House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) is on his way out the door.
But while he’s largely failed to implement his vision before retirement — that is, to repeal Obamacare and privatize every safety-net program there is — Republicans aren’t going to stop trying to do so anytime soon. In fact, they’ll likely take cues from his record.
Throughout his time in Washington, Ryan built a career on portraying himself as a deficit hawk, somehow convincing people he...
health care
Trump administration issues new rule chipping away at Obamacare
The Trump administration issued a ton of regulatory changes Monday that chip away at the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Moving forward, states will have more flexibility to set their own standards and people will be given new exemptions to avoid the health care law’s individual mandate penalty.
The 523-page regulation is one that comes out every year, and is intended to outline what ACA plans will look like for consumers next year.
Monday’s rule gives consumers two ne...
400,000 Virginia residents edge closer to Medicaid expansion after key Republican splits with party
Virginia is inching closer to providing health care to 400,000 low-income residents after a key state Republican signaled this week that he was willing to split with his party and support Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.
Virginia is among 18 states that has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), leaving roughly 400,000 in a “coverage gap” — meaning, they’re uninsured because they make too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little for subsidized...
400,000 Virginia residents edge closer to Medicaid expansion after key Republican splits with party
Virginia is inching closer to providing health care to 400,000 low-income residents after a key state Republican signaled this week that he was willing to split with his party and support Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.
Virginia is among 18 states that has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), leaving roughly 400,000 in a “coverage gap” — meaning, they’re uninsured because they make too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little for subsidized...
‘We simply don’t have the resources’: Surgeon general’s call to carry naloxone raises red flag
It’s been 13 years since a United States Surgeon General issued a public health advisory, but on Thursday Jerome Adams did so to urge every person to carry the overdose-reversal medication naloxone.
“Neither this [advisory] nor naloxone is a panacea,” said Surgeon General Adams at the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit. Instead, the advisory serves as a way to draw attention to a public health crisis, where more Americans have died of drug overdoses in 2016...
Health department removes breast cancer and Obamacare info from women’s health website
The Department of Health and Human Service’s (HHS) Office on Women’s Health removed a webpage dedicated to breast cancer and other helpful reproductive health information, including important insurance information for low-income people, according to a new report.
The Sunlight Foundation’s Web Integrity Project first reported the missing webpage. The group has been documenting page or link removals from the OWH website and shared its most recent report with ThinkPro...
Walmart is the next big company looking to get into health insurance
The world’s biggest company wants a slice of one of the world’s biggest industries.
Walmart is in talks to buy health insurer Humana, the Wall Street Journal reported (paywall). The retailer’s move into health care would be massive—Humana has a market c...
Health care is a top priority for the Pennsylvania voters who turned out for Conor Lamb
While many Republican strategists and conservative pundits struggled to make sense of how a Democrat could have been so successful in Pennsylvania’s 18th district on Tuesday, voters sent a clear message: Health care is a priority.
Election night exit polling by Public Policy Polling found that among PA-18 voters who said health care was the most important issue, Democrat Conor Lamb beat Republican Rick Saccone by a margin of 64 to 36. Saccone’s support of the Republican health care ...
Mental health providers are failing bisexual patients
Last fall, I made an appointment with a new psychiatrist, hoping to explore my options for more effective treatment for my lifelong struggle with depression and anxiety. Life under the Trump regime has taken a harsh toll on me as an openly queer/bisexual woman, and like so many of my friends and fellow advocates from various social justice movements and marginalized communities, my regular regimen of antidepressants and self-care simply isn’t cutting it anymore.
Having been to this ...
Surprise! The Trump administration just admitted it has to follow Obamacare
In an unexpected development, the Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter to Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R) on Thursday reluctantly conceding that Obamacare “remains the law and we have a duty to enforce and uphold the law.”
The letter, from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, informs Idaho that insurers will not be allowed to sell illegal plans within that state which threatened to destabilize Idaho’s insurance markets...