Less than three days in office and US president Joe Biden has taken more executive actions than his three predecessors combined did in their first weeks. As the Covid-19 crisis would warrant, many of them have to do with tackling the pandemic and strengthening healthcare.
From requiring people to wear masks and observe social distancing on federal property to rejoining the World Health Organization, to reestablishing a team in charge of pandemic response within the National...
health care
The cost of American health care could help coronavirus spread in the US
That Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, will spread widely in the United States is now considered a matter of when, not if. There are 60 known cases of the disease in the US, including at least one person with no known foreign travel or contact wit...
This is how Warren says she can pay for Medicare for All
A new plan has joined the infamous list of senator Elizabeth Warren’s plans for her presidency: the plan to finance Medicare for All.
Although she has long expressed support for single-payer, publicly funded healthcare coverage, Warren’s platform unchara...
After trying to kill health insurance for millions, Paul Ryan now profits from medical tech
As Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan (R-WI) was best known for his repeated attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) and take away health insurance coverage from tens of millions of Americans. Now a private citizen, Ryan is about to profit from his own legislative failures.
According to his hometown paper, Ryan has joined the board of directors at SHINE Medical Technologies. The Janesville-based company makes molybdenum-99, a radioactive isotope used to...
Retiring Congressman Duffy to rely on pre-existing condition protections he voted to repeal
Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) announced on Monday that he will soon resign his House seat, citing family reasons. He and his wife, Fox News contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy, said their soon-to-be born ninth child will require heart surgery soon after her birth.
On Tuesday, Duffy explained that he had made sure the child will have access to health insurance despite her pre-existing conditions.
It is laudable that the Duffy family is preparing to provide as much care as possible for a ...
Koch-linked dark money group accuses Republican Chuck Grassley of promoting socialism
A conservative dark money group has launched a series of radio ads attacking a bipartisan bill authored by the senior Republican in the United States Senate, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley.
Joining in the right’s “everything we don’t like is socialism” parade, the group suggests that by reducing the amount senior citizens and government insurance programs pay for prescription drugs, the bill is a socialistic plot that would stop pharmaceutical companies from cur...
The problem from hell facing anyone who wants single-payer health care
Earlier this week, Senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris (D-CA) released an outline for her version of “Medicare For All.” The plan would give everyone the immediate right to buy into Medicare as an alternative to private insurance, then would gradually transition everyone into an “expanded Medicare system” over the course of ten years.
Though Harris says that she would guarantee “universal coverage,” her end goal is not technically a s...
Trump, who has declared war on poor people, wants you to believe he cares deeply about Baltimore
President Donald Trump is said to be very concerned about the “rat and rodent infested” city of Baltimore, a place “no human being would want to live.”
Yet he failed to mention, in his string of tweets Sunday, the city’s proud history, its recent economic growth, and the fact that Maryland’s 7th District — which he attacked as a whole — has a median income above the national average. One must assume he was referring mainly to the black-major...
Health industry tweets about Pride but stays silent on rule to undo protections for LGBTQ patients
Many influential players in the health industry have stayed silent since the Trump administration proposed undoing civil rights protections for LGBTQ patients in late May. But these muted responses haven’t gone unnoticed, especially when those who say they support LGBTQ rights, and celebrated Pride Month through social media, don’t speak up.
ThinkProgress reached out to seven insurers and insurance middlemen who either met with HHS’ Office for Civil Rights, the Office of...