News
GOP-sponsored bill may help companies obtain your genetic information
by Edmund DeMarche
03.11.17 House Democrats and a number of privacy advocacy groups came out against a House GOP-sponsored bill that would reportedly make it easier for employers to gain access to genetic information about their employees and their families. The New York Times reported Friday that the bill -- called the Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act -- may also significantly increase the costs if someone chooses not to participate in a company wellness program that requires the genetic information. Fortune ma… Continue Reading
Employees who decline genetic testing could face penalties under proposed bill
by Lena H. Sun
03.11.17 Employers could impose hefty penalties on employees who decline to participate in genetic testing as part of workplace wellness programs if a bill approved by a U.S. House committee this week becomes law. In general, employers don't have that power under existing federal laws, which protect genetic privacy and nondiscrimination. But a bill passed Wednesday by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce would allow employers to get around those obstacles if the information is collected as… Continue Reading
How Healthy Are You? G.O.P. Bill Would Help Employers Find Out
by Reed Abelson
03.10.17 A bill in Congress could make it harder for workers to keep employers from getting access to their personal medical and genetic information and raise the financial penalties for those who opt out of workplace wellness programs. House Republicans are proposing legislation aimed at making it easier for companies to gather genetic data from workers and their families, including their children, when they collect it as part of a voluntary wellness program. The bill, the Preserving Employee Wellness… Continue Reading
AARP comes out against House GOP health care bill
by Eli Watkins
03.08.17 The AARP issued a statement on Tuesday declaring its opposition to the health care bill touted by GOP leadership this week. The letter -- from one of the most influential groups in domestic policy -- is the latest blow for a bill that has already seen opposition from many conservative leaders, media organizations and interest groups. "This bill would weaken Medicare's fiscal sustainability, dramatically increase health care costs for Americans aged 50-64 and put at risk the health care of mi… Continue Reading
10 million may lose health insurance coverage under GOP's Obamacare replacement plan, S&P says
by Dan Mangan
03.07.17 Between 6 million and 10 million people would lose health insurance coverage if a Republican proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act becomes law, a new report estimates. The top end of those losses, or 10 million people, is equal to half of the 20 million or so people who have gained coverage in the past seven years under Obamacare. The sobering estimate came from S&P Global Ratings on Tuesday, less than a full day after House GOP leaders released their plan for gutting key elements of… Continue Reading
What's at Stake For Schools in the Debate Over the Affordable Care Act
by Alyson Klein
03.07.17 The Trump administration and congressional Republicans are in the midst of trying to figure out whether to tweak, or toss the Obama administration's biggest domestic achievement, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act-or "Obamacare" to the haters. (In fact, the House GOP released an ACA overhaul plan late Monday.) Believe it or not, the law has had big implications for school districts and kids-and getting rid of it or changing it significantly could end up being a big deal for educator… Continue Reading
Republicans poised to roll back worker safety regulations
by Kimberly Kindy
03.06.17 President Trump and congressional Republicans are poised to roll back a series of Obama-era worker safety regulations targeted by business groups, starting with a rule that would require federal contractors to disclose and correct serious safety violations. The Senate is set to vote Monday evening to eliminate the regulation, dubbed the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule. Finalized in August and blocked by a court order in October, the rule would limit the ability of companies with recent safety… Continue Reading
DeVos and Tax Credit Vouchers: Arizona Shows What Can Go Wrong
by Kevin Carey
03.02.17 Steve Yarbrough is one of the most powerful men in Arizona. As president of the State Senate, he has promoted a range of conservative policies, including a tuition tax credit system that provides over $100 million per year to finance vouchers for private schools. In his speech to Congress this week, President Trump singled out a young woman who attended private school using a tax credit-financed voucher. The president urged Congress to pass legislation that would provide similar benefits to mil… Continue Reading
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is getting some very bad news about her favorite thing, school vouchers
by Michael Hiltzik
02.28.17 A draft of recent studies about school vouchers couldn't have come at a worse time for our new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. That's because the studies report devastatingly bad results for students in those voucher programs. And they've been flowing into public forums just as DeVos, a leading advocate of school vouchers, takes charge of federal education policy. DeVos's patron, President Trump, proposed during his campaign to shovel $20 billion to the states to support magnet and charter … Continue Reading
Report: Public schools in the District remain highly segregated
by Mandy McLaren
02.27.17 Public schools in the nation's capital remain highly segregated, a new analysis shows, with many D.C. campuses enrolling almost exclusively students of color despite an influx of white families into the city in recent years. The Civil Rights Project at UCLA found in a report released this month that 71 percent of black students in the D.C. public school system and the city's charter sector attended schools in 2013 that had virtually no white peers. That was down from nearly 90 percent in 1992. … Continue Reading
The Adults a Medicaid Work Requirement Would Leave Behind
by Abby Goodnough
02.25.17 JACKSONVILLE, Ark. - On a frigid morning here, Nancy Godinez was piling bread and other staples into her car outside a food pantry. She had lost her job as a custodian, her unemployment checks had run out, and her job search had proved fruitless. One thing she still had was health insurance, acquired three years ago after Arkansas' Republican-controlled legislature agreed to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The coverage, she said, has allowed her to get regular checkups and treatm… Continue Reading
Why records matter to worker safety
by Jordan Barab
02.24.17 Another week and Congressional and White House attacks on worker rights and safety continue. Here's another proposed Congressional action guaranteed not to make headlines, but which will nevertheless have a damaging impact on worker safety. Last week, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL) introduced a "resolution of disapproval" under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn the "Volks Rule," which allows the agency to continue prosecuting recordkeeping violations as it had done in the first 40 years… Continue Reading
She voted for Trump. Now she fears losing the Obamacare plan that saved her life
by Noam N. Levey
02.24.17 Kathy Watson was anxious about her health coverage even before she woke up gasping for breath last month and drove herself to the emergency room with a flare-up in her heart condition. After struggling for years without insurance, the 55-year-old former small-business owner - who has battled diabetes, high blood pressure and two cancers - credits Obamacare with saving her life. Watson also voted for Donald Trump, believing the businessman would bring change. She dismissed his campaign pledges… Continue Reading
Support for 2010 health care law reaches new high
by Hannah Fingerhut
02.23.17 With congressional Republicans discussing proposals to replace the Affordable Care Act, public support for the 2010 health care law has reached its highest level on record. Currently, 54% approve of the health care law passed seven years ago by Barack Obama and Congress, while 43% disapprove, according to a national Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 7-12 among 1,503 adults. Throughout the law's history, opinions about the Affordable Care Act have tended to be more negative than pos… Continue Reading
Rep Scott criticizes repeal of federal guidance to protect transgender students
by Dave Ress
02.23.17 Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, called on Congress to enact legislation making clear that gay and transgender individuals should not be subject to discrimination at school or at work. His statement came in reaction to the repeal of a formal Department of Education guidance that transgender students are protected under a 1972 federal law banning discrimination on the basis of sex. "The impact of the Trump Administration's repeal of the Title IX guidance leaves LGBTQ students in at least 31 st… Continue Reading
President Trump Breaks a Promise on Transgender Rights
by Editorial Board
02.23.17 On the campaign trail, Donald Trump broke with Republican Party orthodoxy by vowing to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans from violence and oppression. Soon after taking office, Mr. Trump announced that he intended to continue enforcing an executive order his predecessor issued to protect L.G.B.T. people from workplace discrimination. "President Donald J. Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the L.G.B.T.Q. community," the White House said i… Continue Reading
Dismal Voucher Results Surprise Researchers as DeVos Era Begins
by Kevin Carey
02.23.17 The confirmation of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education was a signal moment for the school choice movement. For the first time, the nation's highest education official is someone fully committed to making school vouchers and other market-oriented policies the centerpiece of education reform. But even as school choice is poised to go national, a wave of new research has emerged suggesting that private school vouchers may harm students who receive them. The results are startling - the worst in … Continue Reading
Who’d Want to Limit Retirement Plans? House Republicans
by Editorial Board
02.14.17 There is no overstating how unprepared Americans are to retire. Nearly half of private-sector employees - some 55 million people - do not have an employer-provided retirement plan. Most of them are low- to middle-income earners who will end up relying on Social Security for between half and all of their income in retirement. And yet, as early as Wednesday, House Republicans are expected to pass a measure to thwart efforts by California, Illinois and other states to establish basic retirement sa… Continue Reading
Repair and retain Obamacare
by Editorial Board
02.13.17 When President Obama was in office, Republicans made a mantra of their call to "repeal and replace" his signature health care program. But now that they are actually in position to do something, they're flummoxed. They have no plan for a replacement anywhere near as robust as Obamacare. They can't even agree on what a significant rollback would look like. So might we suggest an alternative approach? It starts by treating Obamacare the same way that a doctor would treat a patient: First, do no … Continue Reading
Is Your Financial Adviser Acting in Your Best Interest?
by Paul Sullivan
02.10.17 This is a tale of two mutual funds with abysmal performance - but very different reactions from their investors to their returns. The Ivy Asset Strategy - which is known as a total return fund, because it tries to maximize gains through a variety of investment strategies - ranked in the 99th percentile in 2016, according to Morningstar, meaning that investors could scarcely do worse. The Waddell & Reed Asset Strategy, also a total return fund, ranked in the 97th percentile in the same clas… Continue Reading