Lack of access to health care has hit a new high in the U.S., with over a third of Americans now unable to access quality care due to cost, new West Health-Gallup polling finds. The poll, released Wednesday, finds that 35 percent of Americans say they wouldn’t be able to afford quality health care if they needed it today, compared to 29 percent in 2021, when Gallup began polling this question.
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Few voters likely expected President Donald Trump in the first weeks of his administration to slash billions of dollars from the nation’s premier federal cancer research agency. But funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health were presaged in Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership,” a conservative plan for governing that Trump said he knew nothing about during his campaign. Now…
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A new study projects as many as 20 million people could lose Medicaid coverage under a Republican congressional bill to cut the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion match rate. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found the bill includes tax cuts for the wealthy and businesses, paired with cuts on the programs that support low-income Americans. “There is a direct link between their…
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The murder of UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson, and the subsequent arrest of Luigi Mangione, focused media and policymakers’ attention on the savage practices of private US health insurance. In the immediate aftermath, major media outlets scolded social media posters for mocking Thompson with sarcastic posts, such as “I’m sorry, prior authorization is required for thoughts and prayers.”
As public fury failed to subside, it began to dawn on at least some media organizations that the response to Thompson’s murder might possibly reflect deep, widespread anger at a healthcare system that collects twice as much money as those in other wealthy countries, makes it difficult for half the adult population to afford healthcare even when they’re supposedly “insured,” and maims, murders and bankrupts millions of people by denying payment when they actually try to use their alleged benefits.
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The murder of UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson, and the subsequent arrest of Luigi Mangione, focused media and policymakers’ attention on the savage practices of private US health insurance. In the immediate aftermath, major media outlets scolded social media posters for mocking Thompson with sarcastic posts, such as “I’m sorry, prior authorization is required for thoughts and prayers.”
As public fury failed to subside, it began to dawn on at least some media organizations that the response to Thompson’s murder might possibly reflect deep, widespread anger at a healthcare system that collects twice as much money as those in other wealthy countries, makes it difficult for half the adult population to afford healthcare even when they’re supposedly “insured,” and maims, murders and bankrupts millions of people by denying payment when they actually try to use their alleged benefits.
The post Corporate Media Coverage Of Healthcare In 2024 Elections appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
Policy analysts and Democratic lawmakers raised alarm over the weekend at a leaked document indicating that House Republicans intend to pursue massive cuts to Medicaid, a program that provides sometimes lifesaving coverage to roughly 80 million people across the United States. Near the top of a list of “spending reform options” that House Republicans are considering to help finance additional…
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New enrollments under the Affordable Care Act are on pace to trail last year’s record numbers by as many as a million as the outgoing Biden administration confronts upheavals in the program. Donald Trump’s election to a second term has cast uncertainty around the future of the health law. In addition, the Biden administration implemented cumbersome policies to reduce fraudulent enrollment and…
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America’s largest health insurers have raked in more than $371 billion in profits since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, according to financial data reviewed by The Lever. More than 40 percent of that net income went to UnitedHealth Group, whose annual profits have skyrocketed by nearly 400 percent as the company now reportedly denies nearly one in three medical claims from its…
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With Donald Trump’s return to the White House and Republicans taking full control of Congress in 2025, the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion is back on the chopping block. More than 3 million adults in nine states would be at immediate risk of losing their health coverage should the GOP reduce the extra federal Medicaid funding that’s enabled states to widen eligibility…
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In an appearance at a political event in the key swing state of Pennsylvania earlier this week, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) suggested that, if Republicans win the White House and Congress in next week’s elections, there would be a “very aggressive” first 100 days of policymaking, including major changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), sometimes referred to as Obamacare.
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When open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, starts nationwide this week, a group that had previously been barred from signing up will be eligible for the first time: The “Dreamers.” That’s the name given to children brought to the United States without immigration paperwork who have since qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
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Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao (R) has defended the U.S.’s capitalist health care model in an interview, baselessly suggesting that no one is worried about dying under the current system — which has been proven, time and again, to be more costly and less effective at covering the general populace than other models employed in wealthy nations across the globe. Cao, who has run a…
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In an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday, Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) attempted to clarify what his running mate, former President Donald Trump, meant during a debate earlier this month when he said he had a “concept of a plan” regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Vance’s explanation sought to alleviate fears that the ACA…
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For years, Donald Trump has bullied and blustered and beaten up on his generally hapless debate opponents. He has mocked their appearance and their energy levels, made up offensive nicknames for them — Sleepy Joe, Low-Energy Jeb, Lyin’ Ted Cruz, and on and on and on; he has lied about their records and he has hyped his own performances. And time and again, he has somehow gotten away with it.
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The last time the Democratic Party released a platform, mass death and illness were haunting the political landscape. By mid-August 2020, more than 160,000 United States citizens had died from COVID-19, and the daily mortality rate had just climbed above 1,000. Vaccines were still months away from being available, and nationwide cases exceeded 5.4 million. Inundated with corpses…
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In April the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finalized its Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) regulations, after being criticized by conservative lawmakers and religious organizations. Part of the update included a clarification that accommodations, like a leave of absence, applied to abortion care. But now since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference…
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The Biden administration on Friday put in place stringent curbs aimed at thwarting rogue insurance brokers from switching consumers’ Affordable Care Act plans without their consent. The announcement came in response to mounting complaints from consumers. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Friday that, in the first six months of the year, more than 200,000 people reported to the…
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A landmark Supreme Court decision that reins in federal agencies’ authority is expected to hold dramatic consequences for the nation’s health care system, calling into question government rules on anything from consumer protections for patients to drug safety to nursing home care. The June 28 decision overturns a 1984 precedent that said courts should give deference to federal agencies in legal…
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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is calling on federal investigators to open a probe into insurance companies that are denying coverage for contraception despite a federal mandate that contraception be free of cost to patients. In a letter sent to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Monday, Sanders, the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee…
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Last week, the Biden administration announced the finalization of a rule expanding health care options for tens of thousands of people currently protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program who are uninsured. DACA recipients, who are sometimes called Dreamers, are individuals who were born outside of the United States but were brought to the country as children and…
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A wide-ranging lawsuit filed April 12 outlines a moneymaking scheme by which large insurance sales agency call centers enrolled people into Affordable Care Act plans or switched their coverage, all without their permission. According to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, two such call centers paid tens of thousands of dollars a day to buy names of…
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Some consumers covered by Affordable Care Act insurance plans are being switched from one plan to another without their express permission, potentially leaving them unable to see their doctors or fill prescriptions. Some face large IRS bills for back taxes. Unauthorized enrollment or plan-switching is emerging as a serious challenge for the ACA, also known as Obamacare. Brokers say the ease with…
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While current and former officials across the U.S. political spectrum shared praise for and fond memories of former Sen. Joe Lieberman in response to news of his death on Wednesday, critics highlighted how some of his key positions led to the deaths of many others. Lieberman’s family said the 82-year-old died at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital after a fall at his home in the Bronx. He served in the…
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Recently unearthed audio showcases North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) denouncing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — the latest in scores of comments he’s made over the past years that will likely hurt his election chances in the gubernatorial race this fall. In the audio, which is from an interview he gave to a conservative YouTube channel in 2018, Robinson disparaged the ACA…
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GoFundMe started as a crowdfunding site for underwriting “ideas and dreams,” and, as GoFundMe’s co-founders, Andrew Ballester and Brad Damphousse, once put it, “for life’s important moments.” In the early years, it funded honeymoon trips, graduation gifts, and church missions to overseas hospitals in need. Now GoFundMe has become a go-to platform for patients trying to escape medical billing…
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A newly published poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a nonpartisan organization that promotes stronger health care strategies across the U.S., finds that if former President Donald Trump aims to make ending the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a priority in his 2024 campaign, he’ll be doing so at his own detriment. The ACA, commonly known as Obamacare, eases the burdens of many Americans by…
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Former President Donald Trump suggested in a social media post over the weekend that, if he were to win the 2024 presidential election, he would continue pursuing avenues to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA, commonly referred to as Obamacare because it was passed during the first term of former President Barack Obama, is directly responsible for providing health coverage to tens of…
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For millions of Americans who buy their own health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, the end of the year brings a day of reckoning: It’s time to compare benefits and prices and change to a new plan or enroll for the first time. Open enrollment starts Nov. 1 for the ACA’s federal and state exchanges. Consumers can go online, call, or seek help from a broker or other assister to…
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Forget “repeal and replace,” an oft-repeated Republican rallying cry against the Affordable Care Act. House Republicans have advanced a package of bills that could reduce health insurance costs for certain businesses and consumers, partly by rolling back some consumer protections. Rather than outright repeal, however, the subtler effort could allow more employers to bypass the landmark health…
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In New York, a battle is brewing over a bill called Coverage for All that would use a surplus of federal funds to pay people who are undocumented to enroll in the state’s Essential Plan under the federal Affordable Care Act, potentially granting 250,000 people access to healthcare. Immigrant advocates are rallying for the bill’s inclusion in a two-day special legislative session despite Democratic…
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