Tags: politics

Franklin Roosevelt was the first president to seriously consider a federal health insurance program. As Congress churned out New Deal legislation, Roosevelt advocated inclusion of a federal health insurance component in his Social Security Act of 1935, before dropping it to avoid jeopardizing the bill's passage. Fourteen years later, Harry Truman sent the House a bill that would offer health insurance to those age sixty-five and older, but it was blocked by an intractable Ways and Means Committee. Kennedy tried, too, sending a comparable bill to Capitol Hill in 1962, where it missed passage in the Senate by a few votes. more »

Doris O'Brien writes: Picture yourself shaking hands with Hillary, Bernie, Martin, Jeb, Chris, Scott, Marco, Rand, Dr. Ben, The Donald, and all the other celebratory hopefuls. Can't you almost smell the slow-burning spare ribs and taste the tangy apple cider on a frosty Iowa evening? But more to the point: it's not my stomach but my political soul that makes me envy Hawkeyes. That's why I'm hankering to be in their number when the wannabes come marching in. more »

Drawing from her research into the growth of asexual communities and queer studies, Stanford lecturer Karli Cerankowski is shedding light on an under-studied and misunderstood facet of human sexuality: asexuality. However, much as homosexuality was once consistently pathologized by the public, the asexual community faces similar contention. more »

Governors in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming have asked lawmakers to approve detailed proposals for expanding the federal-state health plan for low-income adults, in some cases restarting previous efforts to seek approval for expansion. Alabama, North Carolina and Texas governors said for the first time they were open to the idea of expanding Medicaid. Other than Arkansas, no Southern state has expanded Medicaid. more »