Healthcare

New bills in the Michigan Legislature are working to identify and address racism and bias within maternal health care.

The announcement comes after the union and MyMichigan failed to reach a new contract agreement Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to avoid a five-day strike.

After 13 rounds of failed negotiations, nurses at MyMichigan Medical Center Sault are planning a five-day strike beginning April 15.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed bills Monday to lift Michigan’s 35-year-old ban on the use of paid pregnancy surrogates. Michigan was one of the first states to outlaw paid surrogacy contracts in 1988. Now, Whitmer said, Michigan will be the final state in the nation to allow families to use in vitro fertilization with compensated surrogates without fear of criminal prosecution.

The Food & Drug Administration added stronger warnings to certain chemotherapy drugs in March. Some people said the agency needs to go further.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer says the results in national elections this year could be pivotal in whether reproductive rights in Michigan will remain standing.

The hospitals in Saginaw, Tawas and Standish will soon bear the MyMichigan name after the deal is finalized in June.

The residents want to form the Resident and Fellow Alliance to help lead them in contract negotiations. It would be affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers and the AFL CIO unions.

The announcement comes following 12 rounds of failed negotiations on a new contract with MyMichigan Health. Their previous agreement expired at the end of the year.

Trump said he would look to make cuts to Social Security and Medicare to help with the two programs' long-term solvency issues.