Free Republic

Last month, I wrote about how Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) introduced a non-binding resolution, asking the House of Representatives to condemn socialism in the wake of New York City electing Zohran Mamdani as its next mayor. It was more theater than anything, but it was also a chance for the House to show the people of the United States — well, most of us anyway — that they stand in solidarity with us in wanting to keep socialism out of our country. It was the opportunity to show that they still support the American dream and values. Advertisement Only...

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...

It starts with a call. A sore knee, a lingering cough, a changing mole - nothing urgent - but not quite ignorable. The receptionist is polite, but the first available appointment is three weeks away.For millions of Americans, health care begins with a wait. For many, walk-in clinics have replaced family medicine.“People have started to accept that,” Dr. Dorothy Serna, a primary care physician who left traditional practice for a concierge model, told The Epoch Times. “They think, ‘I can’t get my doctor, so I won’t even try. I’ll just go to urgent care. I’ll wait. I’ll Google it.’”Such scenarios...

Specifically, income producing property? If one has rental units that sold, does that person pay a higher Medicare premium for a year? Any adverse consequence other than a capital gain tax?

Two Illinois brothers were indicted in a superseding indictment on charges related to a scheme to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and private health care insurers and for participating in a money laundering conspiracy with the fraud proceeds. According to court documents, Minhaj Feroz Muhammad, 37, and Sufyan Feroze, 35, both of Naperville, owned and controlled, sometimes through straw owners, four clinical laboratories located in Illinois and California. Their scheme allegedly sought to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers by submitting fraudulent claims of over $293 million for COVID-19 laboratory testing services that were never provided, for which insurers paid at least...

For millions of Americans relying on Social Security, small changes to the formula that calculates annual benefit increases can have an outsized impact. Social Security checks are a cornerstone of retirement income for over 50 million Americans, and Congress is now considering legislation that could reshape how those benefits adjust for inflation. It comes as Americans of all ages continue to navigate rising costs. In October, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that benefits would grow by 2.8 percent in 2026 through the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Yet for many retirees, even modest increases barely keep pace with the real...

Are you a Somali-American living in Minnesota and also participating and possibly already charged and convicted of millions of dollars in Medicaid fraud? Well, just call Judge Sarah West and she'll let you off the hook. As far as the case itself goes, jury foreperson Ben Walfoort is quoted as saying "It was not a difficult decision whatsoever ... Based off of the state's evidence that was presented, it was beyond a reasonable doubt." Despite the jury swiftly convicting Yusuf, Judge Sarah West last week decided that they got it wrong, overturning the verdict and issuing a judgment of acquittal.

Medicare beneficiaries are bracing for one of the steepest cost increases in years as Medicare 2026 premiums rise sharply across multiple parts of the program. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, seniors will see a significant jump in Part B premiums, rising health care costs, fewer Medicare Advantage options, and meaningful changes to prescription drug coverage. Even for retirees who rely heavily on Social Security, the increase in Medicare 2026 premiums will eat into much of next year’s cost of living adjustment. With household expenses already stretched by high prices for food, utilities, housing, and medical care,...

For many young Americans, the 2008 financial crisis was more than a downturn; it was a defining life event. Families lost homes to predatory mortgages, jobs vanished overnight, and college graduates faced bleak opportunities. For organizers like Gabe Tobias, watching low-income immigrant families lose everything to adjustable-rate mortgages was transformative. The crisis convinced many that capitalism itself was stacked against working people, a belief that would later fuel their political activism, the Wall Street Journal reported… Polling shows that socialism resonates strongly with younger Americans. A YouGov survey this year found 62% of people aged 18 to 29 held a...

Okay, my wife and I are approaching 65 and need advice/personal experiences on what company to go with for parts C and D? I don't know much and appreciate the experiences of other Freepers.

An indecipherable email about my mother-in-law’s checkup has me reaching for the pitchfork.‘How do you come up with things to write about?” a young George Will once asked William F. Buckley Jr. That’s easy, said the National Review founder, “the world irritates me three times a week.” Most people seek to avoid the feeling of irritation. But for newspaper guys, irritation equals inspiration. Let me tell you an irritating little story that I think you will find relatable. It’s about my mother-in-law. She’s 86 and has been ill for a while. For the past few years she’s lived in a...

Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes White House confirms Democrats have been lying, Illegals are on Medicaid Dr. Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CONFIRMS “We have proven that there's been over a billion dollars — paid by U.S. taxpayers for illegal immigrants in about half a dozen states.” “We're just getting started. So it's going to be significantly more money than that.”

Senator John Kennedy presentation to the Senate on who's in charge of the Democrat party and her role in the shutdown, in his usual unfiltered way. Video is 21 mins long

This addresses the Medicare Advantage collapse. We're losing ours next year. What a mess this is. The video is 31 mins long

What if I told you that cartels and other bad actors from around the world conspired to undermine the integrity of the health care system in the U.S. and came way too close to succeeding? If you didn’t hear about the bust of 324 people; the U.S.-based cartel shell medical supply companies; the pill mills pushing opioids; the doctors on the take; or how law enforcement captured many of the bad guys at the U.S. border and airports as they rushed to escape, that’s understandable. The feds revealed this potential $14.6 billion "depth charge" planted inside the Medicaid, Medicare, and...

Republicans in Congress are facing mounting pressure from both sides of the aisle about whether to extend additional Obamacare premium tax credit subsidies as part of legislation to avoid a government shutdown this fall. The popularity of the added Obamacare marketplace subsidies, which former President Joe Biden and Democrats passed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a temporary measure, could make it difficult for Republicans to let them expire by January without facing blowback during the 2026 midterm elections. But conservatives argued that there is systemic fraud in the Obamacare insurance marketplace through the extended subsidies and are...

The system will focus on diabetes, weight management, and digital tools for patient check-ins. The Trump administration announced it is launching a new program that will allow Americans to share personal health data and medical records across health systems and apps run by private tech companies, promising that will make it easier to access health records and monitor wellness. More than 60 companies, including major tech companies like Google, Amazon and Apple as well as health care giants like UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health, have agreed to share patient data in the system. The initiative will focus on diabetes and...

As Congress debates how to rein in federal spending, some experts say aspects of Medicare Advantage should be on the chopping block, starting with $86 billion a year in taxpayer-funded supplemental benefits that often go unused or unverified. The federal government pays Medicare Advantage plans rebate dollars to cover extra services, including dental, vision, hearing, and over-the-counter drugs. However, a 2024 study published by JAMA Network Open found that only $3.9 billion of that money went toward dental, vision and hearing benefits. Meanwhile, the industry spent an estimated $16 billion on $1,000 “Flex Cards” for new enrollees – prepaid cash...

UnitedHealth says it is under a federal criminal and civil investigation regarding Medicare business and is cooperating - AP

Live by the federal subsidy ... well, you know the rest. And if not, Robert Kennedy Jr just served up a big reminder.Republicans in Congress got thwarted in their attempt to defund providers delivering pediatric sex-change therapies. Instead, the HHS Secretary will act within his authority to deny Medicare and Medicaid funds to hospitals and clinics that provide these services, forcing them into a choice between funding for actual care and pandering to the extreme Left at the expense of children. National Review got the scoop:The Department of Health and Human Services will soon begin the rule-making process to prohibit...