The nationwide financial squeeze on federal employees, contractors, and the businesses that depend on them may be the most visible harm from the ongoing partial government shutdown, but we should also be aware of damage to science. The shutdown has furloughed federal scientists, stalled data collection, weakened scientific meetings, left current and potential collaborators hanging, […]
Outside the Supreme Court during the Kavanaugh confirmation vote, we heard from Senators and advocates, but most importantly, we heard from survivors of sexual assault.
About two weeks ago, federal health officials released a new funding announcement for the nation’s Title X family planning program, which serves millions of women each year. In the entire 60-page document, you won’t find the words “contraception” or “contraceptive” mentioned even once.
Striking West Virginia educators are inspiring teachers across the country; U.S. appeals court rules that bias laws also prohibit workplace discrimination against transgender people; Austin extends its new paid sick leave rule to city temp workers; and congressional Democrats introduce legislation to protect workers’ tips.
Affordable Care Act
Trump’s new short-term health plan could destabilize the ACA market (which is probably the point)
For now, it seems congressional leadership has given up on a full-throated repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Their new, less-visible repeal strategy is just ignoring the health reform law altogether.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ answer to the shooting massacre at the Florida high school is to study “mental health and criminality.” Not only is it the wrong topic, it’s just an excuse not to act.
Government
Repost: Gun control laws can impact death rates. It’s time to let public health research lead the way.
Guns are the third leading cause of injury-related death in the country. Every year, more than 12,000 gun homicides happen in the U.S., and for every person killed with a gun, two more are injured. Whether Congress will do anything about this violence is a whole other (depressing) article. But there is evidence that change is possible.
Affordable Care Act
After years of steady progress, America’s uninsured rate begins climbing back up
Despite constant undermining from the Trump administration, nearly 8.8 million Americans got covered during the last open enrollment period on HealthCare.gov. That’s nearly as high as the previous enrollment period, and a testament to people’s desire for health coverage. Still, it seems the administration’s actions didn’t go without impact.
Sanitation workers in the meatpacking industry face life-threatening dangers on the job; number of OSHA inspectors down under Trump; truckers feel the pressure to work while sleep-deprived; and despite increased demand for sexual harassment training, there’s little evidence it actually works.
President Trump boasted yesterday at a photo op of his plans to cut the “red tape of regulations.” His regulatory agenda ignores his crush on coal miners by threatening current rules to prevent black lung disease.