Government shutdown was avoided this time around when President Trump signed two spending bills that will fund the federal government until September 2020, the rest of the fiscal year. The $1.4 trillion budget deal included wins and compromises for both parties, policy changes wanted by both parties, and the inevitable odd tidbits slipped in to … [Read more...]
Michigan Governor Wants to Put Medicaid Work Requirements on Hold, Lawsuit Pending
Gretchen Whitmer gives policy talk at the Ford School: The Detroit Grand Bargain(Photo credit: Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan - CC 2.0) Michigan is set to implement Medicaid work requirements on January 1, 2020, but a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was filed on November … [Read more...]
Obamacare Survived Legal Challenges, Repeal Attempts and Trump’s Sabotage. Can It Survive One More Lawsuit?
After Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, conservative lawyers immediately launched multiple legal challenges. The ACA – also known as “Obamacare” - survived all of those challenges, winning over the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. When Donald Trump took office in 2017, he was backed up by Republican majorities in both … [Read more...]
Kamala Harris Supports Medicare for All During ‘Meet the Press’ Interview
Kamala Harris poses with a young child at event. (Photo Credit: Public Domain) Senator Kamala Harris of California told Meet the Press’ Chuck Todd on Sunday that she supports the estimated $2.5 trillion Medicare for All proposal in which Medicare would be expanded to include all Americans and many of the deductibles and co-pays would be … [Read more...]
Conservative Legal Scholars Warn Obamacare Lawsuit Threatens Severability Principle
President Barack Obama talks with staff at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass., April 18, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Three judges – two of them appointed by Republican presidents – from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on July 9 in Texas v. Azar, a case brought by Republican attorneys … [Read more...]
Trump Outlines Watered-Down Health Insurance Plans
President Skirting Obamacare with Skimpy State Plans Sold by Suspect Carriers The Trump Administration, intent on crippling The Affordable Care Act’s value-added and cost-effective healthcare mechanism, outlined new “guidance” in November that loosens ACA state waiver restrictions, allowing states and insurance carriers to offer the same … [Read more...]
Weekend Nursing Home Inspections Catch Understaffing Issues
If you have ever worked as a healthcare professional in a nursing home or assisted living setting, you know that caring for the elderly is one of the most meaningful acts a healthcare worker perform in their career. But if you have worked in this field, you also understand the challenges that come with this type of work: long hours, high turnover, … [Read more...]
Supreme Court Refuses To Hear States’ Case To Defund Planned Parenthood
The nation's top court refused to hear a case that carried big implications for Planned Parenthood's Medicaid funding, according to Business Insider, . Officials in Louisiana and Kansas, two Republican-led states, contended that health providers can't go to court if they are blocked from Medicaid. The Supreme Court's decision lets stand … [Read more...]
Medicaid Expansion Wins With Red State Voters
When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, it contained a mandatory expansion of Medicaid, the insurance program for low income Americans that's run as a joint venture of the federal government and the states. States were required to expand Medicaid to those making 138 percent of the federal poverty level, but the federal government … [Read more...]
Trump Efforts on Drug Prices Lead to Big Announcements, Uncertain Results
A year and a half into what we now know is a far-right Trump Administration; it's easy to forget that in 2015 and 2016 then-candidate Donald Trump ran as a different kind of Republican. While playing hard to his party base's racial resentments, Trump purported to reject party orthodoxies on the role of government and support for big business. It … [Read more...]
