South Dakota on Tuesday became the seventh GOP-led state to expand Medicaid coverage by ballot initiative. More than 42,000 additional people stand to gain coverage, according to state estimates.
The measure was passing with 56.2 percent support and 43.8 percent in opposition with 97 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press.
State Republicans like Gov. Kristi Noem opposed the measure, though Noem has said she would accept the results and wor...
medicaid
Five ballot measures to watch on Tuesday
In addition to who represents them in Congress and in state legislatures, voters on Tuesday will weigh in directly on issues including abortion, marijuana and vaping.
Here are the measures we're watching on Tuesday:
AbortionFive states will have abortion on the ballot Tuesday, the most abortion-related ballot initiatives ever to take place in a single year. The referendums come more than four months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the ...
LGBT groups sue over rule prohibiting gender-affirming treatment through Medicaid
Four LGBT and health advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against a Florida rule that prevents people from using Medicaid to pay for gender-affirming medical care.
The rule from the state’s Agency for Health Care Administrators (AHCA), which went into effect last month, removed Medicaid coverage for puberty blockers, hormones and gender-affirming surgeries for transgender Floridians.
A release from Lambda Legal, a civil rights organization that focuses on p...
Biden promotes health care proposals in reconciliation package on Medicare, Medicaid anniversaries
President Biden emphasized the provisions on health care in the health, climate and tax package that is set for a Senate vote in a statement recognizing the 57th anniversaries of the creation of Medicare and Medicaid.
Biden said in the statement that the legislation, called the Inflation Reduction Act, will maintain the eligibility improvements to the Affordable Care Act that were included in the American Rescue Plan, which saved 13 million Americans an average of $800 p...
The Supreme Court left millions of Americans uninsured: Here’s what Congress can do to cover them
Nearly 4 million Americans lack health insurance because of a 2012 Supreme Court decision that allowed states to opt out of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. In the coming weeks, Congress has a chance to clean up the mess the court’s decision created.
To understand what Congress can do now, it is useful to review how we got here. The Affordable Care Act required all state Medicaid programs to cover people with incomes up to 138 percent of the poverty line (currentl...
Texans are bearing the cost of keeping the working class out of the statehouse
In March, members of the Texas House of Representatives presented a proposal to expand Medicaid benefits. The bill, signed by 67 Democrats and nine Republicans, had enough votes to pass. It would have set Texas on the path to join the majority of US states (38 so far) that have expanded their populations’ eligibility for Medicaid—which provides healthcare insurance to low-income groups—since it became a possibility under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In Texas, Medicaid is ...
Obamacare Enrollments Have Risen by 2 Million Since February
Enrollment in Medicaid also reached a record high of 81 million Americans early this year. The spikes reflect the growing demand for health insurance during the pandemic, as well as its greater affordability.
At Last, Democrats Get Chance to Engineer Obamacare 2.0
The Biden administration is trying to make the health care law more generous and closer to its original design, but may disappoint progressive allies hoping for more.
Biden Administration Moves to End Work Requirements in Medicaid
It is a reversal of the Trump administration’s policy of allowing states to tether work to health insurance.
What the Democrats hope to do on healthcare now
Less than three days in office and US president Joe Biden has taken more executive actions than his three predecessors combined did in their first weeks. As the Covid-19 crisis would warrant, many of them have to do with tackling the pandemic and strengthening healthcare.
From requiring people to wear masks and observe social distancing on federal property to rejoining the World Health Organization, to reestablishing a team in charge of pandemic response within the National...