Obamacare News

Ask 68-year-old Gavin Braithwaite how he feels about the amount he and his wife, Louellen, are expecting to pay for health insurance next year, and he’ll tell you he’s horrified, but not exactly surprised. Since 1992, Gavin said, he’s watched the cost of their coverage increase over the years. In the past few years, the…

For many millennials, the fear of entering the “real world” is looming. We are preparing to face the financial challenges, often feeling like we are starting the trek up Mount Everest. Many of us are scrambling to find jobs and avoiding moving back in with our parents. We recognize more and more that good jobs…

Despite projections that it’s losing money this year, Anthem offered to expand its business on Obamacare’s exchanges in nine states if the federal government allows the company to move forward with its merger with Cigna. The company is currently in the process of acquiring Cigna in a $48 billion deal. But the Justice Department announced…

One of the country’s largest insurance companies is now expected to lose money this year after emerging as one of the few insurers that made money on Obamacare’s exchange business early on. Anthem, one of the country’s five largest insurers, was projected to be successful in its business on Obamacare exchanges earlier this year. But…

Since Obamacare’s rollout in the fall of 2013, 16 co-ops that launched with money from the federal government have collapsed. The co-ops, or consumer operated and oriented plans, were started under the Affordable Care Act as a way to boost competition among insurers and expand the number of health insurance companies available to consumers living…

Update: Illinois’ Land of Lincoln Health announced Tuesday it will be closing its doors. The co-op became the 16th of 23 co-ops launched under Obamacare to collapse, following Oregon’s Health Co-Op. Land of Lincoln Health received $160.1 million in loans from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. More than 54,000 enrolled in coverage from…

Another Obamacare co-op, Connecticut’s HealthyCT, is closing its doors, and at least two most could follow suit as the nonprofit insurers decide whether they will be able to remain on firm financial footing. The nine remaining co-ops of the original 23 co-ops must make payments totaling at least $130 million through Obamacare’s risk adjustment program,…

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota members with individual and family insurance plans face major shifts in their policies  in the coming year, after the insurer decided to decrease its presence on its state-run Obamacare exchange Minnesota’s largest health insurer is minimizing its individual plan offerings, so much so that all family and individual preferred provider…

After more than six years of Republican pledges to repeal and replace Obamacare, House Speaker Paul Ryan today rolled out a plan to deliver on that promise by abolishing the 2010 law. The 37-page Republican plan creates a blueprint for rolling back President Barack Obama’s more than 3,000-page marquee health care law. It’s the fifth…

I split my time pretty evenly between Washington, D.C., and my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. In D.C., if you want to get your fix of crony capitalism or government mandates, they’re only a step away at any time. But if you want to capture a perfect specimen of crony capitalism and government overreach in…

Obamacare’s 13th co-op announced it’s closing ahead of the 2017 open enrollment period, and more of the nonprofit insurers could follow suit in the coming months. Ohio’s InHealth Mutual announced late last week it would be closing its doors after the state’s Department of Insurance requested to liquidate the insurer. As insurers prepare to submit…

When Maryland business owner Thomas Kunkel first learned about the Affordable Care Act, he was excited about the prospect of the new health care law. “From the small business standpoint, it was actually one of the first times I felt like a bit of a social program might actually benefit a small business,” he told…

As insurance companies begin submitting their rates for health care coverage next year, consumers are seeing changes in the number of insurers selling plans on Obamacare’s exchanges. And in some places, fewer choices on the exchanges can mean higher premiums. So far, three states—Alabama, Alaska, and Wyoming—have just one insurer selling coverage on their Obamacare…

The Supreme Court issued its long-awaited ruling on Monday in the consolidated challenge to Obamacare’s requirement that nonprofit employers collaborate in the provision of employee health insurance coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs and devices. This is a victory, not only for the Little Sisters, but for all individuals and organizations who step outside the four…

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized new transgender regulations for Obamacare on Friday. These regulations threaten the religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and independent medical judgment of health care professionals. And, just as they did in the transgender school policy the Obama administration announced this morning, the administration has created these new Obamacare…

A federal judge delivered a blow to the Obama administration and the president’s signature health care law Thursday in a lawsuit mounted by the House of Representatives. But the lawsuit’s future could be impacted further by November’s elections. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer sided with the House in a case challenging how the Obama administration…

A federal district court in Washington, D.C., ruled Thursday in favor of the U.S. House of Representatives’ challenge to the Obama administration’s implementation of part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The act has been “revised” dozens of times by the administration since its passage in March 2010, leading the…

It seems that federal officials have worked overtime to undermine public trust. Benghazi, the IRS abuses, the “fast and furious” gun-running fiasco, the solar power boondoggles, and the seemingly endless implementation problems of the Affordable Care Act—all these scandals have common themes: arrogant and abusive bureaucracy, double dealing, lame excuses, and legal hairsplitting. All these…

The Obama administration is changing its rules for the remaining 11 co-ops started under Obamacare to now allow them to more easily attract outside investors, paving the way for states and large hospital systems to potentially inject cash into the struggling nonprofit insurers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued an interim final rule…

Another major insurer announced it is considering leaving some of Obamacare’s exchanges after losing money and customers. In financial reports released Monday, Humana said that it is likely to exit some exchanges in 2017 after reporting lower earnings and a drop in enrollment in its individual plans, including some sold under the Affordable Care Act….