Illinois governor is first in US to block federal access to personal data on autism

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Yahoo! News/AP

Updated 5:06 PM EDT, May 12, 2025


SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has signed a first-in-the-nation executive order to block the federal government from collecting personal health data related to autism, a direct rebuke to the Trump administration.

Democrat Pritzker, who has been one of the more vocal critics of Trump’s second administration, signed the order last week, saying he wanted to protect “dignity, privacy, and the freedom to live without fear of surveillance or discrimination.”

It came two days after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a plan to use data maintained by the National Institutes of Health, and claims submitted for Medicare and Medicaid coverage, to determine the causes of autism. While the agency did not release details of the plan, Kennedy promised it would follow “applicable privacy laws to protect Americans’ sensitive health information.”

Prior to his rise to health secretary, Kennedy joined anti-vaccine advocates in claiming childhood vaccines are responsible for autism, but studies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others have ruled that out.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/illinois-governor-first-us-block-210608296.html?guccounter=1

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Go Pritzker!

Fed Gov should not be doing this in ANY state.

But in a state that pays in far more than they will ever get back? They are a payer state that for every 1.36 they send, they receive one dollar in return.

Poor form. Go pick on Texas and leave the payer states alone.

[murielm99]

2. Luv my Guv.