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Hospital groups are applauding President Joe Biden s executive order that directs federal agencies to review Trump-era immigration policies that affect immigrants access to healthcare.
The order, signed on Tuesday, requires a top-to-bottom review of the public charge rule that allows the federal government to deny entry into the country or citizenship based on the receipt of public benefits such as Medicaid.
It also rescinds a memorandum requiring family sponsors to repay the government if relatives receive public benefits.
The action received praise from America s Essential Hospitals for allowing legal immigrants and their families to receive affordable healthcare.
| Updated February 5, 2021
Major conservative groups backed by some of the Republican Party’s wealthiest donors appear to be helping fuel a massive GOP state legislative push to limit the emergency executive powers governors across the country have wielded in an effort to combat the nation’s COVID-19 crisis.
For months, Republican legislators in several states have pushed bills to limit such powers, which have been used to implement restrictions on businesses, restaurants and public gatherings, as well as measures meant to slow the spread of the virus that has killed more than 450,000 Americans.
The legislative efforts have intensified over the first few weeks of 2021 as lawmakers in many states ― particularly those with part-time legislatures that ended their sessions in the earliest stages of the pandemic last year ― have returned to state capitals vowing to rein in governors they believe have overstepped their bounds. Lawmakers in more than two dozen states have now
As schools struggle to safely open and stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic, the vital role of school nurses has taken center stage. While school nurses are rarely in the limelight, they long have been on the front lines, promoting the health of school-age children and their communities. At the same time, the past year also brought new attention to the struggle for racial justice and new efforts to confront systemic racism considered a public health crisis by the American Public Health Association. Here, too, school nurses have a crucial role to play in addressing a serious health equity issue affecting children and adolescents: the school-to-prison-pipeline.