Hospitals, Insurers And Other Health Groups Find Common Ground Criticizing Proposed ‘Public Charge’ Policy
Hundreds of thousands of public opinions poured in about the policy during the open comment period, which closed Monday. The "public charge" rule would allow federal immigration officials to consider legal immigrants' use of Medicaid, nutrition, housing and other programs as a strongly negative factor in their applications for legal permanent residency. Many health groups wrote in to say the policy would take both a financial and public health toll on vulnerable populations.
Modern Healthcare:
Healthcare Groups Rip Trump Proposal Penalizing Legal Immigrants For Using Medicaid
In a rare moment of consensus, healthcare industry groups uniformly blasted the Trump administration's proposal to penalize legal immigrants for using Medicaid and other public benefit programs, warning it would have broad negative effects on the healthcare system, government budgets and public health. The Department of Homeland Security received 210,889 comments on its proposed "inadmissibility on public charge grounds" rule, issued in October, when the comment period ended Monday. Healthcare stakeholder groups, including hospitals, physicians, insurers and public health advocates, urged DHS to withdraw the rule entirely. (Meyer, 12/11)
Other health news from the administration comes from the VA and the Justice Department —
The Washington Post:
Trump Loyalist At VA Forced Out After Collecting Pay But Doing Little Work
The Trump administration has forced out a senior White House political appointee at the Department of Veterans Affairs who spent months on the federal payroll doing little to no work. Peter O’Rourke’s departure marks an unceremonious fall for a Trump loyalist once seen as a rising star at VA, where he nonetheless had a rocky tenure, first leading a high-profile office handling whistleblower complaints, next as chief of staff and then, for two months, as the agency’s acting secretary. (Rein and Dawsey, 12/11)
Seattle Times:
Justice Department Sues Washington State Over Law To Compensate Sick Hanford Workers
The U.S. Justice Department sued Washington state Monday, alleging that a law approved by the Legislature to make it easier for ill Hanford workers to get compensation discriminates against the federal government and its Energy Department contractors. The lawsuit filed against the state in U.S. District Court in Eastern Washington asks a federal judge to declare the law invalid and prevent enforcement. (Bernton, 12/11)
