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
How Congress Stopped a Massive Obamacare Bailout
Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced that insurers who lost money selling Obamacare would not get a $2.5-billion bailout. It was great news for taxpayers, but it didn’t happen by chance. Both chambers of Congress worked very hard to make those savings possible. And lawmakers will have to continue working hard to keep bailouts like this from happening…Paul Winfree -
- News
South Carolina Obamacare Co-Op Flops
An Obamacare trend continues. With an announcement to not offer health insurance in 2016, Consumers’ Choice Health Insurance Company in South Carolina becomes the ninth consumer owned and operated plan (co-op) created under Obamacare to stop operations. It was “an avoidable outcome,” according to a statement from Jerry Burgess, president and CEO of Consumers’ Choice. Approximately 67,000…Leah Jessen -
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Why These Conservative Senators Just Dealt a Blow to Obamacare Repeal Plan
Three influential Republican senators are vowing to vote against a House bill that partially repeals the Affordable Care Act, dealing a blow to the measure. “On Friday the House of Representatives is set to vote on a reconciliation bill that repeals only parts of Obamacare. This simply isn’t good enough,” Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah; Ted…Kelsey Bolar -
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House Drops Problematic Provision in Bill That Aims to Scale Back Obamacare
The House Rules Committee removed a problematic provision in a budget reconciliation bill Wednesday night that the Senate parliamentarian warned would make the legislation dead on arrival in the Senate. The provision, which would have repealed the Independent Payment Advisory Board, was dropped at the request of Budget Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga. Had the House…Kelsey Bolar -
- Opinion
How the House’s Partial Repeal of Obamacare Could Backfire
Public opposition to Obamacare has lasted far longer than its authors imagined. Unsubsidized consumers avoid Obamacare coverage. Twenty states have rejected its Medicaid expansion. Congress wants to repeal it. President Obama and the Supreme Court have repeatedly amended and expanded it, transforming the statute Congress enacted into an illegitimate law that no Congress ever had…Michael F. Cannon -
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6 Out of 10 Americans Oppose Partial Obamacare Repeal That Leaves Taxes In Place
Republicans have voted to repeal Obamacare dozens of times. This week the House will try again using a budgetary tactic called reconciliation to repeal parts of the law. Reconciliation is the filibuster-proof tool Democrats used to pass the President Barack Obama’s signature health care law in March of 2010. Earlier this year, Republicans signaled they…Matthew Streit -
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Here Is How Mike Lee Thinks the GOP Can Force a Showdown on Obamacare
The House and Senate have voted multiple times to repeal, partially repeal, or defund Obamacare. But Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, says the best opportunity for Republicans to actually send such a bill to the president’s desk is now – using the same procedure, budget reconciliation, that Democrats used to pass Obamacare back in 2010.Genevieve Wood -
- Opinion
Several States Launch New Lawsuit Against Obamacare. Here’s Why It Will Likely Go to the Supreme Court.
Thought the litigation battle over Obamacare was over? Think again. Texas, Kansas, and Louisiana are about to file a new lawsuit against Obamacare, claiming that a fee being imposed by the IRS as a condition of states continuing to receive Medicaid funds is both unconstitutional and a violation of federal law. And they are in…Hans von Spakovsky -
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21 Million Were Supposed to Be Enrolled in Obamacare in 2016. What the Actual Number Is Likely to Be.
Nearly two years into its implementation, the Obama administration is projecting 10 million fewer Obamacare enrollees in 2016 than were originally expected. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it expects roughly 10.4 million Americans to have health insurance coverage in 2016 through Obamacare. The estimate is a modest increase from the 9.1…Melissa Quinn -
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Senate Parliamentarian: House Partial Obamacare Repeal Dead-on-Arrival in Senate
The Senate parliamentarian warned Senate leadership Monday that a House reconciliation bill that rolls back provisions of Obamacare would be dead on arrival in the Senate and not be subject to a 51-vote threshold, The Daily Signal has learned. A senior Republican Senate aide confirmed to The Daily Signal that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough told Senate…Melissa Quinn -
- Opinion
The Key Fact the Media Missed When Reporting on Obamacare Medicaid Expansion
States that accepted Obamacare expansions have had Medicaid enrollment increase 18 percent, and total Medicaid spending grow 17.7 percent, a recent report from Kaiser Family Foundation has shown. Alternatively, states that chose not expand under Obamacare had Medicaid enrollment increase 5.1 percent and total spending grew 6.1 percent. This is not particularly surprising. Obamacare has…Drew Gonshorowski -
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Texas to End Planned Parenthood’s Participation in State’s Medicaid Program
Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, announced Monday that Texas will end Planned Parenthood’s participation in the state’s Medicaid program. “Texas has stepped forward and shown its unyielding commitment to both protecting life and providing women’s health services,” Abbott said in a statement. “The gruesome harvesting of baby body parts by Planned Parenthood will not be allowed…Kate Scanlon -
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Indiana Man Says IRS Fined Him $2,344 for Violating Obamacare’s Individual Mandate
An Indiana man’s IRS bill went viral after he posted a photograph to his Facebook page of a $2,344 fine he claimed was from the federal government for not purchasing health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Benjamin Miller said his insurance skyrocketed after President Barack Obama’s health care law took effect so he decided…Natalie Johnson -
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Obamacare ‘Cadillac Tax’ Could Cost Taxpayers in One City $700K a Year
A so-called Cadillac tax imposed by the Affordable Care Act could cost Lincoln taxpayers about $700,000 annually. Lincoln employs 1,978 people and insures 3,634 (including dependants) with a variety of health insurance plans, some of which are entirely too generous in the eyes of the federal government. Obamacare defines “too generous” as any health insurance…Deena Winter -
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Two More Government-Funded Co-Ops Created Under Obamacare To Close
Two more nonprofit insurance companies created under Obamacare announced Friday they would be closing their doors at the end of 2015, leaving more than 93,000 consumers left to find new insurance next year. Health Republic Insurance of Oregon announced Friday afternoon it would not be offering plans to consumers either on Obamacare’s health insurance exchange…Melissa Quinn -
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Why 6 Government-Funded Insurance Companies Created Under Obamacare Collapsed
A government watchdog overseeing the Department of Health and Human Services delivered the grim financial state of nearly all of the co-ops—that collectively received $2.4 billion—created under Obamacare several months ago. Now, following the collapse of six of the 23 that launched in 2013, the co-ops, or consumer oriented and operated plans, face an uphill…Melissa Quinn -
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Another Obamacare Collapse: Kentucky Health Co-Op Goes Under
In a new blow to Obamacare, the Kentucky Health Cooperative has decided not to offer health insurance plans for 2016. The Kentucky co-op (Consumer Oriented and Operated Plan), a nonprofit health insurer created with federal taxpayer funds under Obamacare, announced its fold on Friday. “It is with sadness that we announce this decision,” said Kentucky Health Cooperative…Leah Jessen -
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Law Firm for the Little Sisters Asks Supreme Court to Hear Its Obamacare Case
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to preserving religious liberty for people of all faiths, filed a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, asking it to hear the case of the Little Sisters of the Poor. The Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns who…Kate Scanlon -
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Abortion Survivor to Cecile Richards: ‘I Am So Thankful to Be Alive’
Gianna Jessen wasn’t supposed to live. But she did. Born alive after her biological mother’s botched late-term abortion at a California Planned Parenthood clinic, Jessen was rushed to a hospital after a nurse called 911. In an interview with The Daily Signal, Jessen, now a pro-life speaker and activist, said that abortion supporters must deny her…Kate Scanlon -
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Report: Insurers ‘Lost a Lot of Money’ Selling Obamacare Plans
Insurers lost at least 12 percent on Affordable Care Act plans in 2014, according to a new report. The author of the report, Brian Blase, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, told The Daily Signal in an interview that the losses will mean higher premiums for consumers. He said that…Kate Scanlon