Free Republic

**SNIP** Desperate to keep insurers on board, the administration scrambled to find another source of money. Unfortunately, a big part of that money pot belongs to the public. Disregarding that fact, the administration announced on Feb. 12 that the money will be handed out to insurers - a whopping $7.7 billion this year alone. That huge handout to the insurance industry violates the law. This is money you and everyone else who already has insurance is forced to pay, called a reinsurance fee. You pay the fee whether you buy your own plan or get covered at work, even if...

Britain has "free" health care, which means it is run by the government and funded by taxpayers. Those on the left in the U.S. want to move to this model, which is often referred to as universal healthcare or single-payer since the government handles all the financing. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If health care doesn't cost anything, people are going to use more of it. They're not going to think prudently about which services they really need because they don't feel the immediate cost. Consequently, 131 out of the 138 hospital trusts in...

The Obama administration will tell any lie and break any law to prevent the president’s signature health-care program from collapsing. Insurance companies such as UnitedHealthcare and Aetna are losing billions trying to sell ObamaCare plans, and the risk is they’ll drop out at the end of 2016. No insurance companies means no ObamaCare. In 2014, the White House tried to avert that disaster by promising insurers a taxpayer-funded bailout, but public outrage and quick action by Sen. Marco Rubio put a stop to it. Now the administration is at it again. Desperate to keep insurers on board, the administration scrambled...

Several Republican presidential campaigns have labeled Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign as dishonest -- and now a Cruz supporter says he agrees. C. Steven Tucker, a member of Cruz's Illinois leadership team, told the Washington Examiner he could not stay silent about the falsehoods repeatedly uttered by the senator on the campaign trail. Specifically, Tucker takes issue with Cruz's comments about Donald Trump's ideas on healthcare. "Senator Cruz's quotes are very salacious and incorrect. He says if you vote for Donald Trump, you vote for Bernie Sanders-style socialized medicine; Trump, Clinton, Sanders have identical positions on healthcare," Tucker said. "That...

Donald Trump has a plan to make America's health care great again. It's very simple, he says: Lock the best health care policy minds in a room -- and don't let them out until they've crafted a plan for providing terrific coverage for everyone. But the strategy, laid out in Trump's most recent book, begs the question: Who exactly would be locked in that room? And who is advising him on ideas which are as unorthodox for a GOP frontrunner as his candidacy? Trump has repeatedly said everyone should have access to health care -- going so far as to...

According to state law, Arkansas' failed Obamacare expansion is set to expire at the end of this year. But Governor Asa Hutchinson has proposed overriding that deadline - which he signed into law last year - to continue providing welfare to able-bodied adults forever. Hutchinson's chief argument is that ending the program would create "a $100 million annual budget hole" due to lost budget "savings." It's a familiar refrain, used by former Democratic Governor Mike Beebe for years. There's just one problem: it's not true. Arkansas' so-called Private Option Medicaid expansion isn't saving taxpayers money and allowing it to end...

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 26m26 minutes ago I was asked about healthcare by Anderson Cooper & have been consistent- I will repeal all of #ObamaCare, including the mandate, period. I was referring to a backstop for pre-existing conditions. I will eliminate the law, in its entirety, & replace it w/ something much better. I will replace it with private plans, health savings accounts, & allow purchasing across state lines. Maximum choice & freedom for consumer. I'm self-funding and I am going to take care of the people – not the special interests and insurance companies like the other candidates. Remember,...

Is there anybody more "all over the map" on healthcare than Donald Trump?...

It is common sense that people take care of their own property better than community property, often times referred to as "commons." Because community resources are finite (say, grazing land in a pastoral society), overgrazing - and too little maintenance - is bound to occur absent any collaborative agreements. Moreover, one person's conservation efforts cannot overcome all the other self-interested parties' perverse incentives. Economists call this the tragedy of the commons. Unfortunately, Obamacare proponents (and LBJ for that matter) did not understand how the tragedy of the commons would boost health care spending. Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare plans are all...

We hear what the candidates say now about issues, but what did they think was important when they announced their run for president. This vital first speech should have covered what they thought was important to this nation. Here is their (Trump, Cruz, Rubio) total remarks on IMMIGRATION...later we will do trade, terrorism, 2nd amendment, Obamacare and education. Trump June 16 , 2015 When do we beat Mexico at the border? They're laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us economically. They are not our friend, believe me. But they're killing us economically. The U.S. has...

Recently, a number of purportedly conservative commentators have been making the case against reform of a gaping loophole in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) "340b" program. But like the seedy snake oil salesmen of the Old West, these boisterous naysayers are not merely engaged in a game of corporate Three Card Monty. Sadly, these shills are now working - both in public and through quiet lobbying of Congress - to stop recommended improvements seeking to put a stop to wasteful and unnecessary spending. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), part of HHS, oversees the 340b...

Donald Trump doesn't know what he thinks about health care. He has been a periodic advocate of a United Kingdom–style monopoly system and a periodic critic of such monopolies. He says that we should repeal the so-called Affordable Care Act and replace it with . . . something. Something "terrific." Well. When asked by New Hampshire debate moderator Mary Katharine Ham whether his flirtations with single-payer leave him closer to Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders than to mainstream Republicans, Trump gave a hilariously incoherent answer based in one part on banalities and one part on lies -- which is the Trump...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, is famous for his advocacy of a single-payer health care, such as prevails in Canada. However, one feature of such systems is the long wait times that patients have to endure before they get medical care. A case in point exists in the United States, with the Veterans’ Affairs Department health care system, government run, that has featured secret waiting lists upon which veterans have all too often died while in line for vital health care services. Sanders, at first, seemed to think that the story was a partisan plot to undermine the case for government-run...

When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, was enacted, Americans were promised a healthcare system in which insurance companies would be held accountable and patients would have access to affordable care. Six years later, however, the reality has proven to be quite different-a plan that was supposed to mend our nation's fractured healthcare system has driven up healthcare costs, decreased market competition, and ultimately harmed patients. Last week, UnitedHealth--the nation's largest health insurer--announced that it expects to lose more than $500 million through plans they offered under the ACA in 2016. Just yesterday, Anthem...

Health insurers are proposing to raise Obamacare rates more than in the past - some by more than 70 percent - now that they are finally equipped with all the information they need to price those plans. Plans wanting to raise rates by at least 10 percent next year posted the proposed increase online Monday, as required by the 2010 healthcare law. Insurers are allowed to raise rates each year, but they must publish significant increases ahead of time. Insurers have sold plans in the law's new insurance marketplaces for two years in a row. But the difference in 2016...

America is being destroyed by the murder of the middle class and these trends will continue to accelerate if another Democrat is elected. Sen. Bernie Sanders kicked off a town hall in New Hampshire Wednesday night by ensuring the poor and middle class major tax increases. An audience member asked Sanders about how his socialist plan to raise taxes would be help him on a $41,000 a year salary. Sanders claimed people would ultimately save money funding his “Medicare-for-all, single-payer program ” and not having to pay health insurance premiums. From Breitbart: Sanders was asked by Chris Brownell, “Senator Sanders,...

GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump says Sen. Ted Cruz is a "total liar" for labeling him an advocate of expanded Obamacare or universal national health care along the lines being touted by democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential contest. During an appearance on ABC's This Week on Sunday Trump insisted he would dismantle the Affordable Care Act if he is elected president and stressed that he doesn't favor a "single payer" universal government program that essentially would provide Medicare coverage for all. Yet despite the blustery real estate tycoon's protests about Cruz's characterizations, Trump espoused a form...

Trump, Sanders want universal healthcare : The front-runner s vague plan seems to echo that of the Democratic Socialist. 'Nonsense!': Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton battle in testy healthcare debate. The Bernie Sanders campaign dug up a 2-year-old tweet to troll Hillary Clinton's campaign chair. Bernie Sanders' healthcare plan would cost $13.8 trillion over 10 years GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump says Sen. Ted Cruz is a 'total liar' for labeling him an advocate of expanded Obamacare or universal national health care along the lines being touted by democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential contest. During an...

Hip implants which have left thousands of British people in pain were manufactured incorrectly at a factory in Yorkshire, The Telegraph can reveal. One of the world’s largest hip replacement firms, DePuy, has admitted "an error in the measuring techniques" when making controversial metal-on-metal implants. Company bosses are now under intense pressure from victims of the hip scandal to answer in full questions on how long the firm was aware of the problem, amid claims that potentially faulty components were sold for years. This newspaper has previously disclosed how metal-on-metal hips have far higher wear rates than other implants, which...

"RUSH: As for Trump, I have to... I was surprised. I was just a little stunned when Trump starts speaking positively... He didn't come out for single-payer health care, but he made it clear that when it comes to health care, he's closer to the Obama approach than to the traditional Republican. I was stunned. I was stunned when I saw what Trump had said on TV, literally taken aback by it. Anyway, we'll get into all this in detail as the program unfolds today. And, again, your host -- your beloved host -- is in a lion's share of...