Of all the “bitter disappointments” he had as president, Harry Truman once wrote, the “one that has troubled me most, in a personal way,” was the failure to enact a national program that would assure all Americans “a full measure of opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.”

More than 75 years after Truman first proposed universal coverage, Democrats are still chasing his dream. If President Biden’s social policy bill becomes law, they will make major strides toward fulfilling it.

In 1976, House Republicans proposed the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds from covering the cost of abortion care for poor and low-income people. At the time, Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL), the namesake of the amendment, did what Republicans have become infamous for: saying the quiet part out loud. During a House debate on the amendment, the lawmaker said, “I would certainly like to prevent, if I could legally, anybody having an abortion, a rich woman, a middle class woman, a poor woman. Unfortunately, the only vehicle available is the [Medicaid] bill.”

At several points last year, Louise Snodgrass experienced some COVID-like symptoms, but worried each time how much testing or treatment would cost without health insurance.

“I would have set up a doctor’s appointment if I had insurance,” said Snodgrass, 26, who works two jobs to make ends meet in Brookings, South Dakota. “Instead I sat there thinking, ‘What the heck am I going to do? I don’t even know if I’m going to get tested.’”

Texas can move forward with ousting Planned Parenthood from its state Medicaid program, a state district judge ruled Wednesday, dealing a blow to thousands of low-income people who rely on the health care provider for dozens of essential services.

Planned Parenthood says the decision will impact thousands of patients who use its clinics for reproductive health needs, STI testing, pap smears, contraception, mammograms, cancer screenings and other services during a global pandemic, and that it will lead to a shortage in providers for Texas’ most vulnerable people.

With costs rising painfully, insurance companies denying care and nearly 30 million people still uninsured, America desperately needs an honest health policy discussion. That’s why it has been so disappointing over the past several weeks to watch multiple candidates parrot right-wing attacks on "Medicare for All," like claiming that it will greatly increase spending on health care or ringing alarms about raising taxes on the middle class.

This week, President Donald Trump released a $4.8 trillion budget proposal that would further decimate the already weakened social safety net. Trump’s plan would make steep cuts to food stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance, and other welfare programs that millions of Americans rely on.

The Trump administration released guidelines Thursday for letting states accept a limited amount of money to cover poor people in exchange for flexibility in spending the funds.

The program, commonly known as a "block grant," is an approach long favored by conservatives for limiting spending on Medicaid, which pays for healthcare for poor and vulnerable people. Democrats, however, criticize the idea as stripping healthcare benefits from needy people.

(Reuters) - The Trump administration took a first step on Wednesday toward allowing the importation of medicines from Canada, an action the president has advocated as a way to bring cheaper prescription drugs to Americans.

The ruling cost 460,000 residents of the Bluegrass state their vision and dental benefits.

Gov. Matt Bevin, R-Ky., has cut dental and vision benefits under Medicaid in response to a court ruling Friday that blocked his push to install work requirements.