Alaska’s legislature has until Friday at midnight to override the governor’s attack on the state’s judicial system. No vote has yet been scheduled, and one-third of the legislators are in Wasilla, 800 miles away from the state capital.
Using a line-item veto, Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) recently slashed the budget of the state’s Supreme Court, due to its repeated protection of abortion rights. Dunleavy cut the budget of the Alaska Supreme Court and the court of appeals by 5%, as part of ...
health
California becomes first state to give young undocumented adults health care. But is that enough?
The health care system failed Ana because of her immigration status: she’s undocumented.
Ana’s last two pregnancies were riddled with complications. But her lack of insurance exacerbated her health problems. She didn’t qualify for full-scope Medicaid, even though she was eligible by income, but the state did offer her pregnancy-related Medicaid, a public plan that covers every pregnant resident regardless of immigration status, but comes with an expiration...
Senate votes to confirm man with anti-LGBTQ rights record for lifetime federal judgeship
On Wednesday, the Senate voted 52-46 to confirm as federal judge a man with a record opposing LGBTQ rights and reproductive rights. Matthew Kacsmaryk will sit on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. It is a lifetime federal judgeship.
Before his confirmation, 75 LGBTQ and allied groups signed a letter addressed to Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), ranking member of the committee, in opposition...
30,000 poor elderly, people with disabilities to lose Medicaid coverage in Georgia
Georgia state officials said Tuesday that 30,000 residents will lose their Medicaid coverage for failing to respond to renewal notices. But lawyers of many of the recipients affected say their clients were dropped from coverage without ever having received those notices.
The state Department of Community Health (DCH) had initially reported in early June that 17,000 poor elderly or people with disabilities, who are “dual eligibles” also receiving Medicare benefits, would lose their M...
What single-payer activists make of polls showing voters don’t understand Medicare for All
Recent polls showing voters do not understand Medicare for All have received a lot of attention. But activists who’ve been working to educate the public on this issue for years aren’t surprised by the findings — and a closer look makes it clear people shouldn’t write off Medicare for All just yet.
The Kaiser Family Foundation released a poll on Tuesday showing voters don’t know defining features of Medicare for All — including some of the planR...
Millions to lose benefits under Trump’s proposal to change how poverty is defined, new study shows
A new study released Tuesday shows just how insidious the Trump administration’s proposal to change the way the federal government measures poverty actually is. In short: millions could lose health and food benefits.
By way of background, in May, Trump’s budget agency sought public comment on updating the inflation rate used by the Census Bureau to determine the poverty line and estimate who’s poor. This technical change matters a lot because the federal poverty li...
Trump says he’ll announce a ‘phenomenal’ new health care plan soon. Where was it the last 2 years?
President Donald Trump says he’ll unveil a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in two months time. But he’s failed to produce a viable plan for the last two years, and it’s unlikely a few more weeks will change anything.
“If we win back the House, we’re going to produce phenomenal health care,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News that aired Sunday night. “And we already have the concept of the plan, but it’ll ...
New York City to become first city ever to directly fund abortion
New York City will become the first city nationwide to directly fund abortion, thanks to a budget deal announced Friday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D) included $250,000 for the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF) in a $92.8 billion budget agreement for the 2019-20 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
New York City already funds Planned Parenthood, but the organization’s affiliates don’t just help patients terminate a pregnancy....
Secret Service repeatedly interferes with Rev. Barber’s protest in front of the White House
WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than 300 religious leaders and activists protested outside the White House on Wednesday to bring attention to administration policies they say are immoral. The U.S. Secret Service repeatedly interfered with the protest, first closing off Lafayette Square and then gating off access to the front of the White House an hour later.
The protest, called “Moral Witness Wednesday,” was led by Rev. Dr. William Barber II, a Protestant minister, social ...
How activists of color got Democrats to care about the Hyde Amendment
H.K. Gray had an abortion, but her insurance wouldn’t pay for it.
“When I was pregnant with my daughter, I used my Medicaid to cover almost all of her birth, almost all of her ultrasounds, and almost everything I needed for pre-natal care,” Gray told ThinkProgress, “So when it came time to when I needed my abortion for my third pregnancy, I just assumed it would work for that as well.”
That’s when Gray learned about the Hyde Amendment, whic...