* Draconian. Immoral. Cruel. Seniors, veterans, those fighting opioid addiction, those with disabilities, low-income earners and children will likely feel additional pain if the GOP plan for health care becomes law. And that pain might be life-threatening for the most vulnerable of our neighbors. * It also would phase out extra federal money that Pennsylvania ... Read more

* Has Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled legislature slipped into a nether world where it no longer is required to balance the state budget? That could explain some of its lazy ideas to close a $1.5 billion deficit. Maybe lawmakers had already checked out when they suggested the state borrow its way out of the shortfall. * With ... Read more

Senate Republicans today unveiled their health care plan that ends Medicaid as we know it and is devastating for seniors, women, and people receiving treatment for the disease of addiction. The bill would also slam the door on women’s access to health care by defunding Planned Parenthood which provides important treatment for women throughout our ... Read more

Almost every Pennsylvanian will be affected by the Republicans’ disastrous plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. There are more than 5 million Pennsylvanians with pre-existing conditions; the Republicans’ health care plan would jeopardize their care. More than 715,000 Pennsylvanians have benefitted from Medicaid’s expansion; the GOP’s health plan will roll back funding for Medicaid ... Read more

* Led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, 13 Republican senators, including Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, in a few short weeks cooked up their version behind closed doors in a cynical effort to conceal from their constituents details of policy governing matters of life and death, not to mention a sector that makes up one-sixth ... Read more

After voting for the Republican health care plan that will force seniors to pay an age tax and gut protections for preexisting conditions like asthma, cancer, and diabetes, Congressman Mike Kelly celebrated in the Rose Garden. The bill, which is opposed by health care groups like the AARP, March of Dimes, American Cancer Society, and ... Read more

More than 2.8 million Pennsylvanians have access to health insurance through Medicaid, including over 175,000 people suffering from the disease of addiction who are now able to receive treatment because of Medicaid expansion. But right now, the 13 Republican men secretly crafting the Senate’s health care plan are plotting to roll back Medicaid and slash ... Read more

Concerned people from across Pennsylvania have stood up in remarkable ways to resist the extreme right-wing agenda taking hold in Washington and in Harrisburg. This week, an enthusiastic, diverse group of those Pennsylvanians — veterans, moms, engineers, pastors, educators, small business owners, coaches, and other community leaders — took the first steps to fight for ... Read more

* The “scourge” of the opioid epidemic will worsen if Medicaid health insurance programs are cut back as proposed in the U.S. House-passed American Health Care Act, U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Joe Manchin and law-enforcement leaders said Tuesday. “This is a critical time for the opioid epidemic and a critically important time for Medicaid ... Read more

* The Cumberland County Commissioners sent a letter Wednesday to U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey warning against any attempts by Republican senators to roll back expanded Medicaid benefits. The growth of Medicaid access has “proven to be especially crucial as our county struggles to respond to the current opioid epidemic,” the commissioners wrote. * Toomey is ... Read more