Jen Laws - Policy Candy

Tweets are my own views and do not necessarily reflect the position of any associated organization.

Nerd. Trans guy. Typos abundant.

[Jen Laws - Policy Candy @PolicyCandy]

As the saying goes, some professional news:

I am extremely honored to accept the position of President & CEO of Community Access National Network.

Learn more about our work at https://t.co/RUcDJHdu6v & review our acclaimed HIV/HCV Co-infection Watch at https://t.co/habQRpqfzt

[TIICANN @TIICANN]

CANN Taps Jen Laws as President & CEO - https://t.co/DyU9RmqRPs

[Joan Alker @JoanAlker1]

New Federal Medicaid Work Reporting Rule Threatens Coverage for Vulnerable Americans https://t.co/TkjcqAybRN via @GeorgetownCCF

[Margot Sanger-Katz @sangerkatz]

The Trump administration has decided to be strict in its rules on new Medicaid work requirements, asking sick Americans to prove not only that they have serious illnesses, but also that they are too sick to work if they want an exemption. @sarahkliff

[Jen Laws - Policy Candy @PolicyCandy]

@tmac622 @NWSBirmingham The post just before this one is in English. Chill. Families whose first language is Spanish deserve the human decency of accessible weather alerts, just like everybody else.

[Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney]

BREAKING: D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that Hegseth policy barring military service by transgender people is fueled by unconstitutional animus.

2-1 decision bars military from removing some currently-serving transgender service members.

https://t.co/jWLzjEzHx9

[Virginia Bio @vabio]

NEW! In @CardinalNewsVA, learn more from @HarryGewanter about how #340B has run off course and drives up costs for families in VA. @RepMGriffith is right to demand answers and hold hospitals accountable for how billions in 340B savings are being used. ➡️ https://t.co/Akd1rbPbBW

[Jen Laws - Policy Candy @PolicyCandy]

@Mobfathertv @LizHighleyman Again, you're goalpost moving. That's not honest debate.

[Jen Laws - Policy Candy @PolicyCandy]

@Mobfathertv @LizHighleyman You're dodging the issue which you proclaimed: the right is not a "live and let live and leave me alone" movement. Which is the inconsistency issue @LizHighleyman was pointing out.

Honest debate means not goalpost moving.

[Jen Laws - Policy Candy @PolicyCandy]

@Mobfathertv @LizHighleyman The flip side of this is the right is actively stripping parents who are affirming from their ability to do so. Similar to the issue of abortion, the right remains very inconsistent to the idea of "you do you...."

[The Lion @ReadTheLion]

Insurance companies’ ownership of pharmacies and hospitals is raising consumer costs, but economic competition can counter inflating expenses, according to bipartisan legislation from Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, and Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts.

“We need more competition. We need protections for patients. We need better and cheaper health care,” Hawley told The Lion in an exclusive interview Thursday.

Hawley and Warren reintroduced The Patients Before Monopolies Act last week to counter the monopolized medical field, in step with their second bipartisan bill, The Break Up Big Medicine Act. The Patients Before Monopolies Act prohibits pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the middlemen between pharmacies and insurance companies, from owning pharmacies and hospitals, Hawley explained.

“What’s happening is more and more of these insurance companies are buying up everything,” Hawley told The Lion. “They’re buying up the pharmacies. They’re buying up the doctor’s offices. They’re buying up the hospitals.”

@HawleyMO

Read full story: https://t.co/XqTHsgh1mD

[Jen Laws - Policy Candy @PolicyCandy]

I think about this a lot.

[Rolling Stone @RollingStone]

Martina McBride’s ‘Independence Day���: How a Song About Domestic Violence Got Mistaken for a Patriotic Anthem
https://t.co/LmfWywh31p

[Adrianna McIntyre (@adrianna.bsky.social) @onceuponA]

Congress set a June 1 deadline — Monday — for CMS to issue detailed regulations on how states must operationalize Medicaid work requirements, leaving states with just 7 months to finalize implementation with guidance in hand.

There are still a lot of known unknowns.

[Melinda Deslatte @MelindaDeslatte]

FINAL PASSAGE: With a 72-25 vote, House gives final passage to Rep. Tony Bacala's bill to allow the legislative auditor's office to use state income tax return data to check eligibility in Medicaid and food stamp programs. HB181 heads to governor's desk. #lalege

[ATR @taxreformer]

Hospital prices have skyrocketed 281% over the past 25 years; outpacing inflation, wages, housing, and childcare.

Meanwhile, government distortions like 340B abuse, provider tax schemes, and bans on physician-owned hospitals have weakened competition and driven up costs for taxpayers.

https://t.co/Li68MpIUk0

[STAT @statnews]

The public is about to get its first look at the prices of drugs launched since President Trump struck his most-favored-nation deals with 17 drugmakers. https://t.co/ATDNbWKYJA

[Brian Blase @brian_blase]

New op-ed with @johnrgraham

"The hospital lobby is powerful, and change will require overcoming their lobbying efforts to protect the status quo. ... [H]ealthcare will remain unaffordable until the cronyism comes to a halt."

Read the full piece here: https://t.co/gT4mw0qN49

[KFF @KFF]

Our new policy watch provides insights into how North Carolina is preparing to implement certain Medicaid provisions of the 2025 reconciliation law amid Medicaid budget shortfalls: https://t.co/T7h5F38naR

[Bob Herman @bobjherman]

NEW: Massachusetts is suing UnitedHealthcare, alleging the company intentionally made low-income seniors appear sicker than they were over the past decade to boost its bottom line. https://t.co/sVFVjrDGfo

[Joan Alker @JoanAlker1]

Our updated @georgetownccf tracker finds that 16 months into President Trump’s 2nd term, Medicaid is covering 2 million fewer children.

This is very bad news b/c the child uninsured rate is likely going up as a result.

And this is before HR 1 Medicaid cuts kick in.

[Jen Laws - Policy Candy @PolicyCandy]

@stephgracela Committee chair position loss is a whole ass thing.

[Alliance for Integrity and Reform of 340B @AIR340B]

“If a 340B hospital system buys out the independent practice, all of a sudden it can take advantage of 340B spread pricing, acquiring drugs at the discounted rate and selling them at full price.” – @MassOsteopathic Stephanie Henley exposes how large hospital systems exploit #340B – leading to increased consolidation of independent practices, higher health care costs and fewer choices. Read more in @MassLivenews: https://t.co/KFe40YjmV7