Health

OP-ED: Lives Remain In the Balance: 2019

THE AFRO — If President Trump and his Republican allies would seriously consider both their sense of humanity and the lessons of history, they would halt their continuing attacks on the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA” or “ObamaCare”) and work with Democrats to solve the health care challenges that our nation faces.

Published

7 years ago

April 15, 2019

Congressman Elijah Cummings

By Congressman Elijah Cummings

If President Trump and his Republican allies would seriously consider both their sense of humanity and the lessons of history, they would halt their continuing attacks on the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA” or “ObamaCare”) and work with Democrats to solve the health care challenges that our nation faces.

As Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass of California recently observed, Americans – and, especially, African Americans – will be seriously harmed if the opponents succeed in destroying the ACA.

A humane nation can not allow that carnage – as the lessons of recent history illustrate.

During the current national debate about health care, it is important to recall that, before the ACA, nearly 50 million Americans lacked health insurance<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/health/obamacare-health-insurance-numbers-nchs.html>, and nearly 10 million of these uninsured were African American. Women were charged more than men for the same care, and insurers could drop coverage, deny coverage, or charge 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions more for their care.

Chairwoman Bass is also correct in concluding that, on balance, the ACA has been a success.

In the neighborhood of 20 million more Americans, including millions of African Americans, now have access to quality affordable healthcare. Children can remain on their parents’ insurance until the age of 26 – and, perhaps most important of all, health insurance companies can no longer drop or deny care due to a pre-existing condition.

This is not to say, however, that we have solved all the obstacles to assuring that Americans can afford the health care that we all need and deserve. We have yet to adequately control price-gouging in the cost of our prescription drugs – and insurance premiums continue to rise at an unacceptable rate.

My colleagues and I have advanced legislation that would reduce the price-gauging by BIG PHARMA – and reforms are possible that would moderate premium increases.

For example, in my State of Maryland, insurers who originally sought premium increases for 2019 have decreased their premiums because of a state “reinsurance” plan that helps the insurers cover unusually expensive health care claims.

The President and his Republican allies should take note. If they would consider these reforms in the context of the history of this national debate, they would recall that two major forces catalyzed the health care reform process more than a decade ago.

First, even before President Obama and congressional Democrats began the process that resulted in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the National Institute of Medicine concluded that more than 18,000 Americans were dying prematurely every year because they lacked health insurance, while research from Harvard estimated the number of premature deaths at 55,000.

That avoidable annual death toll was and remains an unacceptable human cost, challenging our basic humanity as a civilized people.

History also reminds us that a second motivation for reform was the accelerating increase in healthcare costs that threatened the budgets of governments, businesses and individual households alike.

The private, largely for-profit insurance system in this country was failing to fully address these challenges a decade ago – and it continues to fail these tests today.

These considerations are why the President and Congress alike must provide the American People with the answer to a fundamental question.

Why should we continue to provide massive public subsidies to a failed system of healthcare financing when it could be more cost-effective and rational to fund healthcare for everyone in the same manner that we already fund health care for our elderly, disabled, veterans, and poor?

The answer to this question is why some of us believed a decade ago (and continue to believe today) that a single-payer system based upon expanding Medicare to everyone would be the most effective strategy.

However, as has always been the case, politics remains the art of what is possible, even if the possible is less than ideal.

Establishing access to affordable healthcare as a civil right through the Affordable Care Act was the progress that we could achieve politically back in 2010 – and the ACA remains our first line of defense today.

That is why I have joined more than 120 of my Democratic House colleagues in co-sponsoring The Protecting Pre-Existing Conditions & Making Health Care More Affordable Act of 2019 [H.R. 1884], proposed reform legislation introduced by Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr., along with Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott and Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal.

If enacted, our bill would strengthen protections for people with pre-existing conditions and reverse the Trump Administration’s efforts to sabotage the ACA.

We would make health care more affordable by lowering health insurance premiums for low- and moderate-income Americans by expanding eligibility for premium tax credits beyond 400 percent of the federal poverty line and increasing the size of tax credits for all income brackets.

Finally, following the course charted by Maryland’s Legislature and other states, our legislation would create a national reinsurance program to help cover the costs of consumers with expensive medical conditions, thereby lowering health insurance premiums for everyone.

Lives remain in the balance, and the choice for the President and Congress is clear.

We can do what is both practical and humane to assure affordable health care for everyone – or we will pay for our failure to do so in hemorrhaging budgets and lost American lives. Congressman Elijah Cummings represents Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.

The opinions on this page are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the AFRO. Send letters to The Afro-American • 1531 S. Edgewood St. Baltimore, MD 21227 or fax to 1-877-570-9297 or e-mail to editor@afro.com.

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

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Commentary

Doctors Seeing More Cases of Preventable Childhood Illnesses

OAKLAND POST — Physicians have said vaccine skepticism has expanded beyond childhood immunizations. Doctors also reported growing resistance to other preventive treatments.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 17, 2026

bpusa-syndication

By Stacy M. Brown

Doctors across the United States say they are treating children for illnesses that routine vaccinations once made increasingly uncommon, raising concerns that years of declining immunization rates are beginning to reverse decades of public health progress.

Pediatricians have described seeing more cases of whooping cough, rotavirus infections, bacterial pneumonia and other potentially life-threatening illnesses that vaccines have long helped suppress. Some physicians reported treating conditions they had rarely encountered during their careers, while others said that growing vaccine hesitancy is changing how emergency rooms and hospitals care for children.

The reports come as measles outbreaks continue to spread across multiple states and vaccination coverage remains below federal public health targets.

Johns Hopkins University’s International Vaccine Access Center reported 2,077 confirmed measles cases nationwide as of May 29. Researchers warned that outbreaks reported across the country have raised concerns about continued transmission, additional hospitalizations and deaths, and the possible loss of the nation’s measles elimination status.

Public health experts have long viewed measles as a warning sign because of its ability to spread rapidly through communities with lower vaccination coverage. The New York Times reported that physicians increasingly fear the resurgence of measles may be followed by the return of other vaccine-preventable diseases.

Doctors say that is already happening.

Dr. Meghan Hofto, a pediatric hospitalist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said she has already treated roughly as many children with rotavirus this year as she saw during the previous decade. Rotavirus once caused tens of thousands of hospitalizations annually before vaccines sharply reduced its spread. None of the children she treated this year had been vaccinated.

Hofto also described caring for infants with pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough.

“It’s hard to know when they’re safe to go home,” Hofto told The Times.

The rise in whooping cough cases has been particularly striking. More than 28,000 cases were reported nationwide last year, compared with approximately 7,000 in 2023, according to figures cited by The Times. Many of the affected infants were too young to receive vaccinations themselves and relied on broader community protection to reduce their exposure.

Other doctors described similarly troubling cases.

Dr. Jessica Kirk, a pediatric hospitalist in Alabama, recently treated an unvaccinated toddler hospitalized with pneumonia caused by simultaneous infections of Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Vaccines exist to protect against both illnesses. The child required oxygen and antibiotics to recover.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have been tracking vaccination trends nationwide and found continuing signs of vulnerability.

At the same time, vaccine policy has become increasingly contentious in state legislatures.

Johns Hopkins researchers reported that lawmakers across the country continue to introduce bills affecting childhood vaccination requirements, vaccine access and non-medical exemptions. Researchers also noted that state policies governing exemptions remain a significant factor in vaccination coverage and disease transmission risks.

Physicians have said vaccine skepticism has expanded beyond childhood immunizations. Doctors also reported growing resistance to other preventive treatments.

For doctors confronting the return of illnesses that vaccines once pushed to the margins of American medicine, the challenge is becoming increasingly personal.

“It just feels like you’re a tiny little boat with a giant tidal wave coming at you,” Dr. Erin Charles, a regional pediatric hospitalist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, told reporters. “And you might convince one family here and there.”

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Community

Asm. Isaac Bryan’s Environmental Reparations Bill Passes on Assembly Floor

“All this bill does is allocate resources from that repair fund and direct cash assistance to families that have had negative health impacts as a result of living next to that oil field,” said Bryan during remarks on the Assembly floor.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 17, 2026

bpusa-syndication

Asm. Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights). File photo.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

On May 26, the California State Assembly passed legislation to provide direct financial assistance to families harmed by pollution from a major urban oil field in South Los Angeles.

Assembly Bill (AB) 1661, introduced by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights), cleared the Assembly floor with a 44-10 vote after lawmakers concluded debate on the measure.

The bill would direct money from a community repair fund toward families who suffered negative health effects from living near what Bryan described as the state’s largest toxic urban oil field. The repair fund was created under legislation approved two years ago that shut down the oil field and required polluters to contribute financially to community recovery efforts.

Bryan called the proposal “the largest environmental reparations opportunity for South LA” and told lawmakers the bill had not received opposition during the legislative process.

The legislation is part of California’s broader push to address environmental justice concerns in communities historically exposed to industrial pollution. South Los Angeles residents and environmental advocates have long raised concerns about health risks associated with oil drilling operations near homes, schools and parks.

Supporters say the measure represents a new approach to environmental accountability by ensuring that communities affected by pollution directly benefit from funds collected from responsible companies.

After debate concluded, Assembly leadership opened the roll call vote, and the measure passed with majority support from lawmakers.

AB 1661 now moves to the Senate for further review.

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Activism

Rep. Kamlager-Dove Introduces Bill to Protect Women in Custody After Reports Detailing Miscarriages and Neglect

The Pregnant Women in Custody Act would expand safeguards beyond the federal prison system to include women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The proposal follows reports of pregnant women being shackled, denied medical care and suffering miscarriages while in immigration detention.

Published

2 months ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

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By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) on May 7, reintroduced updated legislation aimed at strengthening protections and healthcare standards for pregnant and postpartum women held in federal custody, including in immigration detention facilities.

The Pregnant Women in Custody Act would expand safeguards beyond the federal prison system to include women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The proposal follows reports of pregnant women being shackled, denied medical care and suffering miscarriages while in immigration detention.

The legislation builds on a bipartisan version previously passed by the House during the 117th Congress. The updated bill includes new standards for healthcare access, mental health and substance use treatment, high-risk pregnancy care, family unity protections and increased federal oversight.

“Proper pregnancy care is a human right, regardless of your immigration or incarceration status,” Kamlager-Dove said in a statement. “It’s unacceptable that there are virtually no legal safeguards for pregnant women in federal custody.”

The bill would also limit the use of restraints and restrictive housing for pregnant women, improve data collection on maternal health in custody and require additional staff training and enforcement measures.

Supporters of the measure said the legislation is intended to address long-standing concerns about maternal healthcare and safety in detention settings, particularly for Black women and low-income women who are disproportionately impacted by incarceration and health disparities.

“Pregnant women in custody should never be subjected to dangerous and inhumane treatment that threatens their health, dignity, or the well-being of their babies,” said Patrice Willoughby, chief of policy and legislative affairs for the NAACP and a longtime public policy and government affairs strategist, in a statement.

A 2021 report estimated there are about 58,000 admissions of pregnant women into U.S. jails and prisons each year. Kamlager’s statement also cited a recent investigation by NBC News and Bloomberg Law that identified allegations of severe mistreatment or medical neglect involving at least 54 pregnant women or families in county jails between 2017 and 2024.

Federal policy under the Department of Homeland Security restricts the detention of pregnant, postpartum and nursing immigrants except in extreme cases. However, the agency reported that ICE deported 363 pregnant, postpartum or nursing women between January 2025 and February 2026, including 16 recorded miscarriages during that period.

The bill is cosponsored by several House Democrats and backed by organizations including the NAACP and the Vera Institute of Justice.