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
Continue reading...
US news
Trump’s tax reforms are a bigger gift to business than most expected | Joseph Stiglitz
The Republicans’ proposals dodge necessary changes and will leave the country with a mountain of debt
Having failed to “repeal and replace” the 2010 Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), Donald Trump’s administration and the Republican congressional majority have now moved on to tax reform. Eight months after assuming office, the administration has been able to offer only an outline of what it has in mind. But what we know is enough to feel a deep sense of alarm.
Tax policy should reflect a country’s values and address its problems. And today, the United States – and much of the world – confronts four central problems: widening income inequality, growing job insecurity, climate change and anaemic productivity growth. America faces, in addition, the need to rebuild its decaying infrastructure and strengthen its underperforming primary and secondary education system.
Continue reading...
The Resistance Now: joy at Republican health defeat – but there’s still work to do
In this week’s resistance news: protesters jubilant as effort to repeal Obamacare officially declared dead, while activists in Flint, Michigan target Nestlé
It took thousands of phone calls, nearly 200 arrests, and a belated show of courage from a small number of Republican senators, but the GOP’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act finally failed – for the time being – on Tuesday.
Continue reading...
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.
Continue reading...
Trump claims tax plan is not for the rich | The minute
• Trump takes on tax cuts and you’ll never guess who benefits most... Tom Price says he’ll write a check for those plane rides … Trump repeats false tale of infirmed Senator...
• Get the day’s politics news in 60 seconds every weekday. By Jamiles Lartey
10.44pm BST
Donald Trump is charging hard to sell his overhaul of the US tax he says are aimed at “everyday hardworking Americans”. Unsurprisingly, analysis shows those most likely to g...
Zombie health bill: why the Republican plan will rise from the dead
The bill to replace Obamacare is deeply unpopular with the American public and the medical establishment – but here’s why we haven’t seen the last of it
The Republicans’ health bill seems to keep coming back from the dead. Many thought we’d seen the last of it when it failed the first time around this spring. It has been revived multiple times since – just to die again this Tuesday.
The bill is deeply unpopular with the American public, reviled by the medical establishment and ...
Trump says he is willing to work with Democrats on healthcare reform
President says he expects a vote on healthcare next year and says he may issue a ‘major’ executive order to allow the purchase of insurance across state lines
Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was open to working with Democrats on healthcare, following the collapse of yet another Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
Trump claimed that the GOP could corral enough votes to pass the measure – a last-gasp effort to deliver on a central campaign promise of the last seven years – but not in time for this week’s deadline, after which 60 votes would be needed instead of 51.
Continue reading...
Senate Republicans admit defeat in latest effort to repeal Affordable Care Act
Senate leaders admitted they did not have the votes to pass a bill, hours after Trump railed against ‘certain so-called Republicans’ for refusing to vote for it
The latest Republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act died on Tuesday as Senate leaders admitted they did not have the votes to pass a bill which would rob millions of health insurance.
The admission of defeat came from Senate leader Mitch McConnell and the sponsors of the bill after party discussions over lunch on Capitol Hill left them in no doubt that their slim majority could not survive a revolt.
Continue reading...
‘Height of hypocrisy’: Clinton calls out Trump team over private email reports
Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law among six administration figures who reportedly used private email accounts for White House business
At least six senior Trump administration figures have used private email accounts for official White House business, according to various media reports.
Related: Republican plan to defeat Obamacare looks doomed as Susan Collins says no to bill
Continue reading...
Republican plan to defeat Obamacare looks doomed as Susan Collins says no to bill
- Maine senator calls bill ‘deeply flawed’ and says she will not vote for it
- Number of Americans with cover would be ‘reduced by millions’, CBO finds
The latest Republican bill to repeal Obamacare appears doomed to fail after a key senator came out strongly against it within minutes of an analysis which said the plan would strip health insurance from “millions” of Americans.
Moments after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a partial analysis of the Republicans’ plan, Maine Senator Susan Collins announced she would not vote for the bill, and called it “deeply flawed”.
Continue reading...