Category: Healthcare Law

Personalized IRS letters nudge uninsured to get coverage

If you haven’t signed up for health insurance, you may soon be getting a not-too-subtle nudge from the taxman. The IRS is sending personalized letters to millions of taxpayers who might be uninsured, reminding them that they could be on the hook for hundreds of dollars in fines under the federal health care law if they don’t sign up soon through HealthCare.gov.

IRS letters nudge uninsured to get coverage

WASHINGTON  - If you haven’t signed up for health insurance, you may soon be getting a not-too-subtle nudge from the taxman. The IRS is sending personalized letters to millions of taxpayers who might be uninsured, reminding them that they could be on the hook for hundreds of dollars in fines under the federal health care law if they don’t sign up soon through HealthCare.gov.

Montana would feel pain of ACA repeal

Montana Medicaid Who are 61,233 Montanans that enrolled in Medicaid under the HELP Act between Jan. 1 and Nov. 15, 2016? According to data from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services: 66 percent are extremely poor with incomes below 50 percent of poverty.

Sen. Alexander: Congress Needs to – Rescue’ 11 Million Americans on Obamacare Before Repealing It

The Affordable Care Act , commonly known as Obamacare, should be repealed and replaced, but only after Congress “rescues” the 11 million Americans who currently buy health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges, Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander said in a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday. President-elect Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan have both said that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced ” simultaneously ” or ” concurrently “.

Edwards defends Medicaid expansion, as GOP works on repeal

Gov. John Bel Edwards is outlining his defense for Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion, pushing back on Republican work in Congress to dismantle the federal health law that created the program. The Democratic governor planned a Thursday afternoon event in New Orleans highlighting the health services people have received since Louisiana began its Medicaid expansion in July.

The Senate Just Took Its First Step Toward Repealing Obamacare

The Senate early Thursday passed a measure to take the first step forward on dismantling President Barack Obama’s health care law, responding to pressure to move quickly even as Republicans and President-elect Trump grapple with what to replace it with. The nearly party-line 51-48 vote came on a nonbinding Republican-backed budget measure that eases the way for action on subsequent repeal legislation as soon as next month.

Senate approves measure launching Obamacare repeal process

The U.S. Senate on Thursday took a first concrete step toward dismantling Obamacare, voting to instruct key committees to draft legislation repealing President Barack Obama’s signature health insurance program. File Photo: A boy waits in line at a health insurance enrollment event in Cudahy, California March 27, 2014.

Dave Brat On Obamacare: The Repeal Vote Is Bigger Than Health Care

Fiscal hawk Republican Rep. Dave Brat of Virginia said repealing Obamacare is bigger than just fixing the nation’s health care policy – it could help preserve entitlements for future generations. Brat, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, noted while President Barack Obama assured his landmark health-care legislation would drive down costs, it has done the opposite, which is taking its toll on entitlement programs.

With pizza and Red Bull, Senate settles in for a long battle over Obamacare

Senate Democrats might not be able to stop Republicans from tearing up President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, but they were seeking late Wednesday to make it as uncomfortable as possible. Taking advantage of an arcane Senate tradition known as a “vote-a-rama,” party leaders were prepared to go late into the night to force Republicans to take votes on popular provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, warning that the party could spark chaos by repealing the legislation that has extended health insurance to millions.

Negotiating drug prices

… (formally, consumer surplus) to beneficiaries due to tightening Part D formularies to the level found in the Veterans Health Administration (VA). (A formulary is a list of drugs covered by a health plan.) We measure formulary generosity as the …

Judge Gives State, Medicaid Provider Chance To Settle Dispute Over Electronic Monitoring Of Workers

Six home care agencies are objecting to the state’s new electronic monitoring system for home care workers.Getty Images/iStockphoto Six home care agencies are objecting to the state’s new electronic monitoring system for home care workers.Getty Images/iStockphoto A judge has given the state and the largest provider of home-care services for elderly Medicaid clients time to try to come to an agreement over the company’s participation in a new fraud-busting monitoring system that measures the time a worker spends in the home, and the work caregivers do in the homes. Companions & Homemakers, Inc. has balked at using the new “electronic visit verification” technology and the state has kicked the company out of the Medicaid program.

Repealing Obamacare faces these 7 challenges

… believe that they can repeal Obamacare and roll back the clock. It won’t happen. Here’s why. 1. Millions will lose health insurance. Pre-Obamacare, nearly 20 percent of Americans went uninsured, and this disproportionately affected lower-income …

Senate splits 49-49 on amendment based on Trump’s entitlements campaign promise

An amendment drafted by Sen. Bernie Sanders , using language that Donald Trump used to assure voters he would not cut Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security, won 49 votes Tuesday , with Sen. Susan Collins joining every Democrat and independent to vote yes. Sanders was clear on the purpose of the amendment, one of several messaging efforts that have become part of the 115th Congress’s slow-motion debate over repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Act quickly on Obamacare: Trump

… rid of it. The law, popularly known as Obamacare, has enabled millions of previously uninsured Americans to obtain health insurance, but Republicans condemn it as a government overreach. With Trump set to succeed Obama on January 20, Republicans, …

Ap Fact Check: Despite woes Obamacare not in ‘death spiral’

As congressional Republicans prepare to repeal the health law, they are working to portray it as a mess of Democrats’ making, and themselves as the ones who will clean up that mess. In the process they are exaggerating the law’s very real problems, according to health care experts, who largely believe that the Affordable Care Act’s troubles with high prices and lack of competition could be addressed with bipartisan solutions.

More women get mammograms via Obamacare

Obamacare eliminated the costs and out-of-pocket expenses for Americans wanting preventive health care services — including mammography and colonoscopy, both tests able to detect cancer. Among older Americans, use of mammography increased under Obamacare, according to a study published Monday in the journal Cancer.

How Democrats Can Defeat the Repeal of Obamacare

… can win, if they’re smart about it. As Republicans themselves are now realizing, it’s easy to criticize a complex health-care law when the other party is getting blamed for everything anyone doesn’t like about the system, but it’s a lot harder to …

Arbitration battle continues: CMS files appeal against injunction

With the days of the Obama administration rapidly waning, federal health officials made one last attempt to hold up a ban on nursing homes pre-dispute arbitration agreements. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services filed a notice Thursday to appeal a judge’s decision that allowed arbitration agreements to stay in place.

Sanders’ weapon against GOP entitlement reform: Trump

Bernie Sanders Sunday called on President-elect Trump to promise to veto any GOP legislation to cut Medicare, Social Security, or Medicaid, using Trump’s position on retirement programs to try to blunt GOP entitlement reform. In a statement, the Vermont senator and former Democratic presidential candidate seized on the assertion that Trump doesn’t want to “meddle” with Medicare or Social Security, made earlier in the day by incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.

President Obama Says ‘Obamacare’ Will Survive Beyond His Presidency

President Barack Obama says he believes his signature health care law will survive, noting he has told Republicans over his two terms in office to come up with a different solution if the law doesn’t work. Asked by ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos whether he thinks the Affordable Care Act will survive, Obama quickly replied, “I think it will.”

Reckless? Shaheen created this mess

… as she does. Shaheen had no such reservations on Christmas Eve 2009, when Senate Democrats rushed through a sloppy health care law without a single Republican vote. The death of Ted Kennedy, replaced by Republican Scott Brown, meant that Democrats …

Editorial, Jan. 8, 2017: Reform, dona t repeal, Obamacare

If Republicans can’t convince Americans they have a replacement that’s better than the Affordable Care Act, then they’ll own the results. Which leads to the sneaking suspicion they don’t have an alternative that will provide equal or better coverage for about 20 million Americans who were able to obtain health insurance through Obamacare.