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Jan 13, 2025 | 
tcf.org | Jamila Taylor |Anna Bernstein |Jeanne Lambrew |Lea Woods
The incoming Trump administration and Congress have foreshadowed large spending cuts to Medicaid spending as part of an even larger budget bill to fund a major tax cut. Given the complicated budget process, members of Congress may vote on the target for Medicaid spending reductions before specifying policies to meet that target. This process of “numbers first” makes it challenging to appreciate their magnitude.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
tcf.org | Andrea Flynn |Vina Smith-Ramakrishnan |Anna Bernstein |Jamila Taylor
In early October, a judge in Fulton County, Georgia blocked a six-week abortion ban following the deaths of two women that might have been prevented had they had access to abortion care. Less than a week after the Fulton County decision, the Georgia Supreme Court reinstated the six-week ban. If anyone doubts that the nation is experiencing politically divisive and turbulent times placing people’s lives at risk, all the proof they need is in the state of reproductive and maternal health.
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Apr 10, 2024 | 
tcf.org | Thomas Waldrop |Caroline Hoover |Anna Bernstein |Jamila Taylor
The United States is in the process of a major reckoning regarding cannabis—at least at the state level. The vast majority of states have legalized some form of cannabis for medical use, and just under half have also enacted measures to allow nonmedical (recreational) adult use. This sea change in attitudes toward cannabis nationwide is welcome news to people with disabilities, many of whom have long relied on cannabis as a medical treatment for things such as chronic pain and other symptoms.
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Mar 20, 2024 | 
tcf.org | Anna Bernstein |Vina Smith-Ramakrishnan |Jamila Taylor |Thomas Waldrop
On what would have been the fifty-first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, the Biden administration announced new actions the administration will take this year to expand access to reproductive and sexual health care, including contraceptive care. During this year’s State of the Union address, while he did not comment on contraception specifically, President Biden doubled down on the importance of defending reproductive freedom.
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Mar 17, 2024 | 
tcf.org | Vina Smith-Ramakrishnan |Thomas Waldrop |Anna Bernstein |Jamila Taylor
When the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the federal right to abortion through its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson in June 2022, it claimed to be returning the issue of abortion access back to the states and people’s elected officials.
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Feb 23, 2024 | 
tcf.org | Anna Bernstein |Jamila Taylor |Jules Tibbles |Vina Smith-Ramakrishnan
On February 16, in a decision that has raised alarm bells nationwide, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created during fertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF) are considered children under state law, and that those who destroy them can be held liable. This court case, LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic, is the latest in an onslaught of legal battles that threaten to curtail reproductive freedoms.
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Feb 13, 2024 | 
seattletimes.com | Jamila Taylor
We live in a wonderful, prosperous state. However, we should remember that not everyone enjoys the same access to what our communities have to offer. Whether it is accessing health care, picking up groceries, finding a home or just having help getting dressed in the morning, I’m reminded of how our state is falling short in providing critical services for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in their own homes.
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Oct 18, 2023 | 
tcf.org | Anna Bernstein |Jamila Taylor |Tara Oakman |Vina Smith-Ramakrishnan
As state legislatures continue to advance abortion bans and restrictions, public debates among anti-abortion politicians have centered around how far to go in restricting access to care—how far is too far? These disagreements ignore a critical truth: every ban on abortion care is extreme. Whether a line is placed at six weeks, twelve, or twenty, preventing people from exercising their right to bodily autonomy is an inexcusable injustice.
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Sep 19, 2023 | 
tcf.org | Emily McGrath |Tara Oakman |Jamila Taylor |Nichele Washington
On September 6, 2023, TCF health care policy fellow Thomas Waldrop submitted the following public comment to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in response to their notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), “Short-Term, Limited-Duration Insurance; Independent, Noncoordinated Excepted Benefits Coverage; Level-Funded Plan Arrangements; and Tax Treatment of Certain Accident and Health Insurance” (file code CMS–9904–P).
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Aug 30, 2023 | 
tcf.org | Kimberly M Knackstedt |Rebecca Vallas |Thomas Waldrop |Jamila Taylor
When the only hospital in Madera County, located in rural California, closed its doors in late January 2023, more than 160,000 residents were left without a general hospital. In the months since, Madera County residents have been forced to drive thirty minutes southeast to neighboring Fresno in order to receive care. For a mostly Latinx population already facing significant barriers to care, this closure has proven highly detrimental.
