Free Republic

While we’ve had over fifty Super Bowls with each accompanied by a more frenzied, fantastic wave of hype and mass marketing than the last, there is an annual event that is actually closing the gap on the NFL’s crown jewel when it comes to over-the-top hyper-marketing and product merchandising to Americans.Enter: The Flupocalypse.Each year it just gets bigger and bigger, with literally billions on the line as vaccine companies look to seize every opportunity to further their narrative that “vaccines are safe and effective, we should all vaccinate ourselves and our children, and anyone not getting with the State/Corporate program...

With all the talk about a possible government shutdown due to an impasse on immigration reform, no one seems to be paying attention to a story of even bigger long-term consequence. Congress is preparing a two-year budget that blows past bipartisan spending caps to the tune of $216 billion through 2019. These are the latest stunning tallies from an analysis by Congressional Quarterly. (See chart). That may be a best-case scenario. The budget watchers at Freedom Works estimate that when hurricane disaster relief, funding for the border wall, added Obamacare money for the bankrupt insurance markets, and other last-minute spending...

The good news for us conservatives and Republicans -- even in California -- is that the progressive Democrats are not anywhere near as smart as they tell us they are. They have made key unforced strategic errors in the past decade which have caused them to lose half of their legislative seats and governor’s mansions across the states, significant chunks of their agenda and of course the Grand Prize of them all, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. One major unforced strategic error was forcing ObamaCare down the public’s unwilling throats at midnight on Christmas Eve 2010 before passing their beloved Comprehensive Immigration...

Today, breast cancer kills 39 percent fewer women than 25 years ago. Prostate cancer kills 52 percent fewer men, the American Cancer Society announced last week. You can thank new technologies that detect cancer early and defeat it for many of the lives saved. Americans diagnosed with most types of cancer have better odds of surviving it in the U.S. than anywhere else on the planet. But watch out. These staggering achievements are at risk. A chorus of Democratic politicians is kicking off 2018 with renewed calls for universal, government-run health care. Leading the pack for single-payer are presidential contenders...

Maryland lawmakers want to create an individual health care mandate at the state level — in response to Washington gutting it at the federal level — and turn it into a down payment for people to pay for health insurance. Supporters outlined the proposal Tuesday, a day before the Maryland legislative session begins, adding it could also work in other states to help keep insurance premiums from skyrocketing. The Maryland General Assembly is controlled by Democrats. The federal tax overhaul approved last month removed the federal penalty that was charged to people without health insurance. Under Maryland legislation, the state...

Started my 2017 taxes. The dreaded individual mandate question is on there.

During the 2016 primary season, Donald Trump pledged to facilitate lower health insurance premiums by permitting coverage to be sold across state lines. Oddly, considering that conservatives have long advocated this as a way of augmenting market competition among insurers, the proposal was ridiculed by his opponents for the Republican presidential nomination. During one debate Marco Rubio actually mimicked Trump’s physical gestures, mocked his references to “lines around the states,” and snidely added, “whatever that means.” Friday, the Trump administration demonstrated what that means by issuing a new regulation allowing association health plans (AHPs) to offer coverage across state lines.

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — A Virginia woman was arrested and charged following her “reaction” to a parking ticket, Henrico Police told WTVR. An officer wrote the parking ticket on Thursday after spotting a vehicle illegally parked on Old Main Street in Rocketts Landing, a Henrico Police spokesperson said. That’s when Danielle Alesia Easley approached the vehicle, according to police. “Easley arrived and indicated she was associated with the vehicle. Easley removed the parking citation, balled it up and threw it on the ground,” the Henrico Police spokesperson said. “Easley continued to be disorderly and struck the officer with the vehicle’s...

WASHINGTON – Health insurance premiums in Virginia’s individual marketplace are set to rise as high as 265 percent in this new year. According to the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s Affordable Care Act filing data, the maximum allowable premium hike for Optima Health Plan customers is 265.5 percent, which represents the largest increases in the Virginia individual market next year. Some Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company health plans on the individual market are set to rise 168.6 percent in 2018.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday unveiled new rules that would allow small businesses and entrepreneurs to join together to form their own health insurance pools. The rules, which will be open to a 60 day public comment period, are a direct response to President Donald Trump's executive order on health care, which would expand health associations and allow people participating in the groups to buy insurance that does not meet all of the coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. "Under the proposal, small businesses and sole proprietors would have more freedom to band...

President Trump has perfected the art of antagonizing his opponents with provocative tweets. He demonstrated this skill recently in declaring that the tax reform act, by repealing the Obamacare mandate, had effectively repealed Obamacare. This generated a number of stories from left-leaning pundits pointing out that there's a lot more to Obamacare than the mandate. Sarah Kliff, writing for Vox.com, noted that many Republican voters believed the president and hoped that would bring an end to efforts to undo the rest of Obamacare. But many Republicans in Congress seem intent on continuing to fight for repeal of the controversial law....

Around 55,000 planned procedures are expected to be axed in a desperate attempt to free up beds, the Evening Standard reports. One senior doctor claimed that patients are being treated in “third world” conditions in some hospitals. Other NHS trusts have abandoned basic rules that state that men and women should be kept on separate wards and some patients are facing a 12-hour wait to receive Accident and Emergency care as hospitals run out of space. The emergency has been preceded by a growing flu crisis, and as of Tuesday, 12 NHS trusts covering millions of people have said they...

Barack Obama promised upon leaving the White House that he would stay out of President Trump’s hair unless it was really, really important. Increasingly during 2017, Mr. Obama found really important topics on which to challenge Mr. Trump. When Mr. Trump pushed Congress last March to repeal Obamacare, Mr. Obama jumped in to save his signature program with one of his first public comments as a private citizen. “Reality continues to discredit the false claim that this law is in a ‘death spiral,’” Mr. Obama said, using Mr. Trump’s favorite phrase for criticizing the Affordable Care Act. “Likewise, this law...

These six 2018 predictions are neither guaranteed, nor particularly prescient. But the best predictor of past behavior, with people and Krugman's cat, is past behavior. So if any, or all, of these predictions happen, we shouldn't be surprised. The continuing divisive and acrimonious political environment in 2018 America will bring no abatement of the decibel level held throughout 2017. In fact, it’s likely to dial-up.

The federal tax cut signed into law last week eliminates the federal penalty for not having health insurance, starting in 2019. That's good news for those who've been buying Obamacare to avoid the penalty, and even better news for those who've actually been paying the penalty. But don't start celebrating yet. In New York, California, Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey and other deep blue strongholds, the insurance industry and left-wing activists are agitating to enact state penalties to replace the soon-to-be defunct federal one. Ouch! Six-and-a-half million filers paid the federal penalty last year, including approximately 400,000 right here in New...

Top House Republicans aren't giving up on Obamacare repeal next year, even though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he's ready to move on. McConnell told NPR on Thursday that he thinks the Senate will “move on to other issues” instead of trying for repeal and replace in 2018. But several top conservatives in the House made it clear they wouldn't mind taking another shot. “I still think there is enough bandwidth on the House side to get it done,” said Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., leader of the 170-member conservative Republican Study Committee. The House was able to pass its...

THURSDAY, Dec. 21, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Obamacare has likely saved lives by increasing the number of cancers caught at an early stage, a new study suggests. States that participate in the Affordable Care Act's expansion of Medicaid have experienced an increase in overall cancer diagnoses, particularly early stage diagnoses, compared with states that rejected expansion, researchers found. "It's been well-established that catching cancer in its early phases increases the likelihood of successful treatment and reduces the chances of death," said lead researcher Aparna Soni. "We found that states that participated in Medicaid expansion experienced much greater increases in cancer...

The number of consumers signing up for Affordable Care Act plans through the federal HealthCare.gov insurance marketplace declined compared with last year’s open-enrollment period, affected by challenges including a shorter sign-up window and some steep premium increases. But the 4% falloff, to around 8.8 million sign-ups from about 9.2 million, was narrower than some insurers and analysts had projected. In addition, some state exchanges, including in California, Washington, New York and Minnesota, said sign-ups for ACA plans so far were up compared with a year ago. The enrollment period for 2018 ACA plans ended Dec. 15 for HealthCare.gov, which is...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday the Senate is unlikely to pursue a repeal and replacement of Obamacare next year, bowing to the reality of a narrower Republican majority in 2018. McConnell said on NPR on Thursday that the Senate was unable to repeal and replace Obamacare with a 52-48 majority earlier this year, and indicated it will be even tougher with one less Republican. Democrat Doug Jones won an upset victory against Republican Roy Moore in Alabama this month, narrowing the GOP margin even more in the upper chamber. "We'll have to take a look at what that...

Nearly 9 million people signed up for coverage through the federal ObamaCare exchanges, according to a top administration official. Last year, 9.2 million people signed up for coverage during an open enrollment period that was twice as long. Approximately 8.8 million people enrolled during the six week open enrollment period, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid administrator Seema Verma tweeted Thursday.