medicaid

30,000 poor elderly, people with disabilities to lose Medicaid coverage in Georgia

health, health care, medicaid, Medicare, News

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...

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Millions to lose benefits under Trump’s proposal to change how poverty is defined, new study shows

Affordable Care Act, Donald Trump, health, health care, medicaid, News, obamacare, politics

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...

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California poised to become first-ever state to offer health insurance to some undocumented adults

health care, medicaid, News

In a sharp rebuke to the Trump administration, California is expanding access to health care for its largest uninsured group: the undocumented.

Activists have been trying to get the state to cover undocumented residents for some time, as about 1.4 million lack insurance. On Sunday, they made progress when state lawmakers reached a budget agreement that would make California the first-ever state to offer health coverage to certain undocumented residents.

Specifically, undocume...

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California to offer healthcare to young working poor living illegally in US

medicaid, News, US news, World news

State will become first to give Medicaid access to illegal residents, in defiance of Trump policies

California will become the first state in the US to pay for some adults living in the country illegally to have full health benefits as the solidly liberal state continues to distance itself from President Donald Trump’s administration.

Democrats in the state legislature reached an agreement on Sunday afternoon as part of a broader plan to spend $213bn of state and federal tax money over the next year. The agreement means low-income adults between the ages of 19 and 25 living in California illegally would be eligible for California’s Medicaid program, the joint state and federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled.

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How activists of color got Democrats to care about the Hyde Amendment

health, health care, medicaid, News, politics

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...

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Rev. William Barber is on trial for trespassing over a health care protest he led 2 years ago

health, health care, medicaid, News, politics, religion

Rev. Dr. William Barber is on trial in North Carolina for leading a protest calling for Medicaid expansion in the state’s legislative building two years ago.

Barber, then-head of the state NAACP chapter and leader of the progressive grassroots movement “Moral Monday,” was arrested on May 30, 2017, after he led a group of more than 30 people to the legislative building in Raleigh to to discuss health care with lawmakers. Barber and others in the group were later cha...

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Trump uses 1996 welfare reform bill to go after immigrants who use public benefits

health, medicaid, News, politics

President Trump is getting serious about going after immigrants who use public benefits.

In a presidential memorandum issued Thursday, Trump announced he will direct federal agencies to enforce a longstanding rule requiring the sponsors — usually U.S. citizen family members — of immigrants to reimburse the government for any public benefits they use, including Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, and the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

“Financial sponsors who...

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Transgender Iowans are worried they’ll lose transition-related care under new bill

health, health care, lgbtq, medicaid, News, transgender

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...

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