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The AMA Gets Out Of The Way Of #MedicareForAll

In a major step forward in the fight for universal health care, the American Medical Association (AMA) has pulled out of a lobbying group that seeks to undermine the growing support for Medicare For All. “The AMA has made the right – if overdue – call by leaving the Partnership For America’s Health Care Future, and to stop giving their credibility to this effort by big corporations to put profits before people’s health,” said George Goehl, the director of People’s Action, one of the nation’s largest networks of multiracial grassroots groups. Despite its benevolent-sounding name, this Partnership was formed in 2018 by the nation’s largest drugmakers, insurance companies and private hospitals, with the express intent to kill momentum towards universal health coverage. This April, nearly a thousand People’s Action members took over the lobby of the Partnership’s offices in Washington, D.C., to challenge this. Then in June, People’s Action activists from the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, Physicians for a National Health Care Program and Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP) occupied the main floor of AMA’s national convention in Chicago to demand they end their opposition to Medicare For All. Some AMA members seem to have been moved by the stories of those failed by our health care system, as now the association has pulled out of the PAHCF. “We’re glad the AMA has finally seen the light, and has stepped aside in the best interest of everyone – patients and physicians,” said Connie Huynh, who helped organize the protests in Washington and Chicago, and leads People’s Action’s ‘Health Care for All’ campaign. “But we won’t rest until everyone has the health care we all need and deserve: Medicare For All.”

AMA Drops Out Of Industry Group Opposed To Medicare Expansion

AMA drops out of industry coalition opposed to Medicare expansion. Politico: "The American Medical Association has quit a coalition that's led the health industry's fight against Medicare expansion, the first crack in its opposition to Democratic candidates' proposals. The AMA's logo is no longer visible on the website of the Partnership for America's Health Care Future, and multiple individuals with knowledge of the decision told POLITICO that the physicians' organization decided to drop out after the coalition broadened its opposition last month from 'Medicare for All' to more incremental proposals like former Vice President Joe Biden's plan for a government-run public option. The AMA in June agreed at an annual meeting to study the feasibility of a public option after years of opposition to single-payer health care. 'They caved to the hard left, plain and simple,' said a representative from another of the coalition's member organizations. 'This is about members of the AMA, not members of the partnership.'"

Appeals Court Rules Migrant Kids Need Soap, Sleep, Clean Water

Appeals court rules Trump administration must provide hygiene products at migrant facilities. The Hill: "A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a previous court order mandating the Trump administration provide basic personal hygiene items to children in detention at facilities in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. The ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Fransisco hands a loss to the Trump administration, which had challenged a lower court decision two years ago ordering U.S. officials to provide basic personal hygiene items as well as adequate sleeping conditions, temperatures and food and water to children in detention at facilities in the Rio Grande Valley. The appeals court's ruling essentially backs the two-decade old Flores agreement, which mandates key aspects of how immigrant children can be held by authorities, including that they be kept under the 'least restrictive conditions' possible. 'Assuring that children eat enough edible food, drink clean water, are housed in hygienic facilities with sanitary bathrooms, have soap and toothpaste, and are not sleep-deprived are without doubt essential to the children’s safety.'"

Court May End Protections For TPS Migrants

U.S. appeals court appears likely to rule for Trump on ending protections for many immigrants. LA Times: "A federal appeals court on Wednesday appeared likely to allow the Trump administration to end humanitarian protections for immigrants from Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua and El Salvador. During a hearing, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals expressed skepticism of an injunction handed down last year by a San Francisco-based federal judge preventing the administration from lifting the protections. About 300,000 immigrants from those four countries have been allowed to live and work in the United States because of unsafe conditions in their homelands. Most have lived in the U.S. for decades, and many have children who are U.S. citizens. Once their designated protected status is removed, the immigrants would be subject to removal after 120 days. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and other civil rights groups obtained the preliminary injunction after arguing that the administration’s decision stemmed from racial bias."

Warren Rolls Out Plan to Defend Native Rights

Warren takes on DNA test fallout with sweeping tribal plan. Politico: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren has rolled out many detailed plans on the presidential campaign trail but on Friday she released her longest, most comprehensive one. The topic: Native Americans and tribal rights. The proposal, released ahead of a presidential forum on the topic in Iowa next Monday, comes as Warren has risen in the polls and President Donald Trump has stepped up his attacks on the Massachusetts senator and her past claims of Native American heritage. 'The story of America’s mistreatment of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians is a long and painful one, rooted in centuries of discrimination, neglect, greed, and violence,' Warren wrote in a Medium post. 'Washington owes Native communities a fighting chance to build stronger communities and a brighter future.' At over 9,000 words, the plan is more than double the length of any other proposal she’s introduced during her presidential campaign. That includes her ambitious plans to break up some of the biggest tech companies in the world, forgive over $600 billion in student loan debt, and revamp the federal government’s rural policy."

Car Rams Protesters At ICE Detention Center

Car speeds into crowd of ICE protesters outside detention facility. NPR: "A man drove a car into a group of peaceful demonstrators on Wednesday evening protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement policies outside a detention facility in Central Falls, R.I. After a video of the incident went viral, the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility said that it has placed a correctional officer named Thomas Woodworth on administrative leave pending an independent investigation. A spokesperson for the facility would not confirm that Woodworth was the driver, saying that is 'subject to the investigation.' The protest was organized by a group called Never Again Action, which says that several demonstrators sustained injuries there. The group is made up of Jewish community members 'protesting the prison's contract with ICE and the inhumane treatment of these people by ICE,' protest organizer Amy Anthony told NPR."

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