Wednesday, March 13, 2024

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What Is Trump Going To Do With Medicare

No Consensus On Trump Rhetoric

President Trump signs executive order on Medicare

Someother legal experts, including former Justice Department officials, say Trump’s comments likely were protected by the First Amendment.

“He uses heightened rhetoric to talk about inflammatory issues on a large scale and that may in fact motivate people to commit acts of violence, but its a stretch to say anything he said would constitute incitement,” said Amy Collins, a former Justice Department official and criminal defense attorney at law firm Price Benowitz LLP.

Ron Filipkowski, a state and federal prosecutor and current criminal defense lawyer, said there are multiple problems with trying to prove an incitement case against Trump.

First amendment protects a lot of speech people dont like, Filipkowski told USA TODAY, And political speech is considered the highest category of protected free speech.

Also, he said: Words alone isnt really going to give you a provable case. You pretty much have to have a direct assertion ‘I want you to go there and do this now,’ then an immediate reaction by the intended recipient.

So when Trump gives a speech and nothing immediately happens, there is no incitement, Filipkowski said.

Fact Check: Trump Claims Biden Wants To ‘close All Charter Schools’ That’s False

“Biden also vowed to oppose school choice and close all charter schools, ripping away the ladder of opportunity for Black and Hispanic children,” Trump claimed on Tuesday night.

This is false. The Biden campaign does not oppose charter schools, though they’ve advocated against for-profit charter schools and supported different regulations and oversight of the schools.

And while “school choice” is a buzzy word, it can means different things to different people. Trump supports letting students take federal funds to private schools, something Joe Biden and many Democrats oppose, instead supporting allowing families to make choices within publicly-funded school districts.

Watch Ivanka Trumps Full Speech At 2020 Rnc

Ivanka Trumps remarks about the private sector are a reference to the president’s invoking of the Defense Production Act a 1950 law allowing the president to force U.S. businesses to produce materials in the national defense, such as ventilators and medical supplies for health care workers.

But Trump dragged his feet in actually putting the act into effect.

As NBC News noted in a fact check of remarks Tuesday night by Ivanka Trumps brother, Donald Trump Jr., the president had said on March 18 that he was going to invoke the DPA. But he waited more than a week to actually invoke it, finally using it on March 27 to force GM to make ventilators.

During that key stretch, hospitals and doctors implored the administration to use the DPA to increase the capacity to produce needed equipment. In a March 21 letter to Trump, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association all urged Trump to “immediately use the DPA to increase the domestic production of medical supplies and equipment that hospitals, health systems, physicians, nurses and all front line providers so desperately need.” The first case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was found on Jan. 20, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Fact Check: Cotton Claims Biden ‘sent Pallets Of Cash To The Ayatollahs’ Needs Context

This claim, from Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., refers to a $400 million payment the Obama administration made to Iran in January 2016 on the same day Iran released several American prisoners and implemented the nuclear deal.

That sum was actually part of a $1.7 billion settlement to Iran for a decades-long legal dispute that was before an international tribunal in The Hague, the State Department said at the time. The agency characterized the timing of the payment and the release of the American prisoners as coincidental.

A Wall Street Journal report at the time characterized the payment to Iran as a “secretly organized” airlift of euros, Swiss francs and other currencies given to Tehran. Cotton has been a vocal critic of the payment for years, calling even in 2016 that it “ransom to the ayatollahs for U.S. hostages.

Trump Usually Includes New Material In Major Speeches Not Tonight

Medicare Hospital Stay 3 Days: Donald Trump And Medicare

President Trump spoke for roughly 70 minutes on Thursday, one of the longest convention speeches in modern history.

But the speech contained almost nothing that Trump hasnt already said, falling back on lines one would expect to hear in any standard fair Trump stump speech or even a coronavirus briefing: the economy is doing great, Democrats are radicals, America is winning.

The speech didnt have one theme it was built around but rather contained an extensive and often repetitive review of Trumps actions in office and wide-ranging criticisms of Joe Biden. Trump’s address was roughly triple the length of Bidens convention speech.

The president is known to insert new material into his speeches on the trail. It just wasnt the case in one of the biggest speeches of his presidency.

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Changes Fall Far Short

Jayapal on Thursday said the Biden administration didnt go far enough in revamping the model.

While Im glad to see the administration taking steps to redesign this flawed programI am disappointed that these changes will not be enacted for 10 months and that there are no limits on how many seniors are funneled into this experimental model, Jayapal said in the statement from Physicians for a National Health Program. More needs to be done, and I will continue to fight tooth and nail against any and all efforts to privatize Medicare.

Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, which has lobbied to end these arrangements, also said the administrations changes to the model were insufficient.

Changing the name doesnt change the fact that the direct contracting program is backdoor privatization of Medicare. This dangerous experiment must be stopped before it further harms the health of vulnerable seniors, eats into the Medicare Trust Fund, and destroys traditional Medicare, Lawson said The tweaks that CMMI announced today fall far short of that goal.

DCEs and their investorswhich include private equity firmsare focused on generating profits. They are incentivized to deny and delay care as much as possible. There are no changes that can address that fundamental flaw at the heart of the program, he said.

With assistance from

Trump Administrations Harmful Changes To Medicaid

President Trump has made clear that his goal remains to repeal the Affordable Care Act , including its expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults, and to impose rigid caps on the federal governments Medicaid spending. While Congress considered and rejected a series of proposals to cut Medicaid and repeal the ACA in 2017, the Administration has continued to pursue the overarching policy goals of those bills through its budget proposals, litigation seeking to overturn the entire ACA, and administrative actions. Restrictions it has put in place administratively have already cost many thousands of people their health coverage and access to care and could harm millions more.

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Fact Check: Giuliani Wrong About ‘riots’ In ‘democrat’ Cities

Rudy Giuliani made several wrong, exaggerated or misleading claims about policing and law enforcement in the U.S. during his RNC speech Thursday.

Speaking about the protests sparked across the U.S. in response to the death of a Black man, George Floyd, under the knee of a White Minneapolis police officer, Giuliani said, Soon protests turned into riots in many other American cities, almost all Democrats.”

He blamed the violence on “Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA” who he said “sprang into action” and”hijacked peaceful protest into vicious brutal riots.”

He added that, in those riots, “people beaten, shot, and killed. Police officers routinely assaulted, badly beaten, and occasionally murdered.

This is all a substantial distortion and exaggeration of the facts.

According to multiplereports, including a Washington Post fact check, there were no signs that that antifa was behind violence at these protests. As of earlier this month, federal prosecutors had not been able to link dozens of people arrested in protests in Portland, Ore., to antifa.

In fact, in at least one instance where a police officer was killed during a protest, the suspect was actually aligned with a far-right extremist group. In Oakland, Air Force Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo a member of the boogaloo, an online extremist group with violent views is accused of killing a federal officer. Authorities have said he was using nearby peaceful protests as cover.

Fact Check: Ivanka Trump Says Trump’s Actions Have Cut Drug Prices But Drug Prices Have Gone Up

Trump on ABC News town hall: We will protect coverage for preexisting conditions

Recently, he took dramatic action cut the cost of prescription drugs despite fielding angry calls from the CEOs of every major pharmaceutical company, the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump said Thursday night during her primetime address. Now, when we see an attack ad paid for by Big Pharma, my dad smiles and says to me, You know were doing something really right if theyre hitting us so hard.

This is misleading. Drug prices have risen during Trumps administration, and gone up steadily during the pandemic. And while Trump has talked up taking decisive action, his orders remain secret.

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Press Releasetrump Administration Announces Changes To Medicare Advantage And Part D To Provide Better Coverage And Increase Access For Medicare Beneficiaries

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today finalized requirements that will increase access to telehealth for seniors in Medicare Advantage plans, expand the types of supplemental benefits available for beneficiaries with an MA plan who have chronic diseases, provide support for more MA options for beneficiaries in rural communities, and expand access to MA for patients with End Stage Renal Disease . Together, the changes advance President Trumps Executive Orders on Protecting and Improving Medicare for Our Nations Seniors and Advancing American Kidney Health as well as several of the CMS strategic initiatives.

Due to the upcoming June 1, 2020, MA and Part D bid deadlines for the 2021 plan year, CMS is finalizing a subset of the proposed policies before the MA and Part D plans bids are due. CMS plans to address the remaining proposals for plans later in 2020 for the 2022 plan year. We understand that the entire healthcare sector is focused on caring for patients and providing coverage related to coronavirus disease 2019 , and we believe this approach provides plans with adequate time and information to design the best coverage for Medicare beneficiaries.

For a fact sheet on the Contract Year 2021 Medicare Advantage and Part D Final Rule , please visit:

A History Of Borderline Statements

Even if most legal experts say Trump’s comments at his Saturday rally did not amount to incitement, some feared how his speech might affect supporters.

Those kind of remarks, she said, usually didn’t amount to incitement because they were too generalized.

“That changed in December 2020 after he lost the election,” said Kayyem, faculty chair of the Homeland Security Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. “And now I think it’s safe to say that you dont need to parse his words to determine what he wants and what his listeners are hearing.”

“He says who to target. In some cases he says when and where,” Kayyem said. “And he utilizes language that is understood by his listeners as a call to violence.”

More:

One Jan. 6 rioter, Stephen Ayres, testified how he believed Trumps repeated false assertions about the 2020 election being stolen was what prompted him to travel to Washington and join the mob that stormed the Capitol.

Trump launched some especially inflammatory attacks against the FBI and Justice Department after their Mar-a-Lago search last month.

Soon after, a man armed with an AR-15 rifle and a nail gun attacked an Ohio FBI office after posting Kill F.B.I on sight on Trump’s Truth Social site. He was shot and killed in a standoff with police.

Bookbinder told USA TODAY that given Trump’s past history, the Justice Department and FBI need to be prepared to respond.

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A Justice Department Quandary

The incitement issue, according to Rosenzweig,is no different than criminal charges that authorities might ultimately consider filing against Trump for Jan. 6-related activities, his storing of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and other alleged wrongdoings that are currently under active investigation.

“Its another variation of the quandary that the Justice Department has faced all along in dealing with a former president who has repeatedly ignored the law but who is the subject of adulation by a cultish constituency that at times has turned violent, Rosenzweig said. “They have to balance prosecution not just against whether they can win or lose, which is how we normally do it, but really earth-shattering questions like the importance of the rule of law.”

“If he doesnt indict , he opens himself up to charges that he’s giving up the rule of law,” Rosenzweig said of Biden’s appointed top law enforcer. “If he does and he misses, hell be called a fool or worse. And if he does indict, he could face causing a civil war. That isn’t his fault, it’s Trumps, but thats the reality.”

More: Threats toward FBI, law enforcement were already on the rise. Then came Mar-a-Lago

Ja’ron Smith One Of The Top Black Officials In The White House Touts Trump’s Empathy

Trump decreases Medicare by a trillion dollars

Dartunorro Clark

JaRon Smith, an assistant to the president and one of the top senior officials in the administration who is Black, gave a speech touting Trumps empathy on the final night of the RNC.

In the wake of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and LeGend Taliferro, a moment of national racial consciousness. I have seen his true conscience. I just wish everyone could see the deep empathy he shows to families whose loved ones were killed in senseless violence, he said.

However, during the week of the RNC, the racial unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin prompted by the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, has barely been mentioned. Also, no mention of the continued unrest prompted by the killing of two people allegedly by a 17-year-old white Trump supporter.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows also said Thursday no one from the White House has spoken to Blakes family, but Meadows reached out to the familys pastor and conveyed the message of the presidents sympathies.

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First Read: Real World Chaos Undercuts Trump’s Convention Message

Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Carrie Dann and Melissa Holzberg

WASHINGTON For most of this year, the events of 2020 have overshadowed the actual presidential campaign. And its happening again as the Republican convention concludes and with 68 days until Election Day.

A powerful hurricane has slammed into the Louisiana-Texas Gulf Coast. The shooting of Jacob Blake by police has resulted in unrest, further violence and the arrest of a 17-year-old charged with murder during the protests. Also because of the Blake shooting, professional athletes from the NBA and WNBA, to Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and tennis star Naomi Osaka walked off their respective courts and playing fields.

Widow Of Retired Police Captain: Violence Destruction Not Legitimate Forms Of Protest

Trump has threatened protesters and often muddled the line between those peacefully demonstrating and those who have exploited the protests.

His daughters told the paper that although their father loved being a police officer and knew Trump supported law enforcement, he was still aware of institutionalized bias as a Black man.

His passion for law enforcement ran deep, said his daughter Lisa Dorn. He was blue through and through, but he also was a man, a Black man, and he knew some not so good things come out of police departments. He tried to make a difference as much as he could, but he was part of a system with systematic racism.

Ann Dorn, in her speech, gave an emotional plea for peace while talking about her late husband, and implored law enforcement agencies to accept federal help from Trump in the wake of protests.

“We must heal before we can affect change. But we cannot heal amid devastation and chaos. President Trump knows we need more David’s in our communities, not fewer,” she said. “We need to come together in peace. And remember that every life is precious.”

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Undocumented Immigrants Without Health Care Were Some Of The Essential Workers Felled By Covid

Republicans repeated their campaign talking point Thursday night that Democrats want to give health care to immigrants without legal status on Thursday night. But the pandemic has shown some of the consequences of high uninsured rates among people without legal status in the U.S.

Early in the pandemic, meat plants slowed their production and Americans feared meat shortages as workers became ill. Some died.

There are an estimated 10.5 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The rates of uninsured for health care are high for the population. Not all plant workers are undocumented but the agricultural industry and others are known to rely on undocumented workers and immigrants with legal status.

Undocumented workers are not eligible for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid or Medicare and most do not have health care coverage through their employers, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Many forgo health care to avoid exposing their undocumented status or affecting future chances for citizenship. Some states provide health coverage with state funding regardless of status, but others deny health care even to pregnant women.

Some immigrants get health care through non-profit community clinics, but the clinics usually only provide preventive and primary care. Often undocumented immigrants will only seek care when the situation is dire at more costly emergency rooms.

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