A bipartisan group of eight senators unveiled legislation Tuesday that addresses an opioid epidemic that killed nearly 64,000 people in 2016 alone and shortened life expectancy by about three months.
CARA 2.0 — advertised as a sequel to the last major bill to address the opioid epidemic, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of late 2016 — would impose new rules to prescribing opioids and dedicate $1 billion to addiction treatment and recovery programs. The bill a...
politics
‘They’re hungry for it’: Democrat Randy Bryce says Medicare for All will help him defeat Paul Ryan
Randy Bryce has a plan to take down House Speaker Paul Ryan. It all boils down to this: be everything Ryan isn’t and promote everything he refuses to promote.
“I’m the kind of person that we need to get rid of him… I’m the opposite of what he is,” Bryce, a Democrat who’s challenging Ryan in Wisconsin’s first district, told ThinkProgress on Tuesday.
Bryce outlined what he sees as the path to unseating the speaker, touting a new, 18-point po...
Trump criticizes ailing John McCain for blocking health care reform vote
Trump renewed his criticism of John McCain for the senator’s dramatic thumbs-down deciding vote last year against the GOP health care repeal.
White House tells $7 trillion lie about Trump’s budget proposal
Deputy White House Press Secretary Raj Shah appeared on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning to defend President Trump’s 2019 budget.
“So it’s a great plan, but it also has serious deficit reduction […] It has over $3 trillion dollars in deficit reduction, which is the largest deficit reduction of a budget in terms of a 10-year outlay that we’ve ever seen,” he said. “It lays down a path toward fiscal responsibility, it allows us to kee...
Winners and losers under Medicare drug plan in Trump budget
Some Medicare beneficiaries face higher drug costs under Trump's budget even as the sickest patients save money
Budget deal will help Puerto Rico prepare for future ‘extreme weather’ — but it’s not enough
A small shred of good news for protecting Puerto Ricans from future climate impacts appears to have snuck into the 2018 budget deal that Congress passed last week.
The two-year budget, signed by Trump last Friday, includes nearly $100 billion in funding for disaster recovery. Of this, $28 billion is given to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for disaster relief, long-term recovery, and mitigation efforts for those impacted by major disasters in 2017, such as Hurr...
Adding work rules to expand Medicaid is a false choice, activists say
A lot has changed since Virginia’s gubernatorial race last November yielded the highest voter turnout in 20 years. Then, health care moved people to the polls, as casting ballots at the time meant extending health care to 400,000 people. Despite historic Democrat gains, Republicans maintained control of the state house. Now, Medicaid expansion is subject to unprecedented conditions.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) sought to expand Medicaid eligibility to people making up to 133 ...
DHS reportedly weighing rules targeting immigrants who use public benefits
The Trump administration is reportedly considering making it harder for immigrants who use public assistance to become permanent residents, Reuters reported on Thursday. It’s the latest move in a line of actions meant to crack down on documented immigration, in addition to targeting undocumented immigrants.
According to a proposal obtained by the outlet, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is set to propose new rules allowing immigration officers to scrutinize and consid...
White House policy could cost Planned Parenthood $100 million in international funding
A rule revived by the Trump administration gutting funding for organizations that perform or promote abortions abroad could cost Planned Parenthood around $100 million in funding, according to analysis by the New York Times. It’s the latest indication that White House efforts to hinder reproductive justice work are hitting the well-known non-profit health organization.
According to a State Department report on Tuesday, four organizations working internationally (along with doz...