Administration slashes grants to help Americans get Affordable Care Act coverage

The Trump administration is eliminating most of the funding for grass-roots groups that help Americans get Affordable Care Act insurance and will for the first time urge the groups to promote health plans that bypass the law's consumer protections and required benefits. The reduction - the second round of cuts that began last summer - will shrink the federal money devoted to the groups, known as navigators, from $36.8 million to $10 million for the enrollment period that starts in November.

Top U.S. Senate Democrat vows to fight Trump’s Supreme Court pick

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh is seen in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 9, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Bourg WASHINGTON - The top U.S. Senate Democrat on Tuesday vowed an all-out fight against President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee as Judge Brett Kavanaugh headed to Capitol Hill seeking support, with Democrats aiming to seize on the confirmation battle ahead of the November midterm election.

A look at Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh’s notable opinions

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, has sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2006. Here are summaries of some of his notable opinions: In a pivotal 2011 Second Amendment case, Kavanaugh wrote a dissenting opinion when the D.C. Circuit Court upheld a District of Columbia ordinance banning most semi-automatic rifles.

Elizabeth Warren s claim onnumber of medical bankruptciesgreatly overstated, study shows

Health-care-related bankruptcies, touted as a key justification for passing Obamacare in 2010, are not nearly as prevalent as reform proponents such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren have claimed, researchers say. Findings of an exhaustive report published in the American Economic Review this year have sparked a lively debate as the Trump administration rolls back key portions of the health care law.

New York Gov. Cuomo signs reproductive rights executive order ahead of Trump’s Supreme Court pick

Ahead of the planned announcement of President Trump's Supreme Court nomination, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to protect abortion and contraceptive coverage in the state. Since Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, giving Trump the ability to select his second Supreme Court justice in his first term as president, Democrats have publicly expressed concern that the nation's highest court, with the addition of a conservative judge, could overturn Roe v.

Maine’s Medicaid expansion funding bill faces long odds

Tens of thousands of Maine residents who could qualify for voter-approved Medicaid coverage face lingering questions on the expansion's fate as a funding plan lacks the House Republican votes needed to override the Republican governor's veto. Lawmakers are scheduled to return Monday and face about three dozen vetoes from Gov. Paul LePage, who rejected Medicaid expansion funding legislation and called for long-term funding.

AP Exclusive: Washington hospital is ‘like going into hell’ Source: AP

Behind tall brick walls and secure windows, hundreds of patients at Washington state's largest psychiatric hospital live in conditions that fail U.S. health and safety standards, while overworked nurses and psychiatrists say they are navigating a system that punishes employees who speak out despite critical staffing shortages. "They don't have enough staff to protect patients, or provide them with the bare minimum of care," said Lisa Bowser, whose mother spent two years at Western State Hospital and suffered dozens of falls and assaults.

Man with history of sex crimes working at Kansas shelter for unaccompanied migrant children

A man with a history of serious sex crimes allegations is working at a shelter for unaccompanied immigrant children in Topeka, Kansas, according to public records reviewed by ThinkProgress. Jeffrey J. Montague, 63, of Topeka, Kansas, is the human resources manager at The Villages, a nonprofit that has a $5.9 million contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to house unaccompanied migrant children But Montague has an especially checkered past.

HHS claims lawmaker visits could slow down family reunifications

The Department of Health and Human Services is suggesting that arrangements necessary to accommodate members of Congress who want to visit holding facilities at the border could drain resources that would otherwise be used to reunite immigrant families that were separated. In a letter dated Monday to the House and Senate chairmen of the judiciary committees, HHS Assistant Secretary for Legislation Matthew Bassett wrote that an uptick in congressional interest in the facilities has "created resource constraints that are threatening to impact ability to quickly reunite the children in our care with a parent or safely place them with a sponsor."

Benefit cuts announced following Medicaid ruling

Gov. Matt Bevin's administration is cutting dental and vision coverage for nearly a half-million Kentuckians after his Medicaid overhaul plan was rejected in court. The state Cabinet for Health and Family Services calls the cuts an "unfortunate consequence" of Friday's ruling by a federal judge who said Kentucky can't require poor people to get jobs to keep their Medicaid benefits.

Morning Bits: The biggest court fight in a generation

Nominating Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court just got more complicated. "Kavanaugh's position that presidents should be free of such legal inquiries until after they leave office puts him on the record regarding a topic of intense interest to Trump - and could be a central focus of his confirmation hearing if Kavanaugh were nominated to succeed [Justice Anthony M.] Kennedy, legal experts said."

Op-Ed Columnist: The Millennial Socialists Are Coming

Illustration by Selman Design; Photographs by Tammy Bradshaw, Seth Wenig/Associated Press, Mark Makela for The New York Times, and Jeff Swensen for The New York Times. In May, three young progressive women running for the state Legislature in Pennsylvania, each endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, won decisive primary victories over men heavily favored by the political establishment.

Are Americans Ready For A Socialist?

There was much fanfare earlier this week over the Democrat primary election victory in New York's 14th Congressional District. The veteran, Rep. Joe Crowley, was the chairman of the Queens County Democrats and touted an impressive liberal record.

Miami Rep. Diaz-Balart Fought Cigar Regulations Days After Taking Tobacco Cash

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart sure loves cigars. He enjoys them so much that, at a February 14 federal budget hearing, the GOP congressman railed against the Food and Drug Administration's plans to add new regulations on the cigar industry, claiming the rules were needlessly "burdensome" and unfair.

Federal judge blocks Kentucky’s Medicaid work requirements

A federal judge says Kentucky can't require poor people to get a job to keep their Medicaid benefits, chastising President Donald Trump's administration for rubber-stamping the new rules without considering how many people would lose their health coverage. The decision is a setback for the Trump administration, which has been encouraging states to impose work requirements and other changes on Medicaid, the joint state and federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled.