This is the Tom Hartman Program.

And welcome back.

Tom Hartman here with you live from home and this from the Los Angeles Times,

despite mounting police in California

and other states, the Trump administration

is not allowing states to use Medicaid

more freely to respond to the coronavirus crisis by expanding medical

services.

In previous emergencies, including the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and the

H1N1 flu outbreak, both Republican and Democratic administrations,

loosened Medicaid rules to empower states to meet surging needs.

But today, the White House and Senior Federal Health Officials have not taken

the necessary steps to give the state simple pathways to fully leverage this

Mammoth Safety Net program. This is amazing.

Cindy Mann who oversaw the Medicaid program in the Obama administration,

worked with the states to help respond to the H1N1 flu crisis in 2009,

said if they wanted to do it, they could do it.

But they haven't.

And, you know, we'll see. I just wanted to bring you up to date on some

of the news stories here and then I'll be taking your calls for the rest of the show.

A public citizen, Robert Weisman, who was on our program a couple days ago,

the president of public citizen.org.

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