Free Republic

House Republicans released legislation Friday aimed at lowering healthcare costs through expanded insurance options for small businesses and unprecedented transparency requirements for pharmacy benefit managers, setting up a crucial vote next week as enhanced Obamacare subsidies expire at year’s end.The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, introduced by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa-01), is the GOP's alternative to Democratic proposals as Democrats push to extend expiring ACA premium tax credits that help 22 million Americans purchase insurance.Speaker Mike Johnson announced the measure would receive a floor vote next week, though GOP leadership indicated moderate Republicans seeking subsidy extensions may...

A whistleblower claims that the Somali migrant community in Ohio is also involved in the same sort of massive social services funding fraud being uncovered day-by-day in Minnesota. Ohio attorney Mehek Cooke says that the same sort of theft of public funding seen in Minnesota has been occurring in the Buckeye State for more than a decade, Fox News reports. Cooke also accuses Ohio doctors of “rubber stamping” the fraud by failing to do any due diligence on those who are filing for aid. “They’re just rubberstamping a lot of these. And then that same individual, a week later, that’s...

"...the New York City Health Department warns that “progress toward ending the HIV epidemic in New York City has slowed at a time when federal funding for HIV testing, treatment and prevention is under significant threat.” ... "...,the health department reports that 1,791 people were newly diagnosed in 2024. This marks a 5.4% increase from 2023. In total, the surveillance data show that 136,034 people report living with HIV. Of those, 68,600 have AIDS. (New York City’s population is nearly 8.5 million.)"

A Republican-drafted proposal to set up health savings accounts for people who buy their health insurance on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace failed to advance on a largely party-line vote Thursday, The legislation, which needed 60 votes to advance, failed by a vote of 51 to 48. Every Democrat voted against it. Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) was the only Republican to vote “no.” Paul argued in a post on social platform X that funneling ACA subsidies into HSAs instead of to insurance companies “may be a slight improvement.” “But it’s still a vote for ObamaCare — something conservatives would...

Why should it fall to an American radio and television personality to solve the problems of Canadian socialized medicine? One poor woman in our neighbor up north recently turned to Canada’s MAID program (medical assistance in dying, or assisted suicide) because she could not get a referral for a needed surgery, and the pain had become more than she could bear. Over the past two days, TV and radio star Glenn Beck has been reaching out to assist Jolene Van Alstine of Saskatchewan to assist her. She needs surgery to remove her parathyroid gland. However, there’s no one available to...

It took less than a decade for Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) program to go from a compassionate means for terminally ill patients to end their lives to a full-blown euthanasia program that kills the poor, veterans, and people with depression. In December of last year, we learned that, per capita, the number of Canadians who die by MAiD exceeds the number of U.S. gun deaths. MAiD is even targeting teens and the mentally ill. Of course, it's purely a numbers game from a government that ultimately doesn't care if you live or die. Jolene is a woman who...

One of the big fights coming this January is how to reform the failing Obamacare program, aka, the Unaffordable Care Act. Without massive COVID-era subsidies, users will pay a lot more in 2026. The program itself has so many problems, beginning with the fact that many well-off people qualify, and so much money goes to directly fund insurance companies, no questions asked. It is more than past time to just let this whole mess disappear. But many working people who don’t qualify for Medicaid need some options. Sen. Rand Paul has perhaps the simplest and most effective answer, one that...

Republicans in key battleground U.S. House districts are working to contain the political fallout that may come when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. One of those is first-term U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., whose victory for the Allentown-area seat last year was among the narrowest in the nation. “I think that we need to deal with the reality of where we are now and even if you have a broken system, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t provide or offer relief to individuals who are dealing with those...

As federal health care subsidies barrel toward expiration, a bipartisan group of 35 U.S. lawmakers is calling on leaders in the House and Senate to hold a vote on extending the benefits before the end of next week. The group includes Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Grand Junction Republican who has been pushing for a renewal of the subsidies, known as the enhanced premium tax credit. The subsidies, passed by Democrats in Congress during the COVID-19 pandemic, helped lower insurance premiums for plans purchased through Affordable Care Act marketplaces, but are now slated to expire on Dec. 31. Many Coloradans have...

For over a decade, Americans have been force-fed a medicine that was supposed to heal our healthcare system. Instead, like a treatment with devastating side effects, the Affordable Care Act has left millions of families sicker financially than before they took the first dose. The prescription label promised affordability, but the bill that arrives each month tells a different story. While Democrats held the government hostage during the longest shutdown in American history over their precious ObamaCare subsidies, working families continued hemorrhaging money to insurance companies. The enhanced subsidies that progressives fought to protect are set to expire at year’s...

Few people lie awake at night worried about the federal debt. So the Republicans' plan to allow "temporary" COVID-19-era enhanced subsidies for Obamacare to expire because of their exorbitant cost won't win many votes. It will save Uncle Sam money. A staggering 93% of premiums are currently paid directly by the federal government to the insurance companies, reports the Paragon Health Institute. But will it win votes in the coming midterm elections? No. Democrats are gloating that reducing the subsidies will mean higher costs for enrollees and an increase in the number of people who go without insurance. Sen. Chris...

Their record isn’t just spotty; it is downright awful. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986 was designed to prevent “patient dumping” by hospitals of emergent patients without insurance. The unintended consequences of that law are hotly debated. What is not in controversy is the hospital lobby’s insistence that the law drives up their operating costs.That argument has done decades of service to protectionist policies that limit competition and protect prices.Then there is the Affordable Care Act. It was a compromise between advocates of “universal health care” and the “Third Way” or “New Democrats” who viewed big...

It starts with a call. A sore knee, a lingering cough, a changing mole - nothing urgent - but not quite ignorable. The receptionist is polite, but the first available appointment is three weeks away.For millions of Americans, health care begins with a wait. For many, walk-in clinics have replaced family medicine.“People have started to accept that,” Dr. Dorothy Serna, a primary care physician who left traditional practice for a concierge model, told The Epoch Times. “They think, ‘I can’t get my doctor, so I won’t even try. I’ll just go to urgent care. I’ll wait. I’ll Google it.’”Such scenarios...

Earlier this year, when Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began reporting on massive amounts of fraud in our social programs, the Democrats scoffed at him. They ran before any camera they could find to claim breathlessly that Musk was going to take away Social Security and leave Grandma out in the cold.That's not true, of course. Musk and DOGE were trying to not only save America from fiscal ruin, but to make these programs sustainable for the people who actually need and paid into them — the American taxpayers.Democrats, on the other hand, seem to view those programs...

After a delayed vote because of the government shutdown, hundreds of nurses at four UnityPoint hospitals in the Des Moines area are voting this weekend on whether to unionize with Teamsters Local 90—an election being closely watched by non-union nurses across Iowa who are also struggling with understaffing and patient violence. The postponed UnityPoint vote among 1,776 health care professionals at Blank Children's Hospital, Iowa Lutheran Hospital, Iowa Methodist Medical Center, and Methodist West Hospital has been rescheduled for Sunday, Dec. 7, through Tuesday, Dec. 9. It's the state's largest private-sector union election ever, according to Teamsters. "I'm excited. I'm...

Key takeawaysNearly 2 in 5 (37%) Americans say they couldn’t afford an emergency expense over $400The median emergency savings for Americans is $60021% of people have no emergency savings at allMore than 3 in 5 (62%) Americans say that having dedicated emergency savings is a priority for them; yet 57% say high inflation and price increases have held them back from contributing this year1 in 4 (25%) people dipped into emergency savings to cover basic living expenses in the past yearPaying down debt is a higher priority than saving for an emergency for 57% of Americans34% believe they could handle...

An analysis of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly known as Obamacare, has unveiled massive fraud that could be costing American taxpayers billions of dollars, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released on Dec. 3. Under the program, the federal government pays credits to health insurance companies, called advance premium tax credit (APTC), on behalf of eligible Obamacare participants to reduce their monthly premium payments. In plan year 2024, almost $124 billion in such credits is estimated to have been paid out to insurance companies, accounting for around 19.5 million enrollees. The GAO report...

As the company's sole owner and billing representative, Luke allegedly misled the VA's third-party administrator when it attempted to recover improper payments - allowing the scheme to continue for years. Federal prosecutors say a California health care executive, accused of a sweeping fraud that allegedly drained more than $7 million from a program meant to support aging veterans, was arrested at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday just as he tried to board a flight to Nigeria. Cashmir Chinedu Luke, believed to be 66 and living in Antioch, now faces a criminal complaint alleging he billed the Department of Veterans...

More than 100 rural hospitals have closed in the United States over the last decade, leaving millions of Americans without access to emergency services, testing, inpatient care, and primary care. While these closures have been on the rise in rural America since the 2008-2009 recession, they’ve increased at an alarming pace over the last few years, including at least 18 that closed or converted to an operating model that excludes inpatient care this year alone. Currently, more than 700 rural hospitals are at risk of closing—with 300 at immediate risk of closing—meaning that this distance is likely to widen even...

Gen Z is hopping on planes for more than adventure—they’re doing it to have babies. A growing number of young American parents are choosing to give birth outside the U.S., often in countries with better healthcare, more generous parental leave, and cheaper delivery costs. According to a new survey from Greenback Expat Tax Services, more than one in four Gen Z expats have already given birth abroad—and nearly two-thirds say they’re planning to. Among all U.S. expats surveyed, 54% had already had a child while living abroad. Millennials lead the charge with nearly 3 in 5 reporting overseas births, but...