In a 7-2 decision Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled to leave Affordable Care Act intact, dismissing a challenge made against the ACA by several states led by Texas. The challenge claimed that the ACA’s individual mandate was unconstitutional. The plaintiffs had hoped that a ruling of the individual mandate as unconstitutional would declare every other provision of the ACA, and the entire law itself, unconstitutional as well. This is the third challenge to have been made against the ACA since the […]
Biden Executive Order Ends Global Gag Rule and Strengthens Health Care Access
Today, President Biden will sign a series of executive orders that will end the global gag rule which prevents nongovernmental organizations from receiving U.S. aid if they provide or recommend abortion care. They will also order a review and assessment of the Title X domestic gag rule, as well as strengthening access to the Affordable […]
Supreme Court Hearings on Affordable Care Act Endanger Women’s Health
The Supreme Court has been hearing oral arguments regarding the legality of the Affordable Care Act this week, which puts about 32 million people’s (a majority of whom are women) healthcare coverage at risk. The Affordable Care Act, in addition to providing millions of people with insurance coverage through Medicare and Medicaid, bans sex discrimination […]
Trump Signs Order Aimed at Strengthening Telehealth and Rural Healthcare
On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at empowering rural healthcare providers and expanding access to telehealth services. Medicare has greatly expanded its coverage of telehealth services as part of its coronavirus emergency response, but that expansion is set to expire once the public health emergency is over. The executive order calls […]
Federal Judge Blocks Affordable Care Act Abortion Payment Requirement
On Friday, a federal judge blocked a new Affordable Care Act (ACA) abortion requirement. The regulation was announced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2019 and would have required ACA healthcare providers to issue a separate bill for abortion coverage. Margaret Murray, the CEO of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, […]
Supreme Court Upholds Religious and Moral Exemptions for ACA Birth Control Coverage
In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court upheld a Trump Administration rule which expands the types of organizations that can claim religious or moral exemptions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The rule allows these organizations to refuse to cover birth control under their health insurance plans. Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion, and was […]
Trump Administration Urges the Supreme Court to Scrap the Affordable Care Act
On Thursday evening, in a filing to the Supreme Court, the Trump administration asked the court to terminate the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. Asserting that the ACA is illegal, the filing states that “the entire ACA must fall.” This filing was met with immediate criticism from prominent Democrats, as well as the […]
SCOTUS Ruling Could Upend Trump Administration’s Attacks on the Trans Community
Monday’s Supreme Court ruling to protect LGBTQ+ individuals from discrimination in the workplace could derail the Trump administration’s latest restrictions on transgender rights in healthcare. In the Trump administration’s most recent attack on the LGBTQ+ community, the anti-discrimination policies that protect transgender people in healthcare settings have been reversed. Under the Affordable Care Act, healthcare […]
Trump Administration Removes Healthcare Protections for Transgender People
On Friday, June 12, the Trump administration rolled back rules that protected transgender people from being discriminated against in healthcare. The regulation was initially implemented by the Obama Administration as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA prevents healthcare institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of sex. Under the […]
Supreme Court Considers Affordable Care Act Religious Exemption Rule
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will consider yet another case regarding whether employers can decline to cover contraceptives in their health care plans. Reproductive rights groups warn that depending on the outcome of the case, tens of thousands of American women could lose vital contraceptive coverage. The case, Little Sisters of the Poor and Paul […]
Supreme Court Cases May Leave Many Without Insurance Coverage for Birth Control
Next week, the Supreme Court will hear two cases, Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania and Trump v. Pennsylvania, that could significantly limit birth control access in the United States. The Court’s conservative majority may use these cases to allow most employers to claim religious or moral exemptions to providing contraception coverage in their […]
Obamacare Turns 10 This Week. Here’s How It Has Changed Healthcare in the US.
The Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act was signed into law a decade ago by former President Barack Obama, but even after being signed into law it faced countless attacks from political opponents, Supreme Court cases, and even found itself at the center of election debates on the topic of healthcare. However, the biggest challenge the ACA […]
Women Are Surprised By The “Hidden” Cost Of Mammograms
Women are surprised when they receive a bill for their second mammogram in the mail, even though their first mammogram was covered by insurance. Around 30 million women every year receive preventative mammograms. Mammograms are necessary for the early prevention of breast cancer. Every 2 minutes, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in the […]
New Report Says U.S. Abortion Rate is Lowest Since Roe v. Wade
According to a report by the Guttmacher Institute released Wednesday that outlines changes in abortion statistics between 2011 and 2017, the United States abortion rate has hit an all-time low since the procedure became legal nationwide in 1973. The 48-page research document, used by policymakers and activists on both sides of the abortion debate, provides […]
Kamala Harris’ Proposal Provides a Middle-Ground on Healthcare
This morning, two days before she takes the stage for the second Democratic presidential debate, Senator Kamala Harris released her new Medicare For All plan, calling for a government-run health insurance system that includes provisions for private insurance plans. Though Harris originally signed onto Senator Sanders’ Medicare For All legislation, which details an expedited path […]
Federal Appeals Court Blocks Trump Administration’s Birth Control Exemptions
Last Friday, the 3rd U.S Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a nation-wide injunction to block the Trump administration from enforcing new rules that would allow employers to obtain exemptions from an ACA requirement that insurance must cover women’s birth control. This decision upheld a district court decision issued in January that blocked regulations issued by […]
More than 1 Million Americans Lost Health Coverage in 2018
In 2018, more than 1 million Americans lost health coverage, continuing a pattern of decline since 2017 when Trump Administration and Congress decreased the Affordable Care Act requirements and regulations. In 2017, 29.3 million Americans did not have coverage and in 2018 this number increased to 30.4 million Americans, while previously the number of uninsured […]
Trump Administration Argues the ACA is Unconstitutional
The Trump Administration is arguing that a federal appeals court should strike down the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) as unconstitutional, including the popular provisions to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions, the expansion of Medicaid, and the ability for young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until they are 26 years old. In […]
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California Attorney General and Twenty States File Injunctions to Stop ‘Domestic Gag’
This week, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco seeking an injunction to stop the abortion gag rule in Title X Family Planning Program funding from taking effect, which would affect more than 4 million low income women across the United States, and a coalition of at least […]
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Federal Judge in Texas Rules ACA Unconstitutional
Friday, a federal judge in Texas ruled the Affordable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional. While the law will not be overturned yet and is still in effect, the decision will be appealed and may go before the Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled the ACA unconstitutional after 18 Republican state attorneys general and two […]
