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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Alabama Bill Would Keep Abortion Clinics Far Away From Public Schools
The Alabama House of Representatives has passed legislation that would prevent new abortion facilities from opening near schools. If signed into law, House Bill 527 would prohibit the Alabama Department of Public Health from renewing or granting a license to an abortion facility within 2,000 feet of a public school. The legislation was modeled after…Kate Scanlon -
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What You Need to Know About the House’s Obamacare Lawsuit
The U.S. House of Representatives had its first day in court today after filing a lawsuit against the Obama administration for making unilateral changes to the Affordable Care Act in November. Now, a district judge must rule on whether the case will proceed. Lawyers representing the Obama administration and the House of Representatives gathered today…Melissa Quinn -
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Obamacare Abortion Drug Accommodation: A Bit of Paperwork or Complicity in Sin?
The Obamacare mandate requiring non-profit religious employers to facilitate health care coverage of abortion-inducing drugs and devices for employees may be heading to the Supreme Court soon. This mandate—which exempts formal houses of worship and their integrated auxiliaries like church-run soup kitchens—requires non-profit religious employers to provide this coverage or notify the Department of Health…Elizabeth Slattery -
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Will of the People Makes a Comeback on Abortion Issue in Tennessee
Two bills have been signed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, that could not have passed before voters approved an amendment to the state constitution in last November’s elections. One of the bills requires a 48-hour waiting period between counseling and an abortion, and another puts in place new regulations for abortion clinics as Tennessee…Kerry Hunt -
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Texas Bill Would Change Process for Minors to Obtain a Court-Ordered Abortion
Legislation that would tighten regulations on how minors go about receiving court-ordered abortions cleared the Texas House of Representatives last week. House Bill 3994, introduced by state Rep. Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, amends Texas’ family code to clarify the circumstances in which a minor may obtain permission from a court to receive an abortion without notifying…Kate Scanlon -
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It’s Time for Congress to Put an Obamacare Repeal Bill on the President’s Desk
Five years ago, Congress used a budget process known as reconciliation to pass the Affordable Care Act with a simple majority. It allowed Democrats to avoid a filibuster in the Senate and deliver the bill to President Obama’s desk. Now, with Republicans in control of the House and Senate, lawmakers have once again set the stage…Ben Howe -
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Congressman Pushes for Appointment of Obamacare Watchdog
Following close to two years of reports of cost overruns on HealthCare.gov, increased premium prices and lost work hours since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., is introducing legislation to appoint a watchdog to oversee the health care law and ensure the protection of taxpayer dollars. The legislation calls for…Melissa Quinn -
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Remembering Kermit Gosnell’s Victims by Protecting Other Women and Children From Abortion Industry
Today marks the second anniversary of the conviction of Kermit Gosnell, the late-term abortionist who brutalized women and routinely killed living, breathing infants in his rundown West Philadelphia clinic. Later today the House is scheduled to vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, H.R. 36, which would limit late-term abortions after 20 weeks, include…Sarah Torre -
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Why This Family Struggled to Secure Health Insurance Under Obamacare for Their 4-Year-Old Son
When Lindsay Franks received a letter from the Department of Health and Human Services’ health insurance marketplace in January, she was certain it was a scam. “Important,” the letter read. “Respond within 60 days to keep your Marketplace health coverage.” The message, dated Jan. 13, 2015, looked official, with the federal marketplace’s logo pasted in…Melissa Quinn -
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How This Congressional Maneuver Could Be Used to Repeal Obamacare
For the first time in five years, Congress has passed a budget. However, it does not repeal Obamacare. According to Paul Winfree, director of the Roe Institute at The Heritage Foundation, Republicans could use reconciliation to keep their promises to voters to repeal the Affordable Care Act. >>> Key Facts About Congress’s Budget, Which Will Repeal…Jamie Jackson -
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Emergency Room Visits Increase Under Obamacare
A majority of physicians report that they have seen an increase in emergency visits since Obamacare went into effect, according to a new poll by the American College of Emergency Physicians. According to the poll, 28 percent of respondents reported that the number of emergency room patients has “increased greatly,” and 47 percent responded that…Kate Scanlon -
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After Expanding Under Obamacare, This 123-Year-Old Insurance Company Is Closing Its Doors
After expanding to do business on the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges last year, a Wisconsin-based health insurance company founded in 1892 has announced it will close its doors. Assurant Inc. announced last week one of its subsidiaries, Assurant Health, an insurance company, will either be sold or shuttered after losing tens of millions of dollars…Melissa Quinn -
- Opinion
Judicial Activism on Marriage, Like Abortion, Can Cause Harms
Forty-two years ago, in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the Supreme Court tried to settle the abortion debate by declaring the Constitution somehow creates a right to abortion in all 50 states. There is nothing in the Constitution that requires abortion in all 50 states, and that’s why Roe is rightly viewed as an activist decision, as explained in this…Ryan T. Anderson -
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Key Facts About Congress’s Budget, Which Will Repeal Obamacare Through Reconciliation
House and Senate negotiators reached a conference agreement on the fiscal year 2016 budget which is expected to be voted on in the House this week and in the Senate next week. Should the concurrent budget resolution pass, this would mark the first time in five years that Congress passed a budget. And it would…Romina Boccia -
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Carly Fiorina: ‘Nobody Agrees With’ Democrats’ Abortion Platform
Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and likely presidential candidate Carly Fiorina criticized the Democratic Party’s platform of abortion on demand during a recent speech. Serving as the mistress of ceremonies at the Susan B. Anthony List’s Campaign for Life Gala in Washington, D.C. last week, Fiorina praised the organization and its supporters for their contributions to…Kate Scanlon -
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Insiders Detail Culture of Secrecy at California’s Obamacare Exchange
Aiden Hill’s introduction to the secretive culture at Covered California came in his first days on the job. He had just been hired to head up the agency’s $120 million call center effort when he emailed a superior April 18, 2013, and got a text message in reply: Please refrain from writing a lot of…Sharyl Attkisson -
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How Schools Use Medicaid Money to Pay for Truancy Officers, Deans and Healthy-Eating Magnets
At a school board meeting in Henrico County, Va., two months ago, a panel of school district officials and board members had been left speechless. School district officials were in the midst of crafting the district’s budget for 2016, and the five-member board had just heard a presentation from Assistant Superintendent for Finance Terry Stone,…Melissa Quinn -
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Incompetence, Mismanagement Plague California’s Obamacare Insurance Exchange
California’s health insurance exchange, established under the Affordable Care Act, has been held out as a national model for Obamacare. In some ways—not all of them good—it is. Whether it’s falling far short of 2015 enrollment goals or sending out 100,000 inaccurate tax forms, Covered California is struggling with its share of challenges. Now, several…Sharyl Attkisson -
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The Greatest Setback for Cancer Research Is Obamacare
Nearly everyone is thinking about cancer these days thanks to the Ken Burns film on PBS, “Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies.” All of us, including Burns himself, who as a child lost his mother to cancer, know a family member or a close friend who has died of the Killer C. The film tells…Stephen Moore -
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Abortion Procedure Extracting Unborn Child ‘One Piece at a Time’ Triggers Controversy in Kansas
Mary Spaulding Balch has been fighting against what she calls “dismemberment abortion” since she was 17 years old. Now, at 60, she’s breathing a sigh of relief. “It’s been a long time. Too long,” Balch told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “I was naïve enough to think back in the 70s, we would…Kelsey Bolar