those systems are underwritten by the American taxpayer, they might take a less belligerent view toward one of their primary health care providers.
<div id="attachment_1030021" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1030021" class="size-large wp-image-1030021" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2246537136-864x576.jpg" alt="GEILENKIRCHEN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 13: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wuest, dressed with flight jackets, stand in front of an E-3A AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) airplane while visiting the NATO Geilenkirchen Air Base on November 13, 2025 in Geilenkirchen, Germany. The base is the headquarters of the NATO Airborne Early Warning &amp; Control Force (NAEW&amp;CF). (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2246537136-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2246537136-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2246537136-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2246537136.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Andreas Rentz/Getty Images</div>
What do I mean by this?
Take a look at the wealthiest EU nation — and the one with the most violent history with Russia — Germany. Germany currently spends roughly 2% of its €5 trillion GDP on defense, or about €100 billion annually. At the same time, it spends roughly ten to 12% of GDP on health care — around €500 billion per year. Estimates suggest that if American soldiers and airmen withdrew and Germany were left to fend for itself, Berlin would need to raise defense spending to as much as 4% of GDP. That means an additional €90–100 billion every year. That money has to come from somewhere. And since health care is the largest pool of discretionary spending (unless Berlin plans on raiding pensions), that is where it would most likely be found. A full American withdrawal would require cutting Germany’s health care system by at least 20%.
The consequences would be catastrophic. Growth spending would slow, wait times would balloon into rationing, co-pays and supplemental costs would rise, hospital consolidations would reduce access to emergency and specialized care, benefits would shrink, staffing shortages would worsen, and zero-cost access would disappear. Setting aside health outcomes, the social upheaval in a country accustomed to expansive care at minimal personal cost would be acute — and politically devastating for any party responsible.
And Germany is only one nation. If the entire EU had to raise defense spending to 4% to fill the void left by an American departure, it would require roughly €340 billion more per year — again, about 20% of total EU health care spending. Even partial offsets would place ten to 20% pressure on health budgets — unless already sky-high taxes rose further. Suddenly, the EU’s vaunted “free” health care system would be anything but.
Put more bluntly, NATO is not merely a security alliance — it is a massive American taxpayer-funded subsidy for Europe’s welfare state. That is the dirty little secret no one in Brussels wants to discuss. Every time a German walks into a “free” clinic or a Frenchman is wheeled into an operating room, roughly one euro in five is effectively paid by you and me. NATO — at least for its original Western democracies — needs the United States not to defend borders it could fund itself, but to prop up welfare systems already straining under their own weight.
There is a famous story in business lore about accounting wunderkind Harry Sonneborn, who told McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc that the real value of his restaurants was not the thin margins on hamburgers, but the land beneath them. “You’re not in the hamburger business,” he said. “You’re in the real estate business.”
In the same way, American contributions to NATO are not primarily about Europe’s defense. They allow European capital to be freed from defense spending — a burden borne by American taxpayers — and redirected toward social welfare. So when your taxes go to NATO, an alliance originally created to defend Europeans from other Europeans, you are not in the continental defense business. You are in the health care business. Just not for yourself. You are providing it for wealthy Germans, French, Brits, and Scandinavians who understand exactly how fragile their welfare systems are — and how quickly they would collapse if America walked away. After all, it is easy to pay for both guns and butter when someone else largely pays for the guns. It is quite another thing to foot the bill for both.
More the suckers us.
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a commodities fund manager, author, and columnist whose articles have appeared on the pages of The Wall Street Journal, NY Post, NY Daily News, The Daily Wire, National Review, The Hill, The Federalist, Zerohedge, and other outlets. He is the author of three <a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07MQJBJSD?ccs_id=55112527-86f6-4c89-b82e-a96d6869abed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">books</a>. You can also follow him on <a href="https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Substack</a> and <a href="https://x.com/bschaeffer123" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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The House voted to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act for another three years, and the proposal now heads to the Senate.
The legislation made it to the floor after four Republicans joined Democrats in signing a discharge petition, and 17 Republicans ultimately ended up voting with the Democrats on the extension.
Those Republicans were Reps. Rob Bresnahan, Mike Carey, Monica De La Cruz, Brian Fitzpatrick, Andrew Garbarino, Jeff Hurd, David Joyce, Tom Kean, Nick LaLota, Mike Lawler, Ryan Mackenzie, Max Miller, Zach Nunn, Maria Elvira-Salazar, David Valadao, Derrick Van Orden, and Rob Wittman, according to Punchbowl News.
The successful discharge petition and subsequent passage is seen as a major victory for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
“The House just decisively passed legislation that restores the Affordable Care Act tax credits. Over the objection of Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson. If you don’t know, now you know,” Jeffries posted to X after the vote.
Lawler (R-NY) said in a statement that his vote suggests a “commitment to a bipartisan solution.&#8221;
“Healthcare affordability is not a political issue; it is a governing responsibility. My signature on the discharge for this bill, and my affirmative vote today, is not an endorsement of a clean 3-year extension, but rather a commitment to a bipartisan solution,” Lawler wrote. “I look forward to working with and voting on a Senate-amended bipartisan compromise in the weeks ahead. My focus is always ensuring Hudson Valley families aren’t caught in the gridlock, and that doesn’t change today.”
On the Senate side, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/01/07/senate-negotiations-health-care-aca-moreno" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Axios</a> reported that there could be a bipartisan deal in the works that would continue the pandemic-era subsidies for another two years.
The lengthy government shutdown in the fall had to do largely with Democrats seeking an extension of the subsidies as a precondition to keeping the government open. Now, the government is set to shutter again if a budget is not passed, but the House also passed some spending bills on Thursday to avoid another shutdown. There are still other bills needing to be worked out in Congress to completely avoid another shutdown, The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/us/politics/house-spending-package.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Times</a> reported.

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