The Trump administration’s Department of Justice will not defend in court the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections, including the ban on discrimination against people with pre-existing medical conditions, it announced Thursday. While Attorney General Jeff Sessions is far from the first to opt not to defend a law he deems unconstitutional, many prominent Republicans — including Sessions himself — were highly critical of the practice jus...
health
Trump promised to protect people with pre-existing conditions. He just abandoned them in court.
The Trump administration told a federal court Thursday evening that it would no longer defend the Affordable Care Act (ACA), arguing that protections for people with pre-existing conditions are unconstitutional.
The Justice Department filed the brief supporting a lawsuit from Texas and 19 other Republican-led states. In their complaint, the states argue the courts must invalidate the entire ACA because Congress zeroed out the individual mandate, the penalty for not having insurance....
Virginia governor signs Medicaid expansion bill into law
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed a two-year $115 billion budget that includes Medicaid expansion Thursday, making the state one of more than 30 that have expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The bill will provide health coverage to about 300,000 to 400,000 low-income residents, and many individuals — about 138,000 people fall in the state’s coverage gap — could be insured for the first time.
“It has been a long road to get...
More than 100 arrested nationwide for rallying for health care and environmental protection
Activists with the national Poor People’s Campaign faced backlash from government officials and law enforcement during nationwide protests Monday. More than 100 people in Kentucky, Kansas, California, New York, Maryland, South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. were arrested or blocked from entering government buildings.
The campaign, which marks 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference organized thousands of Americans...
Court orders Maine’s Republican governor to expand Medicaid already
On Monday, a state judge ordered the Maine Department of Health and Gov. Paul LePage (R) to follow through on a voter-approved ballot measure and expand health care to thousands of residents, ending seven months of stonewalling.
Last November, nearly 60 percent of Maine voters approved Medicaid expansion, making it the first state to expand the public insurance program under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by ballot box. Just days after, LePage and state Republicans vowed to delay the...
The CEO of Aetna was considering suicide before he found meditation
Whatever else we expect of our big deal company leaders, we don’t expect to be privy to the history of their darkest days. But Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, speaking at an Asia Society e...
How to improve the health care of 825,000 people? By ballot
Big things are happening for more than 800,000 million people nationwide.
Effective January 1st, roughly 400,000 people will have Medicaid insurance in Virginia; in New Jersey, another 275,000 people will see their Obamacare premiums reduce next year; and 150,000 undocumented Californians could soon have health coverage for the first time.
And political participation made it all possible.
Turnout for Virginia’s gubernatorial race last November was the highest in ...
Virginia Senate Democrats and rogue Republicans approve Medicaid expansion
Advocates have been trying to get the Virginia Legislature to expand Medicaid for at least five years, and on Wednesday, Senate lawmakers handed them a big win.
Four Republicans joined all 19 Democrats, by a vote of 23-17, to pass a two-year $115 billion budget that includes Medicaid expansion. When state Senators initially voted to add Medicaid expansion, only three Republicans joined. The Senate is expected to also pass its $115 billion two-year budget on Wednesday and both are ex...
As Kentucky rushes to remake Medicaid, advocates try to protect health care for the homeless
Adrienne Bush isn’t a fan of Medicaid work requirements — or as she, the executive director of the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky, puts it, “coercing people into minimum wage jobs.” In 32 days, Kentucky will begin rolling out its new Medicaid program that conditions insurance on work, along with a host of other new eligibility requirements. So, now, Bush’s priority is harm reduction.
“Right now I’m very worried about implementation and people fal...
Hundreds of Pittsburgh-area nurses rally for raises, better working conditions
Hundreds of nurses rallied in the Pittsburgh area Tuesday, calling on their employer, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) of McKeesport, to recognize their union rights and negotiate a contract that would include more staff and better quality jobs.
Nearly 170 nurses have been working at the hospital without a contract since April, local CBS affiliate KDKA reported.
“We want some reasonable raises, we want some of the things that the rest of the nurses in the s...