Transgender Iowans are worried they’ll lose transition-related care under new bill

Iowa is one signature away from enacting a law that would limit transgender people’s access to necessary health care.

The law would allow government entities to opt out of using public insurance dollars, including Medicaid, to pay for any kind of transition-related care. This language was tacked on as an amendment to a health and human services appropriations bill late in the process, LGBTQ rights advocates said, without any committee hearings or public comment process. Lawmak...

Trump’s Federal Reserve pick withdraws from consideration – live

Stephen Moore, economist beset by legal and financial issues, pulls out following multiple reports by the Guardian on his past

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While Trump has often claimed to want to provide Americans healthcare, his administration has been pushing to gut the Affordable Care Act, best known as “Obamacare...

Trump administration finalizes ‘conscience’ rule affecting transgender people’s health care

The Trump administration finalized a new rule enabling the discrimination of transgender people in health care on Thursday.

The rule essentially allows health care workers to refer to religious or moral objections when they don’t want to deliver health care services, which would also affect access to abortion and contraception.

The so-called “conscience rule” would revise existing regulations to “ensure vigorous enforcement of Federal conscience and an...

Trump’s Justice Department doesn’t understand that four is less than five

There is literally no rule more basic to U.S. litigation than the rule of five. The Supreme Court has nine seats. It takes a majority to decide a case. A decision joined by five or more justices is a binding interpretation of the law that controls all other court decisions. An opinion dissenting from such a decision is just someone’s views.

And yet, a pair of briefs filed Wednesday evening by a team of anti-Obamacare lawyers — including one filed by the Trump Justice Dep...

Federal election 2019: Tony Abbott labels Labor’s climate policy ‘socialism’ – politics live

Former PM burnishes his conservationist credentials – but says opposition measures risk damaging the economy. Follow all the updates, live

Tanya Plibersek came in at the end of Labor’s press conference, after there were no questions on Jessica Whelan, the candidate Scott Morrison was referring to there, when he was talking about posts being referred to the AFP (she claims they are fake)

Plibersek:

Hunt and King have closed the press club debate on health, with Hunt finishing where he started, on medicine affordability.

Medicines can only be made affordable and health services expanded when the economy is strong, he says. Meanwhile, King closes by reiterating Labor’s $7.5bn package to improve hospitals and cancer care, and by saying Labor will stop cuts to Medicare.

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