by Barbara Rodriguez | May 18, 2026 | Black Maternal Health, Congress, DEI, health care, News Analysis, Reproductive Rights
The word “Black” has been almost completely removed from a package of bills that have long been viewed as Congress’ main legislative vehicle to address the Black maternal health crisis, frustrating some advocates who feel Black women are being erased from the policy. The key change this year is the title. The Momnibus Act — filed in mid-March — was called the Black Maternal Health Momnibus…
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by Sasha Abramsky | May 16, 2026 | Affordable Care Act, Donald Trump, health care, Health Insurance, Medicare, Medicare For All, News Analysis, Republicans
In 2025, the Trump administration successfully pushed Congress to enact nearly $1 trillion in health care cuts over the coming decade, which the Congressional Budget Office analysis estimated would result in 10 million people losing health coverage by 2034. More recently, it has blocked any and all efforts to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credit subsidies for people buying insurance on…
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by Eram Alam | May 16, 2026 | Book Excerpt, Colonialism, COVID-19, Excerpt, health care, Health Care Workers, history, Immigrants, immigration, medical workers, physicians
Soon after Medicare, Medicaid, and the Hart-Celler Act, also known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, became law, the federal government began to label certain geographic areas as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), which designated an inadequate number of physicians in relation to the population. HPSAs were generally populated with people who were low-income, elderly…
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by Julia Conley | May 14, 2026 | California, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, fraud, health care, Medicaid, Mehmet Oz, News, Trump Administration
“Political retribution, plain and simple,” was how US Sen. Alex Padilla described an announcement by Vice President JD Vance late Wednesday regarding the White House’s decision to withhold $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursement payments to California. Vance and Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, claimed the state’s Medicaid records have generated “red…
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by Erin Reed | May 8, 2026 | Gender-Affirming Care, health care, hormone therapy, LGBTQ discrimination, News, Suicide Prevention, The Trevor Project, Transgender Rights, transgender youth
On Wednesday, the Trevor Project released a massive survey of LGBTQ+ youth, with one of the largest subsamples of transgender people of any survey previously recorded. The survey, which questioned 16,667 respondents, included over 10,000 trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer respondents. The survey found harsh experiences among LGBTQ+ people and especially transgender people, including high rates of…
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by Joedy McCreary | May 7, 2026 | Big Pharma, drug costs, health care, Lobbying, News, Trump Administration
The 17 pharmaceutical companies anchoring TrumpRx, the White House’s new prescription drug-pricing program, poured more than $130 million into federal lobbying in 2025 — a nearly 23% surge that outpaced the broader industry as the plan was being shaped behind the scenes. Those companies accounted for more than a quarter of the record $457.3 million spent on lobbying last year across the…
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