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Dan Diamond

@ddiamond.bsky.social

57K followers 110 following 850 posts

White House reporter at the Washington Post. Focused on politics, policy and public health. Democracy dies in darkness. Find me on Signal: username dan_diamond.01

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · Aug 28

well I guess paternity leave is officially over

Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · May 13

been away + focused on a personal project

back at work later this year

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 1h

Trump heading to Walter Reed on Friday for a "planned meeting" and his annual check-up, White House says.

Then — maybe — heading to Middle East.

"On Friday morning, President Trump will visit Walter Reed Medical Center for a planned meeting and remarks with the troops. While there, President Trump will stop by for his routine yearly check up. He will then return to the White House. President Trump is considering going to the Middle East shortly thereafter." - White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 9h

Wrote last year about how RFK Jr also had been weighing changes to payment codes — an area of agreement with Democrats like Elizabeth Warren, who say the current system wrongly creates incentives for specialty procedures rather than primary health.

RFK Jr. weighs major changes to how Medicare pays physicians

Kennedy and advisers say the system drives doctors to perform costly surgeries rather than combating chronic disease.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 9h

Huh — BILL CASSIDY, who chairs the Senate's health committee, is demanding answers from the American Medical Association over its coding system.

CASSIDY: "I am actively reviewing the government-backed monopoly around CPT codes and the impact on patient health care costs."

VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION Bobby Mukkamala, M.D. President American Medical Association 330 N. Wabash Ave., Suite 39300 Chicago, IL 60611-5885 Dear Dr. Mukkamala, As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), I am writing to seek information regarding the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) costly monopoly over the Current Procedural Terminology® (CPT) coding system. The AMA maintains and annually updates the CPT coding system as a standardized set of descriptive terms and identifying codes used primarily to report medical, surgical, and diagnostic services performed by physicians and other health care professionals. CPT codes are essential for accurate medical billing and claims processing by both public and private health insurers. The codes enable communication and efficient processing of information throughout the entire health care system, and they are relied upon by providers, suppliers, government agencies, and ultimately patients. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) (42 U.S. Code § 1320d-2), the federal government mandates the use of standard code sets for the purposes of conducting transactions. In the implementing regulations (45 CFR § 162.1002), CPT codes, as trademarked by the AMA, were selected as one of the standard code sets that must be used. As a result, the government has endorsed a coding monopoly for the AMA. I am particularly offended by the AMA abusing its government-endorsed CPT monopoly to charge every stakeholder in the health care system significant amounts of money while advancing an anti-patient agenda. The enormous revenue from offering these required tools while advocating non-evidence-based policies raises questions about the AMA’s commitment to physicians and the patients they serve. The AMA characterizes the CPT coding system as “a shared language facilitating the delivery of quality care.”1 Shared does not translate to free, however. The AMA char…

agreement. The AMA also sells subscriptions to “CPT Assistant online,” which provides access to articles and resources related to CPT codes. Last year, the AMA generated over $500 million in revenue.2 More than half of that revenue came from the publication of books and digital content, including the annual publication of CPT codes that are used to code for medical procedures and services.3 CPT codes are required to be used by providers to bill for services, and the AMA has had an exclusive monopoly on publishing these codes for over 40 years.4 Your organization has abused this government-backed monopoly by charging exorbitant fees to anyone using the CPT code set, including doctors, hospitals, health plans, and health IT vendors. These fees inevitably are passed on by CPT users to patients in the form of higher health care costs. This is anti-patient and anti-doctor. As Chairman of the HELP Committee, which has jurisdiction over HIPAA, I am actively reviewing the government-backed monopoly around CPT codes and the impact on patient health care costs, especially in the wake of the AMA’s anti-patient, anti-science advocacy efforts. To that end, I request answers to the following questions by October 20, 2025: 1. One of the AMA’s primary activities is generating and updating CPT codes used to code for medical procedures and services. The AMA has held the exclusive right to generate these codes since 1983.5 This process involves internal deliberations before a public stakeholder session prior to finalizing codes. While the AMA holds an outsized role in this process, only approximately 26% of physicians in the United States are members of the AMA.6 a. What steps has the AMA leadership taken to ensure that this mandatory process incorporates the feedback and concerns of all providers? 2. Last year, the AMA generated total revenue of $513.2 million.7 $281.4 million of that amount was generated from “books and digital content.”8 However, AMA does not provide transparenc…

b. What were the administrative costs associated with generating CPT coding materials? c. How does the AMA calculate the for-sale price of CPT coding materials? d. How has the for-sale price of CPT coding materials changed in the last five years? e. In the last five years, how much revenue has the AMA generated from the sale of CPT coding materials and related products and subscriptions? 3. In 2024, AMA also recorded $434.4 million in “general and administrative expenses.”9 a. What amount of these expenses were used to support work associated with DEI mandates? b. What amount of these expenses were used to support research supporting gender transition care? Sincerely, ____________________________ Bill Cassidy, M.D. Chairman U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 1d

my post was a quick attempt to capture an outlandish quote by Trump in a presser I'm watching; say that it's not true; and paste a headline that shows why he's wrong within the character constraints of Bluesky. I would encourage you and @chrisgeidner.bsky.social not to over-interpret it.

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 1d

Trump tells Canada’s prime minister that DC was a “raging hellhole” but claims that his crackdown fixed it.

TRUMP: “There is no crime in DC… no one’s being shot.”

There’s evidence that Trump’s crackdown helped curb crime — but it’s not true that it’s gone.

Example: this headline today.

Local Crime & Public Safety
Three people found fatally shot in D.C. in three days
Three youths, one with a gun, took a moped in broad daylight on Capitol Hill.
Today at 2:01 a.m. ET

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 1d

Trump’s pledge that he’s open to a health-care compromise has Democrats keen to make a deal — and conservatives eager to blow it up.

A look at the Obamacare state of play with @rbeggin.bsky.social and @theodoricmeyer.bsky.social.

Trump hints at health-care deal to end shutdown, but key hurdles remain

Democrats and Republicans continue to disagree on the Affordable Care Act subsidies at the center of the week-long fight.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 1d

“Secretary Kennedy is entitled to his views. But he is not entitled to put people’s health at risk.”

Six former surgeons general condemn RFK Jr.

Opinion | Six surgeons general: RFK Jr. is a threat to the health of Americans

It was our duty in office to warn of dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 2d

Greetings from the White House press briefing room. (It’s my first time back after paternity leave.)

What would you ask the White House, if you could?

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 3d

What it's like to grow up unvaccinated, by Trisha Thadani.

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

But for 26-year-old Emma Sonas, a childhood bout with whooping cough was so debilitating that she is still dealing with the consequences.

Sonas, who was delivered in a home birth, said she did not receive a single vaccine growing up. When she was 13, Sonas, along with her mom and siblings, caught whooping cough, a highly contagious respiratory infection that leads to uncontrollable coughing fits as the person gasps for air. Sonas’s symptoms were so severe that she slept upright in her bed for months. Otherwise, she’d wake up and feel like she was drowning.

“My respiratory system has never been the same,” she said. “The idea that a choice my parents made has resulted into something like this has been really hard to understand and deal with.”

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 5d

“I have been hanging around the demonstration that the president wants to crush. What I’ve found is an atmosphere that is more like a carnival than combat.”

The great @isaacstanleybecker.bsky.social goes to Portland, after Trump claims it’s a war zone.

Portland’s ‘War Zone’ Is Like Burning Man for the Terminally Online

There’s more absurdity than menace on the city’s streets—at least for now.

www.theatlantic.com

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 6d

“I often think about my mom’s healthcare experience when I think about the ways in which the system needs to be fixed and the things we must fight like hell to protect…

Healthcare broke my heart, but healthcare cannot stay broken.”

— Solomon Banjo

The day healthcare broke my heart

I still remember the first time healthcare broke my heart. It was the summer of 2015 and my manager started our check-in like she often did, by asking me how I was doing.

www.linkedin.com

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 6d

Solomon Banjo was a person who cared deeply about our world and wanted to make it better. He was randomly, tragically killed in last week’s mass shouting at a North Carolina bar.

Sharing this article, and another post, in hopes of amplifying his memory. He deserved much more than this.

Solomon Banjo, Southport mass shooting victim, described as 'brilliant' and 'positive'

A Virginia man was among those killed in a mass shooting in Southport on Sept. 27.

www.starnewsonline.com

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 6d

The WSJ editorial board criticizes Trump’s threats to the pharma industry as “political extortion” and pans the idea behind the president’s planned “TrumpRx” website.

“Why does the federal government need to become a drug marketer? Doesn’t it already do enough not very well?”

Opinion | America’s Pharmacist in Chief

The President becomes a drug marketer, while Pfizer gets a tariff break.

www.wsj.com

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 7d

Responding to criticism, Baccarelli says it’s important to engage “even when people disagree with you, and [with] people we disagree with.”

Says he was hoping to help “set evidence-based policy” around possible acetaminophen-autism link.

(If you hear typing sound, that’s me)

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 7d

Andrea Baccarelli, dean of Harvard’s school for public health — and author of a paper that suggested a potential link between Tylenol and autism — facing questions in a Harvard forum this afternoon about why he met with RFK Jr.

salary to a fall and living wage!
Acetaminophen
• What was your response/ damage control efforts immediately following the meeting request from RFK Jr.?
• Did you engage with RFK to help Harvard cut a better deal with the federal government?
• Can you elaborate on your testimony about Tylenol?
Andrea Baccarelli
Dean of the Faculty
Unive long-1
• What on sul junior

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 7d

when you’re a centrist blogger who’s really into grain

Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 7d

The real-life impact of Trump and Musk’s freeze on USAID

Drugs and food, intended for global aid, instead languished and rotted in warehouses — and some children withered and died.

Sweeping, damning investigation by my @washingtonpost.com colleagues.

Trump’s USAID pause stranded lifesaving drugs. Children died waiting.

USAID antimalarial and HIV supplies valued at nearly $140 million were delayed in the first half of the year or not delivered at all due to the Trump administration’s foreign aid pause, The Post found...

www.washingtonpost.com

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 8d

prominent link on the White House website this morning

The WHITE HOUSE
HEGSETH DECLARES WAR
ON 'FAT' GENERALS, TROOPS

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 8d

Scoop: Trump to announce drug-pricing deal with Pfizer this morning

Pfizer agreeing to sell drugs at lower prices in Medicaid program

Part of Most Favored Nation push by White House

We'll be updating

Trump to announce drug-pricing deal with Pfizer

The White House has been pursuing efforts to lower U.S. drug costs by linking them to the cheaper prices paid abroad.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 10d

your goal: Inbox Zero

my goal:

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Reposted by Dan Diamond

Meredith Shiner @meredithshiner.com · 13d

remember when we had the hatch act

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 13d

White House photo op for the president's granddaughter's new $130 sweatshirt line

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 13d

spotted this morning on the OIRA dashboard:

a new CMMI payment model that appears to be part of the Trump administration's forthcoming Most Favored Nation drug-pricing push.

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 14d

Don’t think this is right. After Cassidy voted with Trump a lot in the first term, he voted to impeach him.

He has a track record of doing political things - like confirming RFK Jr - and then surprising, like holding a hearing to let the ex CDC director call RFK Jr a liar. Curious what’s next.

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 14d

Agree that an operative question is: So what?

And here’s one answer: Dems have no power in DC. But Bill Cassidy does — he can call hearings, demand documents, do actual oversight of the Trump administration.

He’s made moves in that direction. I’m curious if there will be an actual breaking point.

Crushed Ice is Best @bbqtiki.bsky.social · 14d

And thereby accomplishing what, exactly, other than receiving credit from the beltway press for “breaking” with the administration?

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Reposted by Dan Diamond

Paul Gilsdorf @paulgilsdorf.bsky.social · 14d

We should have a system where a knowledgeable Senator like Cassidy has meaningful control over who gets to serve as Secretary of HHS.

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