How do rape exceptions for abortion work? They don’t.

Over the past year, Dr. Shanthi Ramesh performed abortions for seven sexual assault survivors and she recalls Medicaid insurance only paying for two.

It didn’t matter that they were all technically eligible for Medicaid — meaning, they were all poor enough to receive public health insurance — or that a doctor, in her professional opinion, believed they were raped. She says four of the seven women did not report their assaults to local law enforcement and, so, insurance ...

Trump’s new pick to lead Medicaid ran Maine’s public health department into the ground

The Trump administration is putting the health insurance of millions of Americans in the hands of a former Maine official best known for undermining the public health infrastructure in her state to put low-income families at risk.

Mary Mayhew, Maine’s former health commissioner, was tapped on Monday to run the national Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs. Mayhew will now control the $350 billion budget of the two health insurance programs ser...

Medicaid expansion is on the ballot again in Maine this November

PORTLAND, MAINE — “When I’m in pain, I take Tylenol. I can’t have it looked at,” said 59-year-old Ann Avery, her voice cracking before she started to cry.  

“I did find the list of some of the things that’s wrong me,” she told ThinkProgress. Depression, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, and Piriformis syndrome, to name a few.  

“I have no idea what some of these things are,” Avery said. But she could tell you theyR...

Over 4,500 Arkansans have lost health coverage due to Medicaid work requirements

More than 4,500 low-income Arkansans lost their health insurance over the weekend because they did not report 80 hours of work online for three consecutive months, according state data.

The three-strikes law took affect in June, making Arkansas the first state to implement Medicaid work requirements in the country. Critics warned the law wouldn’t move Medicaid recipients “out of poverty” as Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) contends, but instead would kick people off coverag...

Trump administration reportedly poised to approve restrictive changes to Medicaid

The Trump administration is preparing to approve a number of changes to Medicaid — the government health care program that provides coverage to low-income people — that could leave tens of thousands of people without coverage.

As Politico first reported Friday, the administration is set to approve waivers from some states that would impose work restrictions and allow questions about illegal drug use to be included on applications for Medicaid.

The report comes two...

Medicaid work requirements to cause over 5,000 low-income Arkansans to lose health care

In Arkansas, residents on Medicaid need to report 80-hours-a-month of work or service online to keep their health insurance under new requirements. So far, more than 5,000 people have failed to do so, jeopardizing their continuous coverage.

About 5,426 people who qualify for the public health insurance program designed for low-income people failed to report 80 hours of work in June and July, according to the latest numbers from Arkansas’ Department of Human Services. If they f...