Trump administration moves closer to effectively banning patients from suing nursing homes

August 7, 2017 health, health care, News

Advocate groups are rallying to protect an Obama-era rule that would give patients and their families the right to sue long-term care facilities. The Trump administration has threatened to roll back the rule and implement revisions that would make filing such suits virtually impossible.

The rule specifically states that facilities that rely on Medicaid or Medicare may no longer use forced arbitration clauses in their patient agreements. Forced arbitration, which nearly all facilitie...

Interior Department investigating Zinke for reportedly threatening senators over Trumpcare votes

August 4, 2017 climate, health care, News, politics, Trump administration

The Interior Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has launched a “preliminary investigation” over reports that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke threatened to pull funding from Alaskan energy projects if Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) didn’t vote in support of President Donald Trump’s health care proposal.

“The OIG is undertaking a preliminary investigation into this matter,” Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall sai...

Military figures are taking over Trump’s administration

August 3, 2017 Donald Trump, News, politics, World

As players within President Donald Trump’s administration have come and gone, one institution has benefited perhaps more than any other — the military.

On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions named Gen. Mark S. Inch as the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), days after Gen. John Kelly moved from his position as secretary of Homeland Security to be White House Chief of Staff. Trump’s Cabinet at one point contained three generals —Kelly, Secretary of Defense Jame...

Tweet first, read later: Trump shares article blaming his policies for health care price increases

August 3, 2017 Donald Trump, health care, News, politics

On Thursday morning, President Trump retweeted a tweet from his favorite morning show about how “Insurers [are] seeking huge premium hikes on ObamaCare plans.” Had Trump read the article, however, he would’ve seen that the story Fox & Friends highlighted on its program actually blamed him for those rate hikes.

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Trump harshly attacks Republican Congress, echoing criticism of Russian prime minister

August 3, 2017 News

President Donald Trump parroted Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev Thursday morning, blaming Congress for what he called a “very dangerous low” in U.S. Russia relations.

Trump signed new sanctions, which passed Congress with a veto-proof majority, into law Wednesday. The White House lobbied against the sanctions after the bill passed the Senate, and when Trump signed the bill into law, he released a statement expressing his concerns with the legislation.

The law both impo...

Maine asks Trump for permission to start charging Medicaid recipients premiums

August 3, 2017 Donald Trump, health, health care, medicaid, News, tom-price

Maine could be among the first states to fundamentally change its Medicaid program by requiring low-income adults to meet work requirements and pay monthly premiums, if the state’s requests are approved by the Trump administration.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services filed an application to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Wednesday evening, requesting core changes to its Medicaid program, dubbed MaineCare.<...

Trump takes things to logical conclusion, creates ‘real news’ show hosted by his daughter-in-law

August 2, 2017 Donald Trump, News

An alternate reality.Omarosa Manigault, Eric Trump, the son of President Donald Trump and his wife Lara Trump and first lady Melania Trump sit to the side of the stage as President Donald Trump speaks during a Make America Great Again rally, Tuesday, July 25, 2017, at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio. CREDIT: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Last week, President Donald Trump turned the boy scout jamboree...

Senate Republicans quietly wave the white flag on Obamacare repeal

August 1, 2017 health, healthcare, News, obamacare, politics, republican-party

Multiple Republican lawmakers seem to have dismissed Trump’s call to keep moving on health care.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., listens to a question while speaking with the media, June 27, 2017. CREDIT: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
After six months of Republican-led closed door meetings on health care, Senate leadership finally looks to be pivoting.
On Tuesday at the Senate committee on...

Are their lips moving…

August 1, 2017 News

CREDIT: AP Photo/Steve Helber
Yesterday, the Washington Post made a liar out of Jay Sekulow, one of Donald Trump’s personal lawyers. According to the Post, President Trump personally helped craft the misleading statement Junior released about last summer’s Russian rendezvous, which is the exact thing Sekulow unequivocally denied to Meet the Press two weeks ago.

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Luther Strange: Alabama ‘did the right thing’ by not expanding Medicaid

August 1, 2017 healthcare, News, politics

The system, Strange said, is failing.In this July 11, 2017 file photo, Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala. responds to questions during a TV news interview on Capitol Hill in Washington. A super PAC supporting Strange launched another ad spotlighting U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks’ past criticisms of President Donald Trump in a bid to keep the conservative congressman out of a runoff in Alabama’s heated Senate primary. Th...