In the midst of the longest-ever government shutdown in U.S. history, Senate Republicans have instead decided to consider a bill on Thursday to codify existing restrictions that make it harder for low-income people to get abortions.
The bill codifies the Hyde Amendment — a provision that passes annually and prohibits federal Medicaid dollars from covering abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment — among other things. The bill is unlikely to get the ...
health care
Federal judge blocks Trump’s rollback of birth control mandate in 13 states and D.C.
A federal judge on Sunday blocked the Trump administration’s roll back of Obamacare’s birth control mandate, protecting contraceptive coverage for residents living in 13 states and Washington, D.C.
The administration’s policy, which allows more employers to avoid providing their employees birth control coverage, was supposed to take effect on Monday.
But a California district judge sided with Democratic attorneys general who sued the administration, temporar...
Native health contractors vote to work without pay to care for their own community during shutdown
The partial government shutdown forced employees with Native American Lifelines (NAL), a nonprofit contracted by the Indian Health Service (IHS), to make an impossible decision: work without pay or be laid off. The majority of staff chose the former.
NAL employees, who provide a host of health services to Native Americans, are likely to miss a paycheck next Friday because the president won’t sign a budget deal that doesn’t include money for a border wall he said Mexico w...
Trump’s rollback of birth control mandate could go into effect next week unless courts block it
The cost-free birth control of thousands is at risk unless Democratic attorneys general prevail in court this week. The Trump’s administration’s rollback of the Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate is scheduled to go into effect on Monday, unless a federal judge blocks it.
The administration chipped away at the mandate by significantly broadening an employer’s ability to seek an exemption and choose not provide employees contraceptive coverage. In Nove...
Maine’s new governor moves to give health care to 70,000 people on her first day in office
Maine approved Medicaid expansion by a ballot initiative more than a year ago, but former Governor Paul LePage had blocked it from taking effect.
Thankfully, Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) knows how to keep a promise.
On Thursday, in her first executive order on her first day in office, Mills ordered Maine to move forward with Medicaid expansion, which is likely to provide health insurance for an additional 70,000 Maine residents.
Our new Administration w...
New Congress’ history-making members got a Day 1 visit from Medicare for All activists
“Please count us as allies,” said a staffer for Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) to grassroots activists who were wearing Medicare for All t-shirts and were gathered in the congresswoman’s newly-minted office Thursday.
Pressley’s staff were among many of the House of Representatives’ freshmen class that warmly welcomed dozens of advocates who visited the offices Thursday. It didn’t matter that they were early for open house; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cort...
A eulogy for the most incompetent House majority in modern history
Long before Donald Trump’s second-place finish somehow landed him in the White House, Republicans in Congress promised a package of benefit cuts, privatization, and tax cuts for the wealthy that were so cruel, American voters literally refused to believe they were real. In 2012, a Democratic super PAC decided not to campaign against future Speaker Paul Ryan’s package of Medicare vouchers and upper income tax cuts after participants in a focus group “simply refused to beli...
Trump has a story of how his presidency’s going. Here’s what the numbers say.
According to Donald Trump, who was elected president just over two years ago, his administration is among the greatest in history, with the greatest economy in American history and a nation finally respected again. As he told Bob Woodward this summer, “nobody’s ever done a better job than I’m doing as president.”
The United Nations could not hold back a laugh in September when Trump said in a speech: “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more ...
The dangerous stigma against pregnant women addicted to opioids
Being a pregnant woman in America is a complicated affair. Once a woman starts expecting, social and medical attitudes shift to view her a vehicle of her child’s health. This approach routinely puts women at risk—particularly when the woman in question is addicted ...
Alabama asks conservative SCOTUS to take up anti-abortion case, eyeing Roe v. Wade
The Alabama attorney general officially asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to review a lower court’s decision that a state law prohibiting a common method used for second-trimester abortions is unconstitutional.
The lawsuit against Alabama’s dilation and evacuation (D&E) ban is the second anti-abortion case before the Supreme Court. There are at least 11 other cases at the appeals level, meaning more anti-abortion cases can land on the Supreme Court’s 2019 doc...