Category: Health Insurance

Rep. Daniel Donovan will vote ‘no’ on Obamacare repeal without a replacement

Committees in the House of Representatives may begin considering legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in early March, and when they do, Rep. Daniel Donovan said he won’t vote for the first without the second. Republicans have long dismissed former President Barack Obama’s signature achievement — Obamacare — as unaffordable and unfair to patients, increasing premiums and deductibles while patients lose their doctors and their health insurance plans.

Trump Promises `Something Special’ on Health Care Before Speech

President Donald Trump said his address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday will offer “something special” on his health-care overhaul efforts, as his administration gets increasingly involved with Republican plans to repeal and replace Obamacare. “We’re going to be talking about it tomorrow night during the speech,” Trump said during a meeting with top U.S. health insurance CEOs Monday at the White House.

Trump urges insurers to work together to a save Americans from Obamacarea

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini listen to U.S. President Donald Trump speak during a meeting with health insurance company CEOs. President Trump met with major health insurers Monday morning, in the midst of intensifying public pressure to preserve the law political divisions over how to best dismantle and replace President Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement, the Affordable Care Act.

The Real Test for the Republican Health Care Plan

The Real Test for the Republican Health Care Plan : The Republicans’ rallying cry on health care reform is that the marketplace – relying on the forces of supply and demand – is the best way to run our healthcare system. Government involvement in health care interferes with the magic of markets and makes us all worse off.

Horman’s proposal passes, 13-6; no separate line item in school…

JFAC has voted 13-6 in favor of Rep. Wendy Horman’s motion for the Operations Division of the public school budget, which means Sen. Dean Mortimer’s proposal which was framed around setting up a separate line item for health insurance cost increases within the school budget won’t be considered. Here’s how the vote broke down: Voting in favor: Sens. Agenbroad, Ward-Engelking, and Nye; and Reps.

Report outlines potential impact of healthcare reform on Medicaid

A sobering report to governors about the potential consequences of repealing the Obama-era health care law warns that federal spending cuts probably would create funding gaps for states and threaten many people with the loss of insurance coverage. The Affordable Care Act has two main components for expanding coverage: subsidized private health insurance available in all 50 states, and an optional Medicaid expansion that has been accepted by 31 states and the District of Columbia.

Report warns of state money fallout from health law repeal

A sobering report to governors about the potential consequences of repealing the Obama-era health care law warns that federal spending cuts probably would create funding gaps for states and threaten many people with the loss of insurance coverage. The Affordable Care Act has two main components for expanding coverage: subsidized private health insurance available in all 50 states, and an optional Medicaid expansion that has been accepted by 31 states and the District of Columbia.

Cronyism Thwarts Telemedicine and Other Innovations

The goal of health care reform is to provide better health care to everyone at a lower cost, year after year. The solution is not to provide a better third-party-payer system — e.g., health insurance or government-provided health insurance — but instead to allow technological development and entrepreneurship to improve the current business model through groundbreaking innovations that empower consumers, improve quality and cut prices.

GOP lawmakers continue to mislead about the ACA

After six years of blind rejection of the Affordable Care Act, and never proposing a plan on how to achieve affordable health care for all Americans, our elected representatives have finally given us a vague proposal, “alternative facts” and misleading statistics on the Affordable Care Act . On the very same day as this misleading diatribe, the Post-Gazette had an article showing that the percentage of Americans without health insurance was the lowest ever .

Kennedy: ACA repeal would have ‘huge consequences’

With the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, under fire by President Donald Trump and some members of the Republican party, U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III is working to maintain access to affordable health insurance for the area’s neediest residents.  Kennedy said the ACA, while “not perfect” is a necessity for the many people who need it to stay healthy.  Kennedy and State Rep. Patricia A. Haddad, D-Somerset, held a roundtable discussion at Charlton Memorial Hospital on Friday morning to talk with physicians, legislators, and agencies about the successes of the program, and the impact a repeal would have for local women, families, and senior citizens.  Kennedy said he left Washington 10 days ago and it was “unfortunate” that “very much is still unknown.

California nurses rally for bill on first state-run single payer health plan

Hundreds of California nurses and other community activists are rallying Wednesday in favor of a bill that could make the state the first to successfully launch a single-payer healthcare system. The groups see this as a chance for large state of California to show how a single-payer system can work and the necessity of providing universal health care coverage, according to Bonnie Castillo, the RN Response Network director at National Nurses United.

Virginia Organizing Calls on Rep. Goodlatte to Protect Health Care

The Harrisonburg Chapter of Virginia Organizing will hold a public demonstration to call on U.S. Representative Bob Goodlatte to protect health insurance coverage for millions and expand coverage for all people on Saturday, February 25 at 12 p.m. at Court Square in Harrisonburg. “Coverage through the Affordable Care Act has allowed me to realize my potential,” said Steve Smith.

Fact Check: Roy Blunt leaves out the context of Missouri’s health insurance coverage

As a Republican-controlled Congress continues to advance plans to defund and eventually dismantle former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, Missouri’s Sen. Roy Blunt has once again echoed his reasoning for supporting a repeal. “This year, 97 Missouri counties have only one insurer participating in the Obamacare exchanges,” the Republican said in a Jan. 11 press release.

The Further Adventures of Paul Ryan, Serious Policy Wonk

Paul Ryan has a very, very serious proposal to eventually have a proposal to take away health insurance from millions of people to pay for upper-class tax cuts. He is defending it with all the seriousity his proposal deserves: The rhetoric: In her inaugural weekly address, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi claimed that repealing Obamacare-a law that, in her words, has experienced ” immense progress “-will result in widespread death and suffering.

A month into new leadership, Medicare future still in question

“In particular, we are hopeful that he will stick with that promise,” Lamkins said, “and that he will encourage Congress to stop some of these plans they have to turn Medicare into a voucher program.” “We’re really concerned that that repeal will mean older Americans are going to have to pay more for their health insurance,” Lamkins said.

Obamacare has staying power

… the trigger? That’s a rhetorical question, of course. Republicans see that they have two choices: They can snatch health insurance away from millions of people, or they can replace Obamacare with something that looks suspiciously like …

GOP’s Obamacare replacements, Dallas nonprofit sues Texas, surgeon…

Some of the GOP proposals to replace Obamacare would hit middle-class Americans right in the wallet , according to several health care experts, employer groups and even a few Republican lawmakers. At issue is the longstanding tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance, more than $250 billion that Americans who receive insurance from their jobs don’t pay in federal income or payroll taxes annually, according to 2016 figures from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Arkansas health plans find higher costs for obese employees

Health insurance plans covering Arkansas school and state employees spent an average of about 31 percent more on obese employees or spouses than on others in 2015, according to a report. The report by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement says the plans spent an average of $4,302 on health expenses for employees and spouses whose height and weight indicated they were obese, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Sunday .

ACA repeal vs. N.Y.: Tallying up the harm

President Trump and Congressional Republicans are determined to repeal the Affordable Care Act and roll back the coverage gains and consumer protections the law has provided for millions of Americans. With no clear or realistic plan for replacement in sight, consumers, health care providers and insurers both in New York and across the nation are united in their fears regarding the chaos that could ensue.

U.S. uninsured rate hit record low last year

The nation’s uninsured rate tumbled further last year, hitting the lowest rate on record, according to new government data that underscored what is at stake in the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In the first nine months of 2016, just 8.8 percent of Americans lacked health coverage, survey data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show.

Congress should initially focus on short-term fixes for ACA

Premium increases hitting those in the narrow individual health insurance market put a necessary spotlight on the Affordable Care Act’s flaws. But as efforts to repair the law – or repeal it – ramp up with the recent confirmation of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price , it is important to remember that the ACA also benefited millions of Americans.

Why Donald Trump and the GOP Can’t Repeal Obamacare

After Donald Trump campaigned for the presidency on the promise to repeal and replace Obamacare with ” something terrific ,” his administration has just released a set of tweaks to the health care law-and those tweaks all favor the insurance industry over ordinary Americans. The Affordable Care Act , which the GOP gleefully dubbed Obamacare, is clearly not good enough to serve all Americans well.