Free Republic

For millions of Americans relying on Social Security, small changes to the formula that calculates annual benefit increases can have an outsized impact. Social Security checks are a cornerstone of retirement income for over 50 million Americans, and Congress is now considering legislation that could reshape how those benefits adjust for inflation. It comes as Americans of all ages continue to navigate rising costs. In October, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that benefits would grow by 2.8 percent in 2026 through the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Yet for many retirees, even modest increases barely keep pace with the real...

President Donald Trump is reportedly delaying his healthcare plan after House Republicans pushed back on his idea to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told Trump that the subsidy extension is a no-go for many Republicans in Congress. The Wall Street Journal reported that the speaker “cautioned the White House that most Republicans don’t have an appetite for extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies , according to people familiar with the matter, showing how hard it will be politically to stave off sharp increases in healthcare costs next year for many Americans.”This comes after the...

I started writing my blog in 2009, largely in response to America electing an anti-American president. During those first few years, I talked a lot about Obamacare. The thing was a disaster from day one; indeed, in an omen of things to come, Obama’s team spent four times more building a website that didn’t work than Apple did developing the iPhone.Image created using AI.The worst part about Obamacare? The fact that it was a solution to a problem that didn’t exist.In 2013, I wrote the following:Obamacare was passed in 2009 (sic) in reaction to anecdotal examples of Americans who couldn’t...

As families gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, many worry about the impossibly high cost of health insurance. Let’s play a game of What If? (It will be fun, I promise.) What if healthcare dollars currently going to insurance companies were paid instead to the consumers themselves? Would good things result, or bad? This “what if” exercise was prompted by President Trump’s offhand suggestion to give ACA subsidies “directly to the people...[instead of]...BIG, BAD insurance companies”? (Republicans are currently considering this idea but only for the ACA.) Specifically, what if all the money called employer-sponsored health benefits that presently goes to insurance...

Like a master chef promising a five-course meal in fifteen minutes, Washington’s latest promise on affordability might be biting off more than it can chew. The word “affordability” has become the political equivalent of a Swiss Army knife—everyone’s wielding it, but few seem to know which tool to pull out first. From New York City’s mayoral race to the halls of Congress, “affordability” has emerged as the buzzword du jour, a catch-all solution to Americans’ economic anxieties. President Trump has seized on this narrative with characteristic gusto, promising sweeping changes to make life cheaper for working families. His One Big...

Medicare beneficiaries are bracing for one of the steepest cost increases in years as Medicare 2026 premiums rise sharply across multiple parts of the program. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, seniors will see a significant jump in Part B premiums, rising health care costs, fewer Medicare Advantage options, and meaningful changes to prescription drug coverage. Even for retirees who rely heavily on Social Security, the increase in Medicare 2026 premiums will eat into much of next year’s cost of living adjustment. With household expenses already stretched by high prices for food, utilities, housing, and medical care,...

President Donald Trump is delaying a planned announcement of a proposal to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, according to two White House officials, after congressional Republicans pushed back against the president’s sudden embrace of the expiring subsidies. Trump was expected to unveil a plan aimed at halting ACA premium spikes on Monday, as first reported by MS NOW. But the reveal has been postponed — though not canceled — said the White House officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss the internal strategy. Both White House officials noted that Trump’s announcement — which was never officially on the schedule —...

"The bottom line is this: Under this law, the share of Americans with insurance is up, and the growth of healthcare costs is down. And that's good for our middle class, and that's good for our fiscal future." - President Barack Obama, 4/26/2016

11/4/2013 - During an OFA summit, President Obama addressed claims that health care reform forces people off their original plans.

The act’s supporters said it would achieve the long-sought goal of universal health insurance while preserving the high quality and freedom of choice that are the hallmarks of America’s health care system. Peter Ferrara says the act’s supporters are wrong. “Obamacare,” he writes in the conclusion to this Heartland Policy Study, “is a disaster. Rather than liberate the American health care system from bureaucracy and waste, it blankets it with more of both, suffocating innovation and destroying freedom. The result is a system that is inconsistent with the freedom, prosperity, high living standards, and traditions of the American people.” Ferrara...

A new study explores a radical idea: instead of killing cancer, what if we could heal it? In glioblastoma patients, a simple nutraceutical combination of resveratrol and copper appeared to reduce tumor aggressiveness and key cancer hallmarks without side effects. A new study indicates that glioblastoma becomes less aggressive after treatment with resveratrol and copper, a potentially game-changing finding that could pave the way for a radically new approach to cancer therapy. Treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy are all designed with a single goal in mind: to destroy cancer. However, what if this long-standing approach is wrong, and...

Treatment Action Group (TAG) is profoundly disappointed and outraged at the lack of health care protections for people living with and affected by HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and hepatitis C (HCV) in the bill to end the U.S. government shutdown. With only a promise of a future vote to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, millions of people now face unaffordable health insurance costs. As we approach World AIDS Day on December 1, we demand that legislators defend access and affordability of health care, especially for those with preexisting conditions. Several of the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills, which...

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said Sunday the Trump administration is holding “discussions” on extending subsidies offered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). “There are discussions around extending the subsidies, if we deal with the fraud, waste and abuse that, right now, is paralyzing the system,” Oz told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

… There are two big takeaways from this analysis. The first one is that the actual distribution of deaths shown on the left is very different from the causes of death that the media talks about. The second insight is how similar the distribution of coverage is between the three media outlets. While there are some differences (Fox News was a bit more likely to mention homicides, for example, while the NYT did the same for terrorism), these are much smaller than we might expect. While right- and left-wing media might differ in how they cover particular topics, what they...

Dr. Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said that the Trump administration may look at multiple options for extending health care subsidies that are due to expire soon.A key issue that kept the government shut down for more than a month was the COVID-19 pandemic-era health care subsidies that will expire at the end of the year. Democrats in Congress had wanted to add an extension to a stopgap bill to fund the government, but did not succeed in that effort.“The president’s willing to look at all options,” Oz said on Sunday during an interview...

California's Medicaid-for-illegals disaster couldn't come at a worse time for Democrats. After grinding the federal government to a halt for more than 40 days — partly to reopen a loophole letting taxpayers foot the bill for illegal immigrant health care — the Golden State is serving up a perfect example of why that's a terrible idea. The numbers are staggering.According to a report from the Epoch Times, California's spending on health care for illegal immigrants through Medi-Cal is now projected to hit $10 billion annually from the state's General Fund. That figure is more than double what officials initially estimated....

While a number of industrialized nations provide health care through a single payer (government run) system, others have made a public-private system the model they use to guarantee health services to all their citizens. One of those nations is Israel which (as it turns out) has a lot to teach the United States on how to operate a universal health system that is based on both private and public inputs. Israel adopted its national health system in 1995 requiring all permanent residents be provided a standard basket of services including physician care, hospitalization, prescription drugs and dental care for children...

The right’s warnings about Obamacare proved prescient, yet Democrats keep doubling down on a failing system they refuse to admit they broke. Just over 15 years ago, when the Democrat-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate were debating the healthcare proposals offered by the Democrat president, nearly everyone on the political right was unified in opposition. It may well have been the last time the right was united on anything, but it was indeed unified and resolute. Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (MN) warned that “This monstrosity of a bill will not only destroy the private healthcare market, it will lead to massive...

A monumental historic opportunity will be presented to Trump and the GOP – if they have the guts to seize it. While the common perception of the six-week-long government shutdown is that Republicans won and Democrats lost, the Dems did manage to squeeze one notable concession from the GOP. In return for the votes of eight Democratic Senators to reopen the government, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) promised to bring the reauthorization of COVID-era Obamacare insurance subsidies to a vote in December. And while Republicans have no appetite to further bankroll a program they have unanimously opposed for the...

Julie Benson has had to "fight" to have a DNR order removed from her sister, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy but enjoys a "good life".Families have slammed the NHS for putting "do not resuscitate" orders on disabled patients without their consent. An investigation by ITV News found that multiple UK hospitals have put blanket 'Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation' (DNR) orders on at least 12 patients with learning disabilities after being ordered to stop the practice five years ago. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the blanket imposition of DNRs on disabled people had caused potentially avoidable deaths in...