The Supreme Court this week said Tennessee may continue to enforce its law banning most types of gender-affirming care for minors. The ruling is likely to greenlight similar laws in two dozen states. And the Senate is preparing to vote on a budget reconciliation bill that includes even deeper Medicaid cuts than the House version. Victoria Knight of Axios, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
From halting diversity programs that benefit disabled workers to making federal staffing cuts, the Trump administration has taken a slew of actions that harm people with disabilities.
President-elect Donald Trump vowed on the campaign trail not to sign a nationwide abortion ban. But he wouldn’t need to do so to make abortion difficult, or illegal, writes KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner.
A KFF Health News investigation reveals that employers and the government have offered nursing aides little assistance for PTSD and other ongoing maladies triggered by hazardous work during the pandemic.
Republicans were once the party of Obamacare repeal and abortion opposition. They’ve said little about either issue in Milwaukee.
California lawmakers have modified a psychedelic drug bill that was vetoed last year, narrowing it to allow only supervised use of psilocybin mushrooms, ecstasy, and other hallucinogens rather than decriminalize more broadly. The current bill would establish new state agencies to regulate the program.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has long given vets who served in Vietnam disability compensation for illness connected to Agent Orange harm. But those exposed at U.S. bases are still waiting for the same benefits.
The Camp Lejeune Justice Act, which became law last year, created a pathway for veterans and their families to pursue damage claims against the government for toxic exposure at the military base. Now, advocates and lawmakers worry high lawyer fees could shortchange those injured.
Women are the fastest-growing group among U.S. veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs says it is working to meet their health needs, including pregnancy care.
Sparing veterans and defense spending, as Republicans promise, would be extremely difficult, requiring cuts of more than 20% in other parts of the budget. The Republicans’ Limit, Save, Grow Act already proposes a $2 billion cut to the Department of Veterans Affairs by taking back unspent covid relief funding.
