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
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…
The Cassidy-Graham Healthcare Bill
As Republican’s time to pass a healthcare bill under reconciliation runs out, Senators are rushing to gain support for one last repeal and replace bill. Reconciliation, the process that allows a bill to pass the House and Senate with only a majority, expires at the end of the September. Republicans, led by Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana…
Trump Declares Opioid Crisis a National Emergency
On Thursday, August 10th at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, President Donald Trump announced the opioid crisis a national emergency. In addition to a symbolic gesture, this announcement allows the administration to allocate funding for expanding treatment facilities, waive some federal rules and restrictions, and supply…
Bypassing Congress to Undermine Obamacare
The Trump administration has been undermining public support for Obamacare through a public relations campaign led by Republican Tom Price, the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Price is using taxpayer dollars meant to encourage enrollment in the ACA to instead launch a social media and video campaign designed…
Congress Advances Health Care Efforts
After another GOP failure on the health care front, members of Congress resorted to more incremental legislation. Congress is working across the aisle to counter President Trump’s threats to encourage the implosion of Obamacare and cut off subsidies for health insurers known as cost-sharing reduction payments. Without these…
GOP Health Care Dead Again, Again
In the early hours of Friday morning, Senator John McCain of Arizona unexpectedly voted against a “skinny repeal” of Obamacare. The skinny repeal would have eliminated some controversial parts of the Affordable Care Act, such as individual and employer mandates, Planned Parenthood funding, and more. This latest bill would..