Free Republic

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R) said he’s “utterly appalled” by the Colorado Division of Insurance decision to cancel 190,000 health plans that don’t comply with Obamacare regulations — even though they have the authority to continue the old plans for another year under grandfathering rules announced last year. “Coloradans were promised by supporters of this healthcare law that if they liked their plans, they could keep their plans,” he said. “DOI should follow through on that promise, and prove that last year’s extension wasn’t simply an empty election year ploy to fool people into believing they were going to be...

One of the first agenda items on the to-do list for the new Congress is redefining the definition of full-time work under Obamacare's employer mandate, which goes into effect this year. Under the healthcare law, companies have cut hours in order to avoid reaching the Obamacare threshold requiring businesses to provide health insurance if they employ more than 50 full-time workers at 30-hours per week. As a result, the economy is seeing an substantial shift from full-time to part-time workers with fewer benefits as a result of the law. Republicans have long expressed the need to re-establish the definition of...

Admit it: you have an acquaintance, a coworker, maybe even a -- gulp -- friend equivocal about, or even in support of, Obamacare because it gets health insurance to more people. Maybe you've argued about this at length in the past, both of you agreeing to disagree but you, in your own mind, wondering what more you could have said to make your point that Obamacare is bad for the country. Good news: you've stumbled on to the right article.

Under our Constitution's system of dual sovereignty, only states have the authority to impose health and safety regulations on individuals simply because they are present. The Supreme Court has ruled many times that the Constitution denies to the federal government this type of "general police power." Federal legislation must be grounded in one of the "enumerated" powers the Constitution grants to Congress—such as the power to regulate interstate commerce. Although the Supreme Court has interpreted that power broadly (especially since the 1940s), it has consistently held that the Commerce Clause has limits.

Host: My next guest here is David Rivkin. David is joining us to talk about the 11th Circuit’s decision last week overturning the individual mandate in the Obama healthcare law . . . I should point out that David and his colleague Lee Casey argued this case at a lower court level . . . so what is the significance of this decision? David Rivkin: Well, it’s the first time the Court of Appeals has done it, point number one. Point number two, you have a bipartisan panel, I hate to engage in these types of observations, but it’s very...

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan More Involved in Defense of Obamacare Then She Let On Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Here are some emails that were discovered by Judicial Watch which show evidence of Elena Kagan's involvement in the defense of Obamacare. From Judicial Watch: According to a January 8, 2010, email from Neal Katyal, former Deputy Solicitor General (and current Acting Solicitor General) to Brian Hauck, Senior Counsel to Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, Kagan was involved in the strategy to defend Obamacare from the very beginning: Subject: Re: Health Care Defense: Brian, Elena would definitely like OSG [Office of...

When the national health care law now known as ObamaCare passed into law on March 23, 2010, few foresaw the immediate effect it would have on the country. One who did was constitutional scholar David B. Rivkin Jr., the lawyer who led 26 state plaintiffs and the National Federation of Independent Business in a successful Florida lawsuit that found the law unconstitutional. In conjunction with the one-year anniversary of the House passing the law, the Cato Institute is holding a special half-day conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday, March 21, 2011 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. to look at...

Handing the Obama administration a legal victory, the federal judge in Florida who ruled the new healthcare law unconstitutional has cleared the way for continued implementation of the sweeping overhaul.

“It’s good to allow them to work out their own problems rather than a one-size-fits-all federal government, dumb-ass program. It really is an awful piece of crap.” – Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on POTUS Obama’s health care law.

Liberals launch media attack on Justice Thomas in an attempt to alter ObamaCare ruling. The once-venerable New York Times has lived off its reputation for worldclass professionalism despite its recent yield of a veritable mountain of liberal slant. Why was it that a Feb. 12 hit-piece, “No Argument: Thomas Keeps Silence,” which aimed squarely at denigrating Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, saw fit to quote a third-year law student?

Yes, the one and only JB does not support says he will never become an U.S. citizen because of the America’s health-care system.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Eager to honor their campaign pledge, Republicans pushed legislation to repeal the nation's year-old health care law toward House passage Wednesday despite implacable opposition in the Senate and a veto threat from President Barack Obama. Passage would clear the way for the second phase of the "repeal and replace" promise that victorious Republicans made to the voters last fall. GOP officials said that in the coming months, congressional committees will propose changes to the existing legislation, calling for elimination of a requirement for individuals to purchase coverage, for example, and recommending curbs on medical malpractice lawsuits. Republicans...

GOP restarts anti-health law agendaBy CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN Updated: 1/6/11 11:50 AM EST Republicans reopened their battle against President Barack Obama’s health care law, using the first committee meeting of the new Congress Thursday to eviscerate the overhaul as a “job killer” and a “malignant tumor.” “We must pull it out by the roots,” said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) in his opening testimony at a Rules Committee. The Rules Committee meeting marked the starting round in the GOP’s bid to repeal the law, a central pillar of the party’s governing manifesto. The committee’s formal mandate Thursday was to write the...

President Obama today is highlighting milestones in the new health care law, seeking to counter widespread criticism of the overhaul passed six months ago by featuring stories of real people who are already benefiting from some of its provisions. The White House launched a new website with a link titled "50 States, 50 Stories." On the administration's promotional video, O'Brien receives what the White House describes as a "surprise phone call" from the president, who is shown speaking to her from the Oval Office. Polls show that only about a third of Americans favor the law

The bill's complexity has created confusion, frustration, false expectations, and conflicts about its coverage and impact. The incisive report below, written by Cato Institute senior fellow Michael D. Tanner, provides an authoritative and deeply revealing explanation of its provisions.

Obama Admin to Spend $125M to Defend Pro-Abortion Health Care Law Washington, DC -- The Obama administration is unveiling a new $125 million publicity campaign over the next five years to promote the pro-abortion health care law. Obama officials are replying on a pro-abortion former senator and a former official of a top pro-abortion group to make the case for the law. http://LifeNews.com/nat6398.html

The healthcare bill that your Congress and your president just signed into law is a little bit of this and a little bit of that according to Sens. Harry Reid and Max Baucus. It’s a jobs bill, an economic recovery bill, a deficit reduction bill, a student loan bill, an anti-discrimination bill and oh yeah it’s a health bill too. (see 46secs Video) This is in fact a timed release stealth bill meant to minimize; cost, tax increases and its punitive nature only in its beginning. And that is to lessen its impact on president Soetoro’s reelection bid. This bill...

Britain expels an Israeli diplomat on Tuesday to rebuke Israel for its alleged use of forged British passports in the assassination of a Hamas operative in a suspected Mossad hit, a UK government official said. Foreign Secretary David Miliband addressed Parliament over the issue, following an investigation into the use of 12 fake UK passports in the incident. The Foreign Secretary has said there are “compelling reasons” to believe Israel is behind the cloned British passports used by the alleged killers of a Hamas official in Dubai.