Steve Martin
@old33.bsky.social
Reposted by Steve Martin
😱YIKES
New guidance from the Trump Administration's CMS cites Secretarial discretion to DROP mandatory state reporting of immunization rates for children + pregnant adults covered by Medicaid/CHIP
This is close to 1/2 the children in the US and more than 40% of births
medicaid.gov/federal-policy…
New guidance from the Trump Administration's CMS cites Secretarial discretion to DROP mandatory state reporting of immunization rates for children + pregnant adults covered by Medicaid/CHIP
This is close to 1/2 the children in the US and more than 40% of births
medicaid.gov/federal-policy…
https://medicaid.gov/federal-policy…
January 3, 2026 at 11:31 PM
😱YIKES
New guidance from the Trump Administration's CMS cites Secretarial discretion to DROP mandatory state reporting of immunization rates for children + pregnant adults covered by Medicaid/CHIP
This is close to 1/2 the children in the US and more than 40% of births
medicaid.gov/federal-policy…
New guidance from the Trump Administration's CMS cites Secretarial discretion to DROP mandatory state reporting of immunization rates for children + pregnant adults covered by Medicaid/CHIP
This is close to 1/2 the children in the US and more than 40% of births
medicaid.gov/federal-policy…
Reposted by Steve Martin
Today on Volts: I've got a nerdy one for you! I talk with political scientist @samuel-bagg.bsky.social about the epistemic crisis & its roots in social identity. He explains why factchecking & media literacy classes will never solve misinformation -- why something deeper & stronger is required.
The cure for misinformation is not more information or smarter news consumers
Political scientist Samuel Bagg explains why social identity is at the root of the misinformation crisis -- which calls for something deeper than factchecking.
www.volts.wtf
December 19, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Today on Volts: I've got a nerdy one for you! I talk with political scientist @samuel-bagg.bsky.social about the epistemic crisis & its roots in social identity. He explains why factchecking & media literacy classes will never solve misinformation -- why something deeper & stronger is required.
Reposted by Steve Martin
A recent modeling study in JAMA showed that if MMR vaccine rates drop 10% (easy to see happen with this), we’re back to 400,000-500,000 cases a year. Our current outbreak is 2,000. This turns the clock back to 1950 🚨🚨🚨
It is utterly catastrophic that RFK Jr. plans to end CDC recommendations for most childhood vaccines.
It’s a betrayal of science, ethics, compassion, and the people of the United States.
And it was also a specific goal of Project 2025 (page 254).
It’s a betrayal of science, ethics, compassion, and the people of the United States.
And it was also a specific goal of Project 2025 (page 254).
December 20, 2025 at 1:29 AM
A recent modeling study in JAMA showed that if MMR vaccine rates drop 10% (easy to see happen with this), we’re back to 400,000-500,000 cases a year. Our current outbreak is 2,000. This turns the clock back to 1950 🚨🚨🚨
Reposted by Steve Martin
The Trump Administration has released preliminary guidance on mandatory Medicaid work requirements. We will read and share thoughts soon here and on our website ccf.georgetown.edu
medicaid.gov/federal-poli...
medicaid.gov/federal-poli...
medicaid.gov
December 8, 2025 at 9:36 PM
The Trump Administration has released preliminary guidance on mandatory Medicaid work requirements. We will read and share thoughts soon here and on our website ccf.georgetown.edu
medicaid.gov/federal-poli...
medicaid.gov/federal-poli...
Reposted by Steve Martin
Sam the rural health advoCATe is yowling: a potentially great analyses but authors don't know rural definitions. Micropolitan is a rural county with a town of between 10K and ≤50k folks. Illustration in first comment.
@jamanetworkopen.com
#PowerOfRuralCats
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
@jamanetworkopen.com
#PowerOfRuralCats
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Hospital Mergers, Hospital Choice, and Care Quality for Pregnant Enrollees in Medicaid
This study uses hospital discharge data for labor and delivery admissions across 9 states and over 14 years to describe associations between hospital mergers and access to and quality of care for Medi...
jamanetwork.com
December 5, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Sam the rural health advoCATe is yowling: a potentially great analyses but authors don't know rural definitions. Micropolitan is a rural county with a town of between 10K and ≤50k folks. Illustration in first comment.
@jamanetworkopen.com
#PowerOfRuralCats
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
@jamanetworkopen.com
#PowerOfRuralCats
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Reposted by Steve Martin
In a rare spot of good news from federal CMS, the Iowa Medicaid 1115 waiver (this is their Medicaid expansion) was just extended for 1 year and the waiver of the important non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) benefit will sunset 12/31/26.
medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
medicaid.gov
December 1, 2025 at 5:43 PM
In a rare spot of good news from federal CMS, the Iowa Medicaid 1115 waiver (this is their Medicaid expansion) was just extended for 1 year and the waiver of the important non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) benefit will sunset 12/31/26.
medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
medicaid.gov/medicaid/sec...
Reposted by Steve Martin
This is an insightful but deeply upsetting article about why everyone in the US feels poor, and why the current political situation emerges as a direct result.
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 AM
This is an insightful but deeply upsetting article about why everyone in the US feels poor, and why the current political situation emerges as a direct result.
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Reposted by Steve Martin
Biden didn’t release the Epstein files because Merrick Garland was actively investigating Epstein/Maxwell co-conspirators all the way up until January 2025. Then Trump shuttered the probe. www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey...
House Democrats press DOJ for details on Epstein co-conspirators probe that was "inexplicably killed"
Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein provided the Justice Department with "precise and detailed" information about 20 alleged co-conspirators, House Democrats say.
www.cbsnews.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Biden didn’t release the Epstein files because Merrick Garland was actively investigating Epstein/Maxwell co-conspirators all the way up until January 2025. Then Trump shuttered the probe. www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey...
Reposted by Steve Martin
This is far worse than anyone expected.
Trump's HUD plan would cut *two-thirds* of permanent housing and push as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back onto the street—redirecting funds to work mandates, forced treatment, and encampment sweeps.
All as mass internment camps are being built.
Trump's HUD plan would cut *two-thirds* of permanent housing and push as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back onto the street—redirecting funds to work mandates, forced treatment, and encampment sweeps.
All as mass internment camps are being built.
Trump Administration to Drastically Cut Housing Grants
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:21 AM
This is far worse than anyone expected.
Trump's HUD plan would cut *two-thirds* of permanent housing and push as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back onto the street—redirecting funds to work mandates, forced treatment, and encampment sweeps.
All as mass internment camps are being built.
Trump's HUD plan would cut *two-thirds* of permanent housing and push as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people back onto the street—redirecting funds to work mandates, forced treatment, and encampment sweeps.
All as mass internment camps are being built.
Reposted by Steve Martin
Update: The Trump admin is appealing today's order requiring USDA to make full funding available by tomorrow for this month's SNAP food aid during the government shutdown.
Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
November 6, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Update: The Trump admin is appealing today's order requiring USDA to make full funding available by tomorrow for this month's SNAP food aid during the government shutdown.
Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Reposted by Steve Martin
Managed care plans offer recommendations to CMS on rollout of Medicaid work requirements www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/manag...
Managed care plans offer recommendations to CMS on rollout of Medicaid work requirements
Two leading organizations representing Medicaid managed care plans are offering several key suggestions to the Trump administration for managing the rollout of work requirements in the program. | Two ...
www.fiercehealthcare.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Managed care plans offer recommendations to CMS on rollout of Medicaid work requirements www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/manag...
Reposted by Steve Martin
Researchers worry that Medicaid home care eligibility decisions are often made without public scrutiny and based less on health than on cost.
www.statnews.com/2025/10/24/a...
www.statnews.com/2025/10/24/a...
Algorithms used to determine Medicaid eligibility for home care vary widely among states
Researchers worry that Medicaid home care eligibility decisions are often made without public scrutiny and based less on health than on cost.
www.statnews.com
October 24, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Researchers worry that Medicaid home care eligibility decisions are often made without public scrutiny and based less on health than on cost.
www.statnews.com/2025/10/24/a...
www.statnews.com/2025/10/24/a...
Reposted by Steve Martin
The constitution isn’t a suicide pact, but at this point republicans and democrats have fundamentally contradictory ideas about what would constitute suicide. Basically, democrats think allowing Trump to rule as a dictator would be national suicide and republicans think the opposite.
“That's like an existential threat for congressional power…How do you negotiate a longer-term spending deal…when you don't believe the executive branch is going to implement whatever choices it is that you put into that law?" Via Reuters
US government shutdown threatens the spending power of Congress
As Republican and Democratic lawmakers trade blame for the U.S. government shutdown, some have begun to worry that the impasse is ceding their authority over federal spending to an increasingly assertive President Donald Trump.
www.reuters.com
October 26, 2025 at 1:56 PM
The constitution isn’t a suicide pact, but at this point republicans and democrats have fundamentally contradictory ideas about what would constitute suicide. Basically, democrats think allowing Trump to rule as a dictator would be national suicide and republicans think the opposite.
Reposted by Steve Martin
This is very good
October 22, 2025 at 11:52 PM
This is very good
Reposted by Steve Martin
Not to diminish law review articles & law school committee work, but right now law professors should be working collectively on an intellectual & service project of immense, existential importance: building consensus around a revolutionary constitutional framework-of a Reconstruction 2.0 magnitude.
October 22, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Not to diminish law review articles & law school committee work, but right now law professors should be working collectively on an intellectual & service project of immense, existential importance: building consensus around a revolutionary constitutional framework-of a Reconstruction 2.0 magnitude.
Reposted by Steve Martin
A federal program is promising $50B to reshape rural health care, sparking fierce state competition. Will rural hospitals or new technology companies get the money? #DigitalDivide #Rural https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/rural-health-fund-medicaid-cuts-hospitals-cms-maha/
States Jostle Over $50B Rural Health Fund as Trump’s Medicaid Cuts Trigger Scramble - KFF Health News
States are battling for their piece of $50 billion in federal rural health funding, but it’s not just hospitals vying for the money. Tech startups and policy demands are raising the stakes as Medicaid...
kffhealthnews.org
October 18, 2025 at 8:40 PM
A federal program is promising $50B to reshape rural health care, sparking fierce state competition. Will rural hospitals or new technology companies get the money? #DigitalDivide #Rural https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/rural-health-fund-medicaid-cuts-hospitals-cms-maha/
Reposted by Steve Martin
www.canada.ca/en/canadian-...
Really good to see all of these language agreements. When I went to school French was a normal part of the curriculum and I am glad it was.
Really good to see all of these language agreements. When I went to school French was a normal part of the curriculum and I am glad it was.
Governments of Canada and Prince Edward Island sign a bilateral agreement on minority‑language education and second‑language instruction
The Government of Canada is providing more than $16 million to Prince Edward Island to help offer French as a minority language and French as a second language education, from preschool to the post-se...
www.canada.ca
October 17, 2025 at 6:28 PM
www.canada.ca/en/canadian-...
Really good to see all of these language agreements. When I went to school French was a normal part of the curriculum and I am glad it was.
Really good to see all of these language agreements. When I went to school French was a normal part of the curriculum and I am glad it was.
Reposted by Steve Martin
Motorsports driver Kyle Busch has sued Pacific Life Insurance Company, claiming that the company's negligence, misrepresentations, and omissions have cost him and his wife's trust $8.5 million. #nccourts
October 16, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Motorsports driver Kyle Busch has sued Pacific Life Insurance Company, claiming that the company's negligence, misrepresentations, and omissions have cost him and his wife's trust $8.5 million. #nccourts
Reposted by Steve Martin
Next up: Medicaid 2027
Current and former state Medicaid directors will map out the monumental task ahead as states prepare to roll out new federal work requirements and other provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
@tarabannow.bsky.social moderates.
#STATSummit
Current and former state Medicaid directors will map out the monumental task ahead as states prepare to roll out new federal work requirements and other provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
@tarabannow.bsky.social moderates.
#STATSummit
October 16, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Next up: Medicaid 2027
Current and former state Medicaid directors will map out the monumental task ahead as states prepare to roll out new federal work requirements and other provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
@tarabannow.bsky.social moderates.
#STATSummit
Current and former state Medicaid directors will map out the monumental task ahead as states prepare to roll out new federal work requirements and other provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
@tarabannow.bsky.social moderates.
#STATSummit
Reposted by Steve Martin
15 US states and territories have formed a new Public Health Alliance, which will counter the absence of federal leadership by tracking outbreaks, issuing guidance, buying vaccines and more.
Members of the new alliance include CA, CO, CT, DE, GU, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OR, RI, WA.
Members of the new alliance include CA, CO, CT, DE, GU, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OR, RI, WA.
October 16, 2025 at 4:43 AM
15 US states and territories have formed a new Public Health Alliance, which will counter the absence of federal leadership by tracking outbreaks, issuing guidance, buying vaccines and more.
Members of the new alliance include CA, CO, CT, DE, GU, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OR, RI, WA.
Members of the new alliance include CA, CO, CT, DE, GU, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OR, RI, WA.
Reposted by Steve Martin
We’ve reported extensively on how the FDA allowed foreign drugmakers to send generic medications to the U.S. from factories with filthy labs and contaminated equipment.
This month, we’re digging deeper and could use your help. THREAD/
This month, we’re digging deeper and could use your help. THREAD/
October 11, 2025 at 10:54 PM
We’ve reported extensively on how the FDA allowed foreign drugmakers to send generic medications to the U.S. from factories with filthy labs and contaminated equipment.
This month, we’re digging deeper and could use your help. THREAD/
This month, we’re digging deeper and could use your help. THREAD/
Reposted by Steve Martin
Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”
October 11, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”
Reposted by Steve Martin
Fed. judge grants TRO blocking Trump from deploying National Guard troops to Portland.
Holds that, at this stage, Plaintiffs appear likely to succeed on their ultra vires and Tenth Amendment claims.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Holds that, at this stage, Plaintiffs appear likely to succeed on their ultra vires and Tenth Amendment claims.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
October 4, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Fed. judge grants TRO blocking Trump from deploying National Guard troops to Portland.
Holds that, at this stage, Plaintiffs appear likely to succeed on their ultra vires and Tenth Amendment claims.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Holds that, at this stage, Plaintiffs appear likely to succeed on their ultra vires and Tenth Amendment claims.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Steve Martin
cc Sean Duffy.
Re: DC generally and the Metro specifically, if living in Oakland for 13 years has taught me anything, it's that a lot of people can't tell the difference between being unsafe and the mere presence of non-white people.
October 2, 2025 at 12:15 PM
cc Sean Duffy.