<![CDATA[Paging America]]>https://www.pagingamerica.orghttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ALPj!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F30a1183b-a668-4a03-9e7e-86440a500e9d_1200x1200.pngPaging Americahttps://www.pagingamerica.orgSubstackSun, 01 Nov 2026 18:39:52 GMT<![CDATA["Pain is the Only Teacher": Jeff Timmer Previews the Midterm Reckoning]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/pain-is-the-only-teacher-jeff-timmerhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/pain-is-the-only-teacher-jeff-timmerThu, 29 Oct 2026 18:47:32 GMTWith the midterms days away, hosts Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson are joined by Jeff Timmer, former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, chief operating officer of the Lincoln Project, and co-host of A Republic, If You Can Keep It. Together, we look at how Tuesday’s results could reshape American healthcare policy.

Jeff predicts a repudiation of the Republican Party, describing it as less a blue wave than a “red undertow” driven by anger at Trump, and warns Democrats not to overplay their hand. The conversation then turns to the issue voters keep raising: cost. A new Detroit News poll finds that for a plurality of Michigan voters, paying for health insurance and medical care now outranks gas and groceries, and Jeff shares what his own family’s premiums and deductibles run him each month. They also discuss a September poll showing 62% of Michigan respondents favorable toward Medicare for All, and how Abdul El-Sayed has pitched healthcare reform as pro-small-business.

From there, we work through the races to watch. In Michigan, Mike Rogers and John James lean on base turnout and RFK Jr.’s visit to West Michigan, which we say was more about stoking bigotry than healthcare.

In Kansas, Sen. Roger Marshall faces a late-campaign controversy over a $250,000 investment in a cancer-drug company, a stock-disclosure filing that came in months past the legal deadline, and a hometown mayor who says he no longer lives in the state.

In South Carolina, Dr. Annie Andrews is polling neck and neck with Lindsey Graham in a state Trump carried by almost 18 points. And in Mississippi, a tight Senate race could revive the conversation about Medicaid expansion.

We also make the case that state legislatures and governors’ races, especially in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Minnesota, are where a mandate on prescription drug costs, public options, and coverage expansion could take shape, and why newly empowered Democrats will need to deliver quickly.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: When Pregnancy Become A Crime]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-when-pregnancyhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-when-pregnancyMon, 26 Oct 2026 20:27:50 GMTSince Dobbs, pregnancy and pregnancy loss have been treated as crimes in at least 902 cases across 23 states, according to a new report from Pregnancy Justice. Most of the people charged are low-income. Nearly all of the cases involved allegations of substance use, including dozens of people who were taking prescribed medications like suboxone or methadone. Others were accused over a lack of prenatal care, even in places where NO prenatal care exists.

Our hosts this week, Drs. Erin Stevens and Dr. Chelsea Daniels, break down the report and what it means for patients and providers. We also look at the new White House women’s health task force and who is on it, and explain why “falling fertility” headlines are really about birth rates and why that difference matters. We dig into a new study suggesting viability limits don’t sway voters as much as we thought, and a JAMA Internal Medicine study showing the FDA-required mifepristone patient form doesn’t improve patient understanding.

Finally, we discuss Idaho’s OB-GYN exodus and what it looks like when half the state’s counties have no obstetrician.

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]]><![CDATA[Trifectas on the Table: How State Races Could Reshape Health Care]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/trifectas-on-the-table-how-statehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/trifectas-on-the-table-how-stateThu, 22 Oct 2026 19:33:32 GMTHosts Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson look at the midterms from state capitols to the U.S. Senate. We dig into state trifectas and what that could mean for healthcare all over the country. We break down the states where Democrats could win full control, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Arizona, and Nevada. What could that could mean for public options, prescription drug costs, hospital consolidation, and reproductive rights? It’s important to remember that the states are the “laboratories of democracy” for the next push at the federal level.

Next, they turn to the Kansas Senate race, where Sen. Roger Marshall is limping toward Election Day after a rough debate and reporting on his history of suing patients over unpaid bills. They look at a new American Prospect investigation into one of his biggest donors, a private equity investor who buys, strips, and dumps hospitals, and at how this kind of corruption raises costs and shutters community hospitals.

Then, the White House announces a new women’s health task force chaired by RFK Jr. The hosts look at what it does and doesn’t do, given the cuts to existing women’s health programs. They also cover the CDC-funded hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau, which raised serious ethical concerns and was halted this week.

Finally, Rob talks with oncologist Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, who recently wrote a Washington Post op-ed about Pope Leo’s lung adenocarcinoma and what the surgery suggests about his prognosis. We cover why lung cancer in non-smokers is on the rise, how public health measures like smoking cessation campaigns and radon testing save lives, whether AI will help cure cancer, and Dr. Sekeres’s upcoming book.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Alice Miranda Ollstein on How Abortion Bans Impact Everyone’s Health]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-alice-mirandahttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-alice-mirandaMon, 19 Oct 2026 21:01:54 GMTWhat happens when lawmakers write medical rules without doctors in the room? Politico senior healthcare reporter Alice Miranda Ollstein joins hosts Drs. Erin Stevens and Chris Ford to talk about her new book, Side Effects: How Abortion Bans Impact Everyone’s Health (out October 27 and available for pre-order now).

Alice explains why vague phrases like “significant impairment of a major bodily function” leave physicians guessing, and how that confusion pushes doctors toward “wait and see” care that research shows can be dangerous. She breaks down why the threat of state enforcement looms larger for doctors than the risk of federal investigations or malpractice suits, and what that imbalance means for patients in an emergency.

We also talk about how abortion bans are affecting oncologists, rheumatologists, and neurologists, and why medical societies that never took a position on abortion are now speaking up. Alice shares what she learned from sitting down with patients whose delayed care led to lasting medical consequences, and why those stories go deeper than the bullet points in a lawsuit. We discuss why physicians who get political after Dobbs often find lawmakers won’t meet with them on other issues, and why many decide the trade-off is worth it.

We take a look at what ballot measure results in states like Ohio, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Montana say about public opinion in red states, the divisions within the anti-abortion movement over telehealth, enforcement, and contraception, and the shifting politics of teen pregnancy and Title X.

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]]><![CDATA[On Call by Paging America: Heidi Overton’s Wobbly Nomination]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/on-call-by-paging-america-heidi-overtons-e23https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/on-call-by-paging-america-heidi-overtons-e23Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:03:30 GMTPresident Trump’s nominee to lead the FDA, Heidi Overton, may have played a bigger role in cutting the childhood vaccine schedule than senators understood at her confirmation hearing. Semafor healthcare reporter David Lim joins host Miles Baker to break down his latest reporting on what drove the process and whether Overton was a true believer or a skilled executor of the president’s priorities.

We dig into the tension between Kennedy’s influence and Trump’s own long-standing interest in vaccines, why the narrative took hold that Overton was aligned with pharma, and why a proposal to split the MMR vaccine may be impractical in the real world. We also look at the one-vote Republican majority on the Senate HELP Committee, the swing votes of Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski, the mifepristone question, and how the midterm elections could decide whether this nomination ever gets across the finish line.

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]]><![CDATA[On Call by Paging America: Maine Doubles Down, Michigan Shows Up]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/on-call-by-paging-america-maine-doubleshttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/on-call-by-paging-america-maine-doublesFri, 16 Oct 2026 15:48:46 GMTSenator Susan Collins says she doesn’t regret her vote to confirm RFK Jr. Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson react to her answer at the latest Maine Senate debate, where she also struggled to name a vote that mattered in which she broke with the administration. They dig into why her rationale doesn’t hold up given the measles outbreak, the dismantling of public health infrastructure, and the grift around products like kratom.

Then they head to Michigan, where AOC and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed kicked off a bus tour through the Upper Peninsula and drew record-setting crowds in towns like Escanaba, Iron Mountain, and Marquette, while JD Vance’s stop for Mike Rogers drew a far more subdued response. They discuss why the “she can’t play in the heartland” argument is falling apart, how corruption is overtaking affordability as the top voter concern, and why Rogers’s ties to Big Pharma make the link between the two so direct.

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]]><![CDATA[MAHA’s Scorecard: Zero Promises Kept]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/mahas-scorecard-zero-promises-kepthttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/mahas-scorecard-zero-promises-keptThu, 15 Oct 2026 19:14:59 GMTTwo-thirds of Americans now support Medicare for All, up from 50% in 2020. Even a third of Republicans are on board. This week, Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson break down the new KFF polling, why the topline number comes with a glass jaw, and what it means heading into the midterms.

The MAHA coalition keeps cracking. A group of RFK Jr’s former allies, including his ex-campaign fundraiser and former chief speechwriter, released a scorecard grading the Trump administration on its MAHA promises. The score: zero promises kept.

Sen. Ron Wyden is raising alarms over a possible quid pro quo between the kratom industry, RFK Jr.’s HHS, and a cabinet official with a financial stake in the market. In Florida, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo wants four vaccines dropped from the school schedule, and Rob explains what’s at stake.

We also recap two heated Senate debates. In Michigan, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed faced Mike Rogers, and both hosts give El-Sayed the edge for keeping the focus on voters while Rogers leaned on Islamophobic attacks. In Georgia, Sen. Jon Ossoff took on Rep. Mike Collins, and Rob calls his performance surgical for bringing the receipts without raising his voice. One of the reasons that these debates feel so different now: Democrats on stage genuinely don’t like their opponents, and Republicans are still in lockstep with Trump.

Then, our interview with Dr. Paul Offit. A pediatrician and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Offit helped develop a rotavirus vaccine that saves an estimated 165,000 lives a year worldwide. He sits down with Rob for a long-form conversation about the success of vaccines, where things stand today, and where they may be headed. It’s a timely listen as Florida moves to pull vaccines from its school schedule, and a good palate cleanser if you’re deep in the election news cycle.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: GOP Delays Mifepristone Review Until After the Midterms]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-gop-delays-mifepristonehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-gop-delays-mifepristoneMon, 12 Oct 2026 20:28:18 GMTThis week on The Situation Womb, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Dr. Erin Stevens, and Dr. Chelsea Daniels break down the news at the intersection of reproductive health care and politics.

The FDA’s mifepristone review is on hold until after the midterms, with the review set to wrap in mid-December and a report due in March. The hosts explain why the agency’s framing of the review as mifepristone versus surgical abortion doesn’t make clinical sense, and why they don’t trust the safety data that comes out of it. They also cover a Louisiana lawsuit challenging the telehealth provision, and reporting that the White House told the Justice Department to move slowly on abortion-related actions before Election Day.

From there, the conversation turns to Wisconsin, where Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley is proposing to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution, in contrast to his opponent Tom Tiffany. In Nevada, Patience Rousseau, who spent two years in jail after a 2018 miscarriage, has received $1.6 million from a rural county, and the hosts discuss what her case reveals about criminalizing pregnancy outcomes and limited access to care.

They also look at a new University of Michigan study linking abortion bans to higher out-of-pocket health insurance premium spending for women, nearly $9 million in federal reproductive health grants going to two organizations with anti-abortion ties, and Secretary Sean Duffy’s proposal to tie transportation funding to marriage and birth rates.

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]]><![CDATA[The Breathtaking Grift of Dr. Simone Gold]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-breathtaking-grift-of-dr-simonehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-breathtaking-grift-of-dr-simoneSat, 10 Oct 2026 14:50:34 GMT
Dr. Simone Gold with the late Charlie Kirk

Introduction

Earlier this month, the group America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) sent an email to its subscriber list with the subject line “Ivermectin over the counter. We’re still fighting.”

While it’s unclear what “requested our petition” means, it is true that AFLDS filed a petition with the FDA – which is, of course, a part of HHS – in June 2025 to make ivermectin available over the counter as a treatment for COVID-19. It is also true that ivermectin is a “Nobel Prize medicine.” However, it won the Nobel Prize in 2015 for dramatically lowering the incidence of river blindness (onchocerciasis) and lymphatic filariasis, both diseases caused by parasites, not viruses or non-parasitic diseases.

The FDA’s website on ivermectin and COVID-19 makes it clear that “the FDA has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19 in humans or animals” and that “the FDA has determined that currently available clinical trial data do not demonstrate that ivermectin is effective against COVID-19 in humans.”

In December 2025, the FDA gave AFLDS its interim response to their petition saying, “FDA has been unable to reach a decision on your Petition because it raises complex issues requiring extensive review and analysis by Agency officials.”

There is no indication that the FDA is moving forward with making ivermectin available over the counter and her contention that HHS is looking into their petition is unsubstantiated and seemingly to be fabricated. The email appears to simply be part of a multi-pronged fundraising scam where AFLDS donors are led to believe that the federal government is taking their petition seriously in order to induce them to send money.

A Brief History of AFLDS

AFLDS was formed in the summer of 2020 by a group called Council for National Policy Action (CNPA), a shadowy right-wing coordinating group. CNPA was vetting doctors as early as May of that year to form a coalition to support former President Trump’s hasty efforts to reopen the country, even as COVID-19 deaths were surging.

A short time later, AFLDS made its first public appearance with Dr. Simone Gold as the founder:

On July 27, 2020, the Tea Party Patriots hosted and funded a press conference in Washington, D.C., in front of the Supreme Court Building, dubbed the “White Coat Summit”, which featured a group led by Gold that referred to themselves as “America’s Frontline Doctors”. The group claimed that a cocktail of hydroxychloroquine, Zithromax, and zinc could be used as a “cure” for COVID-19, and that public health measures such as lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates were therefore unnecessary.

After spending the rest of 2020 giving cover to Donald Trump for his botched response to what was becoming the most deadly pandemic in over a century, AFLDS shifted their attention in early 2021 to spreading disinformation about the newly approved COVID-19 vaccines. Calling the vaccines “experimental biological agents,” they falsely claimed that, not only were they not effective at preventing COVID-19 infections, they were actually killing people. In addition to attacking vaccines, AFLDS also promoted unproven “cures” for COVID-19 like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, claiming that studies showing their effectiveness were being censored.

AFLDS soon pivoted to making a profit from their COVID-19 disinformation campaign. They began to offer a telemedicine session to obtain a prescription for Ivermectin for $90. A TIME magazine investigation found hundreds of victims of the AFLDS grift, some of them racking up hundreds of dollars in charges for phony COVID-19 treatments, often without ever receiving them. In some cases, people with COVID-19 became sicker as they waited for treatments that never arrived.

Jake Scott, MD, shed light on the scope of the AFLDS grift:

During a two-month window in late 2021, a single network linking America’s Frontline Doctors to the telemedicine platform SpeakWithAnMD generated approximately $6.7 million in consultation fees. Consultations cost $90 each. Some lasted only minutes; congressional investigators found that some never occurred at all. Prescriptions were routed to a partner pharmacy, Ravkoo, which filled over 340,000 prescriptions representing $8.5 million in drug revenue. Ivermectin that cost $20 to $50 at retail was sold through these networks for $80 to $700, markups of 300 to 3,400 percent.

As they raked in millions of dollars from their ivermectin scam, AFLDS and Gold repeatedly claimed that the one known effective treatment for COVID-19, the anti-viral drug remdesivir, was killing people.

The Grift Didn’t Stop With COVID-19

Gold has expanded her telemedicine platform into GoldCare Health & Wellness which claims to be a one-stop shop for health care consultations, medications, and medical mandate waivers.

From WUSF:

Gold’s new Florida company, GoldCare Health & Wellness LLC , is recruiting physicians, pharmacists and others and marketing to consumers online. It is described as a “private membership association” that costs $1,000 a year to join, $2,000 for a family. No private or government insurance is accepted for consultations that cost up to $100 per 15 minutes via telemedicine, according to marketing materials. Lab tests and prescriptions cost extra. Hospital care is not covered.

The idea, according to the website, is to “serve each patient’s best interest and promote medical freedom … Because we don’t allow government or insurance to control healthcare decisions, the patient-physician relationship can flourish.”

Attempts to learn more were rebuffed. A staff member identified only as Miriam wrote, “At this time we are not doing any media interviews.”

It probably won’t surprise you that one of GoldCare’s medication offerings is ivermectin. Their “Covid Pack” – which includes ivermectin – costs $295 if you have a monthly GoldCare membership and $245 for annual and lifetime memberships. Their $300 “Premium Acute Viral Treatment” and $300 “Hantavirus Acute Viral Treatment” Med-Packs also contain the drug.

According to Gold, COVID-19 isn’t the only illness that can be cured by ivermectin. In 2024, she published a pseudo-science piece on her GoldCare website titled, “From Fighting Parasites to Conquering Cancer: The Ivermectin Journey.” In it, you can “discover the surprising potential of ivermectin in fighting cancer and how it could revolutionize treatment” and “learn more about this groundbreaking research and its implications.”

As the hantavirus outbreak made headlines across the country last spring, Gold promoted ivermectin as the cure:

What is Simone Gold’s Game?

It’s not clear what Gold’s motivations are in promoting the AFLDS petition to make ivermectin available without a prescription. Her company continues to make money by selling prescriptions for the drug online and she continues to disparage actual treatments for COVID-19. If her false claims that it can cure cancer and hantavirus were actually true, she’d make even more money if a prescription was required to obtain it.

Perhaps she knows that even Trump’s FDA is never going to authorize ivermectin for over the counter use. But, making a big show of their request legitimizes it to gullible people looking for easy answers to deadly diseases. Gold surely knows that legitimizing her organization’s claims about the drug means they can continue to profit from selling it.

Conclusion

There are efforts across the country to hold medical professionals accountable for spreading medical disinformation. State medical boards have issued statements saying doctors who do so should lose their medical licenses.

Sadly, that didn’t happen in Gold’s case. Despite being one of the nation’s top purveyors of medical disinformation, she still holds a medical license in California although the state’s medical board has reprimanded her:

About 3 years after being arrested for participating in the January 6 Capitol riots, America’s Frontline Doctors founder Simone Gold, MD, JD, received a public reprimand from the Medical Board of California (MBC) in connection with the resulting federal crime.

The 31-page order, which went into effect on February 2, requires Gold to pay back the state $26,739.25 in “reasonable costs of investigation and prosecution.”

It also includes a requirement that Gold take “educational courses in professionalism and ethics approved by the Board.”

The state licensing agency filed an accusation against her license a year ago, arguing that her actions at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. constituted “unprofessional conduct” and demonstrated “an unfitness to practice medicine.”

While Gold was in prison for her January 6th activities (NOTE: AFLDS raised nearly a half million dollars from their “Free Dr. Gold” campaign and she’s been given a “full and unconditional” pardon by Trump), the state of Florida awarded her a medical license, as well. This isn’t all that surprising considering that the state’s surgeon general, Joe Ladapo, is a member of AFLDS.

It seems unlikely that Simone Gold’s grift will end any time soon. In the meantime, she’ll continue to use every avenue at her disposal to fleece gullible people using medical disinformation, preying upon their hopes and fears and distrust of government. Sadly, thanks to the efforts of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others in Trump’s orbit, many people have a heightened distrust of the medical community, as well, exacerbating the problem.

In the face of the anti-health care efforts of groups like AFLDS who hide behind the shield of the white coat, there has never been a more important time for a pro-health care organization of doctors like the Committee to Protect Health Care to be fighting back. Studies have shown that doctors are the most trusted source for medical information. From the safety of vaccines to the safety of abortion medications like mifepristone and the importance of putting patients above profits, most Americans still turn to doctors for the facts. Unfortunately, dark money-funded groups like AFLDS are intentionally muddying the waters, most often to financially enrich themselves.

It’s important to note that this isn’t a story about the dangers of ivermectin which is a truly wondrous and life-saving drug. Rather, it is a story about harnessing the power of medical disinformation, deceit, and fear for self-enrichment. This grift is dangerous and can even be deadly if people who need actual medical treatments don’t receive them because they are relying on bogus treatments peddled by bad actors like Simone Gold.

If you discover AFLDS doctors or any other similar types of efforts active in your state, be sure to contact your Committee state organizer to alert them about it.

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]]><![CDATA[Healthcare on the Ballot: Kansas, Maine, and Michigan]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/healthcare-on-the-ballot-kansas-mainehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/healthcare-on-the-ballot-kansas-maineThu, 08 Oct 2026 19:02:03 GMTHealthcare is the center of the fight for the Senate. Hosts Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson break down three races where it is shaping the outcome: Kansas, Maine, and Michigan.

Kansas. A state that should have been a layup for Republicans is now competitive. Sen. Roger Marshall, a former OB-GYN, has had a rough stretch. He told cameras there were “no Medicaid cuts” right after Kansas doctors blamed him for cuts that threaten rural hospitals and clinics. Then the New York Times reported that he sued roughly 700 of his own patients over unpaid bills, some as small as $101. Eighty-one were arrested, and he charged an 18% interest rate. Democrat Adam Hamilton won the first debate and we discuss the legal-versus-moral gap in how Marshall collected debts, and the latest polling, including a GBAO survey with Hamilton up four.

Maine. Sen. Susan Collins faces Troy Jackson, who became the Democrats’ late replacement for Graham Platner. The hosts cover Jackson’s attacks on Collins over Trump’s big bill and her Kavanaugh vote, and her defense of both. They argue that Collins has a way to prove her stated views on reproductive rights and vaccines are real: she holds the deciding vote on the HELP Committee and could sink Heidi Overton’s nomination today. With nearly two-thirds of abortions now done by medication and telehealth access vital in a rural state like Maine, they say the stakes are immediate. They also discuss why the race is a toss-up and what each faction of the Democratic Party can learn from how it came together.

Michigan. Polling averages show El-Sayed ahead by about five points, while Rogers’ campaign leans on Islamophobia and race-baiting with few other arguments. The hosts praise how El-Sayed is defining Medicare for All, including simplifying Medicare, adding vision and dental, and possibly lowering the eligibility age, along with his outreach to MAHA-leaning voters on food and public health. They also discuss his planned tour of rural and northern Michigan to talk about affordability, tariffs, and farm costs, the Jocelyn Benson governor’s race and what differences between the two campaigns might reveal, and early signs of Latino voter enthusiasm that could reshape West Michigan. Miles and Rob also note that nearly a thousand Michigan healthcare professionals have signed a letter backing El-Sayed.

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]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Taxpayer Dollars for Fake Clinics]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-taxpayer-dollarshttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-taxpayer-dollarsMon, 05 Oct 2026 20:49:09 GMTThis week on The Situation Womb, Drs. Kristin Lyerly, Erin Stevens, Chelsea Daniels, and Chris Ford. break down the latest news at the intersection of reproductive healthcare and politics.

The Trump administration is refusing to spend billions of dollars Congress already appropriated for health programs, including teen pregnancy prevention, and the hosts ask what that means for patients. North Carolina is sending more than $10.7 million to crisis pregnancy centers, and the hosts share what they’ve seen from these centers in their own clinics. Students for Life is pushing a “clean water” campaign over mifepristone traces in the water supply, and the hosts look at what the science says and doesn’t say.

Attorneys general from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama are asking the Supreme Court to allow a challenge to shield laws in California, Massachusetts, and New York. Dr. Ford and Dr. Lyerly explain what’s at stake for patients and providers. Dr. Daniels reports on new California laws expanding who can provide procedural abortion care, supporting veterans, protecting gender-diverse patients from insurance discrimination, and strengthening privacy in electronic health records.

Finally, we take a look at the prospect of reversible male contraception. Could this become a reality?

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]]><![CDATA[On Call by Paging America: We Come Face to Face with the Heidi Overton]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/on-call-by-paging-america-we-comehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/on-call-by-paging-america-we-comeFri, 02 Oct 2026 17:02:00 GMTDr. Kristin Lyerly is fresh off a physician lobby day in Washington, DC and is here to tell host Miles Baker all about it.

Doctors in white coats with the Committee to Protect Health Care met with Senate HELP Committee offices to oppose the nomination of Dr. Heidi Overton to lead the FDA.

We break down why physicians say Overton is the wrong choice, what happened when the group crossed paths with the nominee herself, and why her nomination won't move before the election.

]]><![CDATA[The MAHA Conference Goes Corporate]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-maha-conference-goes-corporatehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-maha-conference-goes-corporateThu, 01 Oct 2026 16:00:16 GMTPhysicians with the Committee to Protect Health Care descended on Washington to fight Dr. Heidi Overton’s nomination to lead the FDA, and by most accounts it was a bad day for her. Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson break down why the fight is far from over and how medical professionals can still sign the letter opposing her.

They also cover the week’s other developments: the White House dropping a planned order that would have put political appointees in charge of NIH grants, the new chair of the federal autism coordinating committee who co-founded a company selling leucovorin to families of autistic children, and reports that RFK Jr. pulled $12 million from the Office of Minority Health to cover his security costs. The CDC has also finally acknowledged measles deaths in Pennsylvania, where babies are now being born infected.

In the second half of the show, Politico healthcare reporter Carmen Paun joins us with an on-the-ground account of the MAHA conference in Washington, D.C. The conference, sponsored by UnitedHealth Group, came just as a group of MAHA leaders sent an open letter to Trump and RFK Jr. threatening to withdraw their support over the administration’s failure to remove the mRNA platform. It seems that the event was not very well attended, which raises the question of whether MAHA is fracturing, morphing into a corporate project, or both.

LINKS

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Have thoughts, questions, or your own health care story? Email us at feedback@pagingamerica.org.

]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: Band-Aids on an Arterial Bleed]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-band-aids-on-anhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-band-aids-on-anMon, 28 Sep 2026 20:16:24 GMTThis week on The Situation Womb, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Dr. Chris Ford, and Dr. Erin Stevens open with the Cornell case and the response online, and share a reminder for survivors: it was not your fault. Support is available through the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE.

Then it’s on to the news. New data shows more than 12 million women who rely on low-cost or free birth control could lose access if Planned Parenthood funding cuts go through, and clinics have already closed that may never reopen, even if the money returns. At the same time, three GOP members of Congress have introduced the LARC Access Expansion Act, which would fund training and device inventory for IUDs and implants in rural clinics. The hosts are cautiously hopeful, but they also question the timing, five weeks before the midterms, and the sponsors’ votes on the Big Beautiful Bill.

An Ohio House bill would let pharmacists prescribe birth control. About 30 states already allow it, but low awareness, reimbursement problems, and Republican roadblocks in Wisconsin keep it from working the way it should. We also tackle the explosion of birth control disinformation online, including the false claim that hormonal contraception harms future fertility, and how evidence-based providers can push back.

Then there’s the disastrous Senate hearing for FDA nominee Heidi Overton, with non-answers on whether an IUD is an abortion and whether healthcare is a human right, and why even Sen. Josh Hawley’s objections could sink the nomination. In Tennessee, a nonprofit that connects people to out-of-state abortion care is fighting back against the Attorney General’s demands for records, raising First Amendment and patient privacy concerns. And the hosts break down why Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill protecting providers from extradition over abortion and gender-affirming care, and what it could mean for patients.

Plus: advocacy updates, a tailgate for democracy at a Packers game, and what to watch as the midterms approach.

LINKS

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Join the fight at committeetoprotect.org.

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]]><![CDATA[On Call by Paging America: Immediate Reaction to Heidi Overton’s Confirmation Hearing]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/on-call-by-paging-america-immediatehttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/on-call-by-paging-america-immediateThu, 24 Sep 2026 19:31:58 GMTHosts Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson react to Heidi Overton’s Senate HELP Committee hearing on her nomination to lead the FDA. She gave evasive, non-committal answers on vaccines, reproductive health, and other high-stakes topics, dodging questions about her own well-documented views. Rob compares her approach to Dean Smith’s “four corners” stall offense, running out the clock without ever offering a real opinion.

The hosts play clips of Overton declining to say whether an IUD is an abortion, which they read as a sign of fringe positions she’s been coached to hide. Throughout, they raise concern that a nominee who won’t contradict the president can’t serve as an independent arbiter of science, and Rob wishes future Democratic nominees would be held to a “just answer the question” standard.

Miles closes by outlining two possible timelines: a fast-tracked committee vote, which would suggest the votes of Sens. Cassidy, Collins, and Murkowski are already lined up, or a delay until after the election. Either way, he urges listeners, especially those in states like Louisiana, Maine, Alaska, and Ohio, to contact their senators.

LINKS

Learn about what you can do to fight the nomination of anti-abortion, anti-vaxx zealot Heidi Overton in the Committee’s Medical Professional Toolkit HERE.

Thanks to Aaron Rupar for the video clips used in today’s On Call:

]]><![CDATA[RFK Jr.'s Chemtrails, Overton's FDA Bid, and Dr. Vin Gupta on What Comes Next]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/rfk-jrs-chemtrails-overtons-fda-bidhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/rfk-jrs-chemtrails-overtons-fda-bidThu, 24 Sep 2026 16:41:26 GMTThis week on Paging America, Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson are discussing the Senate HELP Committee hearing for FDA nominee Heidi Overton, whose support for changes to the childhood vaccine schedule and push to restrict abortion have raised serious alarms. Miles walks through the two-step Senate process that could stop her nomination and where Susan Collins and Bill Cassidy stand.

From there, the hosts turn to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s return to Children’s Health Defense, where after nearly 90 minutes on stage he claimed HHS is looking into, believe it or not, chemtrails. His latest financial disclosure adds to the picture, showing more than $250,000 in free flights and vacation use from a wealthy donor, plus $4 million in book advances.

Then it’s on to the Trump administration’s move to politicize NIH grants, including a draft executive order that would create a committee with veto power over awards and reports of money being routed toward the Pentagon. The hosts also react to the announcement from JD Vance and Dr. Oz that roughly 760,000 people will lose ACA coverage for never filing a claim, just 43 days before the election, and explain why it’s bad policy and worse politics. Dr. Rob also weighs in on Mitch McConnell’s return to the Senate, explaining what anoxic brain injury can mean for an 84-year-old and why the situation strengthens the case for term limits.

Plus, Dr. Rob sits down with Dr. Vin Gupta, a practicing pulmonologist, medical analyst for MSNOW, and head of health content at the Meidas Touch Network. They discuss why Overton is unqualified to lead the FDA, how ideology is driving decisions at the NIH, and why cutting health disparities research makes little sense even on economic grounds. Dr. Gupta also digs into the erosion of public trust in doctors and health agencies, why patients still trust their own physicians, and why AI in healthcare shouldn’t be an all-or-nothing debate.

Want to help stop Heidi Overton’s nomination? Doctors, nurses, and other providers can volunteer at committeetoprotect.org.

LINKS

Join the fight at committeetoprotect.org.

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Have thoughts, questions, or your own health care story? Email us at feedback@pagingamerica.org.

]]><![CDATA[The Situation Womb: They Want You To Believe You're Drinking Abortions]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-they-want-youhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-situation-womb-they-want-youMon, 21 Sep 2026 20:48:16 GMTSomeone wants you to believe your tap water is full of other people’s abortions. Drs. Kristin Lyerly and Erin Stevens follow the trail from a new EPA water study back to Students for Life, and explain why it’s a distraction while lead, PFAS, and nitrates go unaddressed.

In Kansas, a Senate race no one was watching just got interesting. Democrat Adam Hamilton is closing in on Sen. Roger Marshall, the OB-GYN who sued more than 700 of his own patients over unpaid bills, some as small as $101, and had 81 of them arrested.

Then the hosts look at the 21 million women living in contraception deserts, including much of Minnesota, and at two Minnesota women suing Planned Parenthood over “coerced” abortions. What does the complaint actually say, and who are they blaming?

ICE is detaining a record number of pregnant people and has stopped counting miscarriages. They’re using a “no data, no problem” playbook that also gutted maternal mortality review committees.

Plus, in Texas, the family of Tierra Walker is suing Ken Paxton after she was denied a life-saving abortion, a heartbreaking case that could show why abortion ban exceptions are just words on a page. And in Michigan, students are being forced to hand over their menstrual history just to sit out swim class.

There’s good news, too. A federal court rejected a Washington State church’s attempt to avoid covering abortion in its employee health plan, and telehealth has helped triple medication abortion use in Hawaii, where getting care means crossing water.

Plus, early voting is underway, so the hosts share tips for making a voting plan, and they preview a tailgate for democracy in Green Bay.

LINKS

FOLLOW THE DOCS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Join the fight at committeetoprotect.org.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@pagingamerica

Subscribe, share, and leave a rating to help more people find Paging America.

Have thoughts, questions, or your own health care story? Email us at feedback@pagingamerica.org.

]]><![CDATA[On Call by Paging America: Heidi Overton’s Confirmation Hearing Is Set]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/on-call-by-paging-america-heidi-overtonshttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/on-call-by-paging-america-heidi-overtonsFri, 18 Sep 2026 10:01:24 GMTBreaking News: the Senate HELP Committee will hold a confirmation hearing on September 24th for Dr. Heidi Overton, Trump's pick to lead the FDA.

Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson break down Overton's record as an America First Policy Institute fellow, her role shaping the administration's childhood vaccine schedule changes, her anti-abortion writings, and why Senators Cassidy, Collins, and Murkowski could be the deciding votes on her confirmation.

]]><![CDATA[Silicon Valley's Rush to Replace Your Doctor With AI]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/silicon-valleys-rush-to-replace-yourhttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/silicon-valleys-rush-to-replace-yourThu, 17 Sep 2026 19:13:00 GMTHosts Miles Baker and Dr Rob Davidson kick off today’s show talking about HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.’s return to the anti-vaccine movement he helped build. He will be headlining the sold-out Children’s Health Defense conference, which is the same organization he chaired for eight years and was paid roughly half a million dollars a year to lead. Sharing the stage with him: Andrew Wakefield, author of the retracted study that falsely linked the MMR vaccine to autism, along with Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul.

We then discuss reporting on the Trump administration’s fast-tracked push to embed AI into medical diagnosis and treatment. That includes new Medicare billing codes that would pay AI companies for clinical services. Rob, a practicing physician, explains why the “art of medicine” resists being reduced to an algorithm, and why speed without safeguards is the real problem, not AI in healthcare itself.

Next: a fourth Pennsylvania resident has died from measles-related causes, but the death doesn’t show up in official CDC counts. We unpack the agency’s quiet decision to change how it tracks measles deaths. What does it mean when public health data gets adjusted to fit a preferred narrative? They also note the near-total public silence from newly installed CDC Director Erica Schwartz as the country heads into flu, RSV, and COVID season.

We have a Surgeon General nominee with Dr. Nicole Sapphire. Her financial disclosures reveal investments in tobacco, sugary beverage, and pharmaceutical companies. These are the same industries that RFK Jr has spent years attacking.

Finally, Pennsylvania State House candidate Hadley Haas joins the show. A Pittsburgh mother whose two sons were born deaf, Haas talks about her decades-long fight for hearing-impairment awareness and insurance access, Pennsylvania’s wave of rural hospital closures and the private equity forces behind them, the fight to codify abortion rights in the state constitution, and why her race in the 44th House District is one of the top targets for Democrats hoping to build a governing trifecta in Harrisburg.

LINKS

Join the fight at committeetoprotect.org.

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]]><![CDATA[The Demonization of Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" Campaign]]>https://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-demonization-of-michelle-obamashttps://www.pagingamerica.org/p/the-demonization-of-michelle-obamasWed, 16 Sep 2026 18:12:38 GMT

Introduction

In his recent “Trumpapalooza” speech, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. peevishly said that Democrats had “abolished my uncle’s physical fitness test because they said that competition was bad for children.”

He was referring to a program called the Presidential Fitness Test that existed before John F. Kennedy took office. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued an Executive Order creating the President’s Council on Youth Fitness with the goal of improving the physical fitness of America’s kids. This led to the establishment of the Youth Fitness Project by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation and in 1958, they published the first official Youth Fitness Test.

The Youth Fitness Test, which had an assortment of elements involving running, jumping, sit-ups, and other activities, has undergone a number of changes over the years. However, when Democratic administrations made any changes, Republicans quickly and invariably demonized the efforts.

Let’s take a look at how the program evolved and the Republican hypocrisy about efforts led by Democrats.

John F. Kennedy through Ronald Reagan

In December 1960, shortly before he took office, Kennedy published an article in Sports Illustrated titled, “The Soft American” in which he decried the waning physical fitness of American kids. “The harsh fact of the matter is that there is … an increasingly large number of young Americans who are neglecting their bodies—whose physical fitness is not what it should be—who are getting soft,” Kennedy wrote. “And such softness on the part of individual citizens can help to strip and destroy the vitality of a nation.”

He changed the name of Eisenhower’s program to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, expanding its focus beyond children. He began a nationwide public service advertising campaign, promoting physical fitness across all age groups.

When Lyndon B. Johnson took office, he created the Presidential Physical Fitness Award Program, the first presidential program acknowledging young people who met minimum requirements on a series of fitness tests. Throughout the 70s and 80s, the test was modified, removing some components and adding others.

During this time, one of the chief criticisms of the program was that it excluded kids who were physically challenged. While the program was continued and expanded during the Carter and Reagan administrations, the focus remained on top performers.

The Clinton and Obama Years

When he took office, Bill Clinton changed the aim of the program to include all children, not just high performers. With programs like “Get Off It!” and “Get Up, Get Out!”, Clinton’s programs de-emphasized the award aspect of the program and promoted physical activity, in general.

When Barack Obama became president, he retired the award program entirely and, in 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama established “Let’s Move!”, which remained focused on physical activity and nutrition. The website featured resources for healthy eating, an active lifestyle, and physical fitness. “In the end, as First Lady, this isn’t just a policy issue for me,” Obama wrote. “This is a passion. This is my mission. I am determined to work with folks across this country to change the way a generation of kids thinks about food and nutrition.”

In an NPR Morning Edition segment titled, “Checking Up On Michelle Obama’s Anti-Obesity Effort”, Myra Gutin of Rider University pointed out how unique Michelle Obama’s effort was:

Gutin says Michelle Obama goes further than her predecessors: “She has partners from Major League Baseball to Wal-Mart, and no other first lady initiative that I can think of had that kind of support from the corporate world.”

She also engaged celebrities in her effort. For example, Beyoncé rewrote her song “Get Me Bodied” for a workout video aimed at kids, and renamed it “Move Your Body”:

Conservatives Lose Their Minds

The Obamas’ decision to retire the fitness award program stemmed, in part, from research showing many kids felt excluded from participating. One study detailed the “fatphobia” experienced by many kids. Some recalled that during physical education classes, they often felt “humiliated, vulnerable, or incompetent.”

That didn’t stop Republicans from attacking both the President and the First Lady. Here’s more from NPR:

Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin have all attacked Michelle Obama’s program directly.

“Instead of a government thinking that they need to take over [and] make decisions for us according to some politician or politician’s wife’s priorities — just leave us alone. Get off our back,” Palin has said.

During the Super Bowl telecast, viewers in Washington, D.C., saw an ad against a proposed soda tax that struck a similar tone — without mentioning Obama’s program specifically.

“Give me a break. I can decide what to buy without government help,” the woman in the ad says. “The government is just getting too involved in our personal lives.”

As Tom Bartlett wrote for The Atlantic, “Fox News pundits such as Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity portrayed Let’s Move as a nanny-state plot to control the American diet, a slippery slope to the criminalization of french fries.”

The Los Angeles Times has more:

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh last week suggested Obama is a hypocrite for dining on ribs, and remarked on her waistline in the process. That was just the latest offering in what has been a steady diet of criticisms.

“Leaders are supposed to be leaders,” Limbaugh said. “If we are supposed to eat roots, berries and tree bark, show us how.”

Critics have carped about Obama’s spread at her Super Bowl party — and have suggested that the child-nutrition legislation she backed in Congress would bring about the end of school bake sales. Her work with the National Restaurant Assn. to develop healthier menu items has been decried in some circles as a government takeover of business.

Trump and RFK Jr. Take Us Back

All of which brings us to today. In his ongoing effort to take America back in time, Trump has joined the “🤬 Your [Kids’] Feelings” crowd. In 2025 he issued an Executive Order reinstating the Presidential Fitness Test, saying, “These next few years will be a golden age of athletics.”

Trans athletes need not apply.

During the signing ceremony for his Executive Order, Trump took the opportunity to slam the Obamas. “We had the Obama administration which phased out this wonderful tradition of physical fitness. Thank you, Barack, very much. Great job,” he said sarcastically. “But we’re bringing it back. We’re bringing it back.”

This is despite his stated belief that exercise drains the body’s “finite” energy resources and his claim that he exercises “like about one minute a day, max, if I’m lucky.”

The Hypocrisy Zone

Trump’s petulant effort to undo the accomplishments of Michelle and Barack Obama is just part of the hypocrisy of his administration and his sycophantic supporters. People who once decried the Obamas’ work to reduce sugary drinks and snacks in the diets of our nation’s kids as “the nanny state” telling us what to do are silent as RFK Jr. works to do the same thing. His “Eat Real Food” initiative is largely just a rebranding of previous efforts. At a MAHA event last year, he said, “I urge every governor to champion legislation that bans ultra-processed foods and dyes in public schools, and submit a waiver to the USDA to remove soda from SNAP.”

It all sounds vaguely familiar…

It’s very hard to see how Kennedy’s MAHA efforts are any different than the so-called nanny state directives Republicans derided not long ago. His rhetoric on this issue sounds so much like the things Michelle Obama said in promoting her “Let’s Move!” program that it verges on plagiarism.

In the end, encouraging healthy eating and an active lifestyle, especially for kids, is something we can all get behind. But let’s not pretend that this was an idea only Trump or Kennedy could conceive of. In fact, as a concept, a presidential focus on kids’ health and fitness predates even Kennedy’s famous uncle.

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