How much austerity can our hospitals take? It’s a frightening question — and Congress is threatening to find out the answer.
America’s health care infrastructure is shrinking. Since 2018, more than 100 hospitals have closed across the U.S. When hospitals close, doctor visits go down, death rates go up and job losses are severe.
Now, Republicans in Congress are threatening to slash the Medicaid budget, which would strip even more hospitals of desperately needed fundin...
Month: March 2025
Trump and Musk are targeting Social Security, and you should worry
The most tone-deaf moment in recent politics arrived last week. In a podcast interview, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — worth over $1 billion — said of old people on Social Security, “If Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month, my 94-year-old mother-in-law wouldn’t complain. She’d think something got messed up and she’d get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming and yelling. Anybody who knows payments knows you stop th...
Congress must stop Biden’s VA mortgage bailout — before it’s too late
We are now witnessing an outcry from Democrats, loan servicers and the media over the prospect of Congress scaling back the Department of Veterans Affairs's new mortgage bailout program, the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase program. If the program is curtailed as proposed by Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.), they warn, tens of thousands of veterans — perhaps as many as 80,000 — will lose their homes.
But the reality is quite different and far more dangerous. Left unc...
Bipartisan bill seeks to reform prior authorization
Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) reintroduced a bill Thursday seeking to reform prior authorization requirements in Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and Part D prescription drug plans requiring only specialty board certified physicians to make important decisions about treatment.
The prior authorization measure is used by insurers to approve the cost of treatment plans, medication and or procedures before a prescription or operation can be obtained or performed.
"We’ve g...
Tax, spending divisions rankle Republicans despite momentum on reconciliation
Republican leaders in the House and Senate emerged from a meeting at the Treasury Department Tuesday afternoon sounding upbeat about their “big, beautiful bill” that has an extension of the 2017 tax cuts as its centerpiece.
But lawmakers on key committees are sounding nervous about divisions they have over the bill, issues that range from spending cuts and accounting assumptions to the far-reaching scope of the legislation itself.
“I think it’s good that the House an...
The ACA changed everything for me. Now Trump is threatening the life I built.
Trump administration has proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act that could be devastating for trans people who rely on government health care coverage.
New Spanish-language ad in GOP districts sounds alarm on Medicaid cuts
A new ad campaign seeks to alert Spanish-speaking voters in Republican-led swing districts on what is at risk for their health after Congress voted to advance spending plans including more than $800 billion in proposed cuts to Medicaid.
Protect Our Care, which lobbies for the preservation of the Affordable Care Act, launched the six-figure radio campaign on Tuesday. The ad, which was provided in advance exclusively to The Hill, features two women discussing the impact Medicai...
Wisconsin’s high-stakes Supreme Court election is a referendum on Trump
On Apr. 1, Wisconsin voters will elect a new state Supreme Court justice. Normally, such news would be met with a yawn, but not this year — the campaign has already made national news and drawn the attention of people from around the country
The Wisconsin election could be one of American history's most important judicial elections, and one of the most expensive. And, as has been the trend in recent decades in America, this one has turned nasty, full of what one spokesman ter...
Thune, Johnson seek breakthrough on stalled Trump agenda
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and key committee chairs from the Senate and House will meet Tuesday in hope of reaching a breakthrough on President Trump’s stalled agenda, including border security, energy and tax reform.
Thune told reporters he is hoping the Senate will act on a budget resolution in the next three weeks that would lay the groundwork for moving a package later this year to secure the border, expand domestic oil and gas...
Parents of child who died of measles defend no-vaccine stance
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