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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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,… -
news
Support for Obamacare Decreases
Public support for Obamacare dwindled in July. Last month’s Kaiser Health Tracking Poll found that more than half of Americans view the law unfavorably, an eight point increase from June. Only 37 percent view the law favorably while 53 percent disapprove. This increase in disapproval may be driven by Americans reporting they hear more negative than… -
news
Aetna CEO Admits Obamacare Customer Numbers Worse Than Expected
Aetna has picked up 600,000 customers thanks to the Affordable Care Act. But is the company any more profitable? CEO and Chairman Mark Bertolini couldn’t say for sure. Speaking this week on CNBC’s The Squawk Box, Bertolini admitted he was unsure if customers who signed up through Obamacare’s federal and state-run insurance exchanges would yield… -
opinion
At Most, Obamacare Will Help This Many People Get Insured
Obamacare’s initial open-enrollment period ended in mid April. The big question since then has been, “What were the results?” Hard data have been lacking — until now. My colleague Drew Gonshorowski and I have just finished reviewing insurance-market data from the first quarter of 2014, and we can report that Obamacare’s results are not very… -
news
Pressure on Obamacare Agency to Ready HealthCare.gov for More Enrollees
With three months to go before HealthCare.gov opens again for business to Americans seeking insurance through Obamacare, congressional investigators and government accountants are sounding the alarm that consumers could “encounter challenges.” “The agency needs to make an assessment of … whether they are, in fact, on schedule and whether there are risks to the open… -
news
Lawmaker Challenges Top Obamacare Official’s Ties to HealthCare.gov Contractor
Andrew Slavitt, a former executive at the technology company tasked with “saving” HealthCare.gov and now second in command at the agency overseeing Obamacare, yesterday ran into sharp questions from a House panel about a potential conflict of interest in his new role. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., pressed Slavitt on his previous job at OptumInsight/QSSI and… -
opinion
It Wasn’t a Tax Before It Was a Tax: Court Upholds Obamacare Individual Mandate
A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled against a challenge to Obamacare’s individual mandate based on the origination clause of the Constitution. The Supreme Court held in NFIB v. Sebelius (2012) that Obamacare’s individual mandate was constitutional because it was a tax. The Constitution also says tax legislation must originate in… -
opinion
Was This Obamacare Court Decision Judicial Activism?
Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. claims that last week’s D.C. Circuit decision striking down Obamacare subsidies for individuals enrolled in federally-run health care exchanges was “extreme judicial activism.” That’s a loaded term too often used by those who don’t like the outcome of a particular case. But judicial activism is not simply in the… -
news
Obamacare Enrollment Numbers Reveal Decline in Employer-Based Coverage
New details about Obamacare insurance enrollment show that employer-based coverage is eroding, offsetting gains made in individual insurance enrollment, according to a report released today by The Heritage Foundation. While individual coverage grew by 2.2 million Americans during Obamacare’s first open enrollment period, employer group coverage—health plans offered through the workplace—fell by 1.7 million, said the… -
opinion
Is Obamacare on Its Way Back to the Supreme Court?
And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen: two different federal courts of appeal, issuing completely contradictory rulings on the very same day, on the very same issue. That’s what happened Tuesday. If nothing else, the dueling rulings should hasten the day when the next phase of litigation involving the Patient Protection and Affordable Care… -
opinion
FDA Regulating Cigar Business Into Extinction
I’ll admit it. I enjoy an occasional cigar. So do a lot of other Americans. Some like to indulge in a pricier smoke, while others opt for a less-expensive brand. The ones made by the J.C. Newman Cigar Co. of Tampa, Fla., which retail for less than $10 apiece, fall into the latter category. J.C…. -
opinion
Obamacare Here to Stay? Ha!
This has not been a good week for President Obama: Obamacare is back on the front burners and back in trouble. This week, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that another aspect of Obamacare is unconstitutional. In this case, an IRS rule (one of over 20 such executive orders related to Obamacare whereby the administration… -
news
Democrat Introduces Bill to Eliminate Obamacare Subsidies for Congress
Looking to require U.S. lawmakers to “play by the same rules” with Obamacare, this week U.S. Rep. Daniel Maffei, D-N.Y., introduced legislation that would eliminate taxpayer-funded subsidies for members and their staffs to buy insurance on the health law’s insurance exchanges. The bill, which is co-sponsored by Reps. Ron Barber, D-Ariz., and John Barrow, D-Ga.,… -
opinion
The Obamacare Employer Mandate Could Die in Some States
Tuesday’s D.C. Circuit and Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rulings raise new doubts over the future of Obamacare. At the heart of these conflicting decisions is whether or not the Internal Revenue Service overstepped its authority in its interpretation of the Affordable Care Act. The statute clearly states that subsidies are available only through exchanges… -
opinion
Report: Fictional People Able to Sign Up for Obamacare, Get Subsidies
You don’t even have to be a real person to get Obamacare subsidies. That’s the takeaway from a report issued Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO created 12 imaginary identities, which were used by people who signed up for Obamacare Eleven of them succeeded in obtaining coverage—and received subsidies. “The total amount of… -
news
One Year After Texas Enacted Abortion Law, Half of State’s Clinics Have Closed
In Texas, the stage is set for a sequel to last summer’s political drama, a battle that engulfed the state and brought abortion into the national spotlight. As pro-life groups celebrate the one-year anniversary of the state’s passage of abortion regulations, pro-choice groups are preparing to make up for lost ground in November. Since Gov…. -
opinion
Chart: The Number of Americans Who Remain Uninsured After Obamacare
After a full decade of Obamacare’s implementation, the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office (April 2014), estimate that after spending over $1.8 trillion on Obamacare provisions, in 2024, 31 million people will remain uninsured. The changes in insurance coverage due to the Affordable Care Act, compared to projections of what would have existed… -
news
Obamacare Official Gets Ethics Waiver as Former Company Faces Scrutiny
Andrew Slavitt, a former executive at the technology company tasked with saving HealthCare.gov and current second-in-command at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was granted an ethics waiver by the Department of Health and Human Services to begin working with his former company immediately. The waiver was granted despite Republican lawmakers’ concerns about Slavitt’s… -
opinion
This Circuit Court’s Obamacare Decision Could Have Huge Consequences
Today the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a blow to the Obama administration, ruling that the language of the Obamacare law only established federal subsidies for individuals enrolling in state-run health care exchanges, not for individuals enrolling in federal-run state-level health care exchanges. Since 36 states (the administration might deem it 27 states based… -
news
Oklahoma Man Struggles to Cancel Health Plan for Three Months Due to Obamacare Delay
David Emanuel wanted to cancel his private insurance plan with BlueCross BlueShield after he became eligible for Medicare, but was told nothing could be done until HealthCare.gov consented to the change. The 65-year-old Oklahoma man spent three months entangled in bureaucracy. He shared his story with KJRH-TV in Tulsa, Okla., which was picked up by the Washington…