---
title: "How proposed U.S. Census changes could undermine public health data and services"
id: "stat-news-1-how-these-census-changes-could-threaten-public-health"
canonical_url: "https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/stat-news-1-how-these-census-changes-could-threaten-public-health"
content_type: "clinical_feed_article"
specialty: "General"
source_name: "STAT News"
source_url: "https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/09/health-news-census-changes-threaten-public-data-collection/?utm_campaign=rss"
published_at: "2026-10-09T13:23:29.000Z"
evidence_level: "Verified Feed"
license: "CC-BY-NC-4.0 / Informational Use"
---
# How proposed U.S. Census changes could undermine public health data and services
## Provenance & Clinical Metadata
- **Canonical URL:** https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/stat-news-1-how-these-census-changes-could-threaten-public-health
- **Specialty:** [General](https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/general.md)
- **Primary Source:** STAT News
- **Source URL:** [Original Journal Publication](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/09/health-news-census-changes-threaten-public-data-collection/?utm_campaign=rss)
- **Published At:** 2026-10-09T13:23:29.000Z
- **Evidence Rating:** Verified Feed
## Executive GIST (TL;DR)
- The Trump administration has proposed three major changes to the **U.S. Census** process: removing questions about **race and ethnicity** (and sexual orientation), excluding noncitizens and non–lawful permanent residents from counts used for some purposes, and altering rules for assigning residency of college students and seasonal “snowbirds.” - Social epidemiologist Nancy Krieger warns these changes would create substantial problems for **public health** research and for the distribution of federal assistance that depends on census-derived demographic and residency data. - Race and ethnicity questions provide essential information for tracking patterns in morbidity and mortality and for identifying health disparities; removing them would hinder surveillance and evaluations tied to equity and resource allocation. - Excluding people who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents from certain counts would distort population denominators, potentially misdirecting funding and services that rely on accurate counts of communities. - Changing how the census determines where people such as college students or retirees live could shift local and state resource allocations and eligibility decisions for federally supported programs. - Krieger frames the proposed revisions as an avoidable error that compounds prior documented flaws in the census system, threatening the ability to monitor health trends and target programs effectively. - The article situates the census changes among other contemporaneous public-health policy stories but centers on the risk these three proposals pose to data quality and downstream effects on morbidity, mortality tracking, and programmatic decisions.
## Clinical Analysis & Structured Key Points
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Test your knowledge with our new weekday mini crossword [ Start solving ](https://www.statnews.com/stat-mini-crossword/) Newsletter[Morning Rounds](https://www.statnews.com/category/health/morning-rounds/) # How these census changes could threaten public health ## MAHA after the midterms, the future of mifepristone, and more health news * [Manage alerts for this article](https://www.statnews.com/my-account/edit/#emails) * [Save this story for later](https://www.statnews.com/my-account/saved/) * [Share this article](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/09/health-news-census-changes-threaten-public-data-collection/?utm_campaign=rss) ![grayscale maps](https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AdobeStock_323563534-645x645.jpeg) Adobe ![](https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/sarah-todd-avatar-round-80x80.png) By [Sarah Todd](https://www.statnews.com/staff/sarah-todd/) Oct. 9, 2026 Reporter, Commercial Determinants of Health ![](https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/sarah-todd-avatar-round-80x80.png) [Sarah Todd](https://www.statnews.com/staff/sarah-todd/) 1. [](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-todd-292a9b58/ "Linkedin") sarah.todd@statnews.com Sarah covers how industries like food and tobacco affect Americans’ bodies and minds. Her interests include ultra-processed foods; smoke-free tobacco; and wellness trends like perimenopause products and peptides. Confidential tips can be sent on Signal at sarahlizchar.47. [Get email alerts for Sarah ToddSigned up for email alertsRemove email alerts](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/09/health-news-census-changes-threaten-public-data-collection/?utm_campaign=rss) [Subscribe](https://www.statnews.com/stat-plus/) or [log in](https://www.statnews.com/login/) to STAT+ to unlock email alerts Hi there, it’s Sarah. Last night, STAT scored an awards hat trick, taking home a Gerald Loeb — the most prestigious honor in business journalism — for the third year in a row! This year’s Loeb recognized Lizzy Lawrence for her [_exceptional beat reporting_](https://www.statnews.com/staff/lizzy-lawrence/) on the Food and Drug Administration. This is also STAT’s fourth Loeb overall in our 11-year history. Not too shabby, y’all. ## Does MAHA still matter to voters? The Make America Healthy Again movement has been credited with helping to propel Donald Trump to a second term at the White House. But as midterm elections draw near, MAHA is nearly invisible on the campaign trail. Advertisement In today’s story, Isa Cueto, Daniel Payne, and Chelsea Cirruzzo take stock of MAHA’s current political influence, and its struggles to translate popular support for some of its core issues (like the dangers of ultra-processed foods) into policy. “This whole election in November is a contrast election. Democrats are making it about Trump, Republicans are making it about communists,” said Republican strategist Joel White. 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And in today’s profile, Justin Chen [_interviewed researcher Betsy Pleasants_](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/09/betsy-pleasants-stat-wunderkind-abortion-access-reddit-nlp/), who’s using artificial intelligence to offer a more complete picture of online discourse about issues like abortion access and contraception. Advertisement ## Asking questions before we know why Fifty years ago, researcher Robert Gallo and his colleagues made the landmark discovery of the protein interleukin-2, or IL-2. He reflects in a new First Opinion piece on the various reasons why that finding was so important. Not only did IL-2 make possible the discovery of the first human retroviruses, including HIV as the cause of AIDS, and become widely used in cancer cell immunotherapy, he writes, “its larger lesson is about the nature of scientific discovery.” Gallo didn’t know all the things that IL-2 would make possible — and scientists shouldn’t be expected to answer questions about direct applications of their research in order to secure funding, he says. “If scientists must know the practical outcome before asking the question,” he writes, “they’ll never ask some of the most important questions.” [_Read more_](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/09/robert-gallo-interleukin-2-human-retroviruses-immunotherapy-basic-science/). ## The census changes threatening public health The Trump administration wants to make three big changes to the U.S. Census: eliminating questions about race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation; excluding anyone who is not a citizen or “lawful permanent resident”; and changing how it determines where people like college students or retiree “snowbirds” reside. These changes, if passed, pose a big problem for both public health research and real-world federal assistance, social epidemiologist Nancy Krieger writes in a [_new First Opinion_](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/09/2030-census-public-health-data-equity-morbidity-mortality/). That’s because things like race and ethnicity data are essential for how we track trends in U.S. morbidity and mortality and how federally funded programs determine who is eligible and where resources need to be allocated. This [_isn’t_](https://www.statnews.com/2023/12/19/some-other-race-census-data-disaggregation-public-health/) the [_first flaw_](https://www.statnews.com/2023/11/27/disabled-americans-estimate-census-acs-washington-group-questions/) to be highlighted in the census system, but Krieger suggests it’s what tennis fans might call an unforced error. ## The future of mifepristone Mifepristone, a pill used to terminate early pregnancies, has been [_caught_](https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/04/supreme-court-restores-access-abortion-pill-mifepristone/) in a tug-of-war throughout the second Trump administration as abortion opponents push for crackdowns on its use. Now the Food and Drug Administration say its [_safety review_](https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/08/fda-mifepristone-abortion-pill-safety-review-continue-into-2027/) will continue into next year, with a report on findings expected by March 2027. 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Her interests include ultra-processed foods; smoke-free tobacco; and wellness trends like perimenopause products and peptides. Confidential tips can be sent on Signal at sarahlizchar.47. ![](https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/themes/stat/images/article-new/envelope-open.svg) ![](https://www.statnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Morning-Rounds-Logo-Black-640x295.png) ### Newsletter Understand how science, health policy, and medicine shape the world every day Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Your data will be processed in accordance with our [Privacy Policy](https://www.statnews.com/privacy/) and [Terms of Service](https://www.statnews.com/terms-conditions/). You may opt out of receiving STAT communications at any time. 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