Free Republic

two years higher than they would be under Obamacare. New data shows just how high the cost has already gotten for people who don't qualify for subsidies now. In the report, eHealth found that individual premiums for insurance plans sold through its marketplace, or exchange, rose to an average of $378 per month in 2017 — an 18 percent increase from 2016's open enrollment season. Since 2014, the average premiums for individual coverage have jumped 39 percent, eHealth found. That year, 2014, was the first for new Affordable Care Act rules mandating designs of insurance plans, which included a set...

Republican senators said it’s unclear whether their chamber will repeal all of the taxes imposed under Obamacare as they set aside the health-care bill passed by the House and prepare to write their own from scratch. “That’s hard to say right now. We just have to see,” said Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican whose panel oversees health-care and tax policy. “It’s going to be negotiated.” The uncertainty comes despite what Hatch said on the floor of the Senate in February, when he called repealing the Obamacare taxes essential, labeling them “harmful to the economy.”...

There’s corruption in DC... This concept comes into clear view when we look at ACA and AHCA, better known as Obamacare and Trumpcare. These two “competing” bills are so similar one would think the same people who support one would support the other, but the exact opposite is true. It’s divided along party lines. In fact, nobody is on record supporting both, though some Federalist-minded politicians were wise enough to support neither. Congressman Justin Amash reluctantly supported the latter. He was so disgusted by the necessity to support AHCA as the lesser-of-two-evils that he penned a response to his vote...

Take yes for an answer The Democrats and the liberal media are still pushing their dishonest rhetoric about what’s not in the Republicans’ American Health Care Act, and the damage it’s supposedly going to do to people. All lies! As I wrote on Sunday, pre-existing conditions are taken care of through a high-risk pool funded to the tune of $130 billion over 10 years. But the liberal media and Democrats keep pushing the lie that they are not covered. Scare tactics 101!

House GOP leaders are expressing confidence that the Republican-sponsored American Health Care Act (AHCA) to repeal and replace Obamacare will pass Thursday afternoon, though it will face an uncertain path in the Senate. House vote on the new health care bill - how to watch "This will pass," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, told reporters as he left a closed-door meeting with the House Republican Conference. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, also seemed confident that the bill would pass.

After years of debate, the House on Thursday voted to repeal key parts of the Affordable Care Act and replace them with new provisions. The vote, which President Donald Trump was planning to tout as a big victory, sends the Republican-sponsored bill to gut Obamacare to the Senate for consideration. Follow Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump If victorious, Republicans will be having a big press conference at the beautiful Rose Garden of the White House immediately after vote! 2:07 PM - 4 May 2017 3,336 3,336 Retweets 14,365 14,365 likes But winning approval for the bill could be even more...

The bill includes deregulatory steps to pave the way for a variety of insurance coverage that more people can afford; the largest entitlement reform in decades by devolving control over Medicaid to the states; a $1 trillion spending cut over a decade; tax credits for individual insurance that begin to equalize the tax treatment of health care for individuals and businesses; and the repeal of ObamaCare taxes totaling $900 billion over 10 years. The bill doesn’t repeal all of ObamaCare because it can’t without Democratic help under the Senate’s budget rules. But the bill marks a giant step away from...

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill on Thursday to repeal major parts of Obamacare and replace it with a Republican healthcare plan, handing President Donald Trump his biggest legislative victory but setting up a tough fight in the Senate. With the 217-213 vote, Republicans obtained just enough support to push the legislation through the House, sending it to the Senate for consideration. No Democrats voted for the bill. The bill's passage represented a vital step toward fulfilling a top Trump campaign pledge and a seven-year Republican quest to dismantle Democratic former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law. But...

Nail biter? I’m thinking it will be close no matter what, but last time around they never even got to a vote because support was tanking right up to the time it was supposed to happen, and finally Paul Ryan pulled the bill because the failure was going to be monumental. This time? Do they know for sure that they’ve got the votes? And if so, what did they do to the bill to get there? Thursday suddenly got tense, friends: The latest iteration of the GOP bill would let states escape a current requirement that insurers charge healthy and...

Two Republican lawmakers who had come out against the House bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act earlier this week reversed course on Wednesday and threw their support behind the plan after securing more money to help people with pre-existing medical conditions. Representatives Fred Upton of Michigan, an influential voice in Republican health policy, and Billy Long of Missouri, a close ally of President Trump’s, told reporters after a meeting with Mr. Trump on Wednesday that the latest revisions had won them over. Those included $8 billion in additional funds over five years to supplement the insurance of people with...

After drawing conservative Republicans on board to the American Health Care Act, Republican leadership appears set to try to bring back the American Health Care Act to the House floor for a vote. But the fate of the legislation appeared to be in doubt Thursday as leaders raced to get the support of moderate Republican lawmakers. ~snip~ Several Republican senators have expressed serious doubts about the AHCA. And since Republicans are attempting to move the healthcare bill through the budget reconciliation process, there have been questions whether the bill would even qualify under the Senate rules.

Rep. Dave Brat said Friday the GOP can get the new health care bill done in a week. “It’s not really a new bill,” Mr. Brat, Virginia Republican and a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said on CNN’s “New Day.” “We’re still waiting on the official text.” Mr. Brat said that after the Republicans’ failed attempt at putting together a replacement plan for Obamacare last month, Vice President Mike Pence came together with House Republicans to work out the issues from the last bill. “Vice President Pence came over and met with all of us. He had a great...

".@RepDaveBrat: New health care plan in GOP pipeline "the same fundamental bill" as one that faltered last month https://t.co/kK1lWALm5T" — New Day (@NewDay) April 21, 2017 A revised GOP healthcare bill is the 'same fundamental bill' as the first one, but it contains some significant amendments and lawmakers will likely approve it, Rep. Dave Brat said Friday. "[Republicans] like to rely on free markets as much as we can," the Virginia Republican told CNN's "New Day" anchor Chris Cuomo. "This is still a federal government structure. I'm not totally happy with that outcome." The plan "at least cracks the door...

The GOP’s first shot at fixing Obamacare was an absolute dumpster fire. Paul Ryan never bothered to get conservatives involved and it cost him big time. He couldn’t even get his Obamacare lite bill to the floor for a vote. Now, it looks like Mike Pence got involved in the negotiations and an agreement was made. "#BREAKING Sources tell me @mike_pence, @SpeakerRyan, @RepMarkMeadows and @RepTomMacArthur negotiated a possible amendment to the #AHCA." — Brian Schwartz (@schwartzbFBN) April 20, 2017 "#BREAKING The possible amendment is titled the "MacArthur Amendment" and sources tell me it could bring up to 15-20 new @freedomcaucus...

President Donald Trump has not given up on the holy grail of repealing Obamacare, and on Wednesday he revealed his next move, threatening to use health insurance subsidies as a weapon to get Democrats to negotiate on reform. Trump said his administration may not have the legal authority to make cost-sharing reduction payments, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. So-called CSR subsidies reduce out-of-pocket costs for low-income Affordable Care Act enrollees, but Republicans in Congress sued the Obama administration, saying they expenditures were not authorized under the ACA. The president is clearly aware of the impact it would...

Chris Wallace Interview of Jim Jordan. Jim Jordan: "Let's accomplish what the people asked us to do when they sent us to Washington . . . let's find a plan that is consistent with what the American people told us to do when they elected us."

New data shows that Ryan's job approval rating has dropped below 50% among both Republicans and Trump voters The American Health Care Act, the GOP replacement for Obamacare, is — at least for now — just a memory. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan himself has admitted that "Obamacare is the law of the land … for the foreseeable future." The latest Economist/YouGov Poll suggests that opinions of Ryan and the House Republicans, but not President Trump, have diminished after the GOP-majority House of Representatives failed to vote on the proposed health care legislation. And that loss of support comes...

"It is absolute suicide for the Republican Party to follow the course that they're embarking on right now," L. Brent Bozell III, the chairman of For America, told a conference call. "All the studies show that premiums are going to go up. The Republican Party will own health care -- Paul Ryan and the Republican leadership in the Senate will own Obamacare, and national health care after this -- if they go down this road.” Bozell said Republicans “could well lose the House and Senate in 2018” if they don’t rethink what they’re doing. “It will be a rout against...

I’ve been listening to the angst and fury on FR for the last week or two of how conservatives feel betrayed or angry at the fight between Trump and the HFC. So I’m hoping to maybe explain what I see happening, especially in terms of game theory and the business world, and perhaps this insight into the tactics of Donald Trump regarding health care will bring about a modicum of peace between the factions on FR. Part 1: Game Theory I’d like to start this discussion with a short explanation of game theory. This is pretty simplified, but it’s a...

Bad move by Trump. Ryan and the globalist big government GOPe RINOs are the problem not the Freedom Caucus. Trump is supposed to be draining the swamp by now, not swimming in it. Put the interest of American citizens first! Freedom not socialism and tyranny!! Good grief! Dump Obamacare already! Should have been done on day one and we’d be way on down the road to draining the swamp by now! We the people have been demanding a full repeal for seven long years and that's the position Trump took with his original health care goal at the beginning of...