Liz Highleyman
@lizhighleyman.bsky.social
9.1K followers 1.8K following 3.3K posts
Freelance medical journalist. Science editor for @pozmagazine.bsky.social, Hep & CancerHealth. Words for aidsmap, Slate, Bay Area Reporter. Research beagle adopter.
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
lizhighleyman.bsky.social
Is there some sort of revolt going on? First MTG opposes cutting off ACA subsidies, now Hawley is sounding like Bernie Sanders.
lizhighleyman.bsky.social
The real issue here is that health insurance premiums cost $25K/year, not who’s paying for them. But you can’t just cut people off — you need better alternatives in place first. Medicare for all would be fairer, more efficient & very likely less costly.
Reposted by Liz Highleyman
justinbaragona.bsky.social
Incredible.

Jack Posobiec references the earliest version of antifa -- the anti-fascists in the Weimar Republic who were opposed to the Nazi Party -- as the bad guys.
Reposted by Liz Highleyman
lizhighleyman.bsky.social
Hardly relevant to the context, but it’s so strange to me how right-wing women always wear their hair in front. I’m always pushing mine back to keep it out of the way.
paleofuture.bsky.social
"Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost 100 years in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany."

- Jack Posobiec at Trump's roundtable on antifa
Reposted by Liz Highleyman
tusk81.bsky.social
"Griffin-Gracy is widely considered a founding mother of the LGBTQ+ liberation movement and a leader in the trans liberation movement. Born in Chicago, she participated in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a protest credited with launching the modern fight for LGBTQ+ rights."
lizhighleyman.bsky.social
That’s my one complaint about @wired.com, honestly, but I understand good journalism needs funding & traditional ads no longer cut it.
karlbode.com
twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross
photo of Google News search results for Amazon Prime Day (the second this year)
lizhighleyman.bsky.social
I’m admittedly not very familiar with Bad Bunny’s ouevre, but I don’t even know who Lee Greenwood is.
mearns.bsky.social
lmao this dolt is beyond parody.
yeah Lee Greenwood, totally appealing to all audiences. you nailed it buddy
“Lee Greenwood for Super Bowl halftime show!”   says the idiot
Reposted by Liz Highleyman
sahilkapur.bsky.social
👀 Marjorie Taylor Greene breaks with Republicans on Obamacare funding, saying she’s not a fan of the law but demands action to prevent a premium hike. “I’m absolutely disgusted that health insurance premiums will DOUBLE if the tax credits expire this year.” She says GOP leaders don’t have a plan.
Reposted by Liz Highleyman
daniellebeckman.bsky.social
More than $500 million in federal grants for UCLA research were frozen in July, and partially restored a few days ago (legal proceedings are ongoing). For research that saves lives and wins prizes. American hegemony in the Nobel Prizes is going to drastically change soon.
uclaupdates.bsky.social
UCLA alumnus Fred Ramsdell received the @nobelprize.bsky.social today in Physiology or Medicine — our 17th Nobel Prize for an alum or faculty member, and the third prize in five years for a Bruin. ucla.in/4oaVlKd #nobelprize #academicsky 🧪
Fred Ramsdell, a UCLA alumnus and now Nobel Prize winner, poses in front of a shelf.
lizhighleyman.bsky.social
I think they do realize it. That's why they're rushing to do as much as they can while Trump is still competent enough to act as a figurehead.
Reposted by Liz Highleyman
charlesgaba.com
📣 NEW: In which I finally put that absurd 2013 WSJ graphic to good use.

2026 #ACA Window Shopping is LIVE in Georgia, Idaho, Nevada, New York and Virginia.

Here's how much premiums will ACTUALLY spike for 4 households starting January 1st if they don't shop around.

acasignups.net/25/10/05/whi...
In which I finally put that absurd 2013 WSJ graphic to good use
Twelve years ago, the Wall St. Journal ran a story about the impact of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which was a sweeping tax bill signed into law by President Obama which locked in the Bush tax cuts for lower & middle-class households while allowing them to expire on schedule for wealthier Americans: A compromise measure, the Act gives permanence to the lower rate of much of the Bush tax cuts, while retaining the higher tax rate at upper income levels that became effective on January 1 due to the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. It also establishes caps on tax deductions and credits for those at upper income levels. It does not tackle federal spending levels to a great extent, rather leaving that for further negotiations and legislation. The American Taxpayer Relief Act passed by a wide majority in the Senate, with both Democrats and Republicans supporting it, while most of the House Republicans opposed it. The WSJ story, titled "How Much Will Your Taxes Jump?," led to widespread derision at the time for wringing its hands over wealthy people having to go back to (gasp) paying a few percent more of their sky-high incomes in taxes.
acasignups.net
lizhighleyman.bsky.social
Yeah, that’s my fear. One good thing the U.S. has going for it is civil liberties & rule of law (at least in theory) & authoritarians are no fan.
lizhighleyman.bsky.social
As far as I can tell, communism is the sine qua non of “badness” for the right (much like fascism is for the left), so anything they don’t like is some form of communism.
lizhighleyman.bsky.social
On one level this makes sense — lifespan, healthspan & the nature of work have changed. The system wasn’t designed for people to take benefits for 30-40 years. But with AI eliminating jobs, what are older, partially disabled people supposed to do?
lizhighleyman.bsky.social
On one level this makes sense — lifespan, healthspan & the nature of work have changed. The system wasn’t designed for people to take benefits for 30-40 years. But with AI eliminating jobs, what are older, partially disabled people supposed to do?
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
“.. an overhaul of the federal safety net for poor, older and disabled people that could result in hundreds of thousands of people losing benefits ..”

@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Liz Highleyman
mjsdc.bsky.social
When President AOC federalizes the National Guard in 2029 to protect abortion clinics, Ilan is going to magically discover an English treatise written in 1610 that proves Matthew Kacsmaryk can issue a nationwide injunction against her.
patsobkowski.com
We don’t have to carry water for dictators. Just my thought.
lizhighleyman.bsky.social
$2000 tariff rebate checks? Great! That will pay for 2/3 of one month’s health care premium after I lose my ACA subsidy.😕
rokhanna.bsky.social
I'm proposing a $2000 stimulus check for all Americans making under 100k.

They have paid too much in unfair tariff taxes.
Reposted by Liz Highleyman
dfroomkin.bsky.social
Laws are speech acts. Speech acts do what we expect them to do. If we do not expect laws to bind, then they will not. That is how the rule of law is eroding in our culture.
brendannyhan.bsky.social
"a tradition"???

It's literally the law.

This matters because the law is not self-executing. If we treat it as non-binding, its constraints grow even looser.
Reposted by Liz Highleyman