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Trump Could Eradicate Health Insurance Coverage for Millions

What: If Donald Trump wins the White House, around 20 million Americans could see their health insurance premiums get too expensive to afford. That’s because Obamacare health insurance subsidies expire in 2025, and the GOP has said they don’t want to renew them.

Why it matters: “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 3.4 million people will lose insurance if subsidies drop and prices rise…the looming subsidy expiration means the next Congress and president will have a choice with significant consequences. ‘So much of the attention right now is on would the Affordable Care Act be repealed and replaced,’ said Cynthia Cox, a vice president at KFF, a health research group. ‘Which is a very important question. But even without taking any action, there could be very significant changes to the A.C.A.’”

Source: New York Times

Louisiana Classifies Abortion Medication as Illicit Drugs Tuesday

What: Starting tomorrow, Louisiana officially reclassifies abortion pills as “controlled substances,” as if they are illicit drugs like fentanyl or opioids. Health professionals are worry the classification means the medications won’t be readily available for life-saving use in cases like miscarriages.

Why it matters: “Avegno said that aside from abortion, the drugs are routinely used to treat miscarriages, induce labor, prepare the cervix for surgical procedures and stop postpartum hemorrhaging — a life-threatening condition that requires immediate medical attention and occurs in 5% of pregnancies. During labor, misoprostol is typically kept at the patient’s bedside, she said. Under the new state law, the medication must be stored in a locked cabinet, potentially on a different floor of the hospital, and will require a nurse to order the drug, enter a code and retrieve it, she said. ‘Even if that adds a few minutes — which it will — in the setting of a life-threatening hemorrhage, minutes are really important,’ Avegno said. ‘We already have a maternal health crisis in Louisiana, as we do in the rest of America. This will not make it better.’”

Source: NBC

MENSTRUATION

One-Third of US Teens Don’t Have Proper Menstrual Products

What: Research presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics conference found that a third (!!!) of adolescents who visited a pediatric emergency room said they had difficulties getting menstruation products.

Why it matters: “Prior research estimates that of those who menstruate, 11.9 million struggle to find access to menstrual products. This lack of access can lead to absences from school and/or work as well as negative health outcomes such as urinary tract infections and bacterial vaginosis.”

Source: American Academy of Pediatrics

ABORTION ACCESS

Georgia Judge Strikes Down Abortion Ban

What: A Georgia judge ruled that the state’s abortion ban—which takes effect just two weeks after conception–is unconstitutional. Judge Robert McBurney wrote that when a “fetus growing inside a woman reaches viability, when society can assume care and responsibility for that separate life, then – and only then – may society intervene. An arbitrary six-week ban on (post-embryonic cardiac activity pregnancy) terminations is inconsistent with these rights and the proper balance that a viability rule establishes between a woman’s rights of liberty and privacy and society’s interest in protecting and caring for unborn infants.”

Why it matters: The state has said it will appeal McBurney’s ruling to the state supreme court, but it brings into focus the fact that Georgia has outright banned abortion just over a month before the presidential election, in a state where a ballot initiative on abortion wasn’t permitted.

Source: CNN

Why Are ‘Abortion’ and ‘The Economy’ Separate Polling Questions?

What: Ms. Magazine’s Kathy Spillar has an essay on Trump’s gaslighting and creepy comments on being the “protector” of women, as opposed to the person took fundamental rights away, and how that loss of freedom is an economic issue.

Why it matters: “So why is it that pundit after pundit has argued that the economy will be the dominant issue this election? In doing so, they are ignoring the fact that abortion is an economic issue for women and their families. How many times do we have to remind them about the impact of having a child on parents’ earning abilities, and the economic harm to women who do not have paid pregnancy/family or medical leave? Not to mention the cost of raising a child—which can go well over a quarter of a million dollars, between food, medical expenses, clothing, and education.”

Source: Ms. Magazine