For Quinn Nystrom, and millions of other Americans living with Type 1 Diabetes, insulin affordability is a “real crisis issue.”
So Nystrom took it upon herself to find a temporary solution. Last week, she and seven others organized a four-car “caravan” from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to drive 600 miles across the border to Fort Francis, Ontario, in Canada to purchase the life-saving insulin they all needed.
“It was a black and white difference,” Nystrom told ThinkProgress of her...
health
Transgender Iowans are worried they’ll lose transition-related care under new bill
Iowa is one signature away from enacting a law that would limit transgender people’s access to necessary health care.
The law would allow government entities to opt out of using public insurance dollars, including Medicaid, to pay for any kind of transition-related care. This language was tacked on as an amendment to a health and human services appropriations bill late in the process, LGBTQ rights advocates said, without any committee hearings or public comment process. Lawmak...
Trump administration finalizes ‘conscience’ rule affecting transgender people’s health care
The Trump administration finalized a new rule enabling the discrimination of transgender people in health care on Thursday.
The rule essentially allows health care workers to refer to religious or moral objections when they don’t want to deliver health care services, which would also affect access to abortion and contraception.
The so-called “conscience rule” would revise existing regulations to “ensure vigorous enforcement of Federal conscience and an...
Ady Barkan makes a moral case for single payer at first-ever Medicare for All hearing
At the first-ever congressional hearing dedicated to Medicare for All on Tuesday, activist Ady Barkan underscored the urgent need to change our health care system right now.
As he told members of the House Rules Committee, Barkan would rather have been at home with his wife and son instead of making the case for Medicare for All. The renowned organizer is dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
“Every day is precious for me. I don’t have time on my side,...
Shorten pledges billions for seniors’ dental bills, childcare and educators’ wage rise
Labor leader vows to ‘build Medicare’ as Scott Morrison announces plan to freeze refugee intake
Bill Shorten has unveiled three big-spending policies to invest $2.4bn in seniors’ dental care, $4bn to provide cheaper childcare for families and to boost early childhood educators’ pay by 20%.
Shorten made the promises that Labor will “build Medicare” and expand social services to win the 2019 election on a positive platform of “hope over fear, vision over cynicism” at a quasi campaign launch at the Box Hill Town Hall in Melbourne on Sunday.
Continue reading...
What 13 states discovered after spending hundreds of thousands drug testing the poor
Thirteen states spent more than $200,000 screening federal-aid applicants for drugs last year. Only 338 people tested positive, according to data gathered by ThinkProgress.
In total, the states required more than 260,000 people to submit to drug screening or testing as a condition of receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which provides cash assistance to low-income people. In some states, not one person tested positive.
While universal drug testing for TAN...
Bernie Sanders releases new Medicare for All bill, includes win for disability rights activists
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released a new version of his Medicare for All bill on Wednesday, keeping true to form by championing one of the most ambitious health policies in the country. So far, the proposal has the support of more than a dozen Democrats, including fellow 2020 candidates Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Kamala Harris (CA), Elizabeth Warren (MA), and Cory Booker (NJ).
The Sanders bill expands the traditional Medicare program, by covering...
Bill Shorten’s budget 2019 reply speech: Labor makes party’s case for government – as it happened
Labor leader gives party’s reply to the federal budget as seats tighten before Australian election campaign
That is it for the evening folks.
It has been a big week and many thanks for staying with us. Thanks to Mike Bowers for his sterling pitchers, as well as the brains trust: Katharine Murphy and Paul Karp. Amy Remeikis is a trooper, I have just surfed in for the night.
Some quick analytical thoughts on Bill Shorten's de-facto campaign launch tonight. Direct appeals to the base, to women and young people. Many connection points, from tax relief for workers who haven't got wage rises, the return of lost penalty rates, to the cancer package.
The cancer pledge connects with so many people, speaks to their lived experience. It will make disillusioned voters sit up and take notice. It was unclear until tonight how Labor would recalibrate on Medicare. Now we have a sense of how that services campaign will be structured.
Shorten was confident tonight, as was the team sitting behind him. Labor is selling a team to voters, not a presidential leader. It's also framing a positive campaign, in the process projecting itself as the incumbents, daring the government to go negative.
Continue reading...
Trump claims he never sought vote to replace Obamacare before 2020 election
Amid blowback from Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump switched gears again Wednesday, suggesting he never wanted Congress to vote to replace the Affordable Care Act until after the 2020 election.
Coalition gives budget boost to aged care and Medicare services before election
Morrison government to fund additional 10,000 packages to help older people remain at home rather than enter aged care homes
• Federal budget 2019: follow the speech and reaction, live
• Morrison splashes the cash in final election sell to the suburbs
• Comment: Morrison breaks with past budgets to save his skinScott Morrison’s government has made a pitch for the votes of families and older Australians with new spending in aged care and a promise to make Medicare more affordable and services more accessible.
The centrepiece of the spending in aged care is an additional 10,000 home care packages to help older people remain at home rather than enter aged care facilities, taking the number of packages to 40,000.
Continue reading...