Health department suspends contracts with GOP-linked consultants

The Trump administration's health department is suspending contracts with several GOP-connected communications firms, according to four people with knowledge of the situation, days after a POLITICO report revealed the existence of the contracts. One of the contractors who was hired to boost Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma's profile with the media has also abruptly cut ties with the agency, two people with knowledge of the situation said.