President Donald Trump has finally declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, two months after he first said he would. The belated declaration is short of what is immediately needed to combat this epidemic. It offers no new funding that experts on the frontlines of the crisis say is needed — one expert says hundreds of billions in investment is necessary — and does not seem to yet prioritize increased access to the critical overdose reversal drug nalox...
health
Obamacare sabotage in Florida: they had the most signups, and now they have the most to lose
Alex spends his days explaining how health insurance works to people in Florida. People who are enrolled in private plans on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace call a 1-800 number, and he’s there to answer any questions they may have about premium tax credits, coinsurance, and things of that sort. He’s a licensed navigator for the Community Health Interventions & Sickle Cell Agency Inc., which receives a federal grant for its efforts. And this time last month, he was temporarily...
Trump’s Health Department is adopting a lot of anti-choice rhetoric
The Trump administration has repeatedly delivered on a campaign promise to the religious right that he’d prioritize a faith-based, anti-choice agenda. The latest evidence comes in the form of the draft strategic plan released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which defines life as “beginning at conception.”
The draft was released two weeks ago, before HHS Secretary Tom Price resigned, and it outlines the priorities of the agency and its governin...
Trump substantially weakens Obamacare contraception mandate
Many more employers allowed to opt out of requirement to cover birth control without copay in move that could cause thousands of women to lose coverage
The Trump administration has dramatically expanded the number of employers allowed to flout the Affordable Care Act (ACA) policy that requires company healthcare plans to cover contraception at no additional cost.
Related: White House drafts rule to roll back 'contraception mandate' for health coverage
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Donald Trump rolls back rules on birth control coverage for women
Under the Affordable Care Act, preventive services are supposed to be free of charge to employees and their dependents.
Nine million children fall victim to back-and-forth by lawmakers
Lawmakers are engaged in a precarious back-and-forth over health care funding for nine million children across the United States after letting the program expire last week.
Funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, ended on September 30 after Congress allowed the program to expire without renewal. CHIP, which provides low-cost health care coverage to millions of children (and pregnant parents) around the country, has long enjoyed bipartisan support. That...
Republican budget would decimate Medicare and Medicaid
Senate Republicans may have moved on from trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but they’re still trying to cut Medicaid and Medicare funding by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, according to a new report prepared by the Senate Budget Committee minority staff led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
The budget would cut $1 trillion from Medicaid and $473 billion from Medicare over the next decade, HuffPost reporter Jennifer Bendery tweeted Tuesday, which she said she confirm...
Puerto Rico’s Medicaid block grant stands in the way of its hurricane recovery efforts
President Donald Trump will be visiting Puerto Rico on Tuesday to witness first-hand the damage caused by Hurricane Maria and meet with residents who still lack basic necessities. The island — home to more than 3.4 million U.S. residents — is mostly without electricity or running water since Maria made landfall as a major Category 4 hurricane on September 20.
The political and public response to the catastrophe has been muted compared to that of Hurricane Harvey and Irma...