Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Danny Mintz

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 2d

Part of what’s happened is that as (neoliberalism, if you prefer) our political theory of governance starves one part of the social safety net, people flee to the other parts. Disability claims is, for a lot of people, an onerous, right to get last stop on a train heading for a brick wall.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 3d

Exclusive: The Trump administration is preparing a plan that will make it harder for older Americans to qualify for Social Security disability payments, part of an overhaul that could result in hundreds of thousands of people losing benefits.

Trump plan would limit disability benefits for older Americans

Trump administration officials are considering eliminating age as a factor in deciding whether someone is capable of working.

wapo.st

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

Charles Ghoul-ba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · 5d

REMINDER: Mike Johnson's district has ~40,000 #ACA market enrollees.

A single parent earning $40K/yr could see their net premiums more than TRIPLE.

acasignups.net/ira-subsidy-...

Louisiana: Breakout of impact on net ACA benchmark Silver plan premiums if enhanced tax credits expire

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 7d

What is the SNAP poison pill? Weaponizing an obscure administrative metric: error rates.
Errors are inevitable because Congress designed a policy that’s impossible to administer perfectly. Nevertheless, states will now pay between 5-15% of their SNAP budget if their error rates go above 6%.

How does this work? Each state draws a random sample of its SNAP beneficiaries, and then reevaluates their eligibility documentation. The federal government then reviews 50% of those cases. In part, the error rate captures how frequently, based on these reevaluations, states had made erroneous SNAP payments—too much or too little, including payments to people who didn’t qualify for benefits.

Importantly, the error rate also captures procedural errors—meaning it includes cases where the benefit was, in fact, correct, but where other mistakes were present, such as a missing signature or form. Starting in 2022, cases where beneficiaries were in fact deemed still eligible or were paid the correct benefit, were nonetheless deemed an ‘error’ if any of the paperwork was incomplete or included mistakes. Even if the state gets the outcome right, it can still be penalized for imperfect processes.

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

Kathleen Romig @kathleenromig.bsky.social · 8d

Today's the last day for 150K+ feds who took the "Fork" (deferred resignation program), including 800+ at the Social Security Administration.

The experience at SSA demonstrates 3 things about the DRP:

1. It's the tip of the iceberg
2. It wasn't really voluntary
3. It hurts service to the public

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

Charles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 18d

Trump administration cancels annual hunger survey

The government has been measuring food insecurity since the mid-1990s, but now says the report has become ‘overly politicized’

Exclusive | Trump Administration Cancels Annual Hunger Survey

The government has been measuring food insecurity since the mid-1990s, but now says the report has become “overly politicized.”

www.wsj.com

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

$fracposts.bsky.social$

Food Research & Action Center @fracposts.bsky.social · 21d

"Food banks have been operating at superhero rates. It’s not sustainable. No sort of food bank, no sort of philanthropy, can meet the need or fill in the gap that the federal government is taking away.” www.the-sun.com/money/152047...

SNAP crackdown looms with new rules and state shakeups cutting millions from aid

MILLIONS of Americans are now at risk of losing their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits after the government announced a major revamp. The United States Department of …

www.the-sun.com

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 23d

More than 1 in 4 workers without jobs have been unemployed for at least six months, new data shows.

That number is a post-pandemic high and a level typically only seen during periods of economic turmoil.

Long-term unemployment at post-pandemic high, straining workers and economy

The US economy is seeing a rise in long-term unemployment, with over 1.9 million Americans out of work for 27 weeks or more, sparking concerns about the labor market.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 23d

i have said this before but when “getting rid of race in admissions” for the administration means “you can’t even try to reach out to underrepresented communities and encourage them to apply and if you do it is illegal discrimination against white people” then the actual goal here is segregation

Harvard Ends Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program as Trump Targets Race in Admissions | News | The Harvard Crimson

By ending the minority recruitment program in May, Harvard shuttered a more than 50-year-old initiative to encourage minority high school students to apply.

www.thecrimson.com

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

Kathleen Romig @kathleenromig.bsky.social · 26d

More on how Social Security has managed to bring disability backlogs down this year, despite *everything*:

1. The disability determination staff who process applications are state employees & were not subject to the DOGE efforts earlier this year that pushed out thousands of SSA staff.

Kathleen Romig @kathleenromig.bsky.social · 26d

New from @jsmalligan.bsky.social:

SSA has been bragging about reducing the backlogs in processing disability applications.

But this trend is largely due to a significant decrease in applications--and in recent months, the agency is denying more claims.

www.urban.org/urban-wire/s...

The SSA Says It’s Reduced the Disability Claims Backlog. Fewer New Claims and a Higher Denial Rate Could Be Driving the Reduction

To better understand what’s driving a decrease in claims and increase in denials, the Social Security Administration could invest more in the research and st…

www.urban.org

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Larry Levitt @larrylevitt.bsky.social · 27d

The Pitt has plans to tackle stories next season related to federal health care cuts. I've got some ideas in a new column out in @jama.com.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

NPR @npr.org · 27d

At least seven historically Black colleges and universities across the South received threats Thursday that caused lockdowns and closures. via @wwno.org

Southern University, other HBCUs close due to ‘potential threat’

Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge will be closed through the weekend after officials called a lockdown Thursday morning due to a “potential threat.”

www.wwno.org

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Michael F. Cannon 🇮🇪 🇺🇸 @mfcannon.bsky.social · 27d

"Since the Affordable Care Act passed...every single one of the funding mechanisms to help offset the cost of the bill has been repealed...The individual mandate is gone. Most of the industry-specific taxes are gone. The Cadillac tax...is gone." -@jrovner

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?'

News Podcast · Updated Weekly · Join Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for KFF Health News, along with top health policy reporters from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico and other media outlets to discuss …

podcasts.apple.com

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Danny Mintz @dannymintz.bsky.social · 27d

Universal healthcare would be good for business.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 27d

WSJ, Page One:

“.. the fastest rate of increase since at least 2011 ..”

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

JAMA Network Open @jamanetworkopen.com · 29d

In adults with prior #COVID19, food insecurity was associated with a 78% higher chance of having current long COVID and a 34% lower chance of recovering from it, with participation in food assistance programs and employment associated with reduced risk. ja.ma/4ph1K7N

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · Sep 5

"Jewish studies is set up to fail if it is judged not by peer-reviewed research and teaching excellence but rather by its success “combating antisemitism,” an ill-defined and politically contested goal." www.chronicle.com/article/jewi...

Jewish-Studies Scholars, Beware: Trump’s Deal Will Corrupt You

We must all resist being turned into court Jews.

www.chronicle.com

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Physicians for a Healthy Democracy @physiciandemocracy.medsky.social · Sep 4

In 1900, 31% of all deaths were children under the age of 5. Today it’s 0.7%. Vaccines, medications, and modern science are the reason why. Trust the science, it’s been proven to work safely and efficiently time and time again.

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Charles Ghoul-ba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · Sep 3

📣 IMPORTANT: I can't stress this highly enough: 23.4% is the weighted average premium increase for *currently unsubsidized* ACA enrollees only.

For most of the > 90% who currently receive federal subsidies (~21M Americans, myself included) the NET rate hikes will be higher than 23%. MUCH higher.

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Aug 31

“If the model employer, the federal government, is unilaterally terminating high-performing Black employees, what hope is there?” President Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal work force have disproportionately affected Black women. Those losses are also rippling through the private sector.

In Trump’s Federal Work Force Cuts, Black Women Are Among the Hardest Hit

www.nytimes.com

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elizabethcooney.bsky.social @elizabethcooney.bsky.social · Aug 28

This is telling: People I spoke to are talking about CDC in the past tense.

www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/c...

Crisis within CDC is spilling into real world, experts say

"I’ve never heard as many colleagues saying things like 'CDC is dead’ as I have today," an agency employee told STAT.

www.statnews.com

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Danny Mintz @dannymintz.bsky.social · Aug 27

Aside from the cruelty of denying aid to people affected by a disaster, this is absolutely ludicrous to implement.

Are food banks supposed to ask people who have lost everything to show their papers before giving them emergency food?

wapo.st/3Jy4ptv

DHS moves to bar aid groups from serving undocumented immigrants

Disaster-aid groups said the new contracts would make it harder for nonprofits to help the most vulnerable Americans in the aftermath of a disaster.

wapo.st

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Danny Mintz @dannymintz.bsky.social · Aug 18

Where will you be publishing it? I'd like to read it when it's out.

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Reposted by Danny Mintz

Charles Ghoul-ba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · Aug 7

🚨 LOUISIANA: Preliminary avg. 2026 #ACA rate changes: +21.9%; ~306,000 enrollees likely facing MASSIVE rate hikes starting in January:

acasignups.net/rate_changes...

2026 Rate Changes - Louisiana: +21.9%; ~306,000 Louisianans facing MASSIVE rate hikes starting in January

Overall preliminary rate changes via SERFF database, state insurance dept. website and/or the federal Rate Review database. Ambetter Health of LA: The proposed rate change of 16.4% applies to approxim...

acasignups.net

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Danny Mintz @dannymintz.bsky.social · Jul 19

A better world is possible if we fight to build it.

@salaambhattiva.bsky.social, one of the most committed, effective, and kind anti-poverty advocates I know, is running for Congress (VA-1). He would be a voice for justice and compassion.

salaambhatti.substack.com/p/salaam-is-running-for-congress

Salaam is Running for Congress.

3 things you need to know and how you can help

salaambhatti.substack.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Jul 19

The end goal here is a completely at will workforce and they are already making those arguments www.govexec.com/management/2...

Trump admin. tells judge it can fire at least some career feds at any time for any reason

The administration is seeking to upend civil service protections long in place for federal employees.

www.govexec.com

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Eric Giannella @giannella.bsky.social · Jul 18

Is there a reason there are only 10 public comments on this request for input about a national SNAP fraud database? It seeks to not only collect data about recipients, but also about applicants, which would include people who never received a benefit. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

USDA and FNS will use the SNAP data in this system to ensure the integrity of Government programs, including by verifying SNAP recipient eligibility against federally maintained databases, identifying and eliminating duplicate enrollments, and performing additional eligibility and program integrity checks specified herein.

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