Blog

• News: American Rescue Plan Can Expand Medicaid in States That Have Refused Funds

  April 09, 2021: The newly enacted American Rescue Plan is dramatically shifting the debate in several states that have refused federal funding to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. The new law includes additional funding for two years for new states th...Read more >

• News: Lobbyists Fight Democratic Proposals on Drug Pricing, Vaccine Access

  April 09, 2021: Pharmaceutical corporations are preparing for battle as President Biden considers whether to waive patent protections on vaccines to help other nations fight the coronavirus and House Democrats write legislation to require Medicare to negotiate the p...Read more >

• ‘I Can Breathe Again’: Older Adults Begin to Test Freedom After Covid Vaccinations

  April 05, 2021: With a mix of relief and caution, older adults fully vaccinated against covid-19 are moving out into the world and resuming activities put on hold during the pandemic. Many are making plans to see adult children and hug grandchildren they have...Read more >

• Texas Retirees Stand Against Voter Suppression Legislation

  April 01, 2021: Seniors Demand that state legislators vote against the bills AUSTIN – The Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, with 146,000 members statewide, is demanding that state legislators oppose bills such as SB 7 and HB 6, which will make it more difficu...Read more >

• KHN: ‘Incredibly Concerning’ Lawsuit Threatens No-Charge Preventive Care for Millions

  March 31, 2021:   With a challenge to the Affordable Care Act still pending at the Supreme Court, conservatives are continuing to launch legal attacks on the law, including a case in which a Texas federal judge seems open to ending the requirement that m...Read more >

• KHN: Under New Cost-Cutting Medicare Rule, Same Surgery, Same Place, Different Bill

  March 29, 2021: A cost-saving change in Medicare launched in the final days of the Trump administration will cut payments to hospitals for some surgical procedures while potentially raising costs and confusion for patients. For years, the Centers for Medicare...Read more >

• News: President Biden Signs Law Saving Multiemployer Pension Plans from Insolvency

  March 25, 2021: One of the most important parts of the American Rescue Plan for union members and numerous other workers and retirees is its provision saving multiemployer pension plans from insolvency. More than ten million Americans, including many SOAR members, w...Read more >

• KHN: Democrats Eye Medicare Negotiations to Lower Drug Prices

  March 25, 2021: Democrats, newly in control of Congress and the White House, are united behind an idea that Republican lawmakers and major drugmakers fiercely oppose: empowering the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate the prices of brand-name drugs ...Read more >

• KHN: Covid Cases Plummet 83% Among Nursing Home Staffers Despite Vaccine Hesitancy

  March 15, 2021:   Joan Phillips, a certified nursing assistant in a Florida nursing home,  loved her job but dreaded the danger of going to work in the pandemic. When vaccines became available in December, she jumped at the chance to get one. Months ...Read more >

• KHN: Texas Winter Storm Exposes Gaps in Senior Living Oversight

  March 12, 2021: When the big, red and extremely loud fire alarm went off in Maria Skladzien’s apartment, the 74-year-old ventured into the hallway with fellow residents of her Houston-area senior living community. The brutal winter storm that swept through Texas h...Read more >