I decided to convert dollars to centimeters. That allows us to visualize, for example, the distance between having no money and being at poverty level — about four city blocks. 2/8

Alice Wong was such an amazing activist. I had the honour of meeting her when she spoke as part of the Disrupting Disruptions series that I organize. May we continue to honour her work by working towards a more socially just world.

"These immediate, predictable, and unchallenged harms facing forty-two million Americans who rely on SNAP benefits -- including fourteen million children -- weigh heavily against a stay."

"(T)ens of millions of Americans rely on monthly SNAP benefits to pay for food. In support of their motion for a TRO, plaintiffs provided overwhelming evidence of the harms that even a short suspension of benefits would cause, including numerous declarations from SNAP beneficiaries"

"The district court determined that the gov't had failed to comply with the order because it did not provide partial payments in a timely manner; it thus ordered the full payment of SNAP funds for Nov. The gov't now asks us to stay that order in its entirety pending its appeal. We deny that request"

A distinguished federal judge appointed by President Reagan steps down to free himself to fight publicly for the rule of law. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

This is an absolutely insane administrative process. Within the space of a week, states were told by judges/White House *no SNAP benefits *half benefits *full benefits *pause provision of benefits. Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.

NEW: The Trump admin told states it must immediately "undo" the work to provide full food stamp benefits, or face penalties. The feds sent this in a late-night memo, only adding to the chaos and confusion around SNAP. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/b...

The Trump administration tells the Supreme Court it can’t be compelled to fully fund SNAP because paying out the money would “irreparably harm” the government, while SNAP beneficiaries … *won’t* be irreparably harmed by going hungry? The balance of equities here is completely upside down.

SNAP UPDATE: I’m directing SNAP benefits to be processed today — and paid IN FULL starting tomorrow. Americans are going hungry because President Trump chose to play politics with their lives. People need to eat. We’re making sure they do.

Why Medicare Recipients Should Check Their 2026 Drug Plans Now www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/b...

(con't.) -- Medicare/Medicaid rule would be huge expansion of Presidential power to ban any care (abortion, IVF, mifepristone) it doesn't like. Trump has relied on intimidation until now to stop hospitals; new rules will finally subject this to tests of legality in court. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

This week’s main story details what Medicare Advantage is, why it basically has all the pitfalls of private insurance, and what a Mountain Chicken is. And if you don’t already know what a Mountain Chicken is, go ahead and visualize a “Mountain Chicken” in your head now. Great. It’s not that.

Another shutdown casualty: Medicare telehealth coverage

Four in ten who buy their own coverage say they would go without coverage if ACA premiums doubled. They will increase 114% if enhanced tax credits are not extended: on.kff.org/4nACyIk

New: Broad support across the political spectrum for extending enhanced ACA premium tax credits.

I can’t say I know exactly how it all would have played out, but I would much rather live in the alternate universe where the leaders of Columbia University had stood up for the institution and all of its faculty and students.

This week a Medicare beneficiary won a retrospective change of status appeal that granted him coverage of costly hospital services. The appeal was made possible by the Center for Medicare Advocacy’s class action case, litigated with amazing co-counsel @justiceinaging.org & @wilsonsonsini.bsky.social

Great digging by Christina Jewett: Dr. Oz previously acted as a pitchman for iHerb, which sells the vitamin supplement that he promoted as an autism treatment sitting during Trump’s press conference, and which the FDA is moving to approve for that use www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/h...

We can save RFK Jr some time here, because we already know a lot about acetaminophen and autism! There’s no increased risk of autism from use of this drug. This isn’t based on some small study. It’s thanks to a beautiful study of literally millions of children… wapo.st/4nkMdCO

15 years after it passed, we're still debating Obamacare. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

We filed a FOIA request along with @justiceinaging.org, @nilc.org, and @rcusa.bsky.social seeking transparency as the “Big Beautiful Bill” strips thousands of lawfully present immigrants of Medicare, regardless of how long they worked and paid Medicare taxes.

The Pitt has plans to tackle stories next season related to federal health care cuts. I've got some ideas in a new column out in @jama.com. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

“Appealing a coverage denial demands a high degree of health insurance literacy and fortitude that most of us lack, especially in a health crisis….Thus, health care becomes rationed not through a final denial of coverage, but rather through accumulations of inconveniences as patients.”

Well that got fixed quickly Go Massachusetts! www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/04/m...

Judge Sooknanan: As I said at the start of this hearing, I got a call at 2:36 am [last night] because the government chose the wee hours of the morning on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend to execute a plan to move these children. That's why we're here.

We will be in court shortly.

BREAKING: We filed an emergency lawsuit to stop the Trump admin from unlawfully expelling hundreds of unaccompanied Guatemalan children from the U.S. The targeting of children is vile. We will use every tool at our disposal to stop the administration from sending any child to danger.

My Medicare Part D for 2026 is a 50% increase and I’m subsidized through Extra Help. Completely insane. I’ve been on Medicare since 2009 and I’ve never experienced this type of increase.

Health officials under JB Pritzker, who is showing how to take on Trump, are moving forward. They're exploring buying vaccines in bulk themselves. Mass. Gov Maura Healey is in talks with multiple other states about coordinating purchasing of pediatric vaccines. newrepublic.com/article/1998...

Blue states can also buy vaccines in bulk and distribute them via their chief medical officer or via doctors, says @sbagen.bsky.social. The idea would be to make vaccines available to all, including those restricted under RFK lunacy. Great stuff from Sam here: newrepublic.com/article/1998...

“The companies represent ‘a whole new bounty hunter,’ said David A. Lipschutz, the co-director for the Center for Medicare Advocacy, one of the groups that has urged government officials to abandon the program.”

“Americans will die because of your Medicaid cuts.” That’s the warning from a Chicago priest as Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” slashed more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA. #ProtectOurCare

Medicare beneficiaries ages 85+ spend 22% of their income on out-of-pocket health care costs on average, more than double the 9% spent by beneficiaries ages 65-74. The difference is largely due to higher out-of-pocket spending on long-term care. https://on.kff.org/4lL3R0S

Lawyer says the ICE officer who took him did not answer when asked why he was being taken into custody. A new lawsuit has been filed challenging his current confinement and potential deportation. Crowd shouts “Shame! Shame!”

The answer to real-life trolley problems? Return to your first instinct when confronted with a theoretical trolley problem, which is to break the premise. You can't do that in the world of the theoretical. But you can in the real world. Can? Should. Should? Must.

Trump proposes to rescind AIDS funds. Congress rejects the proposal. So Trump and his henchman Russ Vought just refuse to spend the money and try to hide that decision from Congress and the public. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/h...

The outrageous stupidity is outweighed only by the gratuitous cruelty. Read this. www.masslive.com/news/2025/08...

SCOTUS’ decision is wrong & disappointing. Even though the Court did not dispute that the Trump Admin’s decision to cut critical medical & public health research is illegal, they ordered the recipients of that funding – hospitals, researchers & the state – to jump through more hoops to get it back.

The practical upshot is that justice delayed is justice denied; or to be more precise, a lab which had to fire all of its researchers and halt work on groundbreaking research isn't going to be able to ever restore itself to the same position it would have been without a multi-year pause in funding.

Health Costs Consume a Large Portion of Income for Millions of People with Medicare www.kff.org/medicare/hea...

Jackson: “This is Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist. Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins.” @courthousenews.bsky.social

Medicare Advantage (MA) now covers 54% of seniors (up from 26% in 2010) thanks to TV ads, but it costs taxpayers more money and the data are flawed. LDI Executive Director @rachelwerner.bsky.social and @djmeyers2.bsky.social offer 6 steps to sharpen MA data analyses. ldi.upenn.edu/our-work/res...

Federal judge rejects challenge to Medicare Advantage “star ratings” system. Also, CMS must have some Gen Xers on staff. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Last week, Boston received a letter from AG Bondi threatening to prosecute officials and withhold funds unless we cooperate with carrying out mass deportations. The US Attorney General asked for a response by today, so here it is: stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures.

Happy birthday, Social Security. As a 90 year old, you are still relevant to Gen Z and beyond - 9% of US children received income from Social Security, and "In 2023, 959,000 children were lifted out of poverty due to Social Security." 1 in 4 Gen Z will become disabled and need Social Security.

Before Social Security was signed into law 90 years ago, "Americans had no meaningful way to plan for an income after work ended." At least half of older adults lived in poverty, and many ended up living in government-sponsored "poorhouses."

Since we passed the Affordable Care Act, Republicans have tried over and over to repeal it. And over and over, they’ve failed — in part because millions of people now depend on the ACA for quality, affordable health care.

Now Republicans are trying something different: quietly weakening the law and hoping you won’t notice. We can’t let them. It’s up to all of us to vote for leaders in every election who will make our healthcare system better, not undermine it. Call your member of Congress and hold them accountable.

The net effect of the changes President Trump and Republicans in Congress are making to health care is a partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act.