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
Obama Threatens to Veto Bill Prohibiting Federal Funds From Being Used to Pay for Abortion
As hundreds of thousands of pro-life demonstrators participated in the March for Life in Washington, D.C., to protest abortion, President Obama threatened to veto a bill prohibiting federal funds from being used to pay for the controversial procedure. “I am deeply committed to protecting this core constitutional right, and I believe that efforts like H.R….Melissa Quinn -
- Opinion
Aware of Reported Rape Exception, Women Still Overwhelmingly Support 20-Week Abortion Ban
Americans care. Washington, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to realize that Americans believe 5-month-old unborn children deserve have to their right to life protected. Or that as a nation, America says that when a child is moving, can hear and has a heartbeat, that child deserves the right to live—and deserves a nation that…Katrina Trinko -
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At Last Second, House GOP Leaders Ditch Effort to Pass Bill Limiting Abortion
House Republican leadership tonight abruptly dropped a bill that would ban elective abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. According to news reports, female GOP lawmakers raised concerns on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, prompting party leaders to scrap a vote on the bill. Prominent Republican members who rallied against the plan to limit…Josh Siegel -
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New Poll: 8 Out of 10 Americans Support ‘Significant Restrictions’ on Abortion
Forty-two years after the passing of Roe v. Wade, how do Americans really feel about abortion? A new Marist poll sponsored by the Catholic organization Knights of Columbus asked Americans if they were pro-life or pro-choice – but they didn’t stop there. The poll’s stated intention was to “understand Americans’ attitudes toward abortion,” including those…Kate Scanlon -
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Hawaii’s Obamacare Exchange Projected to Be Financially Viable in 2022
HONOLULU—The state’s Obamacare exchange, Hawaii Health Connector, is the most costly in the nation, and a new report from the Hawaii Commerce and Consumer Affairs Department shows it won’t be fiscally sustainable until 2022. That’s based on an enrollment of 70,000 to 80,000, said its director, Jeff Kissel.Hawaii Health Connector had about 1,000 people enrolled at this…Malia Zimmerman -
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Obamacare Limiting Insurance Options in California
When Dennie Wright went to sign up for Affordable Care Act insurance last year, it wasn’t a hard decision. His insurance agent told him he had only one insurer—Anthem Blue Cross—that he could buy from on the exchange, Covered California. Wright lives in a modest house overlooking a pasture in Indian Valley. It’s a tiny alpine…Pauline Bartolone -
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Medicare Chief Who Oversaw Obamacare Rollout to Resign
The top official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced her resignation today. But the official who will serve as the interim head of the agency was the subject of congressional inquiries from Republican lawmakers last year. Marilyn Tavenner announced today that she would be stepping down from her post as administrator for…Melissa Quinn -
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A Sweet Retreat: GOP Lawmakers Chart Course on Immigration, Obamacare in Hershey
HERSHEY, Pa. — At what has been dubbed the “Sweet Place on Earth,” Republicans in both the House and Senate gathered for a sweet retreat to craft their strategies on issues that have caused bitter disagreement. The gathering of GOP lawmakers was the first of its kind to occur in 10 years and centered around…Melissa Quinn -
- Opinion
We’ve Been Calculating Budget Scores for Legislation Like Obamacare All Wrong
There is hubris in every government project. The unspoken idea behind bills as comprehensive as the Affordable Care Act and Dodd-Frank is that legislators can understand how a system works, tinker with it and improve it. Psychologically, it is unreasonable to expect that anyone is unbiased about her own grand idea, so legislating has a…Salim Furth -
- Opinion
How Obamacare Exchanges Have Decreased Competition Among Insurers
Unsurprisingly, Obamacare has made yet another problem worse—creating a government exchange that is less competitive than the prior individual market. In 2009, when President Obama was trying to sell his health care reform ideas to Congress, he promised a competitive marketplace, where costs would decrease and quality would increase. He said: We’ll…[create] a new insurance…Alyene Senger -
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Illinois Abortion Clinics Inspected an Average of Once Every 9 Years
Abortion is legal but not safe in Illinois, says a pro-life group’s new report. The Illinois Right to Life Committee’s study determined that abortion clinics statewide are inspected on average once every nine years. Forty percent of licensed clinics went between 14 and 17 years without inspections, according to the report. And only one of the federally…Evan Gahr -
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Obamacare Health Insurance Startup Collapses in Iowa
It was a heck of a Christmas for David Fairchild and his wife, Clara Peterson. They found out they were about to lose their new health insurance. “Clara was listening to the news on Iowa Public Radio and that’s how we found out,” Fairchild says. They went to their health plan’s website that night. “No…Clay Masters -
- Opinion
Will This Little-Known Obamacare Provision Lead to a Public Option?
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., was absolutely right when she said we had to pass Obamacare so we could find out what was in it. Did you know that the law authorizes the federal government to contract with selected health plans to compete directly with all other private plans in every state? The…Robert Moffit -
- Opinion
Why Don’t Abortion Advocates Care About Women’s Safety?
Should abortion facilities have to follow the same standards as other medical clinics? If you thought the answer to that, regardless of your views on abortion, should be “duh,” you’d be wrong. In fact, we had quite the spirited debate on PBS’s “To The Contrary” this week about that. A provision in a Texas law…Genevieve Wood -
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‘There Is Just So Much Confusion Out There’: How Obamacare Figures Into Your 2014 Taxes
In addition to the normal thrills and chills of the income tax filing season, this year consumers will have the added excitement of figuring out how the health law figures in their 2014 taxes. The good news is that for most people the only change to their normal tax filing routine will be to check…Michelle Andrews -
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What’s the Alternative to Obamacare? This New Book Provides the Answer … and How to Make It Happen
Since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010, supporters have called the legislation “the law of the land,” and the president says the health care debate is “over.” But in a new book, one journalist points out that laws can change. In “Overcoming Obamacare: Three Approaches to Reversing the Government Takeover…Kate Scanlon -
- Opinion
4 Key Upcoming Supreme Court Cases Involving Spider-Man, the Confederate Flag and Obamacare
Today the Supreme Court will be back in full swing, hearing oral arguments in a number of important cases. In addition to a case dealing with discrimination against Muslims and a few involving freedom of speech, here are other noteworthy cases coming up. 1. Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans: Do messages on…Elizabeth Slattery -
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Fracking, Not Obamacare, Has Helped the Middle Class
Americans of all income levels would benefit from faster economic growth that raises wages. Unfortunately, wages are being held back by the very policies supported by those criticizing slow wage growth. Liberals across the country supported the misnamed Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). The law’s mandates have made health coverage more expensive for both individuals…James Sherk -
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What You Need to Know About the Fight to Make Members of Congress Enroll in Obamacare
Is Congress a “small” business? That’s the debate playing out in a Washington courthouse between the federal government’s personnel office, the District of Columbia’s health exchange and a local taxpayer who brought the case. For years, Republicans have made the case that members of Congress and their staffs are getting special treatment under Obamacare. Their…Melissa Quinn -
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House Republicans Introduce Late-Term Abortion Ban
With majorities in the House and Senate, Republicans have renewed their push to ban late-term abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. On Wednesday, Reps. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced the “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.” In a joint press release, Franks said that his bill would protect “innocent and defenseless children”…Philip Wegmann