Some Missouri HIV-positive patients to lose health coverage as assault on Obamacare continues

Some HIV-positive patients in Missouri will lose critical health coverage in 2018, thanks to high costs and little marketplace competition. Many of the affected individuals live in rural areas, where access to health care is already limited.  

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, about 95 patients in 51 counties will lose coverage starting January 1. The state has begun notifying the patients of this change, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

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White House can continue withholding health subsidies, judge rules

States had called for federal government to continue making payments as broader case over subsidies makes its way through courts

A US judge has ruled that the government does not have to immediately resume paying Affordable Care Act healthcare subsidies that Donald Trump cut off.

Eighteen state attorneys general, led by the California Democrat Xavier Becerra, argued the monthly payments were required under Barack Obama’s healthcare law and cutting them off would harm consumers.

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McConnell and Trump put on show of unity as Bannon urges Republican ‘war’

Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell appeared side-by-side in the Rose Garden after lunch at the White House on Monday in a show of solidarity after the president’s former chief strategist called for the metaphorical assassination of the Senate majority leader.

Trump insisted he and McConnell are “closer than ever before”, despite publicly criticizing the Republican leader for the Senate’s failure to enact the president’s legislative agenda, including Republicans’ failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which Trump called a “disgrace”.

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Bannon says Trump will ‘blow up’ Obamacare as subsidies cut stokes fires

  • Moderate Collins and Democrat Murphy decry cut to low-income help
  • Trump responds to healthcare critics with claim ‘millions’ will benefit

A day after Steve Bannon seemed to confirm Donald Trump’s intent to destroy the Affordable Care Act (ACA), saying the president was “gonna blow that thing up”, a Republican senator who helped dynamite two Republican replacement bills said Trump was hurting American citizens.

Related: Steve Bannon renews call for war on Rep...

Trump responds to critics of healthcare order with claim ‘millions’ will benefit

The president tweeted Saturday that he’s ‘very proud’ of executive order, despite analysts, politicians and others saying millions of people would in fact suffer

Donald Trump on Saturday heralded his latest moves to undermine Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, tweeting that “millions of people” would benefit from his executive order on access to cheaper insurance and his scrapping of federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Related: 'He is failing': Trump strikes out solo as friends worry and enemies circle

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Trump scraps Obamacare subsidies in surprise late-night announcement

Federal payments underpinning healthcare scheme unlawful, says White House, in move that takes a further swipe at Democrats’ signature reform

Donald Trump has planted a timebomb under Obamacare, issuing a notice late on Thursday night that scraps vital federal subsidies underpinning the current healthcare system.

Related: Trump accused of sabotage after signing executive order to weaken Obamacare

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Repealing and replacing Obamacare ‘off the table’, says Chuck Schumer

Senate minority leader addresses Affordable Care Act after tweet from Trump saying the two discussed measure and possibility of ‘great’ new bill

Repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is “off the table”, Chuck Schumer said on Saturday, after Donald Trump tweeted that he had spoken to the Senate minority leader to see if Democrats were interested in helping pass “great” healthcare legislation.

Related: The Trump-Russia dossier: why its findings grow more significant by the day

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Trump substantially weakens Obamacare contraception mandate

Many more employers allowed to opt out of requirement to cover birth control without copay in move that could cause thousands of women to lose coverage

The Trump administration has dramatically expanded the number of employers allowed to flout the Affordable Care Act (ACA) policy that requires company healthcare plans to cover contraception at no additional cost.

Related: White House drafts rule to roll back 'contraception mandate' for health coverage

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What Trump did this week: health bill fails (again) and NFL row flares up

The president kicked off the week with a spat over black NFL players’ protests, while Republicans bungled their final (for now) attempt to repeal Obamacare

  • Each week Trump seems to make more news than most presidents do in a lifetime. The Guardian is keeping track of it all in this series every Saturday

Having whipped up a national row over black NFL players’ protests in a Friday-night speech in Alabama, Trump, clearly convinced he was on to a winner, continued to poke at the wound all weekend. Players hit back in unprecedented numbers by kneeling, locking arms or staying in the tunnel during the national anthem. Whether the president chose to spark the controversy as a distraction from difficulties with North Korea or the Republicans’ flailing healthcare bill, or to shore up his rightwing base following doubts among the faithful about his attempts to cut an immigration deal with Democrats “Chuck and Nancy”, the effect was to drown out the original reason for the protests – racism and police brutality – and reframe the issue as one about patriotism. Trump planted himself cynically and effectively on the side of the flag, the military and The Star-Spangled Banner.

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Tom Price took military jets abroad, bringing total cost of travel to more than $1 million

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price took military jets to Europe and Asia, Politico reported Thursday evening, bringing the total cost to taxpayers of Price’s travel to more than $1 million since May.

Price has been under scrutiny since Politico began reporting on his extensive use of chartered flights last week. On Thursday afternoon, Price said he would pay back the costs of his own seat on those chartered flights — just over $50,000 out of the total cost of more t...