Free Republic

A federal judge on Thursday ruled for House Republicans in their lawsuit against the Obama administration over ObamaCare. In a major ruling, Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled that the administration does not have the power to spend money on "cost sharing reduction" payments to insurers without an appropriation from Congress. Collyer stayed her ruling so that the administration can appeal the decision.

After raising its premiums for coverage on the Obamacare exchange by 36.3 percent for 2016, the state's dominant health insurer is heralding another increase of the "same order of magnitude" for 2017. BlueCross BlueShield claims it lost more than $150 million in 2015 when its rates were among the lowest in the land. But the 36.3 percent increase for 2016, the largest of any state, brings Tennessee rates to just about the national average. So how on Earth can costs be going up so exponentially to justify such a rate increase on the part of a nonprofit insurance company whose...

Regulations: Here’s a headline that should scare anyone who has been following ObamaCare: “As time runs out, the Obama administration races to reshape health care.” Hasn’t it done enough damage reshaping health care already?

The shrinkage of employee retirement resources in the US has been well documented, as employers shift more risk onto their workers. Less so is the rate at which employers have been eliminating healthcare benefits for retirees. As the Kaiser Family Foundation recently reported, retiree health coverage is becoming an endangered species. "Employer-sponsored retiree health coverage once played a key role in supplementing Medicare," observe Tricia Neuman of the foundation. "Any way you slice it, this coverage is eroding." The chances of reversing this trend, plainly, are nil. But it's important to keep an eye on it, if only as a...

“She had several abortions before she had Chelsea and it was only because Bill convinced her that if they were ever going to move up in politics that they had to have a child because that is what the political analysts had said,” Miller says. “They’ve gotta see her as a human. They have to see her — I think in society they always say, ‘If you were a mother, you can’t be half bad. There has to be some love or gentleness or compassion within in you birth a child,’ but that’s not true. “There’s some pretty bad mothers....

A video shows Chelsea Clinton blasting the "crushing costs" of President Barack Obama's signature legislation. In the video, Chelsea Clinton tells a crowd that her mother, Hillary Clinton, is open to using executive action to reduce "crushing costs" of Obamacare. "...cap on out of pocket expenses. This was part of my mom's original plan back in '93 and '94, as well as premium costs. We can either do that directly or through tax credits. And, kind of figuring out whether she could do that through executive action, or she would need to do that through tax credits working with Congress....

Humana wasn't kidding when it hinted last week of big premium hikes for 2017 in those ObamaCare markets where it remains. This year, the nation's fifth-largest insurer offers the cheapest bronze and silver plans in Michigan's largest market, including Detroit. But Humana has filed for a 50% premium hike for its low-cost silver plan. Meanwhile, Humana wants a 38% premium increase for its lowest-cost bronze plan. So far only Oregon, where insurers are requesting an average 27% premium hike, and Virginia, where insurers want an 18% hike, are the only two states to make all rate filings available.

Charlie Rose and a trio of former Obama speechwriters laughed it up this week as they discussed the president's infamous promise that that under the Affordable Care Act, "if you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan."

Health Reform: For decades the left has been pushing “single payer” health care without ever coming clean about how much it would cost. Now, thanks to Bernie Sanders, we have our answer. And the price tag is mind-boggling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkqn6wsrUfs

Charlie Rose and three of Barack Obama’s former speechwriters had a good laugh Monday night while joking about the president’s infamous, oft-repeated false promise that under Obamacare, “if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.” Obama said dozens of times in the run-up to the Affordable Care Act’s signing and enactment that no Americans who liked the insurance plan they had would lose it under the Affordable Care Act. In reality, millions of policies were canceled because of the law’s regulations, and Obama was forced to apologize to the American people. The infamous remark...

Andy Slavitt, the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, gave false testimony to Congress on the state-based exchanges established under Obamacare, according to a report by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Slavitt was questioned about the status of taxpayer dollars invested in state-based exchanges at a hearing on December 8, 2015, according to the committee report. The hearing was held to determine how state-based exchanges spent grant money. “When asked under oath about the status of American taxpayer dollars invested in the exchanges, Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt testified before the House Energy and Commerce...

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has launched a campaign against Catholic hospitals, charging that the health of patients-- especially women-- may be endangered by the US bishops' health-care directives. Noting that Catholic institutions account for one of every six hospital beds in the US, the ACLU remarks that Catholic institutions are generally forbidden to perform abortions and sterilizations or to euthanize patients: procedures that the ACLU defines as forms of "health care" Thus the ACLU report concludes that "health care" is not always available at US hospitals because of Catholic teachings. "When hospitals prevent doctors from providing care, the...

A pediatrician who spent three years as a resident at Coney Island Hospital spoke to The Post’s Melkorka Licea about the frightening patient care the doctor witnessed and heard about in the 371-bed Brooklyn facility. Fearing more children will be put in harm’s way, the physician wanted to shed light on the chronic negligence, unqualified care and poor supervision that plagues the city-run institution.

Insurers -- who might not be allowed the huge rate increases they need to stay solvent --- are looking to save money by eliminating so-called Bronze-level plans. Fierce Health Player reports on an Inside Health Policy (subscription only) warning from earlier this week: One problem, according to the article, is risk adjustment--as CMS data indicate bronze is the only metal level for which insurers of all sizes in the individual and group markets had to pay into the program. Federal officials are considering some changes to the risk adjustment program, which some say unfairly penalizes smaller insurers. Already, filings show...

The U.S. Department of Education published Friday a list of faith-based colleges and universities that requested and were granted a religious exemption from Title IX. LGBT activist groups have been calling on the government to publish the list as part of a shaming campaign called the "Shame List" to pressure Christian colleges to consent to their agenda. The document reveals that an increasing number of colleges are seeking exemptions, and that evangelical Wheaton College is not on the list. As of April 1, as many as 232 colleges have obtained exemption from Title IX while 31 requests are pending, according...

Racism is to blame for Puerto Rico’s dire fiscal situation, Mayor de Blasio charged Saturday. “The backs of the United States government turned on them, while a health-care crisis grows, a humanitarian crisis grows, the Zika crisis grows,” he said in a speech at the National Action Network in Harlem.

There was no dramatic monologue or carefully written statement needed. Trump Supporters have known all along that Sean Hannity would support Trump when Trump became GOP nominee. This was confirmed with a simple tweet “Yes, I do.” Thank you, Sean, for always being fair and for endorsing Donald J. Trump for President.

A study published in the prominent medical journal BMJ concluded that errors by doctors and hospitals kill more than 250,000 people a year in the US. Martin Makary, professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, led the research team and said “It boils down to people dying from the care that they receive rather than the disease for which they are seeking care.” “In recent years a lot has been made of the issue of people living without health insurance and how the government must take heroic efforts to compel everyone to obtain insurance,” Makary observed....

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.” ― Percy Bysshe Shelley, OzymandiasRemember this feel-good moment from 2009? On September 9, 2009, as President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress to outline his proposal for reforming health care he said: "There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false – the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here...