House Democrats pass bill to roll back Trump guidance related to Obamacare

May 9, 2019 News

The House passed a bill Thursday afternoon aimed at shoring up protections for those with pre-existing health conditions, part of Democrats' plans for protecting the Affordable Care Act under the Trump administration.
CNN

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Democratic lawmakers introduce legislation to improve maternal health, particularly for black mothers

May 9, 2019 News

Two Democratic lawmakers this week introduced legislation that would provide sweeping changes to Medicaid, which covers nearly half of all births in America, in order to improve maternal health outcomes and lower mortality rates among new mothers, particularly African-American women.
CNN

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Many Hospitals Charge Double or Even Triple What Medicare Would Pay

May 9, 2019May 9, 2019 Health Insurance and Managed Care, Medicare, News, Sanders, Bernard

A study of 25 states provides a rare glimpse of the stark disparities between what private insurers and the federal government paid for inpatient and outpatient care.

Mayor Pete doesn’t offer staffers health care; is it part of scaling up?

May 9, 2019 News

South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg is the only top 2020 candidate not offering staffers health care yet. Instead, Buttigieg is providing a monthly stipend to workers to buy insurance on their own through the Obamacare exchanges. Josh Lederman discusses
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Trump and anti-vaxxers, together at last

May 9, 2019 Affordable Care Act, Donald Trump, health, News, obamacare, politics

Last week, the Trump administration asked a federal appeals court to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. Their argument is fundamentally flawed in numerous ways, not the least of which is the fact that it relies on a dissenting opinion that is explicitly at odds with a binding decision by the Supreme Court’s majority.

On Wednesday, a handful of conservative groups weighed in with amicus briefs supporting this attack on Obamacare. They include an organization founde...

Private Health Plans Pay Hospitals Much More Than What Medicare Would Pay

May 9, 2019May 9, 2019 News

An examination of U.S. hospital prices covering 25 states shows that in 2017, the prices paid to hospitals for privately insured patients averaged 241 percent of what Medicare would have paid. There was also wide variation in prices among states.

Government reports Obamacare coverage gains are starting to retreat

May 9, 2019 News

The coverage gains achieved by the Affordable Care Act are starting to erode.
CNN

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Warren lends her 2020 spotlight to long-languishing $100 billion opioid plan

May 8, 2019 News, politics

The consensus among leading public health experts has long been that the spiraling U.S. opioid epidemic cannot be effectively curbed with half-measures.

Some in Congress have been trying to act on the recommendations from experts, introducing legislation to spend $10 billion a year on treatment, research, prescriber monitoring, and other consensus priorities. But as heroin-like chemicals continue to push the overall overdose death toll to grim new yearly records, that call to action...

Americans failed to check Trump’s worst impulses—now they may not be able to stop him

May 8, 2019 Donald Trump, News

Donald Trump and his White House are blocking congressional oversight, withholding information, and forbidding former officials from testifying.

The Department of Justice is moving to protect the president from further investigation.

Republicans say they can’...

As his state is ravaged by a drug epidemic, Mitch McConnell fundraises off ‘Cocaine Mitch’ T-shirts

May 8, 2019 drugs, mitch-mcconnell, News, politics

Kentucky has been one of the states his hardest by drug addiction in recent years, with some of the highest rates of drug overdose deaths. Meanwhile, the state’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is selling T-shirts branding him “Cocaine Mitch” as a fundraiser for his 2020 re-election campaign.

The nickname stems from the 2018 West Virginia Republican Senate primary. In that race, coal baron Don Blankenship, the former Massey Energy C...