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...
health care
Ady Barkan makes a moral case for single payer at first-ever Medicare for All hearing
At the first-ever congressional hearing dedicated to Medicare for All on Tuesday, activist Ady Barkan underscored the urgent need to change our health care system right now.
As he told members of the House Rules Committee, Barkan would rather have been at home with his wife and son instead of making the case for Medicare for All. The renowned organizer is dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
“Every day is precious for me. I don’t have time on my side,...
GOP congressman says Republicans totally would have fixed health care if they’d kept their majority
Rep. Greg Walden (R-OH), who chaired the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce until the 2018 blue wave cost his party its control of Congress, went on Fox News Tuesday to denounce Medicare for All and other proposals to create a single-payer system for health care. Asked about his party’s lack of an alternative, he suggested that they would have had one had they kept their majority.
Walden has been in Congress for just over 20 years. His party held the majority for ...
Every Democrat running for president supports abortion rights, but is that enough?
Every Democrat running for president supports abortion rights.
“Every woman deserves safe, affordable access to comprehensive reproductive health care — including abortion,” is a quote that could have come from any one of the 20 candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination and the opportunity to unseat President Donald Trump. This statement just happens to come from Sen. Kamala Harris (CA).
But given the record-high support for Roe v. Wade ...
‘Somebody should do something’: Oklahomans try to get Medicaid expansion on the ballot in 2020
Kelly Smalley lost her health insurance over a year ago when her son turned 19 years old.
In order to qualify for Medicaid in Oklahoma, people need to be a parent or guardian to someone no older than 18, have a government-recognized disability, or be over 65 years old in addition to earning below the federal poverty level. Smalley, who’s a 47-year-old single mom, is still responsible for her son; he was born with spina bifida and is routinely in and out of the hospital. She al...
Senate GOP campaign committee smears Democratic 2020 candidates with false billboards
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the campaign arm of the Senate Republicans, has launched a series of billboards attacking several Democratic candidates over their supposed support for Medicare for All.
Not all of the Democrats who are being targeted actually support Medicare for All, and some have explicitly opposed the idea.
One such billboard, appearing alongside Interstate 10 in Tolleson, Arizona, suggests that Democratic candidate Mark Kelly — a retir...
Fox News town hall audience cheers Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All pitch
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, pitched his vision for the future of health care countrywide at a Fox News town hall Monday night and was met with cheers from the audience.
After Sanders explained why he would rather have the federal government provideing health insurance than private companies, Fox News anchor Bret Baier decided to pose the question to the audience. The audience, Baier said, included a lot of Democrats, Republican...
Bernie Sanders releases new Medicare for All bill, includes win for disability rights activists
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released a new version of his Medicare for All bill on Wednesday, keeping true to form by championing one of the most ambitious health policies in the country. So far, the proposal has the support of more than a dozen Democrats, including fellow 2020 candidates Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Kamala Harris (CA), Elizabeth Warren (MA), and Cory Booker (NJ).
The Sanders bill expands the traditional Medicare program, by covering...
Health care and insurance industries are spending a lot of money to defeat Medicare for All
Medicare for All has attracted widespread support in the Democratic Party. But the ambitious overhaul of the nation’s health care system faces a major threat: big spending by health care and insurance interests determined to preserve the status quo.
A ThinkProgress analysis found that those industries, part of a coalition called the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, donated nearly $1.2 million in the 2017-2018 election cycle to Democratic members of four key House commit...
Donald Trump’s ‘party of health care’ has spent a decade failing to repeal and replace Obamacare
After a bruising midterm election in which widespread insecurity over the future of health care helped pace extraordinary gains for Democrats, allowing them to retake the House of Representatives, President Donald Trump has decided to re-up this failed strategy.
This week, the White House let it be known that the administration would not defend the Affordable Care Act in a case that could end in the wholesale invalidation of the Obama-era health care reform law. Such a result would ...