Years of progress on health insurance enrollment halted abruptly in 2017 as Trump administration officials intentionally unplugged the policy machines that pushed the uninsured rate below 10 percent over the previous half-decade.
New Census Bureau figures on poverty released Wednesday show the uninsured rate held steady at 8.8 percent last year, marking the first failure to improve enrollment levels since at least 2013. Changes to Census data collection that year make comparisons to...
health
Roe v. Wade is on the ballot in Rhode Island
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND — State Rep. Marcia Ranglin-Vassell (D) on Tuesday knocked on the door of a voter with a campaign sign for her opponent Holly Taylor Coolman, an anti-choice Democrat who ended up winning the state party’s support.
A middle-aged white woman answered and Ranglin-Vassell introduced herself to her neighbor: She’s a Jamaican immigrant who’s lived in the Providence for decades; she’s a high school teacher who’s made improving pu...
Over 4,500 Arkansans have lost health coverage due to Medicaid work requirements
More than 4,500 low-income Arkansans lost their health insurance over the weekend because they did not report 80 hours of work online for three consecutive months, according state data.
The three-strikes law took affect in June, making Arkansas the first state to implement Medicaid work requirements in the country. Critics warned the law wouldn’t move Medicaid recipients “out of poverty” as Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) contends, but instead would kick people off coverag...
Wildcard judge signals he’s doubtful Obamacare is legal without individual mandate
Legal scholars, even Obamacare’s loudest critics, believe the health law can stand without the individual mandate — and yet, a Texas federal judge appears to be skeptical.
Federal Judge Reed O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee and wildcard who’s ruled against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the past, listened to oral arguments Wednesday in Texas v. United States, the latest attempt to eliminate the 2010 health care law. O’Connor hasn’t formal...
We’re just learning how exposure to air pollution degrades our brains
There are all kinds of impurities from industrial activities like manufacturing and transportation that can poison the air. The smallest seem to be the most sinister.
Particles called PM2.5, which come from burning fossil fuels, in...
These 15 House incumbents scrubbed ‘repeal Obamacare’ from their re-election sites
With their party majority in extreme peril in November’s midterm elections, House Republicans are facing a dilemma. While they ran on a pledge to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, support for Obamacare now far exceeds support for the GOP-controlled Congress. Several incumbents have employed a bold strategy: hide the evidence of their position.
ThinkProgress examined the campaign websites of dozens of Republican incumbents in races deemed competitive by ...
Here’s what you need to know about the lawsuit trying to end Obamacare
In a lawsuit that’s been labeled “absurd” and “ludicrous” by legal experts, conservative and liberal alike, Texas and 19 other conservative states are suing to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA) once and for all, as past Republican efforts failed to do so.
On Wednesday, Federal Judge Reed O’Connor, a wildcard who’s ruled against Obamacare multiple times, will hear oral arguments in a lawsuit brought forward in February. O’Connor is expected t...
Medicare for All is popular among Democrats. But this doctor may be the only candidate who gets it.
There are more than a dozen doctors in Congress and none support Medicare for All. Rob Davidson, an emergency physician running for Michigan’s 2nd congressional district, could change that.
Davidson’s full-throated support of a national government-run health care system not only deeply contrasts his opponent’s position — Republican incumbent Rep. Bill Huizenga doesn’t believe health care is a right — but also those of current doc...
Maternal death rates are a key indicator of why the state of female health in the US is so terrible
No rich country has a rate of maternal death (and near-deaths) comparably high to the US. The blame has been placed largely on how the US treats pregnancy and related emergency issues, but new data on deaths across the US (pdf) released by the country’s Centers fo...
