A federal appeals court struck down Trump administration regulations on Friday that allow virtually any employer to exempt itself from federal rules requiring employer health plans to cover birth control.
This decision is only limited cause for celebration among public health advocates. Judge Patty Shwartz, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit judge who wrote the opinion, is an Obama appointee. The two judges who joined her opinion in Pennsylvania v. Presiden...
politics
Alaska’s legislature fails to stop a major attack on its judicial independence
Alaska’s legislature has until Friday at midnight to override the governor’s attack on the state’s judicial system. No vote has yet been scheduled, and one-third of the legislators are in Wasilla, 800 miles away from the state capital.
Using a line-item veto, Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) recently slashed the budget of the state’s Supreme Court, due to its repeated protection of abortion rights. Dunleavy cut the budget of the Alaska Supreme Court and the court of appeals by 5%, as part of ...
Here’s what unions think about Medicare for All
History tells us that the support of organized labor is critical to any major health care reform in the United States.
Unions represent 1 in 10 U.S. workers, making it one of the largest institutions nationwide. So what does that mean for “Medicare for All,” a policy that moves everyone into one public plan with no premiums or deductibles?
Everyone agrees universal health care coverage is the goal, but not everyone agrees Medicare for All is the only or best way t...
California becomes first state to give young undocumented adults health care. But is that enough?
The health care system failed Ana because of her immigration status: she’s undocumented.
Ana’s last two pregnancies were riddled with complications. But her lack of insurance exacerbated her health problems. She didn’t qualify for full-scope Medicaid, even though she was eligible by income, but the state did offer her pregnancy-related Medicaid, a public plan that covers every pregnant resident regardless of immigration status, but comes with an expiration...
A Republican federal appeals court appears determined to strike down Obamacare
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — A panel of two Republicans and one Democrat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments on Tuesday in a case asking them to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. The Democrat did not speak, although she remains overwhelmingly likely to reject this attack on Obamacare.
The Republicans, by contrast, came to court today wearing their partisan hats. When Samuel Siegel, the first of two lawyers defending the la...
Former congressman whose campaign was charged with election fraud running for Senate
One-term Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA)’s 2018 re-election campaign did not go well. But despite a series of ethical scandals and unpopular votes that led to his defeat in a Republican-leaning House district last year, he announced Monday that he plans to seek his party’s nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in 2020.
Taylor, who is at this point best known for a controversial signature-gathering scandal, made the announcement on Fox & Friends. He said the rationale f...
Obamacare faces a death panel on Tuesday
A conservative panel of an especially conservative federal appeals court will hear a case on Tuesday brought by Republican officials who seek to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. The case is Texas v. United States.
Last year, a Republican judge with a long history of striking down Democratic policies on spurious legal reasoning handed down an order saying that Obamacare must cease to exist. If this decision is ultimately affirmed by higher courts, an estimated...
‘It’s a sexist and racist attack’: Trump’s regulation to weaken home health care unions takes effect
Adarra Benjamin earns $13.48 an hour as a home health worker — a wage that includes a 48-cent-per hour raise thanks to her union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Illinois.
Benjamin, who’s 25 years old and lives in Chicago, also received $1,200 in backpay this year after Illinois agreed to the raises back in 2017. She was one of more than 49,000 employees statewide to receive this long-overdue backpay.
“After becoming a member… I...
Illinois governor signs executive order to help trans students feel safer at school
Illinois Gov. Jay Pritzker (D) signed an executive order on Sunday aimed at protecting transgender students from discrimination and harassment. The governor signed the order on the last day of Pride Month and on the same day as Chicago’s Pride Parade.
The executive order creates a 25-member task force to develop policy recommendations that educate school officials on issues affecting transgender students, such as dress codes, using the correct pronouns, bathroom access, and na...
Brett Kavanaugh is exactly who we thought he was
Indelible in the hippocampus is the anger.
The rage. The red faced, snarling incomprehension from Brett, who spent decades preparing for his ascension, only to have it threatened by some woman he claims not to remember assaulting.
Brett was careful. Brett came from the right family. Took the right jobs. Made all the right friends. And wrote all the right opinions. When excessive partisanship was a liability for men seeking ascension, Brett artfully said nothing about Obamacar...