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
More Proof Obamacare Is Increasing Coverage, but Not Access to Health Care
Many of Obamacare’s beneficiaries have already discovered or will eventually discover that there’s a big difference between insurance coverage and access to health care services. Today, the New York Times highlighted a report by the Department of Health and Human Services that shows access to care in the Medicaid program is very limited. The study,…Alyene Senger -
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Obamacare Creates Boom for Federal Contractors
Two years ago General Dynamics, one of the biggest federal contractors, reported a quarterly loss of $2 billion. An “eye-watering” result, one analyst called it. Diminishing wars and plunging defense spending had slashed the weapons maker’s revenue and left some subsidiaries worth far less than it had paid for them. But the company was already…Jay Hancock -
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Obamacare’s Contracting Bonanza in 8 Charts
Politics are frozen. Budgets are tight. But business purchases by the Department of Health and Human Services have doubled to $21 billion annually in the last decade and are expected to continue rising. HHS is now the No. 3 contracting agency, thanks to health-law spending combined with outlays for computer upgrades and Medicare’s drug program…Jay Hancock -
- Opinion
The Little Sisters of the Poor Just Fought Another Battle Against the Obamacare Mandate
Today the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver will hear oral argument in the Little Sisters of the Poor’s challenge to the Obamacare abortion-inducing drug mandate “accommodation.” The case, made famous by Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s midnight injunction almost one year ago, challenges an “accommodation” the Obama administration has offered to religious non-profit organizations allowing…Elizabeth Slattery -
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Map Tells Whether Obamacare Makes You Pay for Abortions in Your State
Pro-life Americans long have criticized the Obama administration for failing to disclose coverage of abortion under the Affordable Care Act. Now, taking matters into their own hands, they’ve come up with a solution. Two leading pro-life organizations, the Charlotte Lozier Institute and the Family Research Council, teamed up to design a state-by-state map that clearly…Kelsey Bolar -
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Tennessee Facing Fight Over Obamacare Medicaid Expansion
NASHVILLE—Tennessee Republicans, after having just increased majorities in the state’s General Assembly, likely will have to decide whether to expand Medicaid in the upcoming 2015 legislative session. That issue and others are expected to dominate the 2015 gathering, scheduled to begin in January. State Senate Democratic Caucus spokesman Matt Anderson said last week that, although in…Chris Butler -
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Democrats Failed Middle Class in Passing Obamacare, Top Senator Says
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., bucking the White House and the party line, said in a speech yesterday that Democrats were wrong to focus on and pass the Affordable Care Act in 2010 — when Americans were crying out for a fix for the stagnant economy. Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said in an…Melissa Quinn -
- Opinion
FDA’s Final Menu Labeling Rule: Going Way Beyond What’s Required Under Obamacare
Today, the Food and Drug Administration made its final menu labeling rule available and it’s even worse than expected. The mandatory menu labeling requirement comes courtesy of Obamacare. Under the statute, “a restaurant or similar retail food establishment that is part of a chain with 20 or more locations” must provide nutritional information for standard…Daren Bakst -
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In Year Two, Obamacare Is Off to Another Bad Start
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act seems like an unending nightmare. Desperate for some good news, the White House is justly relieved and celebrating the fact that the government website is not plagued with last year’s disasters. But other big challenges loom, including the administration of the law’s hideously complex insurance subsidy system, as…Robert Moffit -
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Family Gets Relief From Obamacare’s Mandatory ‘Abortion Fee,’ but Pro-Lifers Aren’t Rejoicing Just Yet
A pro-life family won’t be forced by Obamacare to pay for others’ abortions through a “secret fee” after all. Barth and Abbie Bracy, who have four children, filed a lawsuit earlier this year against government officials, arguing that they failed to offer health insurance plans that didn’t cover elective abortions. The Connecticut couple voluntarily dismissed…Kelsey Bolar -
- Opinion
Can the House’s Obamacare Lawsuit Succeed?
Last week, the House of Representatives filed a lawsuit in a federal district court in Washington challenging the Obama administration’s unilateral actions that have effectively amended the Affordable Care Act. Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other Republicans had threatened for several months to sue in an attempt to rein in the Obama…Elizabeth Slattery -
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How One Senator’s Scheme Could Come Back to Haunt Obamacare
LINCOLN, Neb.—Former U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson may go down in history for casting the crucial 60th vote needed to pass Obamacare, but the concessions he got in exchange for that vote ultimately could doom the health care law. Nelson is well known for negotiating for extra Medicaid money for Nebraska—in what was derided as the Cornhusker…Deena Winter -
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Obamacare Officials Exaggerate Enrollment Total by Counting Dental Plans
The Obama administration admitted today that it mistakenly inflated the number of health insurance enrollments under the Affordable Care Act by adding in those who selected dental plans to raise the total above 7 million — the White House’s original goal. “This mistake is unacceptable,” Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said on her…Melissa Quinn -
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Vermont Halts Payments to Obamacare Architect Jonathan Gruber
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Vermont’s state government has stopped payment on the contract of Jonathan Gruber following a series of video statements showing the Obamacare architect repeatedly insulting voters and intentionally misleading the public in the crafting of the Affordable Care Act. On Wednesday, Lawrence Miller, chief of health care reform for the Gov. Peter Shumlin…Bruce Parker -
- Opinion
Poor Americans Deserve a More Compassionate Health Care Solution than Current Medicaid
Helping the poor is not an issue that is exclusive to one side of the political spectrum. The question is not whether to help those in need but how best to help them. A timely example that illustrates the differing approaches the left and right have on this is the role of Medicaid in the…Nina Owcharenko Schaefer -
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Inside the Comic Book Jonathan Gruber Wrote to Sell Obamacare to America
Jonathan Gruber, the Obamacare architect made notorious in newly surfaced videos, credits the “stupidity of the American voter” with helping pass the Affordable Care Act. To help Americans understand the law, it turns out, Gruber wrote — and starred in — a 150-page comic book titled “Health Care Reform: What It Is, Why It’s Necessary,…Melissa Quinn -
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Reporter Says CNBC ‘Silenced’ Her for Detailing Obamacare Problems
Melissa Francis, a financial reporter on Fox Business, knows dollars and cents. But after trying to explain the dollars and cents of the Affordable Care Act to the audience tuned in to her former employer, CNBC, Francis says, she faced criticism from network executives. While at CNBC, Francis said on “Fox & Friends,” she pointed…Melissa Quinn -
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Support for Obamacare Drops to New Low
Support for Obamacare has reached a new low. According to a new Gallup poll, only 37 percent of Americans approve of the president’s signature law, its lowest approval rating ever. Additionally, 56 percent of Americans disapprove of the law, its highest disapproval rate. Gallup characterizes Americans’ feelings about Obamacare as highly partisan, noting that 74…Kate Scanlon -
- Opinion
Cartoon: Obamacare Is Heading Back to the Supreme Court
It's round two. From Nina Owcharenko's column: The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the King v. Burwell case exposes another potential weakness in the health care law. In the King case, the Supreme Court will consider whether the Internal Review Service has the authority to expand the application of healthcare subsidies to federal exchanges. The subsidies are a…Glenn Foden -
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Fifth Video Emerges, Showing Gruber Mocking Man Worried About Obamacare
A video from Vermont shows Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber mocking a Vermonter who expressed concern about single-payer health care. In the 2011 video shot by TrueNorthReports.com and released on Thursday, Gruber appears before the Vermont House Health Care Committee to present recommendations for a universal, publicly financed health care program. The recommendations were part of…Bruce Parker