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...
health care
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...
Biden’s health care plan reveals the divide among Democrats
Presidential candidate Joe Biden released his health care plan on Monday, formally entering the Democratic debate about how to solve the country’s health care crisis, in which 26% of Americans struggle to afford services even with insurance and out-of-pocket medical costs outpace wage growth.
The Biden plan, expands upon the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by adding a government-run public option to compete alongside private insurers and making existing subsidies for private plans m...
Federal appeals court blocks Trump administration’s efforts to roll back free birth control
Cost-free birth control for thousands is safe for now, after a federal appeals court on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) contraceptive mandate.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a district court decision issued in January that blocked regulations to allow virtually all employers to opt out of covering workers’ birth control for religious or moral reasons. The Department of Health and Human ...
Alaska’s legislature fails to stop a major attack on its judicial independence
Alaska’s legislature has until Friday at midnight to override the governor’s attack on the state’s judicial system. No vote has yet been scheduled, and one-third of the legislators are in Wasilla, 800 miles away from the state capital.
Using a line-item veto, Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) recently slashed the budget of the state’s Supreme Court, due to its repeated protection of abortion rights. Dunleavy cut the budget of the Alaska Supreme Court and the court of appeals by 5%, as part of ...