"A civilization is measured by how it cares for its helpless members." Pearl Buck
Latest News and information
Killing Them with Paperwork - May 22
New Medicaid Work Requirements "Impossible" for People to Navigate, Jasmine Laws, Newsweek, May 22
The Republican reconciliation bill adding work requirements to qualify for Medicaid will not add anyone to the workforce, but it will deprive millions of Medicaid through the sheer volume of paperwork that must be completed to quality for benefits. The article states:
" experts warn that the work requirements not only will see millions pushed off the program but also could lead to many struggling to understand what the new requirements mean for their working situation and how to report their work."
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Mainly Older Women Affected by Medicaid Work Requirements - May 21
On May 21 the Republican majority in the House of Representatives passed a reconciliation bill that would enact work requirements for Medicaid similar to those for SNAP. The Milbank article explains that nearly 80% of the Medicaid recipients who will be affected are women, with an average of 41, a median income of zero, most of whom have less than a high school education and who left the workforce to care for family members. The New
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Medicaid Provider Taxes Under Attack - This Will Deny Care to Millions of People - May 21
49 states fund their share of Medicaid by means of "provider taxes," taxes on hospitals, nursing homes, and managed care organizations. If these taxes are reduced or eliminated states will lose a large share of their Medicaid funding, which will affect millions of people.
The A&M article explains the impact of both the House Republican funding bill approved on May 21 and a proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on provider taxes.
The Kaiser Family Foundation article provides an in-depth explanation of the importance of provider taxes and how it would affect millions of Americans if these taxes are reduced or eliminated.
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Trump Promised to Protect Medicaid: Will He? - Business Insider - May 1
Trump Promised to Protect Medicaid: Will He?, Leila Medina, Business Insider - May 1
An attempt by Republican lawmakers to roll back the federal government’s share of Medicaid expansion could result in tens of thousands of additional deaths, according to an analysis by a liberal think tank.
The analysis by the Center for American Progress (CAP), shared first with The Hill, found that about 34,200 more people would die annually if the federal government reduced its current 90 percent match for the expansion costs and states responded by dropping their Medicaid expansions.
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30,000 Deaths if Medicaid Expansion Stopped - The Hill - April 23
Cutting federal Medicaid Expansion funding could lead to 30K additional deaths: analysis, Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill, April 23
An attempt by Republican lawmakers to roll back the federal government’s share of Medicaid expansion could result in tens of thousands of additional deaths, according to an analysis by a liberal think tank.
The analysis by the Center for American Progress (CAP), shared first with The Hill, found that about 34,200 more people would die annually if the federal government reduced its current 90 percent match for the expansion costs and states responded by dropping their Medicaid expansions.
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Medicaid Cuts Jeopardizes Home Health Care - The Hill - April 16
How Medicaid cuts jeopardize the right to age at home, Geoff Gross, The Hill, April 16
If you or someone you love wants to age at home — and nearly 90 percent of older Americans do — there’s a number you should know: $2.3 trillion.
That’s how much could be cut from Medicaid under current budget proposals. And while headlines often focus on how these cuts would affect nursing homes, what’s less understood but equally devastating is what they would mean for home-based care.
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12 House Republicans Oppose Cuts to Medicaid - The Hill - April 16
Moderate Republicans draw red line on Medicaid cuts in Trump agenda bill, Emily Brooks, The Hill, April 16
Vulnerable and moderate House Republicans are warning House GOP leaders that they will not support the “one big, beautiful bill” encompassing President Trump’s legislative agenda if it includes cuts to Medicaid benefits.
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Medicare Rights Center - Congress Moves to Cut Medicaid - April 3
Congress Moves to Cut Medicaid, by Lindsey Copeland, Medicare Rights Center
Yesterday, Senate Republicans released a budget resolution that sets the stage for significant program cuts. The House and Senate are still negotiating policy specifics, but Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and SNAP remain under threat.
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New Republic - Fighting Back - Ordinary People Have More Power Than They Know - March 27
Fighting Back: A Citizen's Guide to Resistance - by Timothy Noah, New Republic
"Democracy is not a spectator sport."
That truism has been repeated by notables from Gen. Jim Mattis to Barack Obama to George Shultz, Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state. But it’s fitting that the person credited with first saying it was a private citizen whom nobody particularly remembers.
Lotte Scharfman (1928–1970) was a Jewish refugee from Nazi-occupied Austria who became president of the Massachusetts chapter of the League of Women Voters. Her cause was an obscure one: She wanted to reduce the size of Massachusetts’s bloated House of Representatives from 240 members to 160. The measure failed on its first vote in the House in 1970, for the obvious reason that no representative wanted to risk losing their own seat. But after several House members were voted out later that year for opposing the reform measure, it cleared the state legislature, and in 1974 it won overwhelming approval from Massachusetts voters.
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