Free Republic

Most days, Joe Cato is confined to sitting in a chair or lying in bed, heavily medicated or asleep, debilitated by back pain that’s left the 41-year-old husband and father of four unable to work, attend seminary, or run his construction business. He has degenerative arthritis in his lower back and pelvis, a condition brought on after years of working on construction sites as a stonemason and hauling music gear as a worship leader in his church. Even riding in a car is painful, which he must do to get to his health-care provider 30 miles from his home in...

If you’re waiting for the administration to replace the Affordable Care Act, you should pray that you won’t need an ambulance. If you do call the 911 emergency services, then you’ll be waiting longer than you would have before President Obama’s signature healthcare reform was implemented. How much longer? On average, close to 20 percent more, according to new research from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Rand Paul might soon go down as the Republican who saved Obamacare — and he couldn’t care less. "I'm actually happy to be out there as the leading advocate for repealing Obamacare, not keeping it," the Kentucky Republican said in an interview. Of his GOP colleagues, Paul added: "These people, they so totally do not get it."

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that Obamacare’s special protections for transgender individuals and women who choose to have abortions violate religious freedom. Judge Reed O’Connor of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, a George W. Bush appointee, overturned the protections by vacating the Obama-era rule that banned health insurers and providers who receive federal taxpayer funds from denying coverage or treatment to any individual based on sex, gender identity, or termination of pregnancy. As the Hill noted, Reed is the same judge who ruled last December that Obamacare in its entirety is unconstitutional. In January 2017...

A judge in Texas has struck down an Obama-era federal regulation that would have required healthcare providers and insurers to perform gender-transition procedures and abortions even if they go against their medical judgment or violate religious convictions. U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor, an appointee of President George W. Bush, vacated a 2016 Obamacare mandate that critics feared could have forced faith-based doctors out of work if they refused to perform gender-transition procedures or abortions on patients referred to them. This was the second time that O’Connor ruled against the regulation, with the first coming in January 2017 when he...

Democratic proposals to repair America’s broken healthcare system have reliably shown a slide towards healthcare-for-all. But for the first time since the modern healthcare system began, Republicans have what they say is an answer. "Democrats made health insurance illegal in the United States. You can't buy health insurance. All you can buy is a health care plan. We need to allow people who just want 'I got hit by a bus, or I got cancer' insurance to buy that, and they can say, 'I can take care of everything by myself.' We need to solve that health insurance problem. Democrats...

Donald Trump is backing a GOP proposal depositing $1,500 checks into the health care accounts of millions of Americans. The legislation, which is being led by Republican Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy and Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, gives qualifying Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollees a $1,000 deposit for those aged 18 to 49, as well as recipients aged 50 to 64 for $1,500. While speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Tuesday, the president

As federal health care subsidies barrel toward expiration, a bipartisan group of 35 U.S. lawmakers is calling on leaders in the House and Senate to hold a vote on extending the benefits before the end of next week. The group includes Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Grand Junction Republican who has been pushing for a renewal of the subsidies, known as the enhanced premium tax credit. The subsidies, passed by Democrats in Congress during the COVID-19 pandemic, helped lower insurance premiums for plans purchased through Affordable Care Act marketplaces, but are now slated to expire on Dec. 31. Many Coloradans have...

After successfully holding strong in the face of a Democrat-led government shutdown over Obamacare, a cabal of House Republicans is now waiving the white flag on the issue.On Thursday, nearly three dozen Democrats and Republicans introduced a proposal to extend taxpayer-funded Obamacare subsidies. As Federalist Senior Contributor Christopher Jacobs has regularly reported in these pages, these Biden-era subsidies — which are set to expire at the end of this year — have been a complete and total disaster. Spearheaded by Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Jen Kiggins, R-Va., the measure “would extend and reduce the tax credits in a two-step...

"The bottom line is this: Under this law, the share of Americans with insurance is up, and the growth of healthcare costs is down. And that's good for our middle class, and that's good for our fiscal future." - President Barack Obama, 4/26/2016

11/4/2013 - During an OFA summit, President Obama addressed claims that health care reform forces people off their original plans.

Stacy Cox used one word repeatedly as she described how she felt after learning her ACA premium could jump over 300% without the enhanced tax credits: "devastating." "I don't know if I've ever cried opening a letter from an insurance or before, but it happened this time," she told ABC News. Cox's premium this year has been $495.32 for coverage for her and her husband. Without the credit in 2026, she was informed that it's increasing to $2,168.68. "It's devastating because we can't afford that," she said. "Just that bill right there, that's more than our mortgage, our insurance, most...

Could Barack Obama have orchestrated the “Russia hoax” – what Donald Trump has called “the crime of the century”? A closer look at Obama’s political rise in Chicago and his governing style in Washington suggests it’s far from implausible, and even likely. While the mainstream media has long celebrated Obama for his eloquence, historic symbolism, and aspirational rhetoric about “hope and change,” his career tells a completely different story. Beneath the polished image lies a consistent pattern of ruthless tactics and deceptive narratives straight from the Chicago machine playbook. “The Chicago Way” refers to a hardball and often corrupt style...

The Democratic response to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson raises questions about the scope and significance of the federal healthcare reform legislation they passed without any Republican votes under former President Barack Obama. President Joe Biden, then the vice president, famously called the enactment of the Affordable Care Act a “big f***ing deal” at the 2010 signing ceremony. But when he sought the Democratic presidential nomination himself 10 years later, he was the only top-tier candidate running on Obamacare rather than other more government-centric healthcare plans. Biden won the nomination, defeating several proponents of Medicare for All, including...

Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Thursday on CNN’s “Inside Politics” that she believed the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riot was an assault on “personal freedoms” that former President Donald Trump must be held accountable for. When asked about President Joe Biden’s campaign ad highlighting the Capitol riot, Pelosi said, “I think it’s very important, but I think it also recognizes that democracy is a personal issue. Freedom to whether it is to have access to health care, when, if, and how to expand your family, freedom to be in the workplace in a very strong way because you have...

A federal judge on Thursday struck down a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, jeopardizing free coverage of a wide range of preventive services including mammograms, colonoscopies and mental health screenings for nearly 168 million people on employer health insurance and on Obamacare’s individual market. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor, the author of several previous rulings against Obamacare, sided with conservative employers and individuals in Texas who argued that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that set those requirements has been acting unconstitutionally since 2010. The decision blocks enforcement of the rules nationwide.

A federal judge in Texas ruled on Wednesday that a mandate requiring most health insurance companies to cover medicine that prevents HIV infection violates the religious freedom of certain businesses. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor partially resolves a lawsuit brought by Braidwood Management Inc., a Christian for-profit corporation owned by Republican mega-donor Steven Hotze that employs about 70 people. Hotze claimed that forcing his company to cover pre-exposure prophylaxis drugs, more commonly known as PrEP, under the Affordable Care Act would make the company “facilitate and encourage homosexual behavior.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and...

When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, its authors cited three overarching goals: to improve access to health care, to slow rising medical costs and to improve health outcomes. One of the main vehicles for achieving all three missions was a requirement that health insurers provide preventive health care services at no cost to patients. If there were no financial barriers, backers argued, patients would be more likely to get preventive services, from colonoscopies to vaccines to heart disease screenings, which would help keep people healthier and out of the hospital and, consequently, lower health care costs. (snip)...

If Congress follows the president’s lead and does not renew the Hyde Amendment, court precedents may require state Medicaid programs to cover abortions in most if not all cases.If Congress enacts them into law, the legislative concepts outlined in President Biden’s first budget will have far-reaching effects on American debt, deficits, and taxation. One specific policy may have an effect even as a proposal. By suggesting a repeal of the Hyde Amendment, the president gave conservative states another reason not to expand Medicaid. While coverage of the Biden budget has focused on its support of taxpayer funding for abortion, fewer...

The Supreme Court will consider whether setting Obamacare’s individual mandate tax to $0 renders the mandate unconstitutional, and if any other parts of Obamacare should fall with it.In a few weeks, health care will once again take center stage at the Supreme Court. In what has become a semi-regular occurrence, the justices will soon rule on a case focused on two central questions: Whether Congress’ 2017 decision to set Obamacare’s individual mandate tax to $0 renders the mandate unconstitutional, and if so, what if any other parts of Obamacare should fall with it.In advance of the impending ruling, John McDonough...