Trump administration defended Medicaid work requirements in court and it didn’t go well

March 14, 2019 health care, medicaid, News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration had a hard time defending one of its most consequential health policies in federal court on Thursday.

The administration faced a lot of difficult questions from District Judge Jeb Boasberg, an Obama appointee, about why the court shouldn’t strike down Medicaid work requirements in Arkansas and Kentucky, as it has in the past. Boasberg listened to two separate but related lawsuits, challenging the legality of the states’ w...

Republican congressman says Green New Deal is ‘tantamount to genocide’

March 14, 2019 climate, congress, News, politics

House Republicans are ramping up their opposition to the Green New Deal, invoking increasingly dire rhetoric as the proposal gains prominence. In a press conference on Thursday, several top Republicans called for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to direct all House committees to hold hearings to discuss the details of the ambitious climate action proposal.

Calling the Green New Deal resolution a “fantasy-land proposal” and “tantamount to genocide,” House Republica...

Trump’s 2020 budget would disproportionately hurt LGBTQ people

March 12, 2019 congress, lgbtq, News

President Donald Trump’s proposed 2020 budget would seriously harm the LGBTQ community, many of whom rely on the public programs the administration is intent on shrinking. Even the initiative to end HIV is deeply flawed, experts on LGBTQ policy say.

The 2020 budget includes a $8.6 billion cut for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and proposes eliminating the Community Development Block Grant program and capital improvement funds for public housing repairs.

ThinkProgress

Read More

A federal appeals court just held that abortion providers have no constitutional protections

March 12, 2019 News, politics

A federal appeals court held on Tuesday that abortion providers “do not have a Fourteenth Amendment right to perform abortions” — and thus the state of Ohio could require them to either give up public funding for non-abortion care or stop performing abortions.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio v. Hodges was handed down entirely along party lines, with a total of 11 Republican jud...

In an unprecedented Senate bill, Democrats try to get federal dollars to pay for abortion

March 12, 2019 congress, health, health care, News, reproductive-rights

For the first time ever, Senate Democrats will introduce a bill that guarantees every person has access to abortion coverage if they receive health care through the federal government.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) will introduce the EACH Woman Act on Tuesday with support from at least nine other Democrats, including 2020 presidential candidates Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).

On the other side of the chamber, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) will re-introduce,...

Trump budget seeks to cut Social Security by tens of billions of dollars

March 11, 2019 News

President Donald Trump’s new budget would cut Social Security payouts by $84 billion over the next decade.

The cuts come from a variety of changes to how the program’s disability insurance component functions. Though Trump has previously made repeated promises to shield Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits from the budget ax, his administration asserts that cuts to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) do not constitute cuts to the Social Security program writ larg...

Trump’s 2020 budget takes aim at the poor with $700 billion cut to Medicaid

March 11, 2019 News

The White House released its 2020 budget proposal on Monday, proposing more than $1 trillion in cuts to the popular programs Medicare and Medicaid and giving insight into what the executive branch would do if Congress didn’t control the federal government’s pocketbook.

The most notable cut comes out of Medicaid, a health program for people who are low-income or have a disability, which Trump proposes cutting by $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

The budget calls for Med...

Iowa Supreme Court sides with two trans women fighting for Medicaid coverage

March 9, 2019 Gender, News, politics, transgender

On Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court effectively struck down Iowa’s ban on Medicaid coverage for sex reassignment surgery. It sided in its unanimous ruling with two transgender women whose healthcare providers said the surgery was necessary to treat their gender dysphoria.

The court agreed with Chief Judge of the Fifth District of Iowa Arthur Gamble’s ruling last year that a decades-old Iowa Department of Human Services policy not allowing Medicaid coverage for sex reassign...

What does Medicare for All look like for people with disabilities?

March 8, 2019 Affordable Care Act, health, health care, News

More and more, the progressive rallying cry, Medicare for All, is garnering support. It’s now a frontrunner topic for Democratic presidential candidates, and members of Congress are introducing legislation for how it could actually work.

But does Medicare for All really include everyone? Disability rights activists say not really, if you’re basing it on the way Medicare, the health program for seniors and certain people with disabilities, works today.

“I think if you ask most...

Democrats don’t need any more presidential candidates. They need senators.

March 7, 2019 mitch-mcconnell, News, politics, Senate

At least on paper, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) looks like a powerful contender for the presidency. He has a quarter-century of experience in Congress. He brings a left populist appeal without the baggage of being a self-described “socialist.” And he’s a winner. Brown won reelection by nearly seven points last November, despite Ohio’s Trumpian tilt and despite the fact that Republicans swept the state’s other major statewide offices.

Nevertheless, Brown an...