Environment and Health
Tax Cuts for the Rich Are Threatening America’s Sacred Places
Right now in Washington, D.C., Congress is making decisions that will affect my future and that of my people — the Gwich’in Nation of Alaska and Canada. A critical part of our ancestral homelands, the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — one of the...
The Pain Behind Opioid Abuse
Donald Trump recently declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency. At first I thought, is this the first time I approve of something Trump has done? Alas, no. And here's why: Nine years ago, I lost my brother to a heroin overdose. My brother and I...
One Way to Weather Extreme Climate
If There’s a War on Coal, Coal Already Lost
"The war on coal is over," according to Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt spoke these words in a speech to coal miners in Hazard, Kentucky, where he announced the formal repeal of Obama’s Clean Power Plan. What he failed to mention is...
Leading Democrats Are Way Behind the Public on Health Care
Good news, people — at last, congressional Democrats have gotten a clue, grown some spine, and are beginning to act like… well, like progressives. In particular, a majority of Dems in the U.S. House are responding to the rising public demand that decent health care be...
Pruitt Stinks
Grabbing ‘Em
Your Boss Shouldn’t Get to Have ‘Religious’ Objections to Your Health Care
When Obamacare — aka, the Affordable Care Act — became law in 2010, it mandated coverage of birth control without co-payments. Some employers didn't like the rule, and Hobby Lobby hated it so much that the company filed a lawsuit to stop it. Company owners said they...
Don’t Mess With the Disability Community
The GOP twice failed to pass health care legislation this year. The bills fell short for many reasons, but I see an important one: By including drastic cuts to Medicaid benefits in their bills, Republican leaders picked a fight with the disability community. Hell hath...
We Get Sick, They Get Rich
Our current health care system in the United States works just fine — for the corporate executives who run it. Take, for instance, Michael Mussallem, the CEO at Edwards Lifesciences — a California-based company that makes heart valves and assorted other medical...
