Trump said Obamacare is dead (nope, definitely not). Then he said he supported a bipartisan plan to save subsidies (well, that’s good news). Then he said he did not support that same plan (what the…?). You might feel like you need a scorecard and a decoder ring to keep up with it all. To help, … Continue reading Confused About What’s Going On with Obamacare? Here Are Some Answers.
According to the vanished report, published four years ago and available online until recently, “It is no longer a question whether the coasts of Puerto Rico and many port cities in the Caribbean will be inundated, but rather it is a question of when and by how much.” Updated, 10/20/17: The PRCCC website and the State … Continue reading What Happened to the Puerto Rico Climate Change Council’s ‘State of the Climate’ Report? UPDATED: The Council Website is Back Online.
Updated Oct. 2, 1:30 pm: The KIDS Act of 2017 (described in my original post below) is scheduled for markup by the Senate Finance Committee this Wednesday, October 4, at 9:30 a.m. It's still important to make those calls to your Senators to make sure they act swiftly to restore funding to this critical program, and … Continue reading Yes, Funding Has Expired for the Children’s Health Insurance Program— But We Can Still Save Coverage for the 9 Million Kids Who Depend on It.
Racing against the September 30 deadline for budget reconciliation, Republican leadership has thrown all its energy into passing the mind-bogglingly bad Graham-Cassidy repeal bill. However, September 30, the last day of the federal fiscal year, is a significant date for other reasons that right now are being largely neglected by that same leadership. On that … Continue reading Republican legislators’ obsession with repealing the ACA proves they don’t deserve to call themselves public servants.
Earlier this week, after Senator John McCain said he'd prefer that a healthcare bill be subject to hearings before coming up for a vote, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Orrin Hatch of Utah, obliged by scheduling a last minute hearing this coming Monday, September 25. It's clear that Hatch intends the hearing to … Continue reading How to go on record for Monday’s Senate hearing on Graham-Cassidy.
Conservative Republicans in the Senate are going for broke in their attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act before September 30. The latest bill, drafted by Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, combines every bad idea that has appeared in a repeal bill to date and then some. The impact … Continue reading The New Republican Healthcare Bill Doesn’t Only Repeal the ACA. It Also Blows Giant Holes in Medicaid.
Updated Fri., Sept. 8: After unexpectedly announcing extreme cuts to funding to support outreach for the 2018 open enrollment period, the Trump administration has allowed funding to enrollment assistance programs to lapse entirely. According to Sarah Kliff at Vox, who broke this story, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) hasn't told the organizations … Continue reading Were Cuts to Outreach Funding a Last Minute About-Face? UPDATE: Outreach Budgets Have Lapsed, Programs Are Laying Off Navigators.
Last week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a 72% cut to funding to support enrolling eligible individuals into coverage under the ACA. This includes a 90% cut to the advertising budget for the 2018 marketplace enrollment period—from $100 million to $10 million—and a 41% cut to funding for navigators, the in-person … Continue reading Forty Percent of Uninsured People Still Don’t Know the Health Insurance Marketplace Exists. Cuts to Outreach Will Make Sure It Stays That Way.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, kids in Houston who have medically complex needs are at much greater risk of illness and infection, and their parents often don't have access to the specialized medical supplies they need to keep their children healthy. Little Lobbyists, an advocacy group for children who are medically complex, is coordinating an effort to get … Continue reading After #Harvey, How You Can Help Houston Kids with Medically Complex Needs
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES In Part 1 we talked about everything the Senate has been doing on healthcare during their alleged vacation. Now we turn to the House of Representatives. It seems so long ago, but the House did pass a repeal and replace bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), back in May. So … Continue reading Congress Agrees on Pretty Much Nothing When It Comes to Healthcare. We Can Work with That. (Part 2)
