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...
politics
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...
Democratic candidates interrupt each other to make themselves noticed
Ten Democrats took to a stage Wednesday night in Miami for the first debate of the 2020 presidential campaign, but they struggled to connect with the voting viewers as they competed with each other and a debate format that didn’t allow anyone to significantly break away from their competitors.
For the most part, the candidates agreed with each other on some of the biggest issues of the day, ranging from the economy, immigration policy, gun control, and reprodu...
Heading into the debates, what do progressive voters want to hear from the candidates?
Tonight, 10 Democratic presidential candidates will appear on stage for the first of several debates stretching from now until well into next year. With more than 20 candidates officially vying for the party’s nomination — welcome Joe Sestak, who entered the fray just this week — the “first” debate is actually split across two nights this week, with another 10 candidates fielding questions on Thursday.
For many voters, this week’s debates will be their first encounter with the most ...
The New York Times’ disastrously empty rape apology
The Grey Lady finally admitted that it is capable of making big editorial mistakes.
On Monday, the New York Times ran a piece which quotes its own executive editor, Dean Baquet, admitting that the paper was wrong to underplay the latest rape allegation against President Donald Trump. “We were overly cautious,” says Baquet.
On Friday, New York Magazine ran an excerpt of writer E. Jean Carroll’s memoir, in which Carroll accuses Trump of holding her against the...