In a rare Saturday afternoon announcement, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it will stop collecting and paying out money under the ACA’s “risk adjustment” program, drawing swift protest from the health insurance industry.
Risk adjustment is one of three methods built into the 2010 health-care law to help insulate insurance companies from the ACA requirement that they accept all customers for the first time — healthy and sick — without charging more to those who need substantial care.
In its announcement, CMS said that it is not going to make $10.4 billion in payments that are due to insurers in the fall for expenses incurred by insurers last year.
This is the latest step the Trump administration has taken in its attempts to dismantle the healthcare law via executive powers.
In 2017, the sign-up period for Americans to buy ACA health plans was cut in half by healthcare officials.
Also, the advertising campaign for the signup period was cut by 90 percent.
Last October, the president ended cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers, which helps balance the law’s requirement to provide discounts on deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs to low-income customers.
David Range, who wrestled for Ohio State in the late 1980s, said Jordan had to have known about alleged sexual misconduct by Richard Strauss, an athletic doctor whose behavior is under investigation by the school, because it happened regularly to team members and people talked about it. Jordan has denied he knew, saw or heard about any inappropriate behavior while he was an assistant wrestling coach from 1987 to 1995.
“Jordan definitely knew that these things were happening — yes, most definitely,” Range told The Washington Post. “It was there. He knew about it because it was an everyday occurrence.”
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Two former college wrestlers have accused Rep. Jim Jordan (R) of knowing about alleged sexual abuse of wrestlers at Ohio State University three decades ago and failing to act.
Jordan (R-Ohio) responded after two former Ohio State wrestlers told NBC News on the record that he must have known about abuse allegations against Richard Strauss, a former doctor in Ohio State’s athletics department. Jordan served as assistant wrestling coach at the university from 1987 to 1995.
“Congressman Jordan never saw any abuse, never heard about any abuse, and never had any abuse reported to him during his time as a coach at Ohio State,” Ian Fury, a spokesman for Jordan, said in a statement. “He has not been contacted by investigators about the matter but will assist them in any way they ask, because if what is alleged is true, the victims deserve a full investigation and justice.”
Former Ohio State wrestler Mike DiSabato told NBC News that Jordan is a “liar” for saying he did not know about the alleged abuse.
“He knew,” DiSabato said in a brief phone interview with The Post. “That’s not a question. Why he had a spokesman put out misinformation is frankly beyond comprehension, because is he the target of this? No. It was common knowledge and he knew.”
DiSabato said he was first abused by Strauss at 14 as a high school wrestler. He said he believes Strauss abused 1,000-2,000 young athletes.
“He was Larry Nassar before Larry Nassar,” DiSabato said, referring to the disgraced former sports physician who was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing girls and young women.
This is a major scandal.
Jim Jordan is a major player in the House GOP caucus
He now stands accused of ignored systemic sexual abuse at Ohio State, where he used to be a wrestling coach https://t.co/EvxcIWIJwq
Incredible. This guy @Jim_Jordan has spent the last year dragging FBI officials into House hearings and screaming at them for not giving Congress enough information…and now he’s accused of not reporting a child molester to school administrators. https://t.co/RpYWbyBMbu
Broadway Barks, the star-studded dog and cat adoption event benefiting New York City animal shelters and adoption agencies, will return for its 20th edition this summer.
The event, produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, will again take place in Shubert Alley. Festivities begin at 3 pm. The always popular “pet parade” where Broadway actors introduce adoptable pets from citywide animal shelters begins after 5 pm.
Broadway Barks co-founder and Broadway legend Bernadette Peters will be joined by her Hello, Dolly! co-star Victor Garber as hosts of the event.
Celebrity guests will include Kate Baldwin, Melissa Benoist, Erich Bergen, Matt Bomer, Charlie Carver, Kevin Chamberlin, Gavin Creel, Renée Fleming, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Rachel Bay Jones, Telly Leung, Kevin Ligon, Katharine McPhee, Bebe Neuwirth, Alex Newell, Ashley Park, Mary Beth Peil, Isaac Powell, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells, Evan Todd, Taylor Trensch, Michael Urie, Max von Essen, Michael Benjamin Washington, Tuc Watkins, Barrett Wilbert Weed, Sam Wolf and Amra-Faye Wright. Special guests are subject to change.
Since the first Broadway Barks, more than 2,000 cats and dogs have been adopted thanks to a bit of help from their famous Broadway pals. Approximately 85% of these furry friends have successfully found forever homes.
The event is free. Funds raised from a raffle, silent auction, signed memorabilia sales and donations are distributed to the participating shelters and rescue groups.
Broadway Barks was started in 1998 by Peters and her best friend, acclaimed actress Mary Tyler Moore, who passed away in 2017.
In the aftermath of sex abuse allegations against actor Kevin Spacey, Netflix cut the Oscar winner loose from the acclaimed series House of Cards and has announced the final season of the political drama will focus on Robin Wright’s “Claire Underwood” serving as president of the United States.
The streaming network dropped this tease on July 4 with Wright delivering the single line, “Happy Independence Day, to me.”
The last season saw ‘Claire’ ascend to the presidency with the promise that she would pardon Spacey’s ‘Frank Underwood’ from multiple crimes. The final scene saw ‘Claire’ dodge that promise, and for the first time she turned to address the viewing audience (as ‘Frank’ had done throughout the series) and say, “My turn.”
Both hubby Michael and I are big fans of the series. At any given badass moment, we’ve declared to the living room, “I want to be Claire Underwood!”
This is just terrible. Not how our community should be acting.
According to Gay Star News, a group of transphobic lesbians commandeered the lead spot for the Pride Parade in London today, and handed out flyers protesting transgender folks.
A group of lesbian activists blocked the start of the Pride in London march today (7 July) in protest against transgender women. A group of eight women stormed the parade route without accreditation. Then five of them laid down on the road in front of the parade and draped a banner over them.
The banner read: ‘Transactivism erases lesbians’. They then blocked the parade route for about 10 minutes. One of the activists shouted out: ‘A man who says he’s a lesbian is a rapist.’
The group also had a banner that said ‘Lesbian = female homosexual’, as well as flyers with the organization ‘Get the L out’ as the headline.
PinkNews reports that at the end of the parade route, a confrontation erupted between the women and other LGBT attendees, angry that Pride had been led by a group seeking to exclude trans people.
One of the people involved in the confrontation told PinkNews, “They hate trans people, they hate sex workers … they are just as bad as bigots saying gay people go to hell. It’s disgusting, this is a problem with what Pride has become.”
The organizer of the parade, Pride In London, issued this statement:
“Every year, Pride is attended by hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrate that Pride still matters. Given the hot weather and in the interest of the safety for everyone attending today’s event, the parade group was allowed to move ahead.
“We do not condone their approach and message and hope the actions of a very small number people does not overshadow the messages of the 30,000 people marching today.”
London Pride this year, first group to pass was TERFs with a “transactivism erases lesbians” banner. Almost got in trouble with police shouting at them to fuck off. Pride is a riot, and I won’t stand quietly while I’m told I’m not welcome at pride as a trans lesbian.
So they’re allowing a group of TERFS to start the pride parade in London, and now the group are protesting by lying on the floor stopping the parade from happening. Cba man pic.twitter.com/Ff3jfQ1gko
Imagine being trans, coming to LGBT Pride in London, and discovering that there is a group at the front with a banner declaring that trans folks “erase” lesbians. I hope @PrideInLondon will act quickly and decisively – from one feed I saw they appeared to be leading the march!
BREAKING: @PrideInLondon organisers admit they decided to allow anti-trans protesters to lead the parade, “in the interest of safety”. pic.twitter.com/Gt3gHVpZa6
Disgraceful that anti-trans protestors were allowed to lead #prideinlondon today. @prideinlondon need to apologise immediately for allowing this to happen. These people should never be allowed to march at pride again. LGBT Labour stand shoulder to shoulder with our trans members.
This year the event takes place on July 28 featuring, in addition to Imagine Dragons, artists like Zedd, Grace Vanderwaal, Vagabon, and others at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
“I think the LOVELOUD stage is the most important stage I will ever stand on,” the 30-year-old recently told Queerty. “The festival has helped facilitate vital conversation about what it means to truly love and accept our LGBTQ youth.”
excited to announce that this yr, @LOVELOUDfest will be joining forces with @ATT to keep the dialogue going about how we can better serve our LGBTQ+ youth in our homes & communities. I hope 2 see u there and am wishing the entire LGBTQ+ community a #happypridemonth#attinfluencerpic.twitter.com/mDbaCWNSOM
AT&T has teamed up with Reynolds for the LOVELOUD festival as a sponsor.
A longtime LGBTQ ally, AT&T has generously donated $1 million this year to The Trevor Project, the nation’s leading organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth aged 10 – 24, and LGBTQ youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to their heterosexual peers.
In addition to the huge donation, the single largest in the 20-year history of The Trevor Project, AT&T will also donate more than $675,000 worth of AT&T products and services as well as technology & connectivity expertise.
For a chance to win a free VIP trip to the LOVELOUD festival including tickets, travel and accommodations, download the AT&T THANKS app and enter the sweepstakes on the app.
Plus, from July 11-16, 2018, AT&T THANKS will be running a Social LOVELOUD Giveaway Contest for 10 pairs of concert tickets to the show.
Customers are asked to share why they want to “Turn Up the Love” to enter for a chance to Win tickets to the LOVELOUD Festival.
Donald Trump’s Saturday morning tweet shared the news that Twitter is now suspending or deleting fake accounts at a much higher pace than ever before in an attempt to stave the flow of fake news.
For once, he actually tweeted something true. At least, the first sentence is true. Then he goes into his used-car salesman routine.
“Twitter is getting rid of fake accounts at a record pace. Will that include the Failing New York Times and propaganda machine for Amazon, the Washington Post, who constantly quote anonymous sources that, in my opinion, don’t exist – They will both be out of business in 7 years!” wrote the Trumpster.
Ironically, the tweet was clearly inspired by this story in the (ahem) Washington Post.
Twitter is getting rid of fake accounts at a record pace. Will that include the Failing New York Times and propaganda machine for Amazon, the Washington Post, who constantly quote anonymous sources that, in my opinion, don’t exist – They will both be out of business in 7 years!
While Trump loves to say the ‘anonymous sources’ quoted by major newspapers and media outlets don’t really exist, the fact is the journalists at outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post love winning awards and being heralded for their work. And all it takes is one manufactured “quote” to ruin a lifetime of reputation.
No true journalist is going to commit professional suicide over Donald Trump. It’s just not going to happen.
People may make mistakes. And when it happens, we see outlets like the New York Times or the Washington Post print a retraction/correction.
• A barista at Starbucks has been fired for mocking a man who stutters. After stuttering on his name during his order, the barista replied, ‘Okay, S-s-s-sam.’ When he received his coffee, his name on the cup was written as ‘SSSAM.’
• Scarlett Johansson cast herself in the role of a transgender man in the upcoming film, Rub & Tug, and folks are not happy about it.
• I’ve been meaning to post this really heartwarming viral video of four fathers attending Pride for the first time with their LGBTQ children.
Produced as an ad spot for Dublin Bus, its really beautiful seeing the kids faces upon hearing their dads were heading to Pride with them on a rainbow-colored bus. Watch the short spot below.
A new survey shows 3 in 10 lesbian, gay or bisexual people (LGB) would ‘swipe left’ on a dating app to reject someone who is HIV positive even if those people are on effective treatment.
The research, conducted by YouGov for the UK-based Terrence Higgins Trust, showed 35% of respondents would reject someone who was openly HIV positive on dating apps like Tinder and Grindr.
Additionally, 31% admitted they didn’t know how they would react.
The deep dive into attitudes towards sex, relationships and HIV, reveals a disheartening level of bias caused in great part by a lack of understanding of HIV transmission.
Also from the survey:
• 43% said they would be uncomfortable kissing someone with HIV in spite of the fact that science has shown for decades HIV can’t be passed on through kissing
• 77% indicated they wouldn’t be comfortable having comdomless sex with someone HIV positive
• 55% said they don’t believe HIV positive people with undetectable viral loads can’t infect another person
The PARTNER study examined 58,000 instances of sex between an HIV positive person on effective treatment and a partner without HIV, and there were zero cases of HIV transmission.
Ian Green, chief executive at Terrence Higgins Trust, speaking to Pink News, said, “It’s truly devastating to hear that so many wouldn’t swipe right for or even kiss someone living with HIV who’s on effective treatment.
“We’ve known for three decades that HIV can’t be passed on through day-to-day contact and that includes kissing.”
Terrence Higgins Trust has launched their Can’t Pass It On campaign to promote the truth and science about HIV transmission and combat the stigma of HIV. The campaign gives people living with HIV a very easy way to inform and educate without having to get into specifics.
From the website: “By helping to spread the word and ensure that people know the facts about HIV and effective treatment, we hope to tackle stigma and remove the fear that often surrounds the virus.”
Maine Gov. Paul LePage has vetoed legislation that would have protected LGBTQ youth from the harmful practice of so-called “conversion therapy.”
In doing so, LePage becomes the first governor in the United States to veto such legislation.
The vetoed bill, LD 912, would have prohibited the advertising, offering or administering conversion therapy to individuals under 18 years of age in Maine as an unfair trade practice, penalizing mental health workers who engage in the practice with loss of their license.
Included in the bill was a carve-out for members of the clergy as long as they didn’t receive any monetary compensation.
LePage told state lawmakers in a statement he was concerned about the ‘religious liberty’ of parents to decide how and if their children are exposed to the dangerous practice.
This isn’t LePage’s first trip to the anti-LGBTQ rodeo.
In 2016, LePage famously left a profanities-laced voicemail message for a political opponent that included the use of the anti-gay slur “cocksucker.”
To date, 14 states – Connecticut, California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New York, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Washington, Maryland, Hawaii, New Hampshire – plus Washington, D.C. have enacted legislation to ban the widely discredited practice of “ex-gay” therapy.
Even in his own party, the Republican governor is woefully out of step.
GOP governors in New Jersey, Illinois, New Mexico, Nevada, Maryland and New Hampshire have understood the dangers “conversion therapy” can have on young people.
Mainstream medical organizations including the American Psychological Association, the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have all denounced the practice.
The Maine bill passed in the state House by 80-55 and in the Maine Senate 19-12 in a special legislative session last month.
LGBTQ advocacy organizations are calling for state lawmakers to override the governor’s veto.
Marty Rouse, HRC National Field Director, issued a statement which read, in part, “Governor LePage’s shameful decision to veto this life-saving legislation leaves Maine’s LGBTQ youth at risk of being subjected to a practice that amounts to nothing less than child abuse.”
“These crucial protections are supported by a bipartisan majority, and have been signed into law in a growing number of other states by both Democratic and Republican governors — including by the Republican governor in neighboring New Hampshire mere weeks ago.”
“With this inexcusable decision, Governor LePage has become the only governor in the nation to veto legislation protecting young people from this abuse, solidifying his place in history’s hall of shame.”
Janson Wu, executive director of GLBTQ Advocates & Defenders, called LePage’s veto a “heartless and dangerous action” that leaves LGBT lives at risk.
“Gov. LePage had an opportunity to protect Maine youth from these harms, and to ensure parents are not misled into subjecting their children to an unsafe and ineffective so-called ‘treatment,’” Wu said.
“Instead, the governor has sent a signal that the risk of hurting LGBTQ youth is acceptable.”
