Free Republic

Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) will not vote for his own party’s nominee for president, he said Tuesday. The establishment politician’s statement that he will not vote for Donald Trump comes days after the former president locked up the party’s nomination. Young had indicated earlier he would not endorse Trump, but Tuesday is the first time he admitted publicly he will not even vote for his party’s standard bearer. “At some point, principled conservatives need to incentivize our party, the Republican Party, to nominate somebody that principled conservatives can actually believe in,” Young told a local Indiana outlet. “Stated differently, I’m...

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas has changed a policy that denied sex reassignment surgery to people who did not legally change their names, the company confirmed Thursday. The change came after the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund raised the issue on behalf of Charley Osman, a transgender man, who was rejected after he sought pre-authorization in June for two surgeries. “I’m pretty sure I’m not the first person to go through this, but I want to be sure I’m the last,” Osman said in a news release issued by...

Posted on January 12, 2021 Here’s all the companies boycotting Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and other Republicans for objecting last weekFiled Under: Mark Speaks

Three major corporations are reportedly halting donations to Republican lawmakers who argued for election integrity and adherence to the Constitution. Popular Information reports that the corporations are citing last week’s riot at the Capitol, and alleging Republican lawmakers “encouraged the rioters by objecting to the certification of the Electoral College vote.” The outlet contacted corporations who donated to Republicans in the past and asked if they would continue to do so. Out of 144 companies contacted, Popular Information received a commitment from three to no longer donate to anybody who objected to the election results. The three corporations are: Blue...

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas is agreeing to pay a $10 million fine and issue refunds to consumers after a state review found billing mistakes in the insurer’s handling of out-of-network emergency claims. The Texas Department of Insurance announced the fine and restitution agreement Friday. Richardson-based Blue Cross will begin sending out notices to affected consumers by May 1. The state said its review found: Incorrect information about how to resolve bill balances on explanation of benefits forms sent to HMO members receiving out-of network emergency care. Delays in processing out-of-network claims that went through a review process Blue...

Hugh Hewitt kicked off his radio show on Friday by thanking his guest, former Maryland Congressman John Delaney, for "saving his blue cross." His health care. Unlike some of his leftist opponents, Delaney does not endorse the Medicare for All plan, which would kick 250 million Americans off of their private insurance plans and give government the reins. "The American people want choices," Delaney protested. "And they ought to have them. It's also about economics, as you know." Other moderates agree. Delaney's fellow presidential contender Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) was able to tell Sanders face-to-face last night at the 2020...

Yesterday I finished up my obamacare enrollment. I know, I could auto-renew but year after year I keep thinking "It's gotta get better than this." No such luck. But I discovered yet another thing about our fascist medicine healthcare program that I find disturbing. Monday is cleanup day for my Windows machine so first thing I ran a full anti-virus scan and a CCleaner scan for tracking cookies. As usual CCleaner found and removed about 40 tracking cookies and found no registry issues. Then I moved on to the healthcare.gov renewal task. This was simplified by the fact that we...

Because of market turmoil and decisions by United Healthcare and Aetna to withdraw from Affordable Care Act exchanges in Pennsylvania for 2017, the remaining insurer in the Philadelphia area, Independence Blue Cross, has been granted bigger rate increase — 28 percent — than it requested in the spring, the state Insurance Department said Monday. Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller said additional companies beyond United and Aetna were considering ending their ACA individual-exchange businesses in Pennsylvania. If that happened, some counties might have been left without any offerings on the exchange, which is where individuals have to buy plans to qualify for...

Tennessee is ground zero for ObamaCare’s nationwide implosion. Late last month the state insurance commissioner, Julie Mix McPeak, approved premium increases of up to 62% in a bid to save the exchange set up under the Affordable Care Act. “I would characterize the exchange market in Tennessee as very near collapse,” she said. Then last week BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee announced it would leave three of the state’s largest exchange markets—Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville. “We have experienced losses approaching $500 million over the course of three years on ACA plans,” the company said, “which is unsustainable.” As a result, more...

Cox told Business Insider that the situation in Pinal County will likely raise calls for a public option, or a government-run health insurance option similar to Medicare or Medicaid.

The partial withdrawal of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota from the ObamaCare marketplace, driven out by staggering financial losses, is another important milestone in the collapse of the ill-conceived and inaccurately named Affordable Care Act. Providers have been bailing out of ObamaCare across the land, but not Blue Cross/Blue Shield providers. It’s not a total departure from the market, as CEO Michael Guyette took pains to explain at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: In a sign of continuing tumult in the health insurance industry, the state’s largest insurer said Thursday it will no longer offer its traditional suite of flexible...

In the face of losses in the Affordable Care Act marketplace, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois is looking for new ways to cut spending. Starting June 1, the Chicago-based health insurer will no longer accept credit cards as a form of payment for members who buy their own health insurance on or off the Illinois marketplace. The company began notifying customers of the change last month. Blue Cross will still accept other forms of payment, including debit cards. The new payment policy will not affect customers in the group or Medicare markets. In an email announcing the new...

Year 2 of the Affordable Care Act was another financial flop for the Chicago-based parent of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois but hints of a turnaround are emerging. Health Care Service Corp.'s financial losses in its individual business, which includes ACA plans, worsened in 2015. The company, which owns Blue Cross affiliates in Illinois and four other states, said it lost $1.5 billion in its individual business, up from $767 million in 2014, the first year of the health law's state exchanges for buying coverage.

North Carolina's largest health insurer says high costs are forcing it to seek higher premium increases than expected. Two months ago, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina said it wanted to raise rates by an average of almost 26 percent in January 2016. But now it's seeking an average 35 percent higher premium for insurance sold under Obamacare. North Carolina is not the only state facing steep raises. A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation says dozens of health insurers across the country are increasing premiums well beyond 10 percent for next year.

Citing higher-than-expected costs, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico wants to raise premiums by an average of 51.6 percent on individual Affordable Care Act plans in 2016. The company made the request in a preliminary rate proposal filed with New Mexico Insurance Superintendent John Franchini. Blue Cross and Blue Shield – which insures an estimated 600,000 people statewide – said the proposal affects an estimated 35,000 customers who signed up for qualified individual health plans through the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange, but also those who bought the same plans off the exchange. Franchini has the final authority...

CAMP MEEKER (CBS SF) — A Sonoma County man battling more than a dozen tumors in his body is fighting a new battle with his insurance carrier, who has denied coverage for his treatments. Jeffrey Rusch of Camp Meeker knew the news was bad when an MRI found 20 tumors in his brain. Two days later, a C-T scan at Sutter medical center in Santa Rosa brought another devastating blow, discovering a large tumor in his lungs, and more in his liver and bones. Doctors told Jeffrey he would need to be hospitalized immediately. “My husband was having a lot...

Many of us can identify with the frustrating experience that Karri Kinder, a mother of two from Auburn, Alabama, has had with Obamacare. She penned this open letter to share her story: An Open Letter to the Obama Administration and American Citizens: My family’s journey with securing our new insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) started on October 1, 2013. I have decided to write this letter to let the American people know what it has been like for us. We are a family of four, with two little boys’ ages seven years old and three years old. My...

Small Business Majority, a pro-Obamacare advocacy group that helped organize a Dec. 3 White House promotional event, is substantially funded by a major health insurance firm that stands to profit from the federal program. Blue Shield of California is one of the three major insurance companies slated to sell its insurance policies through Obamacare's Covered California exchange. Small Business Majority brought nine of its members to the event, which featured 18 individuals standing behind President Obama. A Federal Register notice posted the day before the White House event said insurance companies, including Blue Shield of California, will get tax-funded "offsets"...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- North Carolina's largest health insurer will be allowed to raise premiums by between 16 percent and 24 percent on policies that would have been canceled for failing to meet minimum requirements required by the federal overhaul law, the state's insurance commissioner said Tuesday. Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin said his office approved the rate increases as requested by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. The decision means people who had one of the nearly 152,000 cancelled policies could keep them next year at the higher cost. The plans for customers who buy their own policies...

FARGO – Thousands of customers in North Dakota must switch health coverage because their plans are being discontinued due to new requirements under the Affordable Care Act. The three major health insurers in North Dakota were required to report to state regulators their enrollment figures and cancellations under the health reform act, commonly known as Obamacare. The state’s largest health insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, covers about 31,600 members – 17,000 in small groups and 14,600 individuals – whose insurance plans are being discontinued. That combined figure represents 8 percent of the North Dakota Blues’ 400,000 membership...