This week's #WednesdayWisdom comes from CSHP & @rutgersifh.bsky.social Assistant Research Professor @aspishakthomas.com. She recently spoke with Realtor.com about her #research into the practice of #Medicaid estate recovery: go.rutgers.edu/ng9fo9re
Mandi Spishak-Thomas
@aspishakthomas.com
Research professor @ Rutgers studying Medicaid. Social worker and health policy wonk. Union organizer (AAUP-AFT) and member of Brooklyn CB6. Baseball #LFGM and WNBA🗽enthusiast. Free 🇵🇸. ACAB. Still 😷. she/her. aspishakthomas.com
Back on here to thank @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social "It’s as if we launched a war against nature, and that has turned place after place into something that resembles a war zone. The climate movement is a peace movement, a movement to end this war and its casualties." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
We launched a war on nature. Now we are in a climate warzone | Rebecca Solnit
Summer is not what it once was. We have been robbed of one of life’s great joys
theguardian.com
Thrilled to see my work on Medicaid estate recovery highlighted so comprehensively in this excellent piece by Allaire Conte at Realtor [dot] com.
The Medicaid Rule That Can Put Your Family Home at Risk
A home can be exempt when you qualify for Medicaid yet face estate recovery later. Here’s what homeowners and heirs should know.
realtor.com
Marvin's family has now created a GofundMe to help with funeral expenses and to support Natasha and the kids in the difficult days ahead. If you're able to contribute or share the fundraiser, I'd be deeply grateful.
Donate to Support for Marvin Johnson Sr.'s Family and Honor his Legacy, organized by Erica Day Ruffin
It is with broken hearts that we share the unexpected passi… Erica Day Ruffin needs your support for Support for Marvin Johnson Sr.'s Family and Honor his Legacy
gofundme.com
Brian Goldstone@brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 2w agoI'm heartbroken to share that Marvin (known to readers of There Is No Place for Us as Maurice) died earlier today in a workplace accident. He was 43. Natasha (Natalia in the book) asked me to share this news because she is too devastated to do so herself. We are all in shock.
I'm heartbroken to share that Marvin (known to readers of There Is No Place for Us as Maurice) died earlier today in a workplace accident. He was 43. Natasha (Natalia in the book) asked me to share this news because she is too devastated to do so herself. We are all in shock.
Ah yes, the free market is going so well for our health "care" industry...patients just need to "discover more affordable care". Economists being economists again at the NYT 🙄
Opinion | Capping the Price of Health Care Is a Mistake
A government bureaucrat doesn’t know how much your medicine or doctor’s visit should cost.
nytimes.com
People who do seasonal work — like farmworkers — are at elevated risk of coverage loss from Medicaid work requirements. It's much harder to automate compliance determinations for seasonal work. While there are policy accommodations, documentation burdens will be worse for seasonal workers.
They Harvest the Nation’s Food, but a New Rule May Strip Them of Health Insurance - KFF Health News
New Medicaid work requirements could make a complex system even harder for farmworkers to navigate.
kffhealthnews.org
Bosses have desired ways to cut labor costs since time immemorial. Artificial-intelligence hype provides a powerful new excuse to replace stable employment with gig work.
AI Is Contributing to the Gigification of Work
Bosses have desired ways to cut labor costs since time immemorial. Artificial-intelligence hype provides a powerful new excuse to replace stable employment with gig work.
jacobin.com
Today we’re sharing an additional #FindingsFriday insight from a research study led by CSHP Assistant Research Professor @aspishakthomas.com. She examined the impact of Medicaid #estaterecovery on homeownership decisions, home equity, and #Medicaid enrollment: go.rutgers.edu/pzhz4f05
The Left(s) should get onboard with a massive expansion of public libraries across the country over the next 25 years. This is an affirmative project.
The air conditioning at the Delaney Hall concentration camp failed today, so now people are roasting inside as temperatures rise above 100 degrees. It's so hot they can't breathe.
Air conditioning fails at Delaney Hall as heat wave leaves detainees struggling to breathe • The Jersey Vindicator
Advocates say temperatures became unbearable inside one housing unit as the region's heat wave intensified.
jerseyvindicator.org
Call NJ reps and demand our neighbors be released. Sen Cory Booker: 202-224-3224 NJ office: 973-639-8700 Sen Andy Kim: 202-224-4744 NJ office: 609-259-2450 Rep McIver: 973-645-3213 Rep Menendez: 201-239-8892 Rep Mejia: 973-526-5668 Rep Pou: 973-523-5152 Rep Watson Coleman: 609-883-0026
More Perfect Union@moreperfectunion.bsky.social · last mo.Detainees at the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in New Jersey are going without air conditioning during an extreme heat wave. Families say the AC is off in one of the housing units, potentially leaving hundreds of people trapped in sweltering heat over 100 degrees. www.nj.com/politics/202...
It's July 1st and at least 450,000 New Yorkers are estimated to lose their health care coverage. This is just the start of the mass uninsuring of low- and middle-income people in the U.S. due to federal cuts and exacerbated by states refusal to take action in tangible ways (e.g., tax the rich).
The trans sports ban are almost completely an invention of the media, conservative and mainstream. it has been years of lies, of shoddy fact checking on just completely false conservative claims, years of phony concern trolling.
I hope you sick fucks are happy, because I just ran into soon-to-be former Congressman Dan Goldman and he is crying like a little girl.
The contamination and pollution from the fire in Boyle Heights is much, much worse than Los Angeles political leaders are admitting to. This is a huge scandal. So many people are getting genuinely sick.
“Nearly half of U.S. counties lack a practicing obstetrician or gynecologist. Rural hospitals have steadily closed labor and delivery units, citing financial losses, staffing shortages, and the high cost of malpractice insurance.”
Maternity deserts aren’t accidents. They’re the result of a design flaw
Shrinking fertility should mean less strain on doctors. But nearly half of U.S. counties lack a practicing obstetrician or gynecologist.
statnews.com
Don't tell me you're tired of me talking about Medicaid estate recovery...New paper out about estate recovery in North Carolina using public records data alongside demographic characteristics in a first of its kind paper.
<em>Health Services Research</em> | AcademyHealth & HRET Journal | Wiley Online Library
Objective To estimate the prevalence of Medicaid estate recovery in North Carolina. Study Setting and Design We descriptively analyzed the number of estates, amount recovered, and hardship waiver .....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Nice to see more work on the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program from @aspishakthomas.com @heatherhhoward.bsky.social @emmasandoe.bsky.social - and in my home state, too onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
<em>Health Services Research</em> | AcademyHealth & HRET Journal | Wiley Online Library
Objective To estimate the prevalence of Medicaid estate recovery in North Carolina. Study Setting and Design We descriptively analyzed the number of estates, amount recovered, and hardship waiver ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
From buses to cabs to street closures, here’s everything you need to know about making your way through Manhattan during the games.
How to Survive Your Commute as the World Cup Arrives in New York City
From buses to cabs to street closures, here’s everything you need to know about making your way through Manhattan during the games.
buff.ly
Take for example, the claim that work requirements will reduce poverty. The HHS report ignores the facts that *up to 7 million people are expected to lose Medicaid over the next couple of years & *Medicaid is very effective at reducing poverty But somehow, magically, this will reduce poverty? C'mon
New at Can We Still Govern: The Trump admin released a report saying that Medicaid work requirements will increase work and reduce poverty. There is a technical term for this: malarkey. Actual experts @chloeneast.bsky.social & @adrianna.bsky.social break it down. open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
The Trump Administration’s Dubious Case for Work Requirements
Cherry-picked studies and unrealistic assumptions define a new government report
open.substack.com
People who experience menopause at work often find out that there is no law guaranteeing their right to accommodations so they can keep working. Now that's starting to change. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Working while menopausal
Employees in hormone flux want accommodations—and some states are granting them.
motherjones.com
Today’s #FindingsFriday insight comes from a #NEW journal article authored by CSHP Assistant Research Professor @aspishakthomas.com. She explores the impacts of Medicaid #EstateRecovery on home ownership, home equity, and #Medicaid enrollment: go.rutgers.edu/pzhz4f05
A state review found the Health Department launched new initiatives and improved data collection. But Black women still face disproportionately high pregnancy-related death rates. www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/06/03/m...
‘Not Doing Enough’: NY Maternal Mortality Reforms Haven’t Closed Racial Gap
A state review found the Health Department launched new initiatives and improved data collection. But Black women still face disproportionately high pregnancy-related death rates.
thecityreporter.nyc
Today’s #FindingsFriday insight comes from a #NEW article co-authored by CSHP faculty @aspishakthomas.com and @ericaeliason.bsky.social. It explores utilization of postpartum #contraception and opportunities to remove barriers to accessing contraceptives after #childbirth: go.rutgers.edu/zwr9k0nt
"Kara Morillo, an organizer with the Eyes on ICE coalition, also told Gothamist she’d been told officers at Delaney Hall entered units containing men on an ongoing hunger strike, closed the vents, and began to assault and pepper spray detainees." gothamist.com/news/family-...
Family, activists allege Newark immigration center guards beat and used gas on detainees
Gothamist saw multiple people taken out on stretchers and transported away in Ambulances.
gothamist.com
URGENT CALL TO ACTION: ICE agents at Delaney Hall have escalated drastically. There are reports of them beating detainees inside the facility RIGHT NOW. If you can't physically be at Delaney Hall, you need to CALL GOV. SHERRILL AND YOUR REPS!!! Phone number and call script below ⬇️
NOW: I’m outside the Delaney Hall ICE prison in Newark, NJ where protesters are supporting detainees inside who are on a hunger and labor strike because of inhumane treatment. Follow this thread for updates.
As a candidate, Zohran Mamdani promised to fund the city’s three library systems at 0.5% of the city’s budget. But as mayor, his executive budget proposal coughs up just 0.42% of the budget — less than his predecessor allocated.
Librarians, Kids Throw the Book at Mamdani Over Funding Promise
The mayor has allocated a smaller piece of the city budget to libraries than his predecessor, Eric Adams.
thecity.nyc