Category Archives: US healthcare

Joe Biden says Trump’s refusal to concede defeat ‘an embarrassment’ – as it happened

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The Guardian’s Lois Beckett and Julia Carrie Wong report:

The networks have made their calls, world leaders have begun paying their respects, and even Fox News and Rupert Murdoch’s other media outlets appear to have given up on a second term for Donald Trump. But in a video posted on Facebook on 7 November and viewed more than 16.5m times since, NewsMax host and former Trump administration official Carl Higbie spends three minutes spewing a laundry list of false and debunked claims casting doubt on the outcome of the presidential election.

Related: The misinformation media machine amplifying Trump's election lies

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Conservative US supreme court justices suggest Obamacare will be upheld

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Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts indicated law could be upheld even if court deems one part of it unconstitutional

Two conservative supreme court justices have suggested the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could be upheld, as oral arguments began in a suit backed by the Trump administration which threatens the healthcare of millions amid a global pandemic.

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Supreme court to hear Obamacare case that may lead to 20m losing insurance

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Court will hear a case a week after election day that could result in the law being overturned – or only one provision eliminated

For more than a decade, Republicans have sought to destroy the signature achievement of the Obama administration – the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Exactly one week after election day, they might succeed.

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Donald Trump not following science, says US medical chief Anthony Fauci – video

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Chief medical expert Anthony Fauci says President Trump is not following the science in suggesting that he is now immune and could 'come down and start kissing everybody'. In an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US tempers Trump’s claims that there will be a vaccine by the end of the year, noting that a rollout will take 'several months into 2021' and that early use will focus on vulnerable populations and healthcare workers

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Trump v Biden: the key moments of the final presidential debate – video highlights

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Joe Biden and Donald Trump have gone head-to-head for the final time before the US election on 3 November in the final television debate, helped by a mute button on the candidates’ microphones that prevented interruptions.

Squaring off in Nashville, Biden had to field aggressive questioning about his son’s business dealings and when Trump compared himself to Abraham Lincoln, the challenger branded his opponent 'one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history'. Here is a look back at the key moments

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Amy Coney Barrett: key moments from the supreme court confirmation hearings – video

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Amy Coney Barrett spent most of her time avoiding key questions during three days of Senate hearings to confirm her as a supreme court justice. 

Barrett would become the third justice on the court to be appointed by Donald Trump – and her confirmation would give conservatives a bulletproof, six-justice majority on the nine-member court, which decides cases by a simple majority.

Barrett, a conservative Christian who has criticized the high court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act (ACA), who has publicly opposed reproductive rights and who was a trustee at a school whose handbook included a stated opposition to same-sex marriage, is seen on the left as part of a power play by Donald Trump 

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Senators stir ghosts of Scalia and Ginsburg for Amy Coney Barrett hearing

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Amid talk of originalism, harking to a time when only white men with property could vote, Republican ears pricked up

Depending on your point of view, the woman seated before the Senate judiciary committee for her first day of questioning was either the female Scalia or the anti-RBG. Or maybe, of course, both.

Related: Amy Coney Barrett dodges abortion, healthcare and election law questions

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Mike Pence and Kamala Harris spar on Covid, race and climate in VP debate – video highlights

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Mike Pence and Kamala Harris met in Utah for the only vice-presidential debate of the election, separated by Plexiglass barriers as a protection against coronavirus.

From the pandemic to healthcare and race to the supreme court, via a fly, here are some of the key moments

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‘They’re coming for you’: Harris slams Trump and Pence on healthcare – video

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One of the most memorable moments of the vice-presidential debate was on healthcare, when Harris issued a stark warning about the Trump administration’s intentions.

Trump is seeking to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, which prevents health companies turning away patients with pre-existing conditions.

'If you have a pre-existing condition, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, they’re coming for you. If you love someone who has a pre-existing condition, they’re coming for you.'

Pence responded by claiming the Trump administration has a plan to protect people with pre-existing conditions. Trump has spent years claiming he will release a comprehensive healthcare plan. We’re yet to see it

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Trump calls Covid diagnosis ‘blessing from God’ amid false treatment claims

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President returns to Oval Office despite concerns he should be self-isolating as virus spreads in White House

Donald Trump has called his Covid-19 infection “a blessing from God” as he returned to the Oval Office on Wednesday despite concerns that he should be self-isolating, as the virus continued to spread among senior White House figures.

In a video message posted to Twitter, Trump said that an experimental drug cocktail from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals was key to recovering from his infection. He said it was his suggestion to be treated with the drug, which has rarely been used outside clinical trials.

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Fears for Obamacare if Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to supreme court

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Case due before court seeks to strike down landmark Affordable Care Act – which could leave millions of Americans adrift

This month, Congress is expected to begin confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s nominee for the supreme court, Amy Coney Barrett. If confirmed, she could be the decisive vote in a case being heard days after the election, which seeks to strike down the landmark Affordable Care Act – a move that could leave millions of Americans without healthcare in the middle of a pandemic.

Related: Amy Coney Barrett: what will she mean for women's rights?

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Trump names Amy Coney Barrett for supreme court, stoking liberal backlash

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Donald Trump’s pick for America’s highest court, Amy Coney Barrett, is an “ideological fanatic” who threatens abortion rights, healthcare and the environment, activists warned on Saturday, before Trump unveiled his third supreme court nominee in the White House Rose Garden.

Related: 'Not special any more': how the Senate has failed the American people

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Activist Ady Barkan delivers powerful speech on protecting US healthcare – video

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Prominent activist Ady Barkan called on voters to act in the forthcoming presidential election to safeguard the future of the US healthcare system.

'Even during this terrible crisis, Donald Trump and Republican politicians are trying to take away millions of people's health insurance,' Barkan said on the second night of the Democratic national convention

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US coronavirus death toll set to reach 200,000 by Labor Day, CDC forecast says

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Rate of new deaths could rise in California and Colorado over the coming four weeks and decline in Arizona, CDC says

The US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is set to reach 200,000 by Labor Day as children across the country prepare to return to school, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) forecast.

The rate of new deaths could rise in California and Colorado over the coming four weeks and decline in Arizona, the CDC said. More than 160,000 people have died from Covid-19 in America, although scientists have pointed out the number of excess deaths so far this year exceeds even this toll.

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A lively nursing director, an outspoken phlebotomist: US healthcare workers who died from Covid-19

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We are documenting the lives of every US medical worker who dies helping patients during the pandemic. These are just a few of hundreds of cases

Lost on the frontline is a collaboration between the Guardian and Kaiser Health News that aims to document the lives of healthcare workers in the US who die from Covid-19, and to understand why so many are falling victim to the pandemic.

Each week, we’re documenting new cases of healthcare workers who have died on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. Here are their stories:

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US pharma company raises vaccine hopes but more trials are vital, say experts

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Promising details were released this week about Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine but it remains in the early stages of development

Hopeful news about a Covid-19 vaccine developed by US government researchers and Moderna Inc has buoyed expectations – and markets – on the potential for a preventive measure against a global pandemic that has killed more than half a million people and upended daily life.

Moderna first announced its vaccine, backed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, prompted an immune response in 45 adults in May.

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‘We are not in total control’: Fauci issues stark coronavirus warning – video

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Dr Anthony Fauci, the White House infectious diseases expert gave a stark warning to the public of a dangerous surge in coronavirus cases in the US, particularly in the south and west.

Fauci said the current figures ‘speak for themselves’ in the middle of his testimony to the US Senate in response to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s questioning on the spread of the virus as states reopened

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Covid-19 survivors could lose health insurance if Trump wins bid to repeal Obamacare

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  • ACA prevents denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions
  • Abolition could mean Covid-19 victims could be turned down

Millions of Americans who have survived Covid-19 or face future infections could lose their insurance or be barred from getting coverage should the Trump administration successfully repeal Obamacare.

The Trump administration asked the supreme court late Thursday to overturn the Affordable Care Act – a move that, if successful, would bring a permanent end to the health insurance reform law popularly known as Obamacare.

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Coronavirus has brought US ‘to its knees’, says CDC director

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Dr Robert Redfield tells hearing that public health capabilities underfunded as US sees more than 2.3 million cases

A US public health chief told Congress on Tuesday that coronavirus has “brought this nation to its knees” as America struggles with more than 2.3 million confirmed cases and more than 121,000 deaths so far.

Dr Robert Redfield, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told a hearing in Washington that core public health capabilities in the US had been vastly underfunded for a long time and needed urgent investment.

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Hydroxychloroquine: US revokes emergency approval of malaria drug for Covid-19

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Food and Drug Administration says drug is unlikely to work against coronavirus and notes heart risks

US regulators revoked the emergency authorization for malaria drugs championed by Donald Trump for treating Covid-19, amid growing evidence they don’t work and could cause serious side effects.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Monday the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were unlikely to be effective in treating the coronavirus. Citing reports of heart complications, the agency said the drugs’ unproven benefits “do not outweigh the known and potential risks”.

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