Slowly but surely, President Biden is repairing the U.S. health-care system, reversing Trump-era sabotage and ensuring millions more Americans get access to affordable coverage.
Among the most insidious of sabotage measures: expanding** “short-term, limited duration” health plans — i.e., attempting **to trick Americans into plans that looked cheap but basically covered nothing.
The Biden administration announced a rollback of this Trump-era sabotage measure.
Most important, Biden extended enhanced premium tax credits for plans on the individual marketplace.
This means millions more Americans can get solid health-care coverage that’s affordable and also, in many cases, has an out-of-pocket premium of zero dollars. Unlike junk plans, the low price tag here isn’t a red flag; these plans actually provide comprehensive coverage, including for preexisting conditions.
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“Access to medical abortions will be dramatically expanded in Australia under major changes that will allow all doctors and nurse practitioners to prescribe the pregnancy termination pill, and all pharmacies to stock it.”
Ther's lots of ways to slice the #DemocraticParty coalition, but one important axis are the self-styled adults-in-the-room, who declare themselves realists, and the party's left wing, who are dismissed as idealists who don't understand politics: neither how to win elections nor how to wield power.
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But Obama's signature achievement wasn't his economic policy - it was his #healthcare policy. The #AffordableCareAct was a carefully triangulated compromise, one that guaranteed a massive flow of public cash to America's wildly profitable health insurance monopoly and steered clear of any socialist whiff that Americans would get their care from the government.
Under Gov Sarah Huckabee Sanders, nearly 220,000 #Arkansas residents have lost their health insurance coverage. Just since April 1.
Politico’s Megan Messerly:
Arkansas just released its June #Medicaid renewal data — which means we now have data for three of the 6 mos of its unwinding process. Nearly 220K Arkansans have lost coverage since April 1, nearly 150K of them for procedural reasons. #HealthCare#HuckaBS
Haha what the fuck, I already paid $800 while our insurance allegedly paid $1200 for Aeden's two hour ER visit a couple months ago, and a different department at the same hospital just sent another $250 bill for the same visit? Fuck this piece of shit country so fucking hard
#URGENT#healthcare#Ohio#reproductiveHealth
Ohio we need you NOW. It looks like today is the last day to make sure you can vote ahead of the Aug. 8 decision on Issue 1. Because Democrats have shown that Ohioans decisively support access to reproductive healthcare and will vote yes in Nov, GOP has decided to try to increase a threshold from >50% to 60%. Tell them NO! Your body belongs to you. DOUBLE check to make sure you are registered to vote now. https://voterlookup.ohiosos.gov/voterlookup.aspx
In the decade leading up to COVID, private equity drained staff: "Dedicated doctors are leaving medicine. This isn’t burnout. It’s a medical crisis" https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/doctor-burnout-18182796.php "There is no amount of pizza, no number of meditation apps thrown our way that will stem this bleeding.
Last week, I stood on a picket line with colleagues, pleading for conditions that allow us to care for our patients without harming ourselves in the process.
Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, industry lobby group PhRMA, and the US Chamber of Commerce have all sued the US Federal Government, claiming it is unconstitutional for Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate lower drug prices.
On what grounds, you ask?
They cite the 8th Amendment. They believe that negotiating lower drug prices amounts to "excessive fines."
What the 8th Amendment actually covers:
"Eighth Amendment Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
Virtually every other developed country negotiates drug prices and pays many orders less for their medications. But in the US, apparently this amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
The question is, how do we reach the population that does not have a gym membership or access to fitness equipment?
One of the best tools to utilize is social media.
Every one of our contributions has a positive impact that may not be measurable in revenue or followers but in knowing we are part of the greater good in our community.
Of course any improvement is welcome, but at the same time, I feel like these types of small changes instead of systemic reform are like making rules about what kinds of garbage in the dumpster can’t be on fire.
OHO U Drupal Healthcare Conference: Registration (www.oho.com)
Drupal's versatility, security, and affordability have made it a top technology choice for healthcare marketers. Join our free online conference on July 18th at 1:00 pm EDT to learn how hospitals and health systems like yours are using its powerful capabilities to create impactful digital experiences. You'll take away practical...
In Battle With Microsoft, Google Bets on Medical AI Program to Crack Healthcare Industry (web.archive.org)
The search giant is fine-tuning chatbot technology via medical licensing exams.