Tag: Human Services
Millions of People Are Losing Health Care Because of Paperwork
Across America right now, parents face a possible nightmare: taking a sick child to the doctor, only to be told at the front desk that their health insurance is no longer valid. The reason is that millions of low-income American families have lost Medicaid benefits because they have to jump through an unexpected administrative hoop, resulting in a slow-burning crisis.
The problem stems from the ending of a pandemic-era rule requiring states to maintain continuous Medicaid coverage for everyone on
The Family-Separation Files – The Atlantic
The Atlantic is publishing a collection of key internal government documents related to the Trump administration’s family-separation policy, known as Zero Tolerance. The records informed the reporting of my cover story on how it came to be and who was responsible. Our hope is to introduce greater transparency around a policy that gravely harmed thousands of families and whose development and intent were concealed from the public for years. During the Trump administration, more than 5,000 migrant children were taken
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The Environmental Laws Hindering Clean Energy
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Question of the Week
Dysfunction is all around us, in public and private institutions, in large and small businesses, in systems and in personal relationships. What is an example you’ve observed of striking dysfunction—or, if you prefer, of something that
Cover Story: Investigating the U.S. Government’s Family-Separation Policy
Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor in chief, joined staff writer Caitlin Dickerson to discuss her cover story, a years-long investigation into the secret history of the Trump administration’s family-separation policy. Dickerson’s story argues that separating children was not an unintended side effect, as previously claimed, but its core intent. How did officials work to keep families apart longer? Did they obscure the truth to both Congress and the public? What will happen if the Trump administration is restored to
What the Supreme Court’s Vaccine-Mandate Case Is Really About
Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a pair of cases challenging President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates in two contexts: private workplaces with more than 100 employees and health-care facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid.
Ostensibly, these cases are before the Court to resolve whether a president can even temporarily require vaccine and testing protocols during a pandemic to protect public health. But the questions the Court may examine are much more sweeping, with enormous implications for
Wir sind dabei, den Überblick über die Pandemiedaten zu verlieren
Während die Omicron-Variante in den Vereinigten Staaten zur Vorherrschaft sprintet, ist die Fähigkeit des Landes, die resultierenden Infektionen zu verfolgen, dabei, sich zu verflüchtigen. Dafür gibt es mehrere Gründe. Der erste ist, dass die Vereinigten Staaten nicht genug Tests durchführen können. Bei schnell steigenden Fällen hat die Nachfrage bereits die Testkapazitäten überschritten, sodass die Menschen in langen Schlangen stehen, viele bei schlechtem Wetter. Die CDC-Regeln legen fest, dass eine COVID-19-Infektion nur dann als bestätigter Fall gezählt wird, wenn sie über
Demokraten verlieren den Vibe War
Um das schlechte Abschneiden der Demokraten bei den Landtags- und Kommunalwahlen am Dienstag zu erklären, haben verschiedene Kommentatoren sehr konkrete Behauptungen aufgestellt: Es war hauptsächlich über kritische Rassentheorie, oder hauptsächlich über Terry McAuliffes Fehler als Kandidat für das Amt des Gouverneurs von Virginia, oder hauptsächlich über weiße Vorstadtfrauen, die wählen, als ob es wieder 2012 wäre.
Aber keine dieser Erklärungen ist völlig zufriedenstellend. Die Wende gegen die Demokraten beschränkte sich nicht auf Eltern oder Virginia oder weiße Frauen. Im
Pfizer Won the Vaccine Race. Was There a Downside?
The Delta variant’s arrival this summer delivered a blow to the nation’s entire coronavirus arsenal, but its impact on the champion of last year’s vaccine race—Pfizer—has been particularly humbling. Compared with Moderna’s competing shot, Pfizer’s vaccine seems to induce half the amount of virus-fighting antibodies, and is associated with nearly twice as many breakthrough infections, according to two recent studies. Pfizer’s shots remain highly protective against hospitalization, but the latest numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
FDA Delays Carry a Death Toll
This morning, the FDA granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine for use in people 16 and older. Although “the vaccine approval was the fastest in the agency’s history,” as The Washington Post noted, serious side effects have proved extremely rare. Nevertheless, anti-vaccine activists—and the politicians and pundits pandering to them—have criticized the accelerated approval process as rushed. Yet the problem with the FDA is precisely the opposite: The agency too often fails to recognize the danger of being
Sanitäter sind so viel mehr als Krankenwagenfahrer
Lindsey Kaczmarek wird häufiger Krankenwagenfahrerin genannt als Sanitäterin. „Das ist absolut nicht das, was ich tue“, sagte sie mir. Was sie tut, ist aufzutauchen, wenn jemand medizinische Hilfe braucht, herauszufinden, was mit ihr los ist, und alles zu tun, um ihnen zu helfen, die Fahrt ins Krankenhaus zu überleben – in ihrem Fall in die Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Das Hauptsymptom für einen von drei Notrufen ist einfach „Schmerz“, aber während jeder Schicht kann Kaczmarek sich um einen Herzinfarkt,