What We're Reading: Home Health Aide Dues; Kentucky Medicaid Rules; Monsanto Cancer Case

CMS Seeks to End Direct Collection of Union Dues for Some Home Health Aides

A proposed rule from CMS would end the practice of home health aides paid directly by Medicaid having their union dues automatically deducted from their paychecks, although it doesn’t name the fees explicitly, Kaiser Health News reported. Blocking these direct Medicaid payments means the workers are far less likely to pay dues, diminishing the union’s potential influence. The proposed rule would be likely to impact workers who don’t work in a single centralized office or don’t have a credit card or a bank account. The directive would overturn an Obama administration policy to ease the collection of union dues and pay for other fees, such as health benefits, and could take effect by the end of this year.

Trump Administration Thinks It Can Allow Medicaid Work Requirements to Continue

The Trump administration says it has found a way around a federal judge’s June ruling stopping a Kentucky plan from introducing work requirements on those receiving Medicaid and will continue to allow states to put the restrictions in place, The New York Times reported. Administration officials said they could sidestep the ruling by providing a better explanation of the rationale for work requirements. The officials have a narrow reading of judge’s decision, saying he faulted them for failing to follow proper procedure.

Monsanto Found Liable in California Man's Cancer

A California jury found Monsanto liable in a lawsuit filed by a school groundskeeper who said the company’s weedkillers, including Roundup, caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Reuters reported. The company was ordered to pay $289 million in damages. The case of Dewayne Johnson was the first lawsuit to go to trial alleging that Roundup and other glyphosate-based weedkillers cause cancer. Monsanto, a unit of the German conglomerate Bayer following a $62.5 billion acquisition, faces more than 5000 similar lawsuits across the United States. Monsanto said it would appeal the verdict.