Healthcare & Policy News
Reporting on health care policy, insurance coverage, and federal health programs. Includes news updates and conservative commentary from The Daily Signal.
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news
How Obamacare Affects Transgender People
Transgender Americans who previously wrestled with the high cost of gender reassignment surgery may find relief now under the Affordable Care Act. Before implementation of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, transgender Americans struggled to find jobs that offered health insurance, according to Kaiser Health News. Plans available on the private market were… -
opinion
Did Obamacare Raise or Lower Wages?
Before many of the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect earlier this year, pundits and economists on both sides lined up their predictions of how the new health insurance law would affect wages. While it is still early, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute indicates that wages fell in 2014… -
news
PBS to Air Documentary ‘Humanizing’ Late-Term Abortion Doctors
Taxpayer-funded broadcaster PBS is airing a documentary this Labor Day weekend highlighting the lives of the four remaining late-term abortion doctors in America. The Public Broadcasting Service describes the film, “After Tiller,” as a “deeply humanizing and probing portrait” of late-term abortionists who remain “absolutely dedicated to their work” in the wake of the 2009 slaying… -
news
IRS Struggling to Figure Out Which Companies Owe This Obamacare Tax
NASHVILLE — Internal Revenue Service officials must enforce a new Obamacare tax designed to collect money from medical device manufacturers, but they’re losing money because they don’t know which companies even qualify for the tax, a new audit shows. On top of that, the IRS wrongly penalized more than 200 of these companies for not… -
opinion
Who Will Have to Pay Obamacare’s Individual Mandate Fine?
Millions of Americans are expected to pay a fine rather than buy health insurance. Obamacare’s individual mandate forces people to either purchase a government-approved level of insurance coverage or pay a fine. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently updated its projections on how many will pay the mandate penalty to about 4 million payers in… -
news
California Requires Insurers to Cover Abortion Services
A California state regulatory agency has issued a health care directive requiring health insurers to cover the costs of elective abortions, according to the Associated Press. Last week, California’s Department of Managed Health Care informed seven insurance companies that they must comply with the Knox Keene Act, a state provision passed in 1975 that guarantees… -
opinion
Obama Administration’s Eighth Try on HHS Mandate and Religious Liberty Still Fails
The eighth time still doesn’t seem to be the charm for government bureaucrats. On Friday, the Obama administration released yet another revision to the Department of Health and Human Services mandate that requires employers to provide coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization. Many are wondering if the government has actually protected the religious freedom… -
news
Governor Grapples With Budget Shortfall, Won’t Give Up on Obamacare Medicaid Expansion
Virginia’s bleak financial outlook just got gloomier. Gov. Terry McAuliffe told members of the General Assembly that Virginia is projected to take in $2.4 billion less than it’s budgeted to spend during a three-year period. That’s almost $1 billion more than the shortfall state officials had projected earlier this year. That means there will be… -
news
Indiana Man Thought He Was Covered Under Obamacare … Until He Needed to Visit Dentist
An Indiana man who purchased health insurance through Obamacare’s federal exchange says he was assured he had dental coverage. When he needed care, though, he learned that his insurance provider wouldn’t cover the work. Now, he’s warning others they could also be getting misleading information. “You might be very surprised you’re not covered when you… -
news
Sharyl Attkisson Sues Federal Government to Obtain Obamacare Documents
Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson is taking the federal government to court. Attkisson, a senior independent contributor to The Daily Signal, filed the lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services to obtain information about the troubled Obamacare rollout last year. The former CBS News reporter and Emmy award-winning journalist won’t be going alone; the… -
opinion
The Obama Administration Has Little to Tout About Obamacare
There has not exactly been an overabundance of good news on Obamacare. So it did come as some surprise two weeks ago when the Department of Health and Human Services issued a press release with the headline: “Consumers have saved a total of $9 billion on premiums,” and the subheading; “Health care law will return… -
news
How Many Obamacare Enrollees in Your State Have Citizenship Issues?
In another effort to clear up enrollment inconsistencies in Obamacare, the federal government announced that 310,000 enrollees will receive notices about questionable citizenship or immigration data. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is in charge of Obamacare’s federal health insurance marketplace, says notices require consumers to send in documents supporting their citizenship status by Sept. 5… -
news
Q&A: Why Hahn Family Is Glad They Joined Hobby Lobby to Fight Obamacare’s HHS Mandate
Media coverage of the two Supreme Court cases challenging Obamacare’s HHS mandate for employers to provide workers with “free” coverage of abortion-inducing drugs largely focused on Hobby Lobby, the arts and crafts chain founded by the Greens, an evangelical Christian family. The case of another family-owned business also was heard by the high court, though… -
news
Insurance Giant’s Drop in Small-Group Plans Could Be Obamacare Trend
More Americans are enrolled in individual health insurance plans. In part, though, that’s because under Obamacare fewer are enrolled in group plans. And one health care analyst says this may be the beginning of a trend. WellPoint Inc., the Indianapolis-based health insurance giant, reported in its latest quarterly earnings that its small-group business fell more than… -
opinion
Why Obamacare’s $332 Million ‘Rebate’ to Consumers Isn’t That Great
It sounded like a big deal. The Department of Health and Human Services recently touted $332 million in rebates owed to consumers this year because of Obamacare’s Medical Loss Ratio provision, which requires insurers to spend a large percentage of the premium dollars they receive on medical care. But these savings are almost negligible in… -
news
Despite Obamacare, High-Risk Insurance Pools Stay Afloat
SANTA FE, N.M.—Earlier this year, the board that runs New Mexico’s high-risk insurance pool agreed to pay up to $600,000 to an Albuquerque consulting group to handle day-to-day operations of the pool, which was designed to offer insurance to people who had trouble getting coverage. But wasn’t the Affordable Care Act supposed to make high-risk… -
news
How These Religious People Found a Way to Opt Out of Obamacare
James Lansberry didn’t blink an eye when the Supreme Court handed down its Hobby Lobby decision last month. The vice president of Samaritan Ministries, which provides health coverage for more than 37,000 families nationwide, said even though his organization applauds the decision, “it doesn’t have any effect on us.” Samaritan Ministries, and other health sharing… -
news
Barney Frank: President ‘Lied to People’ About Obamacare
It’s one thing for President Obama to win an award for “Lie of the Year” for promising Americans “if you like your [health insurance] plan, you can keep it.” It must sting a bit more when a political ally like Barney Frank, the former congressman, flat out says the president “just lied to people.” In… -
news
CDC Chief: Ebola a ‘Scary’ Disease, but ‘We Can Stop It’
The deadly Ebola virus is “scary,” but “we can stop it,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden said today. The day after an American doctor who contracted the virulent disease while doing missionary work in Liberia was flown into the United States for treatment, the CDC chief talked about the task ahead on CBS’… -
opinion
Why Obama Thinks This Court Will Defend Obamacare Subsidies
When it comes to defending Obamacare subsidies, the Justice Department appears none too eager to take its case to the Supreme Court. Instead, the administration announced it would appeal Tuesday’s adverse ruling by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to… the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. President Obama, it seems,…