While Americans’ access to reproductive health care and education is under assault from the Trump administration and Congress, Planned Parenthood received a prestigious medical award for its range of health care services and its scope in reaching low-income women. The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced on Wednesday that the Lasker Awards would go to Planned Parenthood, as well as three scientists.
Planned Parenthood received the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award f...
health care
Trump slashes funds for ACA advertising, undermines Obamacare at every turn
The Trump administration is dramatically cutting funding dedicated to advertising and promoting enrollment in Obamacare. The cuts are further evidence that the Trump administration will undermine its least favorite health care law at all costs, despite having no legislation to replace it if it fails.
The administration announced Thursday afternoon that it would be cutting the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) advertising budget by 90 percent, from $100 million to $10 million. Additi...
Colorado, Ohio governors propose ‘bipartisan blueprint’ for saving Obamacare
Govs. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and John Kasich (R-OH) released what they are calling a “bipartisan blueprint” for stabilizing the Affordable Care Act Thursday, but many of their “fixes” detailed in a letter to congressional leadership are simply pleas that the law be enforced as written.
“We’re not trying to start a revolution here,” Hickenlooper said at a press conference in Denver Thursday. “These are very cautious, pragmatic efforts.”
Six other governors from across the co...
A growing number of Democrats are embracing single-payer health care
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has become the latest high-profile Democrat to embrace expanding Medicare coverage to all Americans, the freshman senator announced at a town hall in Oakland Wednesday night.
“I’ll break some news. I intend to co-sponsor the Medicare for All bill because it’s just the right thing to do,” Harris said Wednesday. It’s just the right thing to do… But it’s also about being smart.”
Harris will co-sponsor the Medicare for All legislation with Sen. Bernie Sa...
It’s official: Every Obamacare marketplace in the country has at least one insurer
The Ohio Department of Insurance announced Thursday that CareSource will sell Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans in Paulding County, officially marking the end of the health law’s empty counties problem. Every person looking to buy coverage on the ACA marketplace in Ohio and nationwide will have at least one health insurance option.
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has been tracking the state of counties that were at risk of having no insurer in 2018 at some point since Februar...
The Trump administration is ignoring these states’ questions about Obamacare enrollment
It’s late August, and state officials who work in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace in Nevada and Oregon say they still have not been contacted by their federal partners about open enrollment, which is slated to begin November 1. This is the latest testimony in a string of recent reports that suggest the president meant what he said when ACA repeal efforts in Congress failed last month: “let Obamacare implode.”
Nevada’s ACA health insurance marketplace avoi...
The Catholic nun who asked Paul Ryan about caring for the poor didn’t like his answer
The nun who questioned House Speaker Paul Ryan earlier this week at a town hall about whether he believes he is upholding the teachings of the Catholic church to care for the poor and dispossessed said she was not satisfied with Ryan’s answer in an interview with ThinkProgress Wednesday.
“He speaks pretty openly about being a Catholic, but I haven’t seen that reflected in his policy recommendations and the things that he’s working on,” said Sister Erica Jordan, the Dominican nun who...
A nun called out Paul Ryan on health care last night. His response was awkward.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) attempted to answer a nun’s question about health care during his first town hall in two years on Monday evening, insisting that his plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act and alter tax policy are in line with the Catholic faith he claims.
But like many Catholics who have challenged Ryan on policy in recent years, the nun did not appear impressed.
The exchange occurred late Monday evening, when Sister Erica Jordan, a Dominican nun from Wisconsi...
Paul Ryan is lying about Obamacare collapsing
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said Monday evening at a town hall that “dozens of counties” across the country have no insurer on the Obamacare marketplace. But in reality, not a single county currently has no insurer and just one is at risk of not having an insurer next year.
“The status quo is not an option. Obamacare is not working,” Ryan told a constituent who asked about the GOP’s ongoing efforts to repeal and potentially replace the Affordable Care act. “A third of the c...
Congressional Hispanic Caucus demands Secretary Price prioritize Obamacare Latino outreach
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price Thursday, demanding he meet with members about Affordable Care Act (ACA) open enrollment. Members were prompted by recent reports that no one from the Trump administration had reached out to key members of the Latino ACA outreach coalition to begin preparing for the open enrollment session, which begins November 1.
Members of the coalition, like the League of United L...