Free Republic

[Carter appointee Judge Harry Edwards] prodded Carvin to explain why Congress saw it as such an advantage to have states rather than the federal government manage the exchanges. “Why does it matter who establishes the exchanges?” he asked. “Your argument makes no sense.” He said, “Who cares?” At that point, [GHWB appointee Judge Raymond] Randolph jumped in and said, “Ben Nelson.” Carvin agreed, arguing that Nelson, the former senator from Nebraska, was withholding support for Obamacare, in part, because he wanted exchanges to be state-based rather than federally-run. To get the law across the finish line, the Senate voted to...

I've been thrown off my health insurance -- THANKS, OBAMACARE! -- and have spent hours and hours over the past month trying to figure out my options now that the Democrats have made my old plan, which I liked, "illegal." (I prefer to think of my plan as "undocumented.") Whom do I bill for the hours of work Obamacare forced me to perform? How about you, Mickey? You're the smartest living liberal (faint praise), and you assured us that Obamacare was going to be fantastic. By now, Obama has issued "waivers" from Obamacare to about 99 percent of the country....

Records the Division of Insurance didn’t want reviewed have some disturbing revelations. Nevada’s Division of Insurance must not have wanted consumers to know that at least eight Obamacare navigators it licensed had criminal pasts. National Review and the Las Vegas Review-Journal had to sue the Division to obtain those public records, and navigators’ criminal histories are not the only disturbing fact we discovered. Half of the navigators who’d had run-ins with the law had failed to disclose it on their applications, despite the requirement to do so — but they received Division approval anyway, the records show. And before the...

Since winning the governor’s seat in 2010, Peter Shumlin has pledged to make Vermont the first state in the country with a single-payer health care system. But a key legislative ally now says the proposal might not be as politically viable as Shumlin seems to believe. And Senate President John Campbell says it’s time to start putting together a contingency plan. Shumlin has backed off on his promise to deliver a publicly funded plan by January of 2017. But while the timeline may have moved back, Shumlin says he’ll still reach the goal. Campbell, however, isn’t so sure. And he...

Since its party line passage and subsequent signing on March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act has been altered more times than anyone can count. After the law was passed so we could “find out what’s in it,” in Nancy Pelosi’s phrase, the law’s requirements have been subject to constant alterations and revisions, much like Ms. Pelosi’s facial features. Like all legislation, Obamacare’s popularity reflects the effectiveness of its implementation, or lack thereof. According to a recent CNN poll, the bill remains deeply unpopular: 57 percent of Americans oppose it. And for good reason: each new poll has followed the...

With many political debates, I try to give opponents the benefit of the doubt on intentions. Sure, raising taxes is a bad thing, but some politicians and pundits believe higher taxes will benefit society. Some people think we need to spend more, and others really fear climate change.When it comes to the HHS abortifacient/contraception/sterilization mandate, however, I’ve almost stopped being that generous with the left’s media and thought leaders. This New York Times Magazine editorial is a prime example as to why. Almost from start to finish, the piece misleads and misdirects readers about the mandate, its opponents, and religious...

But until the GOP advances an alternative that can provide the answer to Wasserman Schultz’s question, the Democrats can be confident that, while Obamacare might get tweaked, changed, or “fixed,” it won’t get repealed. Four years after the Democrats passed Obamacare in clear defiance of public opinion, it still remains to be seen which Republican(s) will take the lead on repeal — by championing a well-conceived alternative that can bring it to fruition. Just because Republicans don’t have an answer to Wasserman Schultz’s question, however, doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Indeed, the 2017 Project has advanced a conservative alternative to...

Obamacare architect Zeke Emanuel claims in his new book that the health care reform law will result in “the end of employer-sponsored insurance.” Despite President Barack Obama’s claim that “if you like your plan, you can keep it” — a talking point developed in his first 100 days in office by a tiny but influential left-wing messaging group called the Herndon Alliance — his administration has long planned to disassemble the current U.S. insurance industry as well as alter health care reform. The Daily Caller reported last June that the Obama administration was making moves to squash self-funded insurance plans,...

Doctors groups fear their members won’t get paid because of an unusual 90-day grace period for government-subsidized health plans and are urging physicians to check patients' insurance status before every visit. “This puts the physician and their patients in a very difficult situation,” said Dr. Ardis Dee Hoven, president of the American Medical Association (AMA), which advised physicians Wednesday about how to minimize their risk. “If a patient is being treated for a serious illness, that requires ongoing care,” she said. “The physician is having to assume the financial risk for this. That’s the bottom line.” If an enrollee in...

Remember how Barack Obama and Democrats promised to “bend the cost curve downward” with ObamaCare? Well, they got most of that promise correct. ObamaCare has bent the cost curve all right, but sharply upward — and in 2015, expect them to not just bend but absolutely “skyrocket,” according to The Hill: Health industry officials say ObamaCare-related premiums will double in some parts of the country, countering claims recently made by the administration.The expected rate hikes will be announced in the coming months amid an intense election year, when control of the Senate is up for grabs. The sticker shock would...

A year ago, the Republican National Committee worried that young voters were “increasingly rolling their eyes” at what the Republican Party stood for. Now they are hoping that the messy rollout of Obamacare will convince some of those same youth voters that what they have to offer isn’t so bad. In an efforts to improve its performance among young voters, the Republican Party is repackaging its crusade against Obamacare and dishing it out to 18 to 35-year-olds. “Obamacare was intentionally designed to screw young people over,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told reporters during a breakfast Tuesday. “I mean...

When I spoke just feet away from President Obama about the dangers of political correctness at last year’s National Prayer Breakfast, many were surprised. After all, my background is medicine, not politics. But it doesn’t take a brain surgeon like me to see that America is facing serious problems. And right now, the number one problem is Obamacare. Dropped coverage, failing websites, skyrocketing premiums - the list goes on and on. I wish I could snap my fingers and make Obamacare disappear tomorrow, but we both know that won’t happen. That’s why we’re launching Save our Healthcare - a national...

Obama reveals Final Four bracket picks By: Tal Kopan March 19, 2014 06:12 AM EDT As America settles in for another round of March Madness, its basketball fan in chief is releasing his bracket for the NCAA College Basketball Championships. President Barack Obama’s Final Four picks for the men’s and women’s tournaments were revealed Tuesday night, with the full bracket set to be revealed at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, according to ESPN. Obama chose No. 1 seeds Arizona and Florida, No. 4 seeds Louisville and Michigan State to make it to the men’s Final Four. “I know these are not...

Despite spending over half-a-billion dollars on increasingly mind-blowing promotions for Obamacare, a new survey released today shows that even the website apparently fixed, over one-third of Americans without insurance say they plan to stay that way, even after being told that the new law requires them to get covered or pay a penalty. As CBS notes, some 46% of those surveyed also were unaware of the March 31 deadline for being insured as it seems "low-income, young families may have been overlooked. They're probably not spending a lot of time watching television, they never read a newspaper and if they...

One in three Americans who lack health coverage plan to remain uninsured, citing cost as their chief obstacle, according to Bankrate's latest Health Insurance Pulse survey. Fewer than a third (30 percent) of the uninsured realize that federal tax credits available through the new Obamacare health exchanges can make health insurance affordable to lower-income individuals and families. In a telephone survey of uninsured adults drawn from a nationally representative sample of more than 3,000 Americans, one-third (34 percent) said they intend to continue without health coverage. When asked why, 41 percent said health insurance is too expensive, 17 percent cited...

Health insurance premiums have risen more after Obamacare than the average premium increases over the eight years before it became law, according to the private health exchange eHealthInsurance.The individual market for health insurance has seen premiums rise by 39 percent since February 2013, eHealth reports. Without a subsidy, the average individual premium is now $274 a month. Families have been hit even harder with an average increase of 56 percent over the same period — average premiums are now $663 per family, over $426 last year.Between 2005 and 2013, average premiums for individual plans increased 37 percent and average family...

EDITED Health industry officials say ObamaCare-related premiums will double in some parts of the country, countering claims recently made by the Obama administration. The expected rate hikes will be announced in the coming months amid an intense election year, when control of the Senate is up for grabs. The sticker shock would likely bolster the GOP’s prospects in November and hamper ObamaCare insurance enrollment efforts in 2015. Political operatives will be watching premium increases this summer, most notably in states where there are contested Senate races. In Iowa, which hosts the first presidential caucus in the nation and has a...

The busted ObamaCare websites cost a lot of people a lot of time. But for one Nevada man, problems with the state insurance exchange reportedly cost him $407,000. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Larry Basich, a 62-year-old Vegas resident, has been stuck with the massive medical bill despite signing up for an insurance plan via the state exchange last fall. …

The White House will not delay the “individual mandate” at the core of Obamacare, a top Administration official said Sunday. “That will not happen,” top White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, amid Republican calls for a delay of the requirement that Americans have health insurance by March 31 or incur a fine assessed with their 2013 tax return. The original deadline, Feb. 15, was extended amid the disastrous rollout of the administrations website for policy shopping, healthcare.gov. The administration has already delayed the law’s employer coverage requirements.

The possibility of being called a liar by Harry Reid isn't stopping this group of senior citizens from speaking out.