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President Trumps tax and spending bill just passed in the House of Representatives and is now on its way to his desk to become law. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the legislation (aka the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) will cause 11.8 million Americans to lose their health insurance by 2034, thanks to $1.1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Obamacare. Which Americans will lose access to these entitlement programs? When it comes to Medicaid at least, several GOP politicians have offered a suspiciously similar answer: It will be adults between the ages of 29 and 35 who choose to live in their mothers basement to avoid working. Hinson on Medicaid benefits: "They shouldn't be going to a 29-year-old guy who's living in his mom's basement choosing not to work." pic.twitter.com/Sj0LvuICTI— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 3, 2025 My message to Illinois Democrats crying about @realDonaldTrump kicking able bodied men and Illegals off Medicaid:Young men, GET A JOB. Get out of Mommys basement. We cant Make America Great when we have able bodied Americans completely out of the workforce and on the pic.twitter.com/h1gdhIkD6b— Blaine Wilhour (@BlaineWilhour) May 30, 2025 As Trumps stated July 4 weekend deadline approached, Republican senators and representatives have talked in interviews and on the House floor about why proposed Medicaid cuts are meant to target this extremely specific subset. The idea of making cuts to Medicaid has historically been unpopular, with a recent poll finding that even 54% of Trump voters are opposed to it. This unpopularity is why Trump has falsely claimed, again and again, that his tax bill would not touch Medicaid. In order to make those cuts palatable, the politicians in favor of them needed a bogeyman. They needed the modern-day equivalent of the 1980s mythic creature “The Welfare Queen”who, pundits at the time contended, strategically gave birth to more children in order to enjoy free handouts from the government. Now we have a new version of the old stereotype: the 29- to 35-year-old loser who lives in his moms basementoften while playing video games. Rep. Steve Scalise says of proposed Medicaid cuts: "35-year-olds sitting at home playing video games, they're gonna now have to go get a job." "And by the way, that's a good thing for them their mom doesn't want them sitting in the basement playing video games anyway." pic.twitter.com/xrUegCsdeN— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) July 3, 2025 Ogles: "The people that are getting off Medicaid are people that shouldn't be on Medicaid to begin with … it's the loser in his mama's basement playing video games instead of going out and getting a job." pic.twitter.com/hr2Ltfhfwl— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 3, 2025 The more GOP politicians have gone on about this supposed drain on society (House Majority Leader Steve Scalise alone has mentioned it at least three times in the past six weeks), the more rank-and-file social media users have seemed to absorb it. Kicking millions of basement dwellers off of welfare, foods stamps and Medicaid is not cruel or wrong. Its called a life lesson. Get off your lazy ass and get a job!!!!!— John Gilbertson (@TJandCasper) April 30, 2025 A stereotype that doesn’t pass the smell test But how many such basement dwellers could actually be out there, enjoying the taxpayers largesse without contributing anything to society? According to the Peoples Policy Project, in December 2022, only 4 million able- bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD) were persistently enrolled in Medicaid and working fewer than 80 hours a month. Of those 4 million, its anyones guess how many were simply choosing to play video games all day, as Scalise and his cohort suggest, rather than struggling to find work in a harsh job climate; finding it, but not being able to work the full 80 hours a month; dealing with mental health problems that still leave them technically able-bodied; taking care of other family members; or matriculating at a university. A generous estimate might be that one in four within/em> the ABAWD cohort fit the stereotype, which would mean that approximately 1 million of the more than 70 million people currently on Medicaid fall within the narrow parameters of fraud, waste, and abuse that these politicians claim to be targeting exclusively. Considering that over 11 million people are set to lose their health insurance now that this bill has passed, it seems extremely unlikely that Medicaid cuts will only affect basement dwellers. Ironically, though, they might actually cause a lot of people to move into their moms basement.
Category:
E-Commerce
Nothing says summer more than a trip to the beach, and for many people, that includes the perfect summer read. If you’re looking, here’s some good news: After a decade of downsizing, partly due to Amazon’s rise combined with changes in consumer behavior, bookstores are backwith Barnes & Noble leading the renaissance with a major expansion, on track to open over 60 new bookstores in 2025 alone, according to a spokesperson for the bookseller. The retailer currently runs approximately 600 bookstores nationwide, as well as BN.com online. Halfway through the year, Barnes & Noble told Fast Company it has already opened 23 bookstores in 2025. “[We] are enjoying a period of tremendous growth as the strategy to hand control of each bookstore to its local booksellers has proven so successful,” a spokesperson for Barnes & Noble said. “We are experiencing strong sales in existing stores and have been opening many new stores as a result.” In the early 2000s, Barnes & Noble opened 30 stores or more a year, but simultaneously closed about half that number too, according to The Wall Street Journal. By 2013, a decade later, it was on track to close about a third of its brick-and-mortar retail stores, and would continue shrinking over the next 10 years. But by 2023, consumer demand was back, and the bookseller started ramping up again. As Fast Company previously reported, the resurgence is thanks in large part to social media, in particular, TikToks #BookTok. But some credit also goes to a rise in so-called third spacesplaces people are flocking to post-pandemic that are neither home nor work, as Americans seek real connection amid an epidemic of loneliness now plaguing our nation (especially among Gen Z). As Americans spend more time at home and on their devices, many now have fewer friends (particularly men) and fewer social outlets. But many new bookstores today are opening with a cafe or even a bar to allow for more interaction, like New York City’s Book Club Bar and Bibliotheque, or (my personal favorite) Boston’s romance novel bookstore, Lovestruck Books. “Bookstores are a social spot to gather and offer that third space that online shopping cannot provide,” Barnes & Noble told Fast Company. “Our booksellers are knowledgeable and can provide a dedicated customer service to the in store shopper.” Heres a list of locations where Barnes & Noble has already opened new stores, as well as a list of states where it will be opening new locations in 2025. New Barnes & Noble locations opened in 2025 Pennsylvania: 2935 Concord Rd, York, PA 17402 720 W Lancaster Ave. Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 Virginia: 9840 Brook Rd, Glen Allen, VA 23059 1961 Chain Bridge Rd, Tysons, VA 22102 8139 Stonewall Shops Square, Gainesville, VA 20155 Arizona: 2011 E. Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85016 Connecticut: 775 Main St S., Southbury, CT 06488 1145 High Ridge Rd., Stamford, CT 06905 Washington: 10330 59th Ave. Southwest, Lakewood, WA 98499 775 NW Gilman Blvd, Issaquah, WA 98027 1140 Bellevue Square, Bellevue, WA 98004 Ohio: 3708 W. Dublin-Granville Road, Columbus, OH 43235 5501 Dressler Rd. NW, North Canton, OH 44720 Illinois: 9 Jackson Ave, Naperville, IL 60540 Florida: 13123 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa FL 33618 151 N US Highway 1, Tequesta, FL 33469 4149 Tamiami Trail N., Naples, FL 34103 New York: 301 Walt Whitman Rd., Huntington Station, NY 11746 Nebraska: 7949 Towne Center Pkwy, Papillion, NE 68046 Michigan: 2236 E. Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525 Texas: 12850 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77024 California: 2475 Sand Creek Rd, Brentwood, CA 94513 Colorado: 550 Marshall Rd, Superior, CO 80027 Barnes & Noble locations expected to open in the second half of 2025 A spokesperson for Barnes & Noble told Fast Company that the company has signed leases to open additional stores in the following states: Pennsylvania New Hampshire Washington South Dakota Texas Massachusetts Tennessee New Jersey Kansas Minnesota Maryland California Louisiana Florida Idaho Michigan Colorado Ohio District of Columbia
Category:
E-Commerce
Rural hospitals in the U.S. already operate on a razors edge, but new cuts to Medicaid in the Republican appropriations bill could tip many of them into failure. The Republican megabill that the House just passed in a 218-214 vote is a massive piece of kitchen sink legislation, extending Trumps tax cuts and allocating hundreds of billions for immigration enforcement, among the presidents priorities. To pay for all of that spending, the bill will slash programs that make up the federal safety net by the largest amount in decades, mostly through major cuts to Medicaid. Medicaid is the joint federal and state health insurance program that millions of low-income Americans rely on for healthcare coverage. As of March of this year, 71 million people in the U.S. were enrolled in Medicaid, which also extends coverage for pregnant people, elderly adults, and Americans with disabilities. An estimate from the Congressional Budget Office expects about 12 million people will lose their Medicaid coverage under the legislation. Among its major changes, the bill would cut $1 trillion in funding from Medicaid over the next decade and add new eligibility restrictions that require able-bodied adults up to age 65 to work 80 hours per month to qualify. Older Americans between ages 50 and 64 could be hit hardest by the new work requirements, according to analysis from the UC Berkeley Labor Center. That set of aging adults is too young to be eligible for Medicare but face the challenge of juggling work with chronic illness and disability, two factors that contribute to plunging employment numbers after age 50. Rural hospitals hit hardest Beyond shrinking the number of Americans covered by Medicaid, the bill would also place a cap and a gradual set of reductions on the taxes that states charge healthcare providers to pay for their share of Medicaid. Those taxes are a big piece of what makes the system work, and any changes risk destabilizing an already fragile healthcare system. Limits to state reimbursements are anticipated to further imperil hospital and clinic funding, particularly in rural areas where a larger share of the population relies on Medicaid. In those areas, an increased number of people without healthcare coverage and preventive care also means more patients showing up in emergency rooms. In Nebraska, nearly half of our rural hospitals are currently operating in the red, Nebraska Hospital Association president Jeremy Nordquist said. This change would pull the rug out from under them, leading to a loss of critical patient services and putting the health of our communities at risk. On Tuesday, Senate Republicans added more funding for rural hospitals to compensate for funding losses after a push from Maine Sen. Susan Collins, whose state stands to be slammed by the cuts due to a large rural population that relies on Medicaid. An earlier version of the bill allocated $25 billion to rural hospitals over five years, a number that was doubled to $50 billion in the final version. Whether the $50 billion fund will be enough to offset a rural healthcare crisis is about to become a live social experiment with steep stakes. At least one hospital that’s closing its doors in the state is already blaming Trumps signature legislation. Nebraskas Community Hospital just announced the closure of a clinic in the rural southwest Nebraska town of Curtis, which serves 900 people locally. Unfortunately, the current financial environment, driven by anticipated federal budget cuts to Medicaid, has made it impossible for us to continue operating all of our services, many of which have faced significant financial challenges for years, Community Hospital CEO Troy Bruntz said. Over a million could lose coverage According to the National Rural Health Association, the bill is expected to reduce Medicaid funding for rural hospitals by 21% while leaving more than a million rural residents without coverage. While the Senate Finance committee proposal has made some cuts deeper than the House-passed bill, both are certain to lead to more hospital closures and reduced access to care for rural residents, exacerbating economic hardship in communities where hospitals are major employers, the association wrote in a report exploring the rural impacts of the bill. An analysis by the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that hospitals would be down $321 billion over the next decade if changes in the less severe House version of the bill went into effect. On top of that, hospitals could be hit with $63 billion in additional costs from handling a larger base of uninsured patients, including those seeking emergency services. The cuts to Medicaid are controversial, even among some of the lawmakers that ultimately supported the bill, which the Senate approved on Tuesday. Do I like this bill? No, said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who cast a decisive vote for the legislation after securing special carve-outs for her state. I know that in many parts of the country, there are Americans that are not going to be advantaged by this bill. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries attempted to push back Republicans self-imposed July 4 deadline by filibustering the massive legislative package, speaking on the House floor for eight hours and 44 minutes. With Jeffries record-setting critique wrapped up, Democrats could no longer delay the inevitable vote on Trumps so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, which passed the House on Thursday afternoon.
Category:
E-Commerce
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