Behind Bars, Co-Pays Are a Barrier to Basic Health Care

Wednesday, April 3, 2019 [Behind Bars, Co-Pays Are a Barrier to Basic Health Care]( Victoria Law, Truthout In 41 states, people in jails and prisons are charged co-pays for medical visits. These fees often put medical care out of reach for prisoners -- who have to choose between buying basic necessities and seeking medical care -- and lead to worsened health, mass outbreaks and preventable deaths. A bill under consideration in California would end co-pays, bringing relief to tens of thousands of Californians behind bars. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Teachers' Movements Gain Community Support by Centering Social Justice]( Ashley Smith, Truthout Teachers are daily witnesses to the impacts of the opioid crisis, job losses, poverty and homelessness on their students, as well as the austerity and privatization imposed on public education, says Gillian Russom, teacher and activist-member of United Teachers Los Angeles. That frustration finally boiled over into an explosion of strikes which were successful largely because they were centered around issues of economic and social justice. [Read the Interview →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Mitch McConnell Poised to Allow the Courts to Be Packed With Extremists]( Jake Johnson, Common Dreams Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected as early as Wednesday to use the so-called nuclear option to speed up the confirmation process for Trump's right-wing judicial nominees. Progressives condemned the move as a partisan power grab by Republicans motivated to flood the federal judiciary with ideologically extreme nominees. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Help us keep civil rights violators in check: Support Truthout's bold, uncompromising journalism. [Donate Now →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Rep. Ro Khanna: White House Must Start Playing by the Rules]( Amy Goodman and Juan González, Democracy Now! The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed the director of White House personnel security after a whistleblower revealed that senior Trump officials overturned 25 security clearance denials, despite "serious disqualifying issues." California congressmember Ro Khanna says, "Congressional oversight is not a choice -- it’s the law," and weighs in on the latest congressional actions around Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. [Watch the Video and Read the Transcript →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [U.S. Capitalism Was Born in the Destruction of the Commons]( Laura Flanders, Truthout It's said that European capitalism came out of the destruction of feudalism, but U.S. capitalism was born in the destruction of the commons. Lately, there's been a resurgence of interest in rebuilding the commons in the U.S., according to authors Silvia Federici and Peter Linebaugh. The process of "commoning" goes beyond mere redistribution and reorganization, they say -- it involves building a ground of resistance, from Standing Rock to the 2018 midterms. [Watch the Video and Read the Interview →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [NAACP Shows How Fossil Fuel Industry Manipulates Communities of Color]( Ben Jervey, DeSmogBlog The fossil fuel industry regularly deploys manipulative and dishonest tactics when engaging with communities of color, often working to co-opt the respect and authority of minority-led groups to serve corporate goals. A new report released by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) outlines the top 10 manipulation tactics that the group's members and partners routinely observe. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [North Carolina Strikes Down 20-Week Abortion Ban]( Robin Marty, Care2 Since 2011, dozens of states have introduced laws banning abortion just at the edge of fetal viability, and they all hope to nudge the Supreme Court into reconsidering Roe v. Wade. Yet in almost every state where these 20-week bans have been challenged, state or federal courts have ruled them unconstitutional. Now it has happened again -- this time in North Carolina. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Democrats Promised to Go After Trump's Taxes. Why Are They Dragging Their Feet?]( Heather Digby Parton, Salon President Trump has still not released his tax returns, sporadically claiming that he will do it as soon as the IRS is finished "auditing" them. House Democrats are pursuing numerous investigations into the administration, but why aren't they moving on the issue of Trump's tax returns as they promised? [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [When Money Talks, Citizens' Voices Get Drowned Out]( Rajan Menon, TomDispatch Rising income inequality, wage stagnation and slowing social mobility hurt ordinary Americans economically, even as they confer massive social and political advantages on the mega-rich -- and not just when it comes to college admissions and politics either. The political consequence has been that a tiny minority of extremely wealthy Americans wields disproportionate influence, leaving so many others feeling disempowered. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- In Case You Missed It --------------------------------------------------------------- [Florida Sex Workers Demand Decriminalization After Massive Raids]( Mike Ludwig, Truthout Sex workers in Florida are demanding sweeping changes to anti-human trafficking legislation that state lawmakers are pushing since raids in late February resulted in 300 arrests and charges against several wealthy and prominent men. Meanwhile, sex workers' rights are gaining headlines nationwide, thanks to high-profile scandals and political efforts to either decriminalize sex work or crack down on trafficking. At the heart of the debate is the role of police. [Read the Article →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Surveillance Capitalism Is Destroying Our Freedom and Our Intimacy]( Eve Ottenberg, Truthout In The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, author Shoshana Zuboff shows how, as we endure industrial capitalism's sixth extinction, a seventh one looms ahead, threatening to destroy all that is most precious in human nature. Unleashed by tech giants like Google, Facebook and Twitter, surveillance capitalism is chillingly incompatible with democracy because it destroys our freedom, our ties of intimacy and sociality, and the trust born of those ties. [Read the Review →]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Like what you're reading? Support Truthout's independent news and analysis by making an automatic monthly donation. [Donate Now →]( Connect With Us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Donate]( Truthout is a reader-supported, nonprofit organization; donations are tax-deductible. 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