The Dictatorship

Massachusetts advocates fear Trump’s bill will unravel health safety net in Obamacare’s model state

Published

10 months ago

July 4, 2025

Massachusetts advocates fear Trump’s bill will unravel health safety net in Obamacare’s model state

BOSTON (AP) — In the state that served as the model for Obamacareadvocates and health care workers fear the Trump administration is dismantling piece-by-piece a popular program that has provided insurance, preventive care and life-saving medication to hundreds of thousands of people.

The House on Thursday gave final approval to a massive tax and spending cuts bill that strips health insurance from up to a quarter of the roughly 400,000 people enrolled in the Massachusetts Health Connector, according to state estimates.

FILE — A woman walks past a sign outside the Boston Children's Hospital, Aug. 18, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) — FILE — A woman walks past a sign outside the Boston Children’s Hospital, Aug. 18, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

The legislative package — a centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s agenda that he is expected to quickly sign — will create anew the coverage gaps state leaders were working to close when Massachusetts in 2006 became the first U.S. state to enact a law requiring nearly every resident to have health insurance, state officials say. Beyond the effect on residents’ health, losing care could have broader repercussions — both for the program’s finances and residents’ ability to make a living.

“The idea of needing to unwind that now and pull back on that promise and commitment is really frustrating and heartbreaking and cruel and counterproductive,” said Audrey Morse Gasteier, executive director of Massachusetts’ health insurance marketplace.

Trump and Republican supporters in Congress say the changes, which include new documentation requirements and limitations on who can apply for tax credits to help pay for insurance, are necessary to root out what they call fraud, waste and abuse. The Affordable Care Act changes in the bill, along with massive cuts to Medicaid and other programs, will eliminate roughly $1.1 trillion in health care spending over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

In Lawrence, a mill community of around 90,000 people on the Merrimack River, where more than 80% of the population is Hispanic or Latino, Kesia Moreta said she’s already seeing people slip out of the state’s health care network because of the Trump administration’s aggressive effort to crack down on illegal immigration.

Moreta, who manages a program created under the ACA that helps people sign up for coverage, said clients have been missing meetings out of fear that being enrolled for health insurance will harm their effort to stay in the U.S. legally.

Recently, a father of a U.S.-born teenage son with epilepsy deleted every email related to his health plan and stopped answering calls from the Connector after watching reports about deportations on social media. When his son’s medication ran out, Moreta said the father finally reached out, whispering over the phone, “Is this going to get me deported?”

“That breaks our hearts,” Moreta said.

What the big bill does

More than 98% of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, the lowest rate of uninsurance in the country, according to the Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey.

Vicky Pulos, an attorney for the Mass Law Reform Institute who helps low-income people gain access to health care, said Republicans who tried and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act during the first Trump administration have decided to take it apart incrementally despite its growing popularity.

A woman walks toward the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council office where immigrants receive health assistance, June 25, 2025, in Lawrence, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

“It really seems like this is just a less transparent way of effectively dismantling the accomplishments of the Affordable Care Act in both Medicaid and the marketplace,” Pulos said.

The changes, she added, “will massively drive up the number of uninsured but without openly repealing the ACA.”

Another provision in the mega bill requires people applying for or renewing coverage to provide more documentation of their income, household size and immigration status to be eligible for premium tax credits when the state marketplace already has that information, which Morse Gasteier said would cause “friction, red tape and delays.”

The Trump administration has said the proposals will “put a stop” to immigrants “stealing taxpayer-funded health care benefits meant for American citizens.”

No states use federal money to provide health insurance to people who are in the U.S. illegally. Some, like Massachusetts, use state tax dollars to do so to provide basic primary care services for a small population of vulnerable residents, like children.

No undocumented immigrants receive insurance through the state marketplace.

Of the 400,000 enrolled in the state marketplace, around 60,000 are noncitizens who are in the U.S. legally and would lose access to federal premium tax credits. The number includes domestic violence and human trafficking victims, refugees, people granted asylum or humanitarian parole, temporary protected status and other work-authorized immigrants.

Without the credits, premiums will cost upwards of $500 or $600 — an increase many people can’t afford, Morse Gasteier said. Around half are green-card holders with an annual income of $15,000 a year or less.

The remaining 40,000 people expected to lose coverage are U.S. citizens Morse Gasteier said could be stymied in applying or recertifying coverage by provisions like the increased documentation requirements.

Fears of trust l

ost

Morse Gasteier said Massachusetts’ marketplace worked “tirelessly” to enroll vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations after the state program — formed under the leadership of then-Gov. Mitt Romney and known as “Romneycare” — was created.

She worries that if people hear help is no longer available, “entire populations will just sort of give up on health insurance.”

In addition to affecting residents’ health, that could have an economic impact in the state.

Immigrants with legal status enrolled in the state marketplace tend to be younger than the rest of the population, Morse Gasteier said. Their presence brings premiums down for others because they tend to be healthier.

In Lawrence, advocates who help people obtain insurance coverage though the ACA marketplace say the burden would fall disproportionately on people with chronic health issues like diabetes and chronic heart disease.

Massachusetts Health Connector Executive Director Audrey Morse Gasteier poses for a portrait at her desk in the state health insurance marketplace's office Tuesday, July 2, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo /Leah Willingham) — Massachusetts Health Connector Executive Director Audrey Morse Gasteier poses for a portrait at her desk in the state health insurance marketplace’s office Tuesday, July 2, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo /Leah Willingham)

The Greater Lawrence Community Action Council assists around 10,000 people a year with either signing up for or renewing health insurance.

“If you’re not healthy, let me tell you, you can’t work. If you can’t work, you can’t pay your bills. It’s just as simple as that,” said GLCAC CEO Vilma Martinez-Dominguez.

Moreta said one man who called her from the emergency room recently said he discovered his health insurance had lapsed. Moreta said she could help him renew it, and urged him to wait at the hospital.

He told her not to do anything. He was leaving the hospital. She has no idea what became of him.

The Dictatorship

In pursuit of a Jim Crow gerrymander, Georgia’s governor calls another special session

Published

4 hours ago

May 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

In pursuit of a Jim Crow gerrymander, Georgia’s governor calls another special session

May. 14, 2026, 6:03 PM EDT

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is officially joining the GOP’s push to reinstitute Jim Crow governance after conservative Supreme Court justices opened the door to racist gerrymandering with their decision in the Callais v. Louisiana case.

On Wednesday, Kemp — who has signed multiple voter suppression laws in recent years — called for a special legislative session in an effort to gerrymander his state’s congressional districts ahead of the 2028 elections. The map would take effect after this year’s midterms.

Kemp, notably, has been floated as a potential presidential candidate in 2028. His announcement comes as other Republican governors have eagerly pressed conservatives in their states to rig their congressional maps in their favor, now that the Supreme Court has effectively allowed them to draw majority-Black districts out of existence.

Next month’s special session will mark the third time in five years that Georgia Republicans will attempt to gerrymander their map, a remarkable data point underscoring the GOP’s illiberalism in the state.

These repeated returns to the well were rebuked by the Georgia state Senate’s minority leader, Harold Jones II. In a statement on Xhe said in part:

If Republicans ever used their power to help Georgians, they wouldn’t have to waste time and money redrawing the maps every few years to keep their majorities.

June will be our third redistricting since 2021. Republicans need to undo their last gerrymander because it wasn’t good enough to keep their waffling political party in power. Most parties would try out some new ideas. Republicans choose to strip political power from Black people and undo the progress the South made in the last 60 years.

Jones also noted that Black people make up Georgia’s largest bloc of middle-class and working-class voters, adding: “When Republicans strip Black people’s political power away, it doesn’t just strip one community of power. It strips political power from every single middle and working class person and hands it over to billionaires and big corporations.”

🚨Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II released the following statement today on Governor’s Kemp’s call for special session:

“If Republicans ever used their power to help Georgians, they wouldn’t have to waste time and money redrawing the maps every few years to keep their… pic.twitter.com/85Sv2ChNSC

— Georgia Senate Democrats (@GASenateDems) May 13, 2026

As the Southern Poverty Law Center explained in JanuaryGeorgia Republicans forced through a map in 2021 that voting rights activists said discriminated against Black voters. After a federal court struck down that map, Georgia Republicans replaced it with a different map in 2023 that has been similarly criticized.

And now — amid what some people fear could be the largest purge of Black lawmakers from Congress since the Jim Crow era — Kemp is planning yet another assault on Black political power.

And he’s not stopping there. Just a day prior to calling the special session, Kemp signed a law to make elections for district attorneys and other offices nonpartisan in five Atlanta counties where Democratic DAs are in charge, all of whom are Black women.

As writers Jeff Singer and David Nir explained in The Downballotthis change, which is being challenged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, could make it easier for Republicans to flip these five offices.

Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.

The Dictatorship

House Ethics panel confirms misconduct investigation against Rep. Chuck Edwards

Published

5 hours ago

May 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Ethics panel confirms misconduct investigation against Rep. Chuck Edwards

May. 14, 2026, 9:48 PM EDT

The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday that they are investigating whether Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards engaged in sexual misconduct or helped create a hostile workplace environment.

The bipartisan committee said in a statement that it is reviewing allegations that Edwards, 65, “may have created or fostered a hostile work environment and engaged in sexual harassment in violation of the Code of Official Conduct or any other applicable standard of conduct.”

The committee noted that opening and publicly acknowledging the investigation “does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred,” and said no further comments would be made, except as allowed under committee rules.

The investigation comes weeks after Axios first reportedon April 30 that the House Ethics Committee was investigating Edwards, though the outlet did not initially provide details about the allegations. CNN later reported the investigation involves allegations of sexual harassment. NOTUS also reporterd Edwards allegedly maintained a long-term affair with a former aide who is said to have left the office earlier this year.

Days later, Axios reportedthat they reviewed a handwritten letter Edwards gave to a departing female aide that expressed unusually personal and emotional language. Axios also cited sources who allege Edwards gave the aide personal gifts, including jewelry, and later spent time with her after she left his office, including a trip to Las Vegas.

House rules prohibit members of Congress from having sexual relationships with staffers under their supervision.

Edwards has represented North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District since 2023 and is currently seeking reelection. He has been married since 1980.

He said in a statement that he plans to comply with the investigation and “is confident the investigation will expose the facts, not politically motivated fiction.”

During an interview with BLN on Tuesday, Edwards denied any wrongdoing.

“I think you’re gonna find that when Ethics completes their investigation that the facts will have caught up with all the gossip and the rumor,” he said.

Scrutiny over workplace conduct on Capitol Hill has intensified in recent months following the resignations of three lawmakers facing ethics investigations.

Democrat Eric Swalwell of California resignedfrom the House in April after facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, including claims from several women, though he denied wrongdoing. Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, also resigned from the House the same week after admitting to an affair with a staff member — conduct that prompted a House Ethics probe and potential expulsion proceedings. Days later, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick stepped down just before an expected expulsion vote following findings by the House Ethics Committee that she committed numerous violations tied to the misuse of federal funds.

Cases involving alleged misconduct by lawmakers have also increased pressure on congressional leadership to respond swiftly and transparently.

In April, the ethics panel urgedstaff and members to come forward with more reports of workplace misconduct, emphasizing that stronger enforcement depends on greater transparency and accountability.

Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at BLN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.

The Dictatorship

Trump insists U.S.-China relations are in a good place as he wraps up Beijing trip

Published

5 hours ago

May 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump insists U.S.-China relations are in a good place as he wraps up Beijing trip

BEIJING (AP) — As President Donald Trumpwraps up his whirlwind visit to Chinaon Friday, he’s insistent that relations between the world’s two biggest powers are good and getting better despite deep differences on Iran, Taiwan and more.

Trump started his last day in Beijing by insisting in a social media post that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had “congratulated me on so many tremendous successes” and had been referring only to his predecessor, former U.S. President Joe Biden, when he “very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation.”

But Trump’s rosy outlook on the U.S.-China relationship collides with some difficult truths about the thorniest issues between the two superpowers.

Beijing has shown little public interest in U.S. entreaties to get more involved in solving the conflict in Iraneven though Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Xi had in their conversations offered to help. And the White House believes China can still do more to stem the flow of Chinese-made precursor chemicalsinto Mexico used to make illicit fentanyl that has wreaked havoc on many U.S. communities.

Xi, meanwhile, warned Trump during private talks that their differences on the self-ruled island of Taiwan, if handled poorly, could hurtle the world’s dominant powerstoward “clashes and even conflicts,” according to Chinese government officials.

Trump and Xi are set to have more time together at Xi’s official residence in Beijing on Friday before the U.S. leader makes the long journey back to Washington.

Taiwan remains the most important issue for China

Xi’s sharp language on Taiwan loomed large over Thursday’s talks, even as Trump sought to play up the notion that the U.S. and China share a “special relationship.”

But Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News that U.S. policy toward Taiwan was “unchanged” and cautioned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to try to take Taiwan by force. He also framed Xi’s comments as standard practice.

“They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics,” said Rubio, who was among senior aides to join Trump for the talks.

China in recent weeks has sought to put more focus on its view that Taiwan sits at the “core” of its interests and is key to ensuring a stable relationship with the U.S.

Trump has demanded Taiwan increase defense spending, and in December, the White House announced an $11 billion weapons package for Taiwanthe largest ever to the island democracy.

But the U.S. has yet to begin fulfilling the arms sales, and Trump had said he expected to discuss the matter with Xi in Beijing. He’s also groused that Taiwan “stole” America’s semiconductor business and called on Taiwan to paythe U.S. for protection.

All the while, Trump has, with the threat of hefty tariffs and Biden-era incentives, prodded Taipei to agree to massive investmentsin U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and to purchase billions of dollars’ worthof U.S. liquefied natural gas and crude oil. The attitude toward Taiwan has raised questions about whether Trump might be open to dialing back support for the island democracy.

Ma Chun-wei, an expert in China-Taiwan relations at Taiwan’s Tamkang University, said the elevated defense relationship between Washington and Taipei has caused China to toughen its rhetoric over Taiwan.

“For Xi Jinping, he must show that the Taiwan issue is in China’s hands. He must demonstrate this image, or else he would be criticized,” Ma said.

China wants the Strait of Hormuz opened

Iran was on the agenda when Trump sat down with Xi on Thursday for their two-hour meeting in the Great Hall of the People.

The leaders agreed that the Strait of Hormuz— effectively closed since the start of the Iran conflict — needs to be reopened to support global energy demands, Trump told Fox News in an interview. About 20% of the world’s oil flowed through the strait before the war started on Feb. 28.

Trump said in the interview that Xi privately offered assistance on resolving the war, though it was unclear what that would mean, given China’s strategic partnership with Iran.

“He’d like to see the Hormuz Strait open,” Trump said. “He said if I can be of any help whatsoever, I would like to help.”

The president also said Xi was also opposed to any implementation of tolls on vessels crossing the strait and expressed interest in China potentially purchasing more U.S. oil to reduce Chinese dependence on Gulf oil in the future.

Trump earlier this week had downplayedthe importance of talks with Xi on the 11-week-old Iran war that has led to surging energy prices and threatens to plunge the global economy into recession if the conflict does not conclude soon.

“We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control,” Trump told reporters Tuesday shortly before flying to Beijing.

But before Air Force One could land in Beijing, Rubio said administration officials would make the case to the Chinese officials about why they should be invested in prodding Iran to come to terms to end the war.

“Economies are melting down because of this crisis,” Rubio offered aboard the presidential plane as he flew with Trump to Beijing. That dynamic, the secretary added in an interview Wednesday with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, will result in consumers “buying less Chinese product.”

“So it’s in their interest to resolve this,” Rubio said.

Indeed, the Chinese, who have been critical of the U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Iran, hold unique leverage as Iran’s biggest trading partner. The Chinese government has managed to weather the economic damage caused by the war with the help of its strategic oil reserves, but that backstop is not limitless. Economists say the Iran conflict could still have a big impact on China’s export-driven economy.

Will Trump announce any major business deals?

The White House, ahead of the visit, insisted that Trump wouldn’t be making the trip without an eye toward securing results before he leaves, suggesting there could be announcements coming on trade.

Those could still come, with the U.S. side hoping to nail down Chinese commitments to buy U.S. soybeans and beef. Trump told Fox News that Xi had indicated a commitment for China to buy 200 Boeing jets from the U.S.

The leaders on Thursday discussed increasing U.S. agricultural purchases by the Chinese and opportunities for both sides to expand investment into each other’s markets, according to the White House. Trump administration officials also want to work toward establishing a Board of Trade with China to address commercial differences between the countries.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang stressed the need for friendship and cooperation in U.S.-China ties as he spoke with U.S. business titans, including Tesla’s Elon MuskApple’s Tim Cook and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huangwho were part of Trump’s delegation in Beijing.

“China and the United States have been able to maintain frank and smooth dialogue and communication and actively safeguard a stable and healthy bilateral relationship” despite international turbulence, Li said.