Free Republic

President Ronald Reagan was known as “The Great Communicator”. He did not have the assistance of a compliant media as his predecessors, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, had during his two terms in office. He also had to deal with a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives led by Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill who provided rigid opposition to his domestic and defense policies. Yet Ronald Reagan was successful in carrying out his agenda and given the enormity of his electoral victories, is considered one of America’s most beloved Presidents. How did he do it? In great part, the answer...

First of Four Parts… The Pharma Companies In the Crosshairs During last year’s presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump said that if elected, he would save the federal government billions by forcing the pharmaceutical companies to negotiate—that is, lower—their prices. On January 11, 2017, President-elect Trump said that the pharma companies were “getting away with murder” in their pricing, and reiterated his demand for new competition policies aimed at bringing down costs. On January 31, President Trump met face-to-face with top executives and offered a more nuanced exposition of his thinking. First, he reiterated his oft-expressed point about the value of...

The most divisive issue for Senate Republicans when it comes to repealing and replacing ­ObamaCare is what to do with Medicaid. The Affordable Care Act gave states the option of accepting federal funds to expand Medicaid, the healthcare program for the poor and disabled. Millions of people gained health insurance after 31 states -- including many with Republican governors -- decided to accept the deal. Repealing ­­ObamaCare would end the Medicaid expansion, cutting federal funds to all of those states. Some Republicans want to save the expansion at least through a transition period during which states would continue to get...

Fox News announced Tuesday it has hired Obamacare architect Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel to serve as an on-air contributor. Emanuel has two famous brothers: Rahm Emanuel served as former President Barack Obama's chief of staff from 2009-2010 and has been the mayor of Chicago since 2011, while Ari Emanuel is a Hollywood talent agent. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, according to a press release, will appear on Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network to discuss healthcare and policy. Emanuel worked in the Obama administration from 2009-2011 as a special advisor on health policy to the director of the Office of Management and...

Vox asked Twitter users on Wednesday for stories on how the Affordable Care Act affected their lives, appearing to expect positive responses about former President Obama's chief legislative achievement.What the liberal publication got instead was a flood of stories highlighting skyrocketing premium costs and health care insurance loss, among other things."The ACA essentially saved my life," said a Vox reader in a quote posted to the publication's Twitter timeline. Vox tweeted, "Tell us how the Affordable Care Act has impacted your life," above that quote.

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control shows that the uninsured rate has hit a historic low, or at least it's the lowest it's been in the 20 years the CDC has been tracking it. This is being treated as trouble for Republicans who want to repeal ObamaCare, since it seems to indicate that the law is working as promised. But does it? According to the report, the overall uninsured rate was 8.8% in the first nine months of 2016. That's down from 9.1% the year before, and 16% in 2010, the year President Obama signed ObamaCare —...

The tax agency has stopped requiring individual filers to indicate whether they maintained health coverage or paid the mandate penalty as required under the law How much difference does a single line on a tax form make? For Obamacare's individual mandate, the answer might be quite a lot. Following President Donald Trump's executive order instructing agencies to provide relief from the health law, the Internal Revenue Service appears to be taking a more lax approach to the coverage requirement. The health law's individual mandate requires everyone to either maintain qualifying health coverage or pay a tax penalty, known as a...

Premiums for Obamacare plans sold by New Mexico Health Connections could rise as little as 7 percent next year, said Martin Hickey, the insurance company's CEO. Or they might soar as much as 40 percent, he said. It all depends on what happens in Washington. Such is the vast uncertainty about how the Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress are approaching their promises to repeal, repair and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. There is "pretty massive confusion," said Hickey, whose 45,000-member plan is one of the few nonprofit insurance co-ops created by the ACA to still be...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) pulled out a surprise map during his town hall debate with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on CNN Tuesday night to make a point about the problems facing Obamacare. Cruz argued that in 70 percent of counties in America, consumers have a choice of one or two health insurance plans on the Obamacare exchanges.

House Republicans during a closed-door meeting Tuesday discussed how to protect themselves and their staffs from protesters storming town halls and offices in opposition to repealing Obamacare, sources in the room told Politico.

The Post’s Mike DeBonis has obtained leaked audio of Republicans at a closed-door session airing serious anxieties about the GOP’s strategy to repeal and replace Obamacare. What’s remarkable is how decisively their specific comments in private undercut the party’s public, carefully-crafted talking points about the battle to come. Now, to be clear, these private comments [] Related: Trump’s secret plan to make Mexico pay for a border wall, revealed Steve Bannon just attacked the media. The correct response: Keep pointing out the lies. Happy Hour Roundup ...

The Trump administration said Thursday night it is pulling back advertising to promote HealthCare.gov as open enrollment draws to a close for this year. The Health and Human Services Department said in a statement that the government has pulled back about $5 million in ads as part of an effort to cut costs. The statement said HHS has already spent more than $60 million to promote sign-ups this year under former President Barack Obama’s health care law. Former Obama officials immediately accused the new administration of “sabotage.” …

Within four hours of becoming president of the United States, Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to limit immediately the effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) in ways that are revolutionary. With the stroke of a pen, the president assaulted the heart of the law that was the domestic centerpiece of his predecessor’s administration. How did this happen? How can a U.S. president, who took an oath to enforce the laws faithfully, gut one of them merely because he disagrees with it? Here is the back story. When ObamaCare went through Congress in 2010, all...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) — Help is coming for thousands of Minnesotans hit with skyrocketing health care premiums. The Minnesota House and Senate passed an emergency aid package Thursday and have sent it to the Governor. And Governor Mark Dayton is expected to sign the bill immediately. The Minnesota House and Senate passed that rescue rebate for 125,000 Minnesotans hit with huge monthly premium hikes. But it took months to reach agreement, while Minnesota families worried about what to do. Self-employed families are facing monthly insurance premiums of $2,500 a month or more. They make too much to get tax...

Two Republican senators on Monday unveiled the outlines of an ObamaCare replacement plan that they hope would be able to attract some Democratic support. The plan, from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), contains less drastic changes than some Republican proposals. It envisions keeping many of ObamaCare’s taxes in place in order to provide revenue for the replacement plan and gives states the choice of whether they want to keep ObamaCare. Under the plan, known as the Patient Freedom Act, state legislatures would have the choice of whether to keep ObamaCare operating in their states, complete with its...

Just saw an ad on espn for Obamacare, saying that people have until 1/31 to sign up before the penalty. What are we doing here, these ads should be pulled.

The Trump administration may no longer enforce a rule requiring individual Americans to carry health insurance or pay a penalty if they do not, a senior White House official said on Sunday Speaking on ABC's "This Week" program, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, said President Donald Trump "may stop enforcing the individual mandate." Separately, on CBS' "Face the Nation" show, she reiterated Republican promises that no one would lose their health insurance under Obamacare while a replacement is being developed.

With the repeal of Obamacare gathering a considerable amount of corporate media attention, it is important to remember the UniParty, Democrats and Republicans, have been paid by the U.S. CoC to retain it at all costs. ♦ The U.S. Chamber of Commerce constructed a short list of Wall Street-centric legislative priorities back in 2014 for legislative years ’15 and ’16. Among those priorities was: Retention of Obamacare Implementation of Common Core federal education standards. Passage of the Trans-Pacific Trade Deal (TPP) Comprehensive immigration reform to include amnesty. the-big-club-2 U.S. CoC President Tom Donohue has spent hundreds of millions via K-Street...

Liberals are notorious for caring about “groups” of people, but when it gets down to individual persons, not so much. You’re about to see this play out in spades as Democrats cry crocodile tears over the coming repeal of Obamacare.You hear it over and over again: “This will be catastrophic for the 20 million people who were previously uninsured but now have coverage! You can’t take away their health care!”First of all, no one is talking about doing that. Any repeal legislation will have a transition period for those who got coverage through Obamacare to move to new plans. And...

The world-renown MD Anderson Cancer Center has announced a workforce reduction by 1,000, the CEO of the center said on Thursday. The cancer hospital has had $110 million in operating losses from September through November this year, reported the Houston Chronicle. [Snip] The local publication reported that the financial problems began in the spring when the hospital implemented a new electronic medical-record system. Doctors and staff members at the center spent a great deal of time getting up to speed in using the program and that took time away from their patients.