WASHINGTON " Despite mounting pleas from California and other states, the Trump administration isn't allowing states to use Medicaid more freely to respond to the coronavirus crisis by expanding medical services. In previous emergencies, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the H1N1 flu outbreak, both Republican and Democratic administrations loosened Medicaid rules to empower states to meet surging needs. But months into the current global disease outbreak, the White House and senior federal health officials haven't taken the necessary steps to give states simple pathways to fully leverage the mammoth safety net program to prevent a wider epidemic.
We are facing a pandemic about which US President Donald Trump appears incapable of telling the truth " assuming he even knows it " and without quick action, a lot of people are going to get sick. Some of them will die. The president's incoherence has reached a level that is a hazard to public health. The best thing Trump can do for the country, to speed its response to the novel coronavirus, is resign and let someone capable take over.
In a prime-time televised address so filled with blatant errors that fact-checkers and the White House struggled to keep up and correct the record, President Donald Trump Wednesday night claimed that major U.S. insurance companies "have agreed to waive all copayments for coronavirus treatments" as the disease rapidly spreads across the nation. read more
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is introducing a bill on Thursday to prevent lawmakers convicted of felonies from receiving pensions. The bill, entitled the "No Cash for Crooks Act," comes after The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year that former Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who pleaded guilty to a felony, was still likely to receive congressional retirement benefits. "Members of Congress who violate the public trust and commit felonies do not deserve to further cheat their constituents by receiving taxpayer-funded pensions," Tillis said in a statement.
The Kids in the Hall are reuniting for a new season of their TV show. Amazon has greenlit eight episodes of the Canadian sketch-comedy series. The five members of the comedy troupe " Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson " will join with executive producer Lorne Michaels for a continuation of the show, which originally ran from 1988-95 in Canada and the U.S. read more
"Anyone who earns more than $99,000 annually will not receive a check."
We don't need one, but I'm glad folks who do will get something.