Free Republic

Last month my brother-in-law passed unexpectedly from a massive heart attack. He appeared to be in good shape, he worked out and even had is annual physical a week prior to his passing. He had just purchased a house that he was going to remodel and had a really good job. He was 46 years old. Far too young to be leaving us by our standards. He was loved. The good news is that I know he was a Christian. Perhaps not the ideal but he was a baptized believer in Christ. I know in my heart that he is...

The costs of providing health insurance are staggering under the ACA: Small businesses, which are the least able to handle cost increases, report paying an average of $11,868 more per employee per year since the ACA’s passage. Large companies have also seen their costs increase. As a result, some of them have cut employee hours to avoid triggering the coverage requirement altogether. Nor is this only happening in the private sector. Public school systems from coast to coast have been effected. K-12 districts have limited hours for their support staff, including janitors, drivers, cafeteria workers, and teachers. As one school...

MARIETTA, Ga. – Faced with the rising cost of insuring their family of five, Lisa and Jonathan Adams canceled their high-deductible health insurance policy and put their faith in Medi-Share, a Christian organization whose members help pay one another's major medical expenses. Five days later, their 7-year-old daughter fell out of a bunk bed and broke her arm. Medi-Share covered nearly the entire cost of her surgery and rehab therapy and provided something the Adamses had never received from an insurance company -- prayer. "When I called to let them know that Jordan had broken her arm, the last thing...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 25 more reasons why it’s OK to laugh at anyone who thought Obamacare was a good idea I’ve updated my list of Obamacare criticisms. The complete list can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/obamacare-59/These are the new entries:307) Obamacare, when combined with Obama’s executive amnesty, gives employers a $3,000 annual incentive, per employee, to hire illegal aliens instead of U.S. citizensObamacare, when combined with Obama’s November 2014 executive amnesty, gives employers a $3,000 annual incentive, per employee, to hire illegal aliens instead of U.S. citizens.308) Obama administration falsely overstated the number of Obamacare signups by incorrectly including dental...

The IRS is unable to answer most taxpayers’ calls this year because it’s had to put money into getting up and running for Obamacare, agency Commissioner John Koskinen told Congress on Wednesday.Mr. Koskinen said his agency has had to shift tens of millions of dollars from customer service over to build the computer systems and get ready to handle questions this year about Obamacare and the law’s tax penalty, which kicks in for the first time this year.

The Affordable Care Act is failing to deliver on its promises to provide health care access and affordability. While some people now have new coverage, it has come at the expense of families who lost the health care coverage and doctor that they liked, or are now without insurance because they can no longer afford it. Here are four things to know about Obamacare in Michigan: 1. Contrary to popular belief, Obamacare was never designed to dramatically expand private health care coverage; it has always been a massive Medicaid expansion scheme. In Michigan, federal figures show 303,000 residents were added...

I just did my income taxes It came to a question of “Did I have health insurance coverage” and I answered NO (there was no option for “none of your f%^&ing business”) I wanted to see where this was going to take me. It then asked why I didn't have coverage and said that under ‘special circumstances’ that my fine/tax could be waived and it listed 5 options- one of which was “It was too expensive” and so I picked that... (inexplicably again there was no option for “none of your f%^&ing business”) Then it said “Congratulations! your fine/tax fee...

This week brought the good news that 16.4 million Americans have gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act — taking a 35% bite out of the ranks of the uninsured. Last week, the Congressional Budget Office calculated that the law’s tax subsidies are costing 20% less than projected five years ago, when it was passed. And in December, the feds reported that the once-ruinous spiral of spending on medical care slowed to just 3.6% for 2013 — “the lowest increase on record in the national health expenditures going back to 1960,” according one of the report’s authors. It’s increasingly obvious,...

President Obama has talked a lot in recent months about how health care inflation has moderated in recent years, and he always manages to credit ObamaCare for the result. But there is rampant inflation in one part of the health care system, and ironically enough it involves ObamaCare premiums.

A new poll shows that a majority of Wisconsinites want Gov. Scott Walker to expand Medicaid and to take action to prevent more than 184,000 people from losing health care subsidies, potentially making their health care unaffordable, if the U.S. Supreme Court eliminates subsidies in Wisconsin and 33 other states. The court is expected to render its decision in June. The survey of 1,071 registered voters, commissioned by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, showed that by a margin of by 31 percent — 58 to 27 percent — respondents thought Walker should accept a federally funded expansion of Medicaid, which Walker...

More than a dozen insurers offer plans on the New York health insurance marketplace. But despite being spoiled for choice in many ways, there’s one popular feature that most New Yorkers can’t find in any of the health plans offered on their state exchange: out-of-network coverage. Except for offerings by a few insurers in far western New York and the Albany area, the only options available elsewhere in the state, including the entire New York City metro area, are plans that cover care provided only by doctors and hospitals in the plan’s network. People who go out of network for...

The Newland family, owners of Hercules Industries, who won a permanent injunction against the HHS mandate March 16, 2015. Photo courtesy of Alliance Defending Freedom. Denver, Colo., Mar 17, 2015 / 02:51 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Catholic-owned company’s victory in its fight against a federal mandate to cover drugs and procedures that violate Catholic moral teaching shows the importance of putting God first, one of its co-owners has said.  “Oftentimes businesses can feel that their direction is dictated by market conditions, to which they must be reactive,” William Newland, a co-owner of Hercules Industries, told CNA March 17. “This final...

Could employer-provided health insurance be going the way of employer-sponsored pension plans? Rick Lindquist, president of Zane Benefits, which specializes in individual health insurance reimbursement for small businesses, says: Not only could it happen; it’s happening already. Lindquist and Paul Zane Pilzer (who founded Zane Benefits), argue that case in their new book, “The End of Employer-Provided Health Insurance.” As surprising as you may find the title, get a load of its subtitle: “Why It’s Good for You, Your Family and Your Company.” Lindquist and Pilzer’s company stands to profit if employers shift from traditional health insurance and toward their...

see, two landslide elections did accomplish something. ... the “doc fix” is simply and end run around the deficit accounting process. What is more unsettling is the way this piece of legislation came about. It seems to signal that the era of the “Hastert Rule,” where the Speaker will not entertain legislation without the consent of the majority of his caucus, is dead. ... The fact that the Speaker went to the Democrats first to get votes on this spending deal shows the extent to which Boehner has been mortally injured as a leader. It also tells us that the...

IT is time to talk about President Obama’s contingency plan for health care. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments earlier this month in King v. Burwell, a case challenging the provision of tax credits on federal insurance exchanges. While the legal issues are dry lawyers’ fare — how to interpret several interconnected phrases of the Affordable Care Act — the practical stakes are high. The government estimates that millions of Americans will be left without affordable health insurance if it loses. While the administration may well prevail, it has expressed remarkable pessimism about its options if it does lose. The...

House Republicans, unveiling their first budget blueprint since the party took control of Congress, issued a sweeping spending plan Tuesday that calls for complete repeal of ObamaCare, major changes to Medicare and controversial moves to boost defense spending despite tight budget limits. GOP leaders say their budget would balance in less than 10 years, and in that time cut spending by $5.5 trillion compared with current projections. The spending plan stands little chance of ever being signed by President Obama, but makes clear that the party is not dialing back its ambitions despite a rocky start to the latest congressional...

[SNIP] The 12 steps are so deeply ingrained in the United States that many people, including doctors and therapists, believe attending meetings, earning one’s sobriety chips, and never taking another sip of alcohol is the only way to get better. Hospitals, outpatient clinics, and rehab centers use the 12 steps as the basis for treatment. But although few people seem to realize it, there are alternatives, including prescription drugs and therapies that aim to help patients learn to drink in moderation. Unlike Alcoholics Anonymous, these methods are based on modern science and have been proved, in randomized, controlled studies, to...

The number of Canadian patients who travelled abroad in 2014 to receive non-emergency medical treatment increased 25% from 2013, according to a study conducted by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian independent research and education organization. In 2014, 52,513 Canadians travelled beyond our borders to seek medical treatment, compared with 41,838 in 2013. The numbers suggest that the Canadian health care system could not comply with the needs and demands of a substantial number of Canadian patients ... why Canadian patients left the country to pursue treatment elsewhere. The reasons include a lack of available resources and equipment in their home...

CHICAGO — IT is time to talk about President Obama’s contingency plan for health care. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments earlier this month in King v. Burwell, a case challenging the provision of tax credits on federal insurance exchanges. While the legal issues are dry lawyers’ fare — how to interpret several interconnected phrases of the Affordable Care Act — the practical stakes are high. The government estimates that millions of Americans will be left without affordable health insurance if it loses.While the administration may well prevail, it has expressed remarkable pessimism about its options if it does lose....

The Party of Science has struck again. Conservatives who are either programmatically or philosophically allergic to the notion that expanding access to Medicaid is tantamount to providing the poor access to health care will be surprised to learn that they are heartless ghouls who may also be complicit in an untold number of negligent homicides. During MondayÂ’s White House press briefing, Press Sec. Josh Earnest reportedly equated the decision made by some governors to decline to expand access to Medicaid in their state under the Affordable Care Act with a lack of concern for the health of their constituents:...