Medicaid Needs Our Help; Lung Disease News & Texas Abandons Children's Lunches for Summer
A free public service for a better community
Good Day Healthcare Advocates
Thank you for reading Healthcare Advocacy and being an advocate for better health care for all of us.
If there are subjects you’d like to see or improvements made, please let me know using the comment button below or email me at healthcareadvocacy1@gmail.com. No actual lab rats were involved in acquiring the photo above - computer generated imagery to protect cute fuzzy things.
Lung Cancer Drug Approved
AstraZeneca’s Datroway drug has been approved in the U.S. to treat adult patients with non-small cell lung cancer. The British pharmaceutical company said Tuesday that the drug has been approved for patients who have already received chemotherapy. The drug has been approved under an accelerated approval process after a Phase 2 trial, and supported by data from a Phase 3 trial. However, continued approval might be contingent upon verification of clinical benefits in a confirmatory trial, the company said.
Trump Enables Exploitation of Workers
Feds Chop Enforcement Staff and Halt Rules Meant To Curb Black Lung in Coal Miners
In early April, President Donald Trump gathered dozens of hard-hat-clad coal miners around him in the White House East Room. He joked about arm-wrestling them and announced he was signing executive orders to boost coal production, “bringing back an industry that was abandoned,” and to “put the miners back to work.”
That same day, the Trump administration paused implementation of a rule that would help protect coal miners from an aggressive form of black lung disease. Enforcement of the new protections is officially halted until at least mid-August, according to a federal announcement that came a few days after a federal court agreed to put enforcement on hold to hear an industry challenge. But even if the rule takes full force after the delay, the federal agency tasked with enforcing it in Appalachia and elsewhere may not be up to the task after sweeping layoffs and office closures. RFK Jr. fired 900 NIOSH workers whose job is worksite safety. After a lawsuit was filed he hired back 1/3 of them and reported that that was enough for managing worker safety. Not hardly - black lung and silicosis are on the rise and the coal industry wants fewer safety regulations not more inspections and are suing to get it. (KFF)
If you think I overstate the problem here is a link to OpenSecrets.org that describes which coal mining companies gave money to campaigns - all to Republicans.
Strong evidence that Trump and his administration care about who pays them - like owners of coal mines and not for those exploited by the mine owners. If mine owners had sufficient safety measures in place black lung would have continued decline.
Nutrition For Children - Texas Says Forget It
Gov. Greg Abbott has vetoed a $60 million budget measure that would have allowed Texas to enter a federal summer lunch program for low-income children.
The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer, or Summer EBT program would have given qualifying families $120 per child to pay for lunches during the summer months in 2027. An estimated 3.75 million children statewide would have qualified.
The provision to join the program was tucked inside the state’s budget bill, Senate Bill 1. Texas would have had to pay part of the administration costs to tap into at least $400 million in federal support that would have paid for the lunch subsidies. But Abbott struck the provision in a list of vetoes released on Sunday.
A sign I saw recently - “If your version of Christianity wants to put the ten commandments in schools but take free lunches out of them, then you are worshipping something other than Jesus.” (fb)
Medicaid Benefits States Bottom Line
Here is a link to a Commonwealth Fund analysis of the benefits states accrue with Medicaid.
Medicaid investment is shown to have a “multiplier effect,” meaning that every dollar spent generates over a dollar’s worth of economic activity. Medicaid drives employment in the health care sector; generates state and local tax revenue; and saves money for enrollees, allowing them to spend more on items other than health care.
Expanding Medicaid actually increased state’s revenue while not increasing the amount they paid to cover more people. Medicaid’s economic impact is particularly apparent in states that have expanded Medicaid. Since 2014, 40 states and Washington, D.C., have expanded Medicaid eligibility to cover more people in exchange for additional federal funding, as allowed by the Affordable Care Act. Despite covering a higher number of people, expansion states have not seen significant increases in their state Medicaid spending and have even seen tax revenue increase and overall health care spending decline.
Medicaid expansion also can reduce state spending in other areas such as state corrections department spending, mental health and substance use programs, and uncompensated care for people who are uninsured. By covering mental health and substance use programs and shifting some costs of state corrections’ health care spending to Medicaid, expansion states have been able to cover services while generating Medicaid spending savings. In the first full fiscal year following expansion, Maryland saved $13.6 million on uncompensated care while also raising $26.6 million in new revenue.
Medicaid coverage helps lift enrollees out of poverty — more effectively, in fact, than federal tax credits. In states that have expanded Medicaid, enrollees have benefited from reductions in income inequality, evictions, and bankruptcies, as well as improvements in credit scores. One study found that less than two years after Michigan expanded Medicaid, the average amount of medical bills in collections for enrollees had dropped by over $500, enrollees were 11 percent less likely to be evicted, and they were 13 percent less likely to overdraw their credit cards than before expansion.
Medicaid also prepares future generations for economic success. More years of Medicaid coverage during childhood are associated with improved educational outcomes and higher earnings in adulthood. Children with Medicaid coverage during the first year of life in particular are likely to out-earn their parents later in life, indicating that Medicaid supports economic mobility and reduces intergenerational poverty.
Look - I personally favor one system for all of us - Universal healthcare like H.R.3069 /S. 1506 but right now republicans want to dismantle healthcare for low income Americans and the damage to states and to Americans will be dramatic and cruel - in order to give the wealthiest 400 billionaires a tax break.
Tell Congress NO WAY.
ACTION
Let’s let our Senators know the effect of the proposed cuts. Here is a click to send letter from the American Association of Medical Colleges.
Or Text SIGN PLKRBO to 50409 (@Resistbot on Apple Messages, Messenger, Instagram, or Telegram) to send this message to your congressperson and senators
“I am your constituent and I want you to vote NO on cuts to Medicaid. States that expanded Medicaid spay no more to include a larger population of enrollees and those states take in more money in taxes because their economy grows with the expansion. I want to also point out that according to the Commonwealth Fund Medicaid also prepares future generations for economic success. More years of Medicaid coverage during childhood are associated with improved educational outcomes and higher earnings in adulthood. Children with Medicaid coverage during the first year of life in particular are likely to out-earn their parents later in life, indicating that Medicaid supports economic mobility and reduces intergenerational poverty.
I don’t want you to vote for tax cuts for the wealthy by punishing low income Americans. Period.
Here is link to the Commonwealth Fund analysis, https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2025/may/how-does-medicaid-benefit-states .”
Thanks for reading Healthcare Advocacy! Subscribe for free to receive new posts
RESOURCES
Find My Elected Officials
Contact State and Federal Representatives - phone and email
Healthcare Advocacy (Us) Website
Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare - Healthcare Advocacy Reading List
Important Healthcare Resources
League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit
CDC Childhood Vaccination Schedules
Organizations to Contact
National Nurses United Medicare4All, Physicians for a National Health Program, One Payer States, Healthcare Now
Reproductive Health
NARAL - Pro Choice America
Charley. chatbot abortion resource - make sure to use a secure incognito browser if you live in a state that has banned abortion
Planned Parenthood
Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.
United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.
Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.
If you need financial help with an abortion try abortionfunds.org
Claims Denials and Appeals & What to Do
Appeal a Healthcare Decision, Appeal/Negotiate a Hospital Bill
Disinformation Management
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency
Library of Advice, Specific Advice
Claims Denied
We can use the tool here to protest.