Free Republic

In mid-November, conservative news outlets posted multiple videos of Jonathan Gruber, an MIT health economist who worked on Romneycare and Obamacare, crediting the "stupidity" of American voters as one reason that the health law passed. The videos were not flattering for Gruber; Democrats have moved quickly to distance themselves. And, perhaps more consequentially, they have breathed new life into the Obamacare opposition effort. Today, the House Oversight Committee is holding a hearing with Gruber titled "Examining Obamacare Transparency Failures." ... Here'a a quick guide to who Jonathan Gruber is, why he's at the center of this controversy, and what it...

I was supposed to have surgery on one of my ankles to reduce chronic pain. Eventually, I will need flatfoot corrective surgery on the right foot too. I've been ready for quite some time, and miss being able to walk without limping like an old man. The procedure would be a Sub-Talar Fusion. I have Veterans' Health Insurance only. I was less than 3 days away from the surgery date when I got a call from one of the Resident Surgeons. Apparently, he had been told that I use e-cigs and sometime actual cigarettes. My actual cig use is very...

Conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court might have already tipped their hand on the latest substantial legal threat to Obamacare, according to one Yale law professor. And if they did, it would be good news for the Obama administration. A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled Tuesday that Obamacare's language did not allow people shopping on HealthCare.gov to access tax credits if they purchase insurance through the federal website. If that decision were to become law, affecting the 36 states served by the federal exchange, it would strip subsidies from nearly 5 million people and send their premiums skyrocketing....

Conservative Chief John Roberts single-handedly saved Obamacare today, siding with the liberal bloc of the Supreme Court to uphold the law, even though more moderate Justice Anthony Kennedy led the dissent. The steps of the Supreme Court this morning were packed with conservatives deeply disappointed by the ruling and hurt by the apparent betrayal of one of their own. ”I think a lot of Chief Justice Roberts. I think his whole history of jurisprudence is deserving of respect from this country — up to, and not necessarily including, this opinion today,” Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa, told Salon....

Just finished reading the transcripts of today's oral arguments. I know everyone is saying it was a disaster for the Obamacare mandate. It is clear from the transcript that Justice Kennedy is the swing vote. He expressed both concern and sympathy for the government's argument. His two most emphatic comments are below. Based on these I would NOT count on which way he will rule. First, this is from Kennedy's questioning of the Solicitor General who was defending Obamacare: JUSTICE KENNEDY: "But the reason, the reason this is concerning, is because it requires the individual to do an affirmative act....

WASHINGTON (AP) - Nearly 4 million Americans—the vast majority of them middle class—will have to pay the new penalty for not getting health insurance when President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law kicks in, according to congressional estimates released Thursday. The penalties will average a little more than $1,000 apiece in 2016, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report. Most of the people paying the fine will be middle class. Obama pledged in 2008 not to raise taxes on individuals making less than $200,000 a year and couples making less than $250,000. Republicans have criticized the penalties, even though...

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” --Patrick Henry, Virginia Colonial Delegation Speech, 1775-- If you think the House of Representatives’ Mar. 21st vote to pass the so-called “Affordable Health Care for America Act” (AHCAA) was a major leap down the road to serfdom for the United States, you would be correct. But if you think the AHCAA’s passage means the battle is over, you’ve...

The verbal nastiness that has shadowed the health care reform debate peaked as the bill rumbled to a finish, with opponents shouting racial epithets and spitting at members of the Congressional Black Caucus while yelling anti-gay slurs at Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. Members of Congress were hardly more civil to each other, with one anti-abortion GOP congressman decrying the legislation by shouting "It's a baby killer" on the floor of Congress. While the remarks were repugnant to many people, First Amendment experts say the outbursts were protected speech because they didn't inspire immediate violence, said David L. Hudson Jr., a...

Measures pending in Congress push insurers to keep down costs and cover all regardless of health. That leaves the firms with a big cost-containment tool: refusing requests to cover treatments. Despite growing frustration with the way health insurers deny medical treatments, major healthcare bills pending in Congress would give patients little new power to challenge those sometimes life-and-death decisions. "Right now, the deck is stacked against patients," said Bryan Liang, director of the Institute of Health Law Studies at California Western Law School in San Diego. "Healthcare reform is not going to change the ball game." Yet a patient's ability...

"Biggest budget buster ever!" --Arthur Laffer Thank you, Mitt Romney. You're RomneyCare big government socialist boondoggle fuels the fires of the Marxist takeover of America! I nominate you biggest damned socialist fool ever to wear the RINO label!! I'm Jim Thompson and I approve this message.