#xavier becerra

[dadsinsuits]

Xavier Becerra

[bighermie]

......... and sex trafficked to Pedo Joe’s buddies.

[whatstheusgovernmentdoing]

11/11/24 - White House

President Biden will be celebrating Veterans' Day Today, having veterans and active military members over at the White House, as well as visiting Arlington National Cemetery

Department of State: Secretary Blinken met with French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot to discuss the troops from the DPRK arriving at Ukraine and bringing an end to the war in Gaza

Department of Health and Human Services: Secretary Becerra releases data showing Uninsurance rate is lowest ever under Biden Administration

Department of Housing and Urban Development: Veteran Homelessness is now lowest on record (record started in 2009)

Department of Veterans' Affairs: New "ATLAS" program to eliminate copays for their telehealth services

[thenewdemocratus]

The Hill: Report: Mike Lillis: Time For House Democrats to Elect New Leaders?

Source:The New Democrat  Nancy Pelosi has been the leader of the House Democrats for the last twelve years. Eight of them after this Congress as Minority Leader and of course four of them as the first female Speaker of the House from 2007-11. She was also the first Minority Leader in Congress, House or Senate and the first party leader in Congress House or Senate as well. She’s been a very…

[cantsayidont]

I WAS glad when Biden made Harris his running mate in 2020, not because I like her, but because I had been very concerned that otherwise she might end up as U.S. attorney general, where she would have been in a position to do vastly more damage than she has been as VP.

[introvert-in-hell]

ReproductiveRights.Gov Information

Copied all of the information off of ReproductiveRights.Gov using the WayBackMachine (<3) seeing as it's gone now. I don't know how much of it will hold in the coming days but it's still important now. If you want to see the website here's a link that works (as of 21/1/25), and if it stops I copied all the info below the cut.

YOUR RIGHTS

Update on Medication Abortion

On June 13, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision holding that the plaintiffs in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine lacked standing to challenge FDA’s actions. Mifepristone—which FDA approved as safe and effective more than 20 years ago—remains available under the conditions of use approved by FDA.

The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to protecting reproductive rights, ensuring women can make their own decisions about their own bodies, and preserving the FDA’s authority to make science-based determinations about what medications are safe and effective. Read statements from President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Know Your Rights: Reproductive Health Care

Reproductive health care, including access to birth control and safe and legal abortion care, is an essential part of your health and well-being. While Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion remains legal in many states, and other reproductive health care services remain protected by law. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is committed to providing you with accurate and up-to-date information about access to and coverage of reproductive health care and resources. Our goal is to make sure you have appropriate information and support.

Your Reproductive Rights

Below you will find information on your right to access reproductive health care, what your health insurance is required to cover, and where to go if you need health insurance.

Whether you get coverage through your employer, Medicaid, HealthCare.gov, or elsewhere in the private insurance market, most plans cover family planning counseling, birth control, and other preventive services at no additional cost to you. Federal law allows federally-funded health coverage (like Medicaid) to cover abortion in some situations, and some private health insurance plans also cover abortion care.

Your Right to Emergency Care

In light of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, it's more important than ever that you know your rights on receiving emergency medical care.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requires Medicare-participating hospital emergency departments to offer any person who requests it an appropriate medical screening examination within the capability of the hospital’s emergency department.

If the hospital determines that you have an emergency medical condition, federal law requires the hospital to offer you treatment until your emergency medical condition is stabilized, or an appropriate transfer to another hospital if you need it.

An emergency medical condition includes any medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms and that, in the absence of immediate medical attention, could reasonably be expected to place the person’s health in serious jeopardy. Emergency medical conditions involving pregnant patients may include, but are not limited to, ectopic pregnancy, complications of a pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features. In some instances, the treatment reasonably necessary to stabilize a pregnant woman’s emergency medical condition may be an abortion.

These federal rights preempt any directly conflicting state laws or mandates that apply to specific procedures.1

To learn more click here.

1 Please note: pursuant to the injunction in Texas v. Becerra, No. 5:22-CV-185-H (N.D. Tex.), HHS may not enforce the following interpretations contained in the July 11, 2022, CMS guidance (and the corresponding letter sent the same day by HHS Secretary Becerra): (1) the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation that Texas abortion laws are preempted by EMTALA; and (2) the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation of EMTALA — both as to when an abortion is required and EMTALA’s effect on state laws governing abortion — within the State of Texas or against the members of the American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA).

Your Right to Birth Control Coverage

The Affordable Care Act requires most employer-based health plans and private health insurance plans to cover family planning counseling and to cover certain birth control methods with no out-of-pocket costs to you if you have a prescription. This includes, but is not limited to:

Hormonal methods, like birth control pills and vaginal rings

Implanted devices, like intrauterine devices (IUDs)

Emergency contraception, like Plan B® and ella®

Barrier methods, like diaphragms and sponges

Patient education and counseling

Sterilization procedures

And additional forms of contraceptives approved, granted, or cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

To learn more about birth control coverage requirements for different types of health coverage, visit here. To learn more about birth control methods, visit here.

Some birth control methods are available over-the-counter and without a prescription including:

Emergency contraception, like Plan B®

Condoms

Birth control pills, like Opill®

Your Right to Access Medication

The law prohibits pharmacies that receive federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability in their health programs and activities. While pharmacies regularly dispense medications; make determinations regarding the suitability of a prescribed medication for a patient; and advise patients about medications and how to take them, pharmacies that receive federal financial assistance may not discriminate against pharmacy customers on the bases prohibited by statute when they do so. Read the guidance for the nation's retail pharmacies here.

HHS is committed to ensuring that people are able to access health care free from discrimination. If you believe that you or another person’s civil rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with HHS here

Your Right to Access Abortion

As a result of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, access to abortion will depend on the state you live in even more than before.

Mifepristone, in a regimen with misoprostol, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2000 for the termination of early pregnancy, and is safe and effective when used as directed. Mifepristone for medication abortion currently is available for dispensing by mail by certified prescribers or by certified pharmacies for prescriptions issued by certified prescribers, in addition to in-person dispensing in clinics, medical offices, and hospitals.

If you are covered through Medicaid:

While federal Medicaid funds can only cover abortion in the circumstances of rape, incest or if the patient’s life is in danger, there are over a dozen states that provide more comprehensive coverage for abortion using state Medicaid funds. To find out more on state funding of abortions under Medicaid visit this website

If you are covered through your employer, a plan offered through the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces, or elsewhere in the private market:

Coverage will vary by state, employer, and insurance company. In some states, private health insurance plans (including employer coverage) are required or allowed to cover abortion in either all or certain circumstances. Review your plan benefits document to find out whether your plan covers abortion. If you are using a plan where you are not the primary policy holder (for example if you are on a parent’s or spouse’s plan), be mindful that the policy holder may receive documentation from the plan known as an “Explanation of Benefits” that includes information about your care.

If you need help paying for an abortion, abortion funds may be able to provide financial assistance. Information about abortion funds and resources to help are available at AbortionFinder.org

If you need information on your state’s laws or legal help, you may consider this website: AbortionFinder.org

Your Right to Coverage of Other Preventive Health Services

Most employer health plans and health insurance plans must cover certain other preventive health services with no out-of-pocket costs because of the Affordable Care Act. Specifically, they are required to cover women’s preventive health services, including:

An annual well-woman visit to screen your health (which may be completed at a single visit or part of a series of visits over time) including a pap smear, breast exam and regular checkup

Certain counseling and screening services

Breast and cervical cancer screenings

Prenatal care, which is care you would receive while pregnant

Breastfeeding services and supplies

Interpersonal violence screening and counseling (e.g., sexual assault evidence collection exams)

HIV screening and sexually transmitted infection (STI) counseling

If You Do Not Have Health Insurance Coverage

Go to HealthCare.gov and see if you qualify for insurance coverage and financial assistance to make coverage more affordable.

Title X Family Planning Clinics provide a broad range of family planning services and provide preventive health services that benefit reproductive health, such as STI and HIV testing, HIV counseling, and HPV vaccines. Find a Title X Family Planning Clinic near you.

Health centers are community-based organizations that deliver high-quality primary health care services, regardless of your ability to pay. Find a health center near you.

The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides medical care, medications, and essential support services to people with HIV. Find how to get HIV care and services through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program near you.

Civil Rights Complaints

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in health programs receiving federal financial assistance. If you believe that your or another person’s civil rights or health information privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with HHS here.

Patient Privacy

Federal law prohibits health care providers, health insurance plans, and other entities subject to the HIPAA Privacy Rule from using or sharing your health information to investigate or impose liability on yourself or any person for the mere act of seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating lawful reproductive health care.2 To learn more click here.

Understand your rights to protect your private medical information under federal law. If you think your privacy has been violated, click here to learn how to file a complaint.

Guidance on Protecting the Privacy and Security of Your Health Information When Using Your Personal Cell Phone or Tablet may be found here.

Guidance on the HIPAA Privacy Rule and Disclosures of Information Relating to Reproductive Health Care may be found here.

Guidance on the Use of Online Tracking Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities and Business Associates may be found here.

Department of Justice Resources

The U.S. Department of Justice is also working to protect access to reproductive health services under federal law. Visit the Justice Department's Reproductive Rights Task Force website for more information.

EMERGENCY CARE

Update on Emergency Medical Care

On June 27, the Supreme Court issued its order in Moyle v. United States, reinstating the protections of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) for pregnant women experiencing emergency medical conditions in Idaho. On July 2, the Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter reminding hospitals and provider associations that it is a hospital’s legal duty to offer necessary stabilizing medical treatment, including abortion care (or transfer, if appropriate), to all patients in Medicare-participating hospitals who are found to have an emergency medical condition.1

The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to protecting reproductive rights and maintains our long-standing position that women have the right to access the emergency medical care they need. Read statements from President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure.

Your Right to Emergency Medical Care

In light of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, it's more important than ever that you know your rights on receiving emergency medical care.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requires Medicare-participating hospital emergency departments to offer any person who requests it an appropriate medical screening examination within the capability of the hospital’s emergency department.

If the hospital determines that you have an emergency medical condition, federal law requires the hospital to offer you treatment until your emergency medical condition is stabilized, or an appropriate transfer to another hospital if you need it.

An emergency medical condition includes any medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms and that, in the absence of immediate medical attention, could reasonably be expected to place the person’s health in serious jeopardy. Emergency medical conditions involving pregnant patients may include, but are not limited to, ectopic pregnancy, complications of a pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features. In some instances, the treatment reasonably necessary to stabilize a pregnant woman’s emergency medical condition may be an abortion.

These federal rights preempt any directly conflicting state laws or mandates that apply to specific procedures.1

1 Please note: pursuant to the injunction in Texas v. Becerra, No. 5:22-CV-185-H (N.D. Tex.), HHS may not enforce the following interpretations contained in the July 11, 2022, CMS guidance (and the corresponding letter sent the same day by HHS Secretary Becerra): (1) the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation that Texas abortion laws are preempted by EMTALA; and (2) the Guidance and Letter’s interpretation of EMTALA — both as to when an abortion is required and EMTALA’s effect on state laws governing abortion — within the State of Texas or against the members of the American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA).

If you are a health care provider:

For frontline health care providers, EMTALA requires a hospital to provide stabilizing medical treatment to any pregnant patients presenting to the hospital with an emergency medical condition, regardless of any directly conflicting restrictions in the state where you practice.

This means that physicians and other qualified medical personnel are required by federal law to offer stabilizing medical treatment (or an appropriate transfer) to a patient who presents to the emergency department and is found to have an emergency medical condition. This requirement preempts any directly conflicting state law or mandate that might otherwise prohibit such treatment, such as state prohibitions or restrictions on abortions.

Stabilizing treatment could include medical and/or surgical interventions (such as abortion, removal of one or both fallopian tubes, anti-hypertensive therapy, or methotrexate therapy), irrespective of any directly conflicting state laws or mandates that apply to specific procedures.

Health care professionals and institutions with religious or conscience objections to providing abortions do not have to do so. To learn more click here.

If you are a patient:

If you present to the emergency department, you must be offered an appropriate medical screening examination to determine if you have an emergency medical condition. If you do, your health care providers in the emergency department are not permitted to wait until your emergency medical condition deteriorates before they provide stabilizing treatment.

The enforcement of EMTALA is a complaint driven process. If you or someone you know did not receive the emergency stabilizing medical care to which they were entitled, you can file an EMTALA complaint either by contacting your state’s survey agency or by using the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services webform.

To contact your state's survey agency, use the tool below.

To file a complaint with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services click here.

Contact Info (Take into account I don't know if these still work)

200 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, DC 20201

1-877-696-6775

Contact Us

[rapeculturerealities]

Biden administration tells doctors they must provide emergency abortions | AP News

The Biden administration told emergency room doctors they must perform emergency abortions when necessary to save a pregnant woman’s health, following last week’s Supreme Court ruling that failed to settle a legal dispute over whether state abortion bans override a federal law requiring hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment.

In a letter being sent Tuesday to doctor and hospital associations, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Chiquita Brooks-LaSure reminded hospitals of their legal duty to offer stabilizing treatment, which could include abortions. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press.

“No pregnant woman or her family should have to even begin to worry that she could be denied the treatment she needs to stabilize her emergency medical condition in the emergency room,” the letter said.

[infamousbrad]

Actually, (Biden HHS secretary) Xavier Becerra, going toe-to-toe with social media WAS your job. And you were bad at it.

“I can’t go toe to toe with social media,” Becerra said in a wide-ranging interview Wednesday, arguing that even a Cabinet secretary can be hemmed in. As examples, Becerra cited the lawsuits the Biden administration faced after urging social media companies to take down posts the White House considered disinformation. And he noted that officials can’t formally disclose many details about negotiations to lower prescription drug prices. “I don’t get to write whatever I want,” he said. The health secretary never mentioned Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but the longtime anti-vaccine activist’s shadow hung over Becerra’s answers. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run HHS has relentlessly criticized the agencies he soon may lead, amplified false claims about vaccines and offered alternatives to what he called government misinformation. Now, Kennedy, who has said he is not anti-vaccine, could occupy the office where Becerra was giving his exit interview.

Okay, I hear what he's saying, but here's something I've been saying since the first days of the last plague:

Effective public science education is a core part of the job of public health.

As soon as it became obvious that nobody in public health was doing public communication at all well, I started asking around. There's a first-rate college of Public Health just up the road from me; how many semesters of communication do they require to graduate with a masters degree in public health?

One. At the college sophomore level.

Yikes.

Y'know, my ex-wife was a technical writer, entered the field just as they were switching from hiring male engineers to female english majors, specifically because they found out that it was easier to teach engineering to english graduates than it was to teach engineers how to write coherently.

Public health administrators and staff don't need to be first-rate epidemiologists. They need to know enough about epidemiologists to understand what they're being told by the people in the actual contagious-disease labs and by the statisticians. What they do need to be is first-rate communicators. And they're just not. All the first-rate (and even more of the second-rate) communicators are on the anti-public-health side. May god have mercy on our souls, though mercy merit we none, because as a society we gotta fix this.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

Covid is "totally not a pandemic," but HHS has put it on the same level as Zika, Anthrax, nerve agents, and Ebola. Strange.

US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra today signed the 12th amendment to the declaration under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act (PREP) Act for COVID-19 countermeasures, a step that provides liability immunity through December 31, 2029.

The declaration provides immunity, except for willful misconduct, for certain claims, including loss caused by or related to administration or use of countermeasures to diseases, threats, or conditions, according to information from the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), which is part of HHS.

Present or credible risk The immunity applies to situations deemed by the HHS secretary as a present or credible risk of a future public health emergency. It also applies to groups or individuals involved in development, production, testing, distribution, and administration of countermeasures.

The PREP Act was enacted in 2005 to help protect pharmaceutical companies from financial risk in the event of a declared public health emergency. The act also provides funding for pandemic influenza preparedness. ASPR notes that the PREP Act declaration is different from and not dependent on other emergency declarations.

Similar PREP Act declarations are currently in effect for countermeasures against a range of other biological or chemical threats, including mpox and other orthopox viruses, viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, nerve agents and insecticides, Zika virus, pandemic flu, anthrax, acute radiation syndrome, and botulinum toxin.

[darkmaga-returns]

The federal government is protecting the manufacturers of COVID-19 and flu vaccines from product liability for another five years, on the cusp of a new administration likely to aggressively look for vaccine injuries and release its hidden books that Just the News went to court to obtain.

Didn't hear about it? That's because the Department of Health and Human Services does not appear to have told the public outside a Dec. 11 Federal Register notice, primarily read by regulated entities, and a generic page buried deep within HHS's website.

Outgoing agency Secretary Xavier Becerra's amendment to the declaration under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act for "COVID-19 Medical Countermeasures," enacted 19 months after President Joe Biden formally ended the COVID public health emergency, gives a perfunctory explanation for the liability shield's continuing necessity.

"I have determined there is a credible risk that COVID-19 may in the future constitute such an emergency," says the 27-page notice written in Becerra's voice, dated Dec. 6, much of it rehashing previous amendments and requirements for "covered persons."

"Congress delegated to me the authority to strike the appropriate federal-state balance with respect to Covered Countermeasures through PREP Act Declarations," he also says.

[iww-gnv]

A troubling trend is brewing underneath America's strong employment market: more children are working in dangerous jobs, violating the nation's labor laws and putting their lives at risk.  In the last 10 months, federal regulators have found almost 4,500 children working in violation of federal child labor laws, an increase of 44% from a year earlier, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Some of the children were operating dangerous machinery, such as deep fryers and meat-processing equipment, the agency noted.  The surge in cases of illegal child labor come as some states are weakening their child labor laws, while some lawmakers have also pointed to an influx of unaccompanied minors crossing into the U.S. as an underlying cause. On Wednesday, a congressional hearing focused on the hundreds of thousands of children who have entered the U.S. alone since 2021, with some lawmakers questioning Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra about their safety.  "Earlier this year, news reports detailed cases of unaccompanied minors working in harsh conditions in plants and factories," Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida, said at the hearing. "The reports were shocking and deeply disturbing." Almost 400,000 children have entered the U.S. alone since 2021, according to government data. The numbers have spiked in 2021, 2022 and 2023 compared with 2020, the data shows. A New York Times investigation published earlier this year found that the use of child migrant labor in factories across the U.S. has "exploded" since 2021, and concluded that "the systems meant to protect children have broken down."

[earhartsease]

depressing news for US people with mental health issues (depressingly unsurprising) - first part pasted below:

The rapid growth of the new 988 mental health hotline has been greeted with positive media coverage. As many people expected, calls, texts, and chats to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, now renamed “988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline,” started climbing immediately with the launch of the 988 number in July of 2022. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the nonprofit that was given centralized control over the 988 system, Vibrant Emotional Health (VEH), have been releasing monthly updates on key metrics.

In April 2023, compared to April 2022, calls answered increased by 52%, chats by 90%, and texts by 1022%. The trend was heralded by federal Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to CNN: “Our nation’s transition to 988 moves us closer to better serving the crisis care needs of people across America. 988 is more than a number, it’s a message: we’re there for you.”

However, as previously reported by Mad in America, a percentage of people who contacted the former National Suicide Prevention Lifeline were subjected to geolocation tracing of their phone, computer, or mobile device. The Lifeline advertised itself as a place for confidential discussions about suicidal feelings but, according to its own policy, if a call-attendant believed a person might be at “imminent risk” of taking their own life in the next few hours, days, or week, the call-attendant was required to contact 911 or a Public Safety Answering Point to send out police and/or an ambulance to forcibly take the person to a psychiatric hospital.

Many Lifeline users described the experiences of betrayal, public exposure, police interactions, loss of freedoms, and forced psychiatric treatment as dangerous, harmful and traumatizing.

So, since the transition to 988, has anything changed? As contacts to 988 rise, how many people are getting forcibly subjected to these types of unexpected, unwanted interventions?

It appears detention numbers are climbing dramatically, too—even as VEH, SAMHSA, and many news outlets continue to obfuscate the facts publicly.