HJNO Nov/Dec 2025

mentioned that this will be available with CHIP, the children who are on CHIP, but the Big Beautiful Bill reduced funding for CHIP and Medicaid by a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. Are you concerned that that will impact your ability to get this drug out? President Trump I’ll explain it to you in a second, but please go ahead, Doctor. Martin Makary, MD Thank you. Leucovorin is not a chemotherapy, but it is a vitamin given with chemotherapy sometimes. And the idea here is that the folic acid receptor in the brain is blocked by some antibody response, might be 20, 40, 50% of kids with autism and leucovorin will bypass that blocked receptor. And that’s why so many doctors are probably seeing somuch clinical improvement on kids with leucovorin. Question: So, are you going to increase production? Have you been talking with companies? Makary Yeah, we’ve been in touch with the companies and they are prepared to ramp up production and we actually talked to them about a month ago. President Trump And on your second part of your nasty question, the number is that the great Big Beautiful Bill, which is the greatest, I think, one of the best things ever passed in the history with the tax cuts and regulation cuts and all of the things it does, no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime. All of it does. It also gives $200 million, as just explained by Dr. Oz. And I’d like you to explain that, Doctor, to exactly what you’re saying. Mehmet Oz, MD The Big Beautiful Bill actually increases Medicaid spending projected over the next 10 years by $200 billion. There’s also a $50 billion rural health transformation fund, which will allow a lot of these programs to get in the rural parts of the country that the president and Congress are handing to governors to start distributing. Those grants have already gone out. The money will be allocated by the end of this calendar year. And I want to point out that the ability of NIH to do research that feeds and hands the ball to the FDA, which then can change labeling to allowMedicaid programs in states to fund this program, will ensure that the things that President Trump and Secretary Kennedy desire are financially affordable for the families aroundAmerica. Question: You mentioned CHIP, sir, that’s why I asked that question. Youmentioned that CHIP would fund this for children. Oz Well, most of the kids are on Medicaid, probably 43% on Medicaid, another 8, 10% on CHIP, and all the programs in general are being evaluated. Most of what the One Big Beautiful Bill was seeking to do was to remove fraud, waste, and abuse. But the programs themselves should stay financially intact for the people for whom they were designed and in this case for children. President Trump And the only thing we cut . . . So that’s 200 billion positive. The only thing we cut was for fraud, waste, and abuse, of which there was a lot in this country and nobody minds that. Yeah, please. Question: Mr. President, you said that there was no reason to give newborn babies hepatitis B vaccines, but hepatitis B can be contracted not just during sexually transmitted diseases; it can come from needles to open wounds. So when you say you feel, is that appropriate to these— President Trump I think it’s absolutely appropriate. I think they should wait till they’re 12 years old. Yes, please. Question: Mr. President, thank you all for being here. You’ve been talking about reducing autism by spacing out vaccines. Would you like other combined vaccines babies received to be spaced out like MMRV? President Trump I would say yes, but that just is, for me it’s a lot of common sense involved in this. It’s a process, but we’re looking, but it should at least be given separately. Now, it’s possible that you can reduce them and give . . . I’d give them in small doses, but it’s possible maybe in that particular case the MMR wouldn’t work in small doses, but you can certainly give them the separate shots. It’s been proven to be very safe when you give them in separate shots instead of mix- ing. So, I don’t think there’s any reason to do that. Do you agree with it? Unidentified Yep. President Trump I’m not a doctor, but I’m giving my opinion. I don’t think there’s any reason to do that. So, it’s been proven to be safe when you break them up. But MMR by itself, I’ve heard bad things about it for many years. Question: Mr. President, is the spectrum too broad, in your opinion, for research purposes? You are dealing with a popu- lation of children who might have social boundary difficulties, and then you have children who are going to grow up to be adults in diapers. I mean, what do you think? President Trump We don’t know how broad the spectrum is. We don’t know exactly where it starts and where it ends, but we do knowwhat we’re going through. We’re going through some very serious trouble. And we know autism. I mean, it could be bigger or it could be a little bit smaller, but the number is unacceptable. And the number, the way it’s come down . . . Because the spectrumhas remained the same. The number, of the way it’s come down is just unacceptable. Mean- ing, come down to that level of one in 10, one in 12, one in 31. Question: Mr. President, this question is more directed towards Secretary Kennedy. It was talked about that we’re just kind of finding out about the fact that babies are affected this way. Is there a concern that HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  NOV / DEC 2025 23