Free Republic

In 2015, a pair of economists received widespread attention for their study showing that since the late 1990s the death rate has been rising for middle-aged white Americans. Now a new analysis by the same Princeton University team has identified which part of that population was driving that trend: people without college degrees. White men and women in every age group between 25 and 64 who did not have college degrees saw their mortality rates increase between 1998 and 2015. Those with degrees saw their mortality rates decrease. “There are two Americas,” said Anne Case, who conducted the research with...

For strategic reasons, I have signed onto liberal newsletter eblasts, so that I can know what the enemy is doing in my state. After Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the American Health Care Act (ACHA), every Democratic lawmaker, candidate, and special interest group exulted in their victory: “Your calls made the difference!” “We did it!” “You saved health care.” Uh … no. Because Obamacare remains intact, healthcare remains in morbid free-fall. Doctors are still quitting the medical field, with premiums rising, health insurance exchanges failing, and hospitals closing. Democrats did themselves no favors in fighting against reforms. Obamacare is still an...

The same people who just voted no on Paul Ryan's bill because it wasn't "conservative" enough, are the same people who voted to make Paul Ryan speaker of the House. Why? Was Ryan more conservative back then, then he is today? Did Ryan promise them something, in order to get their vote. Or is the FC just a bunch of hypocrites. I think honest people know the answer.

Today we are witnessing one of the most important events in political history. But you probably can’t see it because the news is talking about healthcare, and how Ryan and Trump totally failed to get enough votes. The real story is happening in parallel with the healthcare story, and that’s what renders it invisible. Something enormous is happening that has nothing to do with anything you are seeing in the news. In fact, you’ll probably read it here for the first time. I’m dragging this out to see if you can guess the big news before I tell you. It...

"Customers in healthcare ask a different question than customers in most markets. Whether hospitals (as customers of suppliers) or individuals needing an operation, healthcare customers mostly don’t ask, “Can we afford it?” Or even, “What’s the best value for the money?” They ask, “Is it covered? Can we get reimbursed for this?” And the reimbursement or coverage is set by complex non-market mechanisms that in most parts of the market are themselves opaque to the customer. So there is no real customer and no real price signal in most relationships throughout the market."

That’s the concept anywayLet’s be clear: When your party holds the Presidency and you are Speaker of the House your role is that of a sheepdog. You are to round up your flock and get them to vote in a block.Round up the Red Shirts!Of course if your busy playing games with the other dogs in the pack,and if you promise to repeal and replace Obamacare but deliver a Trojan Horse instead…well, your sheep might decide to take a flyer. To say that Speaker Ryan failed is an understatement. Let’s face it, you had one job…And it was D.O.A. We need...

AHCA was pulled from the floor yet again this afternoon, and it now is probable that Obamacare will be the law of the land for years to come. This is an utter disaster for U.S. health care, not to mention individual liberty, and the responsibility rests squarely on shoulders of a small cadre of political opportunists with the effrontery to call themselves the “House Freedom Caucus.” These people held out for the impossible — full repeal of Obamacare in one fell swoop — and have thus destroyed the only realistic opportunity their party will have in the near future to...

CTH has fought this for years. The best thing we can do now is to try and assist people with information that will help them make forward decisions. It isn’t Paul Ryan’s fault and I’ll explain on that later. First the foundations: All DC Republicans and all DC Democrats are the DC UniParty. The DC UniParty is fueled by special interest donor lobbying money. The DC UniParty created Obamacare and the DC UniParty wants ObamaCare to remain in place. For six years we have attempted, and failed, to educate people on the UniParty. There is only one political party in...

Minutes after House Republicans shelved their bill that was supposed to save the nation's health care, Trump repeated that Obamacare was on the verge of collapse. "Bad things are going to happen to Obamacare," said Trump, calling out the large premium increases and insurer defections that plagued the exchanges this year. "There's not much you can do about it. It's not sustainable." While Trump is trying to shift the responsibility to the Democrats, it's his administration that will largely have to decide whether 20 million people who gained coverage under the sweeping 2010 health reform law will remain insured. It's...

Senator Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz pushed the House Freedom Caucus to remain firm in opposition to President Trump. Having successfully defeated his opposition, Senator Paul pulls out the UniParty dance music and proposes solutions that can go no-where. As you watch this, remember the House and Senate schedule spring break is next week…. Ergo Paul says “legislation should be brought up next week” blah-blah-blah. This is a familiar UniParty ‘controlled opposition‘ trick. Go public and make the solution something you know has absolutely no chance of even being explored. Makes the abuser look great, and keeps the...

For strategic reasons, I have signed onto liberal newsletter eblasts, so that I can know what the enemy is doing in my state. After Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the American Health Care Act (ACHA), every Democratic lawmaker, candidate, and special interest group exulted in their victory: “Your calls made the difference!” “We did it!” “You saved health care.” Uh … no. Because Obamacare remains intact, healthcare remains in morbid free-fall. Doctors are still quitting the medical field, with premiums rising, health insurance exchanges failing, and hospitals closing. Democrats did themselves no favors in fighting against reforms. Obamacare is still an...

Paul Ryan failed miserably in his first important task for the Trump agenda. Since 2009, the Republicans have campaigned in the elections of 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 that they would repeal and replace Obamacare. One would think that given this history, the Republican leaders, such as Ryan, would have a well thought out plan to repeal Obamacare. Ryan probably did not believe that Trump would win and was unprepared to lead the fight to repeal Obamacare. Ryan did not support Trump during the primaries and did his best to damage Trump. Moreover, since Trump's election in November, Ryan and...

Complete Headline: 'A victory for all Americans': A very happy Hillary Clinton celebrates President Trump's healthcare humiliation. Hillary Clinton tweeted that fall of Trumpcare was 'a victory for all Americans' Former secretary of state praised Americans who voiced opposition to the bill Clinton also tweeted stories of people who benefited from Obamacare Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday that the defeat of the Republican plan to repeal Obamacare was 'a victory for all Americans.' The Democrat, who lost to President Donald Trump in the November 8 election, tweeted: 'Today was a victory for the 24,000,000 people at...

To date, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has approved 1,372 Obamacare waivers, covering 3.1 million Americans. Yesterday, The Daily Caller reported that among HHS's most recent round of 204 Obamacare waivers, "38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's Northern California district." That's right: Nearly 20 percent of exemptions from Pelosi's crowning health care achievement were doled out in her backyard. If that's not enough irony for you, try this waiver on for size: On Monday, the Las Vegas Sun reported that Nevada—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's home state—received...

Exactly two weeks ago, this author predicted the defeat of the American Health Care Act — and explained that it was a step towards the final, actual deal that will repeal and replace Obamacare. President Donald Trump faces three irreconcilable factions: the GOP establishment, conservatives, and Democrats. He must bring them together — to “deliver the goods,” a key rule in The Art of the Deal. But first he must show them “the downside” — and convince them they will fail on their own. The most difficult faction to deal with is the Republican establishment — not because they are...

The Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare—the American Health Care Act—finally came up for a final vote in the House. First put forward by Speaker Paul Ryan in 2009, it offered few surprises to Republicans. And the effort itself was very familiar, as Republicans had voted over 60 times to repeal Obamacare since its passage eight years ago. Yet, when the time came to exercise the prerogative of the majority and finally repeal and replace President Obama’s deeply flawed social program, Republicans came up short. Over the past two weeks, moderate Republicans argued that they could not vote for...

The Republican and Democrat parties are essentially a bad unibrow with one distinction: Whereas Democrats lie in pursuit of their goals, ideology, and objectives, Republicans lie in pursuit of … the other side’s goals, ideology, and objectives. One of the most indelible moments in recent political history, etched in the minds of voters who detest Obamacare, is when Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) declared, “we have to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it.” Now, with a GOP that has made it clear they want to preserve Obamacare under the dastardly lie of repealing it, they have come...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued the following statement on the decision by President Trump and Speaker Ryan to pull Trumpcare from the House floor. “Republicans spent seven years vowing to turn back the clock on health care for women, seniors and families—but it took just a few weeks of them trying to jam Trumpcare through Congress to realize that people across the country absolutely reject their plans to increase premiums, cut millions of people off of their insurance coverage, eliminate women’s health care options, and put the insurance companies back in charge of health care...

It's amazing how one bump in the road which will be forgotten sooner than you think has resulted in breathless hyperbolic rhetoric from the lunatics on the left. Failure! Embarrassed! Humiliated! A deluge of memes. Tweeting celebs piling on. etc etc. They have lost all perspective. The GOP couldn't come to a consensus on repealing and replacing Obamacare. Ok, it's disappointing but we'll go back to the drawing board and figure something out...and then repeal and replace Obamacare. In the meantime here are the libs, beaten to a pulp across the nation. The Presidency, House, Senate, Governorships in our hands....

The forecast for Obamacare premiums for the near future are to go up by 75%, and there are real people, sick people, average American people who will be hurt by this. Did anyone really care? I think President Trump did – that is why he tried to replace it. CNN gets it wrong again: “After a dramatic day on Capitol Hill, Ryan rushed from the White House to Capitol Hill to tell Trump he did not have the votes to pass the measure, the culmination of seven years of Republican efforts to eradicate President Barack Obama’s proudest domestic achievement. As...