Free Republic

Barack Obama took to social media Saturday to urge people to sign up for health care on the final day of Affordable Care Act enrollment. His appeal came a day after a Texas judge struck down the former president’s signature legislation as unconstitutional. Besides reminding people that Saturday would be the final day to enroll for affordable health care for 2019, Obama appeared to play down the significance of the ruling. “You might have heard about a federal court decision on a Republican lawsuit trying to strike down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety,” he said in Facebook post....

The electorate isn’t buying the “Trump broke it” propaganda.For a year, the Democrats and the legacy media have waged a relentless propaganda campaign calculated to convince the public that Obamacare’s myriad failures — from skyrocketing premiums to stagnant enrollment — are the result of sabotage by President Trump and congressional Republicans. This headline from the Hill is typical: “Many states blame Trump, GOP for Obamacare premium increases.” It seems, however, that “the stupidity of the American voter” has been greatly exaggerated. A new survey shows that more than two-thirds of registered voters believe former President Obama and the Democrats are...

Former President Barack Obama said Wednesday it is "aggravating" to see the Republican-led Congress continue with its attempts to overhaul Obamacare, efforts he suggested would inflict "real human suffering" on the American people. "When I see people trying undo that hard-won progress, for the 50th or 60th time, with bills that would raise costs or reduce coverage or roll back protections for older Americans or people with pre-existing conditions — the cancer survivor, the expectant mom, or the child with autism, or asthma for whom coverage once again would be unattainable — it is aggravating," Obama said during a keynote...

Former President Obama stepped into the Obamacare repeal fight Thursday, rejecting claims that his health law is in a “death spiral” and saying it can thrive — as long as President Trump properly administers it. “The reality is clear: America is stronger because of the Affordable Care Act,” Mr. Obama said in a statement Most critically, though, Mr. Obama said his law is not in the dreaded “death spiral” that Republicans and some health executives have said. Under the death spiral, young healthy customers are chased from the marketplace by rising costs, leaving an older, sicker population that then requires...

Obama added it's silly to just repeal his law. He also said it's not in a "death spiral" because most people haven't seen their premiums rise. Obama called on people who believed in the fight to pass the law to stand up and defend it against repeal attempts. "Americans who love their country still have the power to change it," he said.

President Barack Obama offers multiple excuses for why health insurance premiums continue to skyrocket, including blaming Republicans and insurance companies for the problems. He complains that too many reporters spend more time discussing premium increases than explaining why he isn’t responsible for them. “No, I had nothing to do with that,” Obama said, calling it “complicated” despite the “hysteria” that was growing. Obama traveled to Florida to argue that Obamacare was working well, but needed to be fixed

President Barack Obama blamed partisanship for the lingering discontent around his signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act, during his latest pitch on the benefits of the law to millennials at Miami Dade College in Florida. But Obama also admitted that there are problems with the law that need to be addressed, including costly premiums and persistent gaps in coverage. “Part of the problem is a Democratic President named Barack Obama passed the law,” the president said to cheers. “But just because a lot of the Republican criticism has proven to be false doesn’t mean that there aren’t legitimate...

President Barack Obama is “quite proud” that his signature health care law has expanded coverage to 20 million more Americans. But he admits the law could be strengthened, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday. “The president does have some ideas for things that we could do to further strengthen Obamacare. The first is to find a way to ensure that every state across the country is expanding Medicaid, consistent with what was envisioned in the law.” Earnest said “too many Republican governors” have blocked Medicaid expansion “just because of political differences” with Obama. But some of those governors...

Circumventing Congress's ban on the use of federal money to bail out ObamaCare casualties. I’m sure you’re all quite familiar with the Obama Administration’s proclivity for ignoring Congress and doing whatever it wants, whether that means refusing to enforce the law or attempting to shove gun control down the nation’s throat. But if you think Obama only does this via executive orders, you haven’t quite grasped the full scope of his lawlessness. Let’s say you want to spend money to bail out health insurers that you have driven to the brink of ruin by passing ObamaCare. But Congress (thanks in...

When President Obama stages a photo op to publicize signing a measure he claims will “help” American workers, you can be almost certain that “unintended consequences” will outweigh any intended benefits. Lacking even an elementary understanding of how a market economy works, he only makes things worse. In an effort to avoid the Obamacare mandate, many companies reduced workers to fewer than 30 hours per week. This reduction of employees to part-time status continues to cause endless difficulties. Employees have fewer hours and less income than they want, and employers have a harder time staffing their companies. But the Obama...

In a series of events this week, the Obama administration will look beyond the law’s central issues of access and affordability and explore the “next chapter” of healthcare reform. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell plans to “broaden the conversation” about the 2010 law to highlight system-wide reforms to lower costs and improve quality, a senior administration official told The Hill. “It’s important to lay out the next chapter in the Affordable Care Act — building a healthcare system that puts patients at the center and works better for all Americans,” the official said. The initiatives —...

Missed opportunity — or a tacit admission of political vulnerability? When Paul Ryan sent the ObamaCare repeal bill to Barack Obama, he held a public “enrollment” event to celebrate the accomplishment. Rather than return the favor, Roll Call reports that Obama opted to veto the bill with minimal publicity: With little public fanfare, President Barack Obama on Friday vetoed a Republican-crafted measure designed to repeal his signature health care overhaul. But Republican leaders are signaling their repeal push is far from over.In a statement, Obama said the health care overhaul "is working," slamming the bill because it would "reverse...

If you listen to the rhetoric from Democrats, the proof that Republicans are fixated on repealing ObamaCare comes from the claim that they've voted 50-some odd times to do so. That's not entirely true, since many were votes to repeal parts of the law. What is true is that Obama himself has signed multiple bills into law that have repealed ObamaCare bit by bit.

Lost in the overall shuffle concerning the many problems with Obamacare’s exchanges is the central problem of enforcement of those aspects of the law the president hasn’t waived or delayed yet – including the particular challenge when it comes to verifying the immigration status of those applying for taxpayer subsidized insurance. On April 1st, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a new guidance document to health insurers. The CMS guidance says that people whose immigration status is uncertain will be presumed eligible for subsidized coverage in Obamacare’s marketplaces while a further review is pending. Emphasis mine: If there...

An extensive accounting of more than 50,000 commercials by Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising, has determined that the single most-aired campaign ad of the past 10 years was a 30-second spot for Sen. Barack Obama attacking Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on his health-care plan. “McCain would tax health benefits for the first time ever” “His plan would raise costs for employers offering health care, so your coverage would be reduced or dropped completely.”

Video of Obama blaming Rick Perry for few Texans signing up for ACA at link. http://www.myfoxdfw.com/video?clipId=9964236&topVideoCatNo=237008&autoStart=true

Death Blow: Almost two years ago, President Obama's solicitor general told the Supreme Court that without the individual mandate, ObamaCare would fail. But after winning that victory, the administration itself has effectively killed the mandate. In his oral arguments before the court, Donald Verrilli made it abundantly clear that, without the individual mandate, ObamaCare would "make matters worse, not better." As he told the justices, the "guaranteed issue" and "community rating" regulations at the heart of ObamaCare won't work if you let the young and healthy choose not to buy insurance.

The White House is hoping young people will come to President Obama’s aid one more time over ObamaCare, just as they did when they supported him strongly in both his presidential election victories. The administration is engaged in an all-out push to increase young people’s enrollment in ObamaCare with just two weeks left before the deadline to acquire insurance. Young people have signed up at a significantly lower rate than the administration had hoped, raising fears among Affordable Care Act advocates. The fewer young and healthy people sign up, the higher premiums are likely to rise for older people for...

President Obama has repeatedly suspended parts of the Affordable Care Act without the consent of Congress. The latest unilateral action happened Monday night, when the administration announced another delay of the employer mandate, the law's provision that businesses with more than 50 employees must provide their employees with insurance starting in 2014 or pay large fines. In July, the president decreed the mandate wouldn't be enforced at all in 2014, and last night administration officials declared that businesses with 50 to 99 employees wouldn't be penalized in 2015. Republicans have denounced such actions as "lawless." But if what the president...

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was in frequent contact with President Obama and senior White House aides before the disastrous launch of the federal ObamaCare exchange last year. While Sebelius has said the president was not aware of HealthCare.gov’s problems, more than 750 pages of documents obtained by The Hill through a Freedom of Information Act request show she made scores of visits to the White House. The documents reveal that Sebelius met with or attended calls and events with Obama at least 18 times between Oct. 27, 2012, and Oct. 6, 2013, including at least seven instances...