Free Republic

Insurance companies offering individual health care plans in D.C. want to increase premiums from 13 percent to nearly 40 percent on average. Four major insurance companies have submitted health insurance rates for 2018 to the D.C. Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking for review. This will be the fifth year of open enrollment on DC Health Link, the District’s health insurance marketplace under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. In the individual market, CareFirst has proposed an average rate increase of 39.6 percent for HMO plans and 19.7 percent for PPO plans. Kaiser proposed an...

As the world continues to take in Emmanuel Macron's resounding victory in the French election, attention is already turning to his plans for the next five years, with the environment likely to be a key part of the independent centrist's presidency. In 2015, global leaders gathered in Paris for the COP21 summit. It is feared that U.S. President Donald Trump could pull out of the deal. Whatever Trump decides to do, it is clear that Macron wants to harness the talents of climate change researchers working in what appears - at least in some parts - to be an increasingly...

The fate of Venezuela, which has the largest oil reserves in the world, ought to be the final lesson conclusively proving that socialism is a delusion that impoverishes those it purports to help.  An entire nation is starving, unable to feed itself, generate enough electricity, or produce toilet paper.  In the midst of boundless opportunity, its economy is grinding to a halt because of socialism. The fate of Venezuela, which has the largest oil reserves in the world, ought to be the final lesson conclusively proving that socialism is a delusion that impoverishes those it purports to help. An entire...

The globalist elite play chess while the Islamists and Leftists/Socialists play checkers The word ‘globalism’ is often used in its narrowest context to mean global trade, which obscures its broader political intention to internationalize nation states and ultimately impose one-world government. Similarly the word ‘Islamism’ is often used in its narrowest context to mean a religion like any other which obscures its broader political intention to reestablish the caliphate and impose sharia law worldwide.

A “Faith Not Fear Summit” held at a Catholic church in the Diocese of San Diego raised fears among some orthodox Catholics that the diocese had been co-opted to promote political liberalism in accord with the views of local Bishop Robert McElroy, named by Pope Francis in 2015 to come down from San Francisco to head this border episcopate.

Roughly one month ago I asked what the end game in Venezuela might look like as the country continues to spiral out of control. Judging by what’s been happening this weekend we may be getting close to an answer to that question. Despite the ramped up “militias” of President Nicolas Maduro and the dozens of people who have died in violent clashes between protesters and militia groups, starving and disaffected citizens continue to take to the streets. In one Venezuelan city, a statue of former dictator Hugo Chavez was torn down and smashed in the streets. (Video via the Daily...

Once Latin America’s richest country, Venezuela can no longer feed its people, hobbled by the nationalization of farms as well as price and currency controls YARE, Venezuela— Jean Pierre Planchart, a year old, has the drawn face of an old man and a cry that is little more than a whimper. His ribs show through his skin. He weighs just 11 pounds

My friend, who lived in France for five years, and now in US, thinks our new health system is not only unnecessarily inadequate, but unsophisticated. She says that in France that: You get immediate appointments Immediate treatment World class results Mideast sheiks go there Relatively low cost meds (if you have to pay at all) Latest improvements All Free To pay for this, she says All French citizens pay taxes. Everyone pays the same percentage tax....35% One page tax filing To fellow Freepers......truth please.

Four insurance carriers are seeking average rate increases ranging from 9 percent to 150 percent for individual health plans sold in Maryland for 2018. The proposed rate increases average at 38.5 percent and would bring monthly premium prices for a mid-level plan for a 40-year-old Baltimore resident to between $359.25 and $714.95. The proposed rates are subject to review and approval by the Maryland Insurance Administration. The requests come on the same day House Republicans in Congress passed a bill repealing parts of the Affordable Care Act and replacing them with new provisions. Individual plans are for people who aren't...

When I learned that the most recent version of the American Health Care Act allows insurers to classify rape as a preexisting condition (and thus puts survivors at risk for increased costs and denial of coverage), my initial inclination was to pull out a calculator. I started typing in numbers. After an older student chose to rape me during my second week in college, the bills had quickly started piling up. I paid for doctors' visits, weekly therapy appointments and medication to treat my PTSD, anxiety and depression. I had medical insurance at the time, but that only covered part...

Climate change will bring some surprising effects: Bumpy plane rides, greater mood swings and more volcanic eruptions are just a few of the things we can expect over the decades to come. And yes, even more lightning. We're already familiar with some of the more evident effects of global warming such as melting glaciers and more extreme weather events. But few people are aware of some of the other, less obvious - and completely surprising - impacts of our changing climate, which could have a serious impact on the way we live. 1. Airplane turbulence will get worse 2. Icebergs...

Economics: Why is it that reporters keep scratching their heads about Venezuela's descent into extreme poverty and chaos? The cause is simple. Socialism. End it and you will end the misery. When the New York Times wrote about Venezuela's ongoing collapse a year ago, it described how the country was suffering "painful shortages … even of basic foods," and how "electricity and water are being rationed, and huge areas of the country have spent months with little of either." Here is how the Times explained the reason for Venezuela's dire situation: "The growing economic crisis (was) fueled by low prices...

In voting to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, House Republicans finally delivered on a key Trump administration goal and on a campaign promise that they have made for the better part of a decade — but at a potentially steep price. But by leaning on members to vote for a bill that many fear will take too much health care from too many people, Mr. Ryan has exposed moderate Republicans to withering political attacks. This is especially true in the roughly two dozen districts where Hillary Clinton prevailed, but it is also the case in places where...

The western spotted skunk, the 2-pound smelly creature, evolved more than a million years ago because of climate, according to new research. Adam Ferguson, the collections manager of mammals at the Field Museum in Chicago, is the lead author of a new study, published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, that examined how the spotted skunk can live in a variety of climates across the western United States and Mexico. "By analyzing western spotted skunk DNA, we learned that Ice Age climate change played a crucial role in their evolution," Ferguson said in a press release. "Over the past million...

Replacing half of the meat eaten worldwide with crickets and mealworms would cut farmland use by a third, substantially reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, researchers say. While consumers' reluctance to eat insects may limit their consumption, even a small increase would bring benefits, the team says. This could potentially be achieved by using insects as ingredients in some pre-packaged foods. Researchers say that replacing meat with crickets and mealworms could help tackle climate change. Using data collected primarily by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, scientists compared the environmental impacts of conventional meat production with those of alternative sources of...

Liberals don’t actually seem human to me. No. In their odd, seemingly emotional, unreasoning manner of “thinking,” and unconsidered acting out, they seem like alien animals from some unknown realm. They almost seem to make a case for actually being those bizarre entities they have conjured and glorified in this, the early 21st Century: vampires, werewolves, zombies, and “super heroes,” among other, fanatically followed things. Strange, unearthly creatures, with strange, supernatural powers, none of whom seem, or are—completely human. I believe these unholy ideas and morphological shapes have crawled bleeding from the deepest caves in the darkest mind of humankind....

Aetna Inc will exit the Obamacare individual insurance market in Virginia and will not offer these plans on or off the online exchange created by the Affordable Care Act, the company said on Wednesday. The company said last month that it would leave Iowa. It is selling these plans in four states in 2017.

 PARIS -- Not a day goes by in the run-up to the second and final round of the French presidential elections this Sunday without a slew of people using the "fascist" label against National Front candidate Marine Le Pen. In fact, I was bluntly asked in an Australian television interview, "Is Marine Le Pen fascist?"Labels are effective in politics for good reason: They're rhetorical brick walls that shut down debate and negate the need to get down in the weeds and defend ideas with critical thought. If fascism is such a worry, then why hasn't anyone bothered doing something about a...

Yesica Sanchez recently found a notice attached to the front door of her two-bedroom apartment that said her rent was almost doubling. The divorced mother held the paper in her hand in a state of shock. […] Oregon has become one of America’s most popular moving destinations, with tens of thousands of newcomers each year drawn by its forests and mountains, its quirky city of Portland and its job opportunities. Oregon set a historical low jobless rate in March of 3.8 percent. But the inflow has caused a rental housing crisis across the state, with too few homes being built....

Last week, I argued that denying the disastrous consequences of socialism is the Left’s equivalent of Holocaust denial. In response, I have been treated to many excellent examples of exactly the kind of denial I was talking about. Heck, the New York Times even obliged by publishing an op-ed on Saturday that hails the “moral authority” and “sense of humanity” of American socialists and communists. These are the same communists who toed Stalin’s party line, which is made clear when the author (who grew up among socialists of the era) describes the shattering impact on them of Khrushchev’s revelations about...