Affordable Health Care To Become Constitutional Right In Oregon
Although voters narrowly approved the ballot measure, the Oregon Capital Chronicle notes there's no prescription as to how to act on it. A settlement for a covid outbreak in a veterans home, LGBTQ+ discrimination, and more are also in the news.
Oregon Capital Chronicle:
Oregon Will Be The First State To Make Affordable Health Care A Constitutional Right
Oregon will be the first state in the nation to enshrine the right to affordable health care in its constitution. Ballot Measure 111 narrowly passed, with nearly 50.7% of voters in favor and 49.3% of voters opposed. The measure’s long-term impact on Oregon health care is unclear because it doesn’t prescribe how the state should ensure that everyone has affordable health care. (Botkin, 11/15)
In nursing home news —
AP:
Veterans Home COVID-19 Outbreak Results In $58M Settlement
A federal judge has approved a nearly $58 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed in response to the deaths of dozens of veterans who contracted COVID-19 at a Massachusetts veterans home. “It was with heavy hearts that we got to the finish line on this case,” Michael Aleo, an attorney for the plaintiffs said Tuesday, the day after the settlement was approved by a judge in U.S. District Court in Springfield. (11/15)
The Washington Post:
Decades Of Neglect In Nursing Homes Spur Biden Plan For Staff Mandates
Lisa Cabrera saw the warning signs of poor care at her father’s California nursing home — the bug bites on his back, the facial injuries from a fall, the times he was soaked in urine instead of being ready for trips to church. Still, she believed repeated assurances that the staff had inspected the pressure sore on his heel and changed the bandages. But her dad, Louie Sira, 67, a disabled former janitor, kept gesturing to his right leg, indicating he felt pain. Finally, Cabrera peeled the dressing back herself, which had grown worse since the last time she looked. (Rowland, 11/15)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
Dallas Morning News:
Obamacare Discrimination Protections Don’t Apply To LGBT Patients, Texas Judge Rules
A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the Biden administration cannot prohibit doctors from denying certain medical care based on a patient’s sexual orientation and gender identity. (McGaughy, 11/15)
AP:
'Jeopardy!' Champ Says Ohio Bill Would Endanger Trans Youth
“Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider is opposing Ohio legislation that would ban gender-affirming procedures and therapies for minors. The Dayton native, who was the first transgender person to qualify for Jeopardy’s “Tournament of Champions,” is expected to attend a hearing on the bill Wednesday morning at the Ohio Statehouse. (Hendrickson, 11/16)
ProPublica:
Missouri Allows Some Disabled Workers To Earn Less Than $1 An Hour. The State Says It's Fine If That Never Changes
One weekday morning in July, Kerstie Bramlet was at her workstation inside the Warren County Sheltered Workshop near St. Louis, Missouri, putting plastic labels on rabbit-meat dog chews one by one. The 30-year-old, who wore a St. Louis Cardinals shirt and a blue-and-white tie-dye hat, is autistic and has intellectual disabilities. (Hopkins, 11/15)
The Texas Tribune:
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner Shares Details About Cancer Diagnosis
For more than four months, the mayor of the nation’s fourth-largest city let few people know he had been diagnosed with bone cancer. Not even his 35-year-old daughter was aware. (Fechter, 11/15)
