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
Obamacare’s Risk-Management Programs Could Cost Billions, Experts Tell House
Obama administration officials insisted that Obamacare’s risk-management programs are temporary and budget neutral, but others at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today argued the programs will be a boondoggle for taxpayers. “All of you ought to be very concerned about the way the risk corridors program is being implemented”… -
opinion
HHS Mandate: Only the Beginning of Obamacare’s Conscience Problems
Any day now the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule in the case of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties—family-owned businesses that have gone to court to challenge a provision under Obamacare that requires them and nearly all other employers to cover abortion-inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization, regardless of their religious beliefs. As these… -
opinion
Obamacare Anti-Conscience Mandate: Court Says Being Complicit in Sin Isn’t a Sin
Last week, in Michigan Catholic Conference v. Burwell, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected the appeal of Catholic nonprofit groups in their challenge to the Obamacare anti-conscience mandate. The court got it wrong by second-guessing the religious beliefs of these groups. Formal houses of worship and their integrated auxiliaries (e.g., church-run… -
news
Virginia Lawmakers Block Medicaid Expansion, but Governor Vows ‘This Fight Is Far From Over’
After months of grueling debate and discord over expanding Medicaid in Virginia, Republicans got their way. The GOP-led House and Senate approved a budget that not only lacks funding to expand Medicaid but also requires General Assembly approval in the future—an attempt to block Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe from implementing the Affordable Care Act component… -
news
18 States Delay ‘Employee Choice’ in Obamacare for Small Businesses
President Obama has allowed 18 states to continue delaying a key part of Obamacare’s health insurance exchange for small businesses—“employee choice”—from being implemented until 2016, if then. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently approved petitions from the states, which didn’t want to implement the “employee choice” feature in their online exchanges in… -
opinion
Obamacare’s Medicare ‘Reforms’ Result in Little Savings
Promoted as a way to move away from an outdated payment structure in Medicare, Accountable Care Organizations were expected to deliver better care at lower costs. But, two years later, like many of Obamacare’s promised savings, this experiment is falling short. As part of the “Medicare Shared Savings” program under Obamacare, ACOs join together doctors… -
news
Obamacare Can’t Handle the Truth: Data Not Adding Up for Enrollees
Obamacare prompts one huge headache right off the bat for Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the newly confirmed secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Vast discrepancies in data on Obamacare enrollees could put at least 2 million newly insured Americans at risk, according to a government report provided to Associated Press. Officials found data from… -
news
In ‘Obvious Child,’ Abortion as Comedy at a Theater Near You
The feature film “Obvious Child,” which hits the big screen June 13, is a feel-good romantic comedy about a 20-something’s “hilarious and totally unplanned” journey to self-discovery, empowerment, and … abortion. Some in the media are touting the summer movie as “the first successful abortion comedy ever made,” but pro-life advocates are skeptical. The plot… -
opinion
Obamacare’s New Implementer-in-Chief
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. On Thursday, 78 Senators, including 24 Republicans, voted to confirm Sylvia Burwell to be Obamacare’s implementer-in-chief for the rest of his term. Burwell’s predecessor Kathleen Sebelius had become inextricably linked to the botched rollout, soaring premiums and a never-ending series of unilateral alterations of law, and conventional wisdom… -
news
This Is Who Will Pay Fines Under the Obamacare Mandate
Fewer Americans will pay a fine in two years for failing to buy insurance as mandated by Obamacare, according to revised numbers this week from the Congressional Budget Office. That’s because about 2 million more uninsured Americans than previously estimated will be exempt from the requirement, CBO said. Even so, what of the estimated 4… -
opinion
Surprise! The Government Now Can’t Even Guess How Much Obamacare Ultimately Will Cost
It’s no secret Obamacare is unaffordable. But now we also know that even the Congressional Budget Office can’t predict how much more this disastrous law will cost. According to a footnote from a Congressional Budget Office report released in April but reported this week by Roll Call, the law’s true costs and long-term fiscal impact… -
news
Senate Confirms Sylvia Burwell as New HHS Secretary, 78-17
The Senate today confirmed Sylvia Mathews Burwell as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services by a vote of 78 to 17, making her the nation’s new lead figure in implementing Obamacare. “Sylvia is a proven manager who knows how to deliver results, and over her career she has built relationships with Democrats… -
news
1 of Every 5 Americans Depend on Medicaid or CHIP
More than 65 million Americans—about one in five—are enrolled in Medicaid or a government health program for children, according to new federal data. About 1.1 million of them signed up in April, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported. The agency oversees the federal-state Medicaid program and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP…. -
opinion
This Family Has to Choose Between Paying Obamacare Mandate Penalty or Funding Abortions
It’s that time of year again. Temperatures are beginning to rise. School kids are itching for the freedom of summer. And all eyes are on the Supreme Court as the nine justices release decisions in important cases by the end of June. Among the headliner cases the Court will decide this term are the challenges… -
opinion
What Will Obamacare’s Future Look Like?
Obamacare is dramatically reshaping health care markets, especially the individual insurance market. The first results of the law’s standardization of coverage and imposition of new government benefit mandates and regulations were increased premiums—quite substantial in many cases—and the loss of existing coverage for several million Americans. Obamacare’s longer-term consequences are still a topic of considerable… -
news
Sam Brownback Explains How Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion Hurts States
Many states are succumbing to pressure to expand their Medicaid programs with promises from the federal government under Obamacare to cover the initial costs. But Gov. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., says that is bad policy and ultimately will be a bad financial deal for states. In an interview with Daily Signal senior contributor Genevieve Wood, Brownback explains…