Free Republic

Diamond and Silk unloaded a chorus of attacks on socialism, the Green New Deal, anti-Israel politicians and race-baiting hate-crime hoaxes in a fiery tandem address at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday, prompting some of the biggest standing ovations and loudest chants of the day. CPAC, held in National Harbor, Maryland, offered opportunities throughout the day for prominent Republicans -- including Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, as well as North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows -- to sound off on current events, as Ronald Reagan soundbites occasionally sounded throughout the halls. Then...

Pence said, “Under the guise of Medicare for All and a Green New Deal, Democrats are embracing the same tired economic theories that have impoverished nations and stifled the liberties of millions over the past century. That system is socialism.” He added: “We know where socialism leads. You want socialism, just look at Venezuela. Venezuela was once one of the richest and most vibrant democracies in the Western Hemisphere, but under Maduro’s socialist rule, it has become one of the poorest and most despotic. Today, more than 9 out of 10 people live in poverty.” Pence singled out Sen. Bernie...

More than 100 House Democrats -- nearly half of the new majority -- have signed on to a new single-payer healthcare bill that supporters describe as "battle ready." If by "battle ready," they mean, "extremely controversial, deeply politically risky, and totally bereft of any acknowledgement of the proposal's eye-poppingly exorbitant costs," they're undoubtedly correct. Politico's story on the legislation is full of extraordinary tidbits and quotes. Here are some of the most important facts we've learned: (1) The bill "doesn’t include a price tag or specific proposals for financing the new system, which analysts estimate would cost tens of trillions...

Even before Democrats finish drafting bills to create a single-payer health care system, the health care and insurance industries have assembled a small army of lobbyists to kill “Medicare for all,” an idea that is mocked publicly but is being greeted privately with increasing seriousness. Doctors, hospitals, drug companies and insurers are intent on strangling Medicare for all before it advances from an aspirational slogan to a legislative agenda item. They have hired a top lieutenant in Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign to spearhead the effort. And their tactics will show Democrats what they are up against as the party...

California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, speaking during a town hall Monday night, vowed to eliminate all private health care insurance for approximately 150 million Americans if she is elected president. Asked by CNN host Jake Tapper if people who like their current health care insurance could keep it under Harris' "Medicare for All" plan, Harris indicated they could not -- but that, in turn, they would experience health care without any delays. Her statements appeared to be a full-throated call for single-payer health insurance, as opposed to merely expanding Medicare, and a dramatic embrace of the kind of proposals advocated...

Almost one in three New Yorkers would face higher costs under a proposed single-payer health plan, and half of the worse-off group would be low- or middle-income, according to a new report from the Empire Center. The report highlights little-noticed data from the RAND Corporation’s analysis of the New York Health Act, which estimated 31 percent of New Yorkers would pay more for health care under single-payer. Among those paying more would be almost half of the working poor....who already qualify for free or near-free coverage through Medicaid, Child Health Plus and the Essential Plan. Many beneficiaries of those programs...

The short answer is “no.” China says it’s a socialist country, but a large part of its population struggles to afford medical services. Providing quality health care to a rapidly aging society is now a key challenge faced by the ruling Communist Party. How to provide health care for millions of people is a question that has vexed countries and governments around the world. It’s a modern notion, but nowadays we take for granted the idea that people have the right to access health services, regardless of their wealth or social standing. We also demand that the government play some...

Shortly after he took office on Monday, California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom unearthed an unprecedented new health care agenda for his state, aimed at offering dramatically more benefits to illegal immigrants and protecting the embattled Affordable Care Act, which a federal judge recently struck down as unconstitutional. The sweeping proposal appeared destined to push California -- already one of the nation's most liberal states -- even further to the left, as progressive Democrats there won a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature in November and control all statewide offices. "People's lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe —...

A young British boy was left infertile following a botched surgery on the wrong testicle, his family said. The 2-year-old boy went in for the procedure at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children earlier this week to treat an undescended testicle, the BBC reported. Doctors found the undescended testicle during a check-up. The boy’s father, who did not release his name in order to protect his son’s identity, told the BBC surgeons “castrated” his son after operating on the wrong testicle.

The City Council on Thursday put its political clout behind a proposal in Albany to overhaul state health care by creating a “Medicare for all” program that would raise taxes by $139 billion a year. The single-payer plan would extend coverage to the roughly 1 million uninsured New Yorkers — including undocumented immigrants — and eliminate all co-pays and deductibles.

Before we delve into her new "argument," I'd like to make a point about why the conservative commentariat sometimes seems fixated on Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  First, she entered the national spotlight as a media fascination and darling -- a young woman of color who shook up the Democratic Party from the left by defeating an establishment fixture.  She wasn't randomly plucked from relative obscurity by right-wing writers or pundits for sport; she was elevated by a mainstream media that loves covering, and sympathizes with, rising liberal stars.  And please recall the DNC Chairman referring to her as "the future of...

When the Left brings up ‘Medicare for all or Obamacare’, instead of pointing out that Government run healthcare would cost $32.3 TRILLION over the next 10 years, Republicans need to say ‘that would raise Federal taxes on every taxpayer 20%’. Period.

... In anticipation of Mr. Sanders’ arrival this week in another Midwestern battleground state, Mark Sommerhauser of the Wisconsin State Journal noted on Thursday that “the policy views Sanders champions have become touchstones for many Democrats here and nationally.” Mr. Sommerhauser adds: Examples include Sanders’ “Medicare For All” health care plan and his call to raise the minimum wage to $15. Peter Rickman - a Milwaukee labor activist who led Sanders’ Wisconsin delegation to the 2016 Democratic National Convention - said Sanders “created the political space” to tout those issues, as well as free college tuition, within the Democratic mainstream....

"...Sarah’s boyfriend rang and said he was concerned about her.” “He said she was slurring words, really confused and she had numbness down the right side of her...." Cullen’s death triggered a serious “untoward incident investigation” at the hospital. It concluded that “although there are lessons to be learned surrounding the patient’s care, it is unlikely a change in care plan would have an impact on the patient’s outcome.” Senior nurse Jacqueline Baseley, who saw Cullen on the 28, told her inquest: “I discussed with both Sarah and her boyfriend that I felt it was more of a panic attack.”...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in an op-ed accusing President Trump of lying about "Medicare for all," starts out with a whopper of his own. "It would guarantee everyone could get the healthcare they need without going into debt at far lower cost than the current dysfunctional system," Sanders writes in USA Today. The problem with his pie-in-the-sky statement, and the op-ed that follows, is that it fails to recognize the natural tradeoffs between access and cost in healthcare policy. In doing so, he also ignores the value of individual choice and the distinction between public and private that is central...

When President Trump declared in a USA Today op-ed that the Democrats' "Medicare for all" proposal would "outlaw" private health insurance, CNN's Jim Acosta indignantly tweeted that this was "false." But reading the text of the leading proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders makes clear that Trump's op-ed was correct. "It is right there in their proposed legislation: Democrats outlaw private health plans that offer the same benefits as the government plan." This is, in fact, 100 percent accurate. The plan would require, in four years time, for individuals to be enrolled in the new government plan at birth. At that...

Chuck Schumer declared this week that health care is the issue that will define the November elections, and the Senate Minority Leader may be right for the wrong reason. Democrats could end up paying a big political price for signing up en masse for Bernie Sanders’s government-run health-care agenda. Republicans are running ads slamming Democrats on single-payer health care, and President Trump framed the issue this week in a USA Today op-ed that said “Democrats would gut Medicare with their planned government takeover of American health care.” Democrats claim this is unfair because not every candidate has endorsed single payer,...

It seems that Democratic socialist and New York City congressional hopeful Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a lot to learn about Congress. Ocasio-Cortez spoke Monday at her alma mater of Boston University, raising eyebrows with a comment on implementing her campaign promises if she wins in November. "It doesn't mean you get everything tomorrow. As much as I would love that, I would love to get inaugurated January 3rd [and] January 4th we're signing health care, we're signing this."

It’s four more days until the big Democratic primary in New York, and gubernatorial candidate (and actress) Cynthia Nixon is pulling out all the stops. In an interview this week, she returned to one of the favorite talking points of Democratic socialists these days, Medicare for all. Speaking with the New York Daily News, Nixon was adamant that lawmakers should move forward and pass “her plan” rather than listening to Governor Andrew Cuomo who has managed to resist the idea so far. And how will New York pay for this massive show of generosity to its residents? Nixon openly...

To say that Social Security has issues would be a bit of an understatement. The latest Social Security Board of Trustees report, released in early June, suggests that the program will have higher expenditures than revenue collected this year for the first time since 1982. Although this net cash outflow will begin relatively small, with just $1.7 billion and $0.2 billion expected to flow out of the program's $2.9 trillion in asset reserves in 2018 and 2019, respectively, it'll ramp up with each successive year afterward. By 2034, Social Security's $2.9 trillion in excess cash could be completely gone. If...