HEALTH POLICIES, ANALYSIS, AND RESOURCES
The Health Policy Domain tracks and reports on policies that deal with women’s health, the Affordable Care Act, Head Start, child care and child support services, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and federal food and drug policy. This domain tracks policies emanating from the White House, the department of Health and Human Services, the US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Latest Health & Gender Posts
Trump’s 2019 Budget Proposal Slashes Health and Welfare Program Funding
On Monday, February 12, President Trump released a 2019 budget proposal. The proposal calls for massive cuts to social welfare programs such as food stamps, housing subsidies, and health insurance. Trump’s proposal would cut food stamp funding by almost 30% over the next decade. Part of these cost savings would come…
Work Requirements for Medicaid
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a letter on January 11th allowing states to impose work requirements for Medicaid eligibility. Eight states, (AR, AZ, IN, KS, ME, NH, UT, and WI) have pending requests for work requirements as a condition for Medicaid eligibility and CMS has already approved Kentucky’s…
Trump Administration Cracks Down on Legal Marijuana
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice would reestablish federal marijuana laws as a priority. His announcement goes against the Obama-era Cole Memo guidelines that deprioritized enforcing federal marijuana laws and gave states the freedom to establish their own legislation. The new memo stirred…
GOP Attack on the ACA Leaves Health Care Increasingly Government Subsidized
In a tweet the day after Christmas, President Donald Trump announced that the Tax Cut Bill essentially repeals the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and forces Democrats and Republicans to collaborate to create new health law. The bill eliminates the ACA’s tax penalty for not having insurance, allowing low-risk individuals…
Federal Judge Blocks Trump’s Contraceptive Rollback
On Friday, Pennsylvania Federal Judge Wendy Beetlestone temporarily blocked the Trump Administration’s rules that allowed employers to deny contraceptive coverage to employees based on moral or religious objections. The administration drafted the rules early this summer and officially issued them in early October. Other states have…
Important Health Care Changes Snuck Into New Tax Plan
The tax bill that passed in the Senate early Saturday changes a crucial component of the American healthcare system: the tax penalties enforcing the individual mandate. The individual mandate is a critical to the success of the Affordable Care Act because it requires that all Americans have insurance or pay a tax penalty. Without these…
Trump Cuts off Key Health Care Subsidies
On Thursday, October 12th, President Trump scrapped subsidies to health insurance companies and signed an executive order that changed insurance market regulations. The subsidies, called cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments, help pay out-of-pocket costs for low-income people. In this desperate effort to ditch Obamacare…
Trump Administration Rolls Back Birth Control Mandate
On Friday, October 6, the Trump administration expanded the rights of employers with religious or moral convictions to deny contraceptive insurance coverage to their employees. Employers can now opt out of including birth control in their health insurance plans, rolling back Obama-era requirements. While Obama was president…
Health News Update: Cassidy-Graham, Tom Price, and CHIP
September was a busy month in healthcare. The Cassidy-Graham bill, a last hurrah “repeal and replace” bill under budget reconciliation, failed to gain the necessary support and never made it to a vote in the Senate. Even after state-specific efforts to rally support, Senators John McCain, Susan Collins, and Rand Paul opposed the bill…