Category: Republican

Paul Ryan faces major test in selling his plan to replace Obamacare

House Speaker Paul Ryan , R-Wis., spent Tuesday on a door-to-door tour of the Capitol in hopes of salvaging his plan to repeal and largely replace the Affordable Care Act by spring. The day-long blitz comes as Republicans in Congress have made virtually no visible progress in recent weeks on overhauling the health-care system, according to interviews with several senior GOP aides.

US 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.

US senators propose bill to improve volcano monitoring

U.S. senators in Alaska, Washington and Hawaii have proposed legislation intended to improve volcano monitoring efforts and early warning capabilities. The measure would put the Alaska, Cascades and Hawaiian volcano observatories into a connected system and create a 24-hour Volcano Watch Office to provide ongoing situational awareness of active volcanoes in the U.S. and its territories.

GOP lawmakers face angry constituents at town halls

The voter identified himself as a cancer survivor, and he had something to say to Republican Rep. Justin Amash : “I am scared to death that I will not have health insurance in the future.” The comment earned 61-year-old retiree Paul Bonis a standing ovation from the crowd packed into a school auditorium in Amash’s Michigan district Thursday night.

Activists on both sides of abortion issue protest across the US

Antiabortion groups have called demonstrations at more than 200 Planned Parenthood locations throughout the United States on Saturday to urge Congress and President Donald Trump to strip the women’s health provider of federal funding. Antiabortion activists have said they were energized by the election of Republican Trump, who selected their long-time ally Mike Pence as vice president and nominated conservative jurist Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tom Price as HHS Secretary: A Disaster for U.S. Health Care

The Senate’s vote to confirm Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., as secretary of health and human services, while widely expected, should set off national alarm bells. Price’s congressional track record, combined with his extensive health-policy paper trail, have shown him to be unabashedly pro-big-business and contemptuous of human needs – particularly when it comes to women’s and poor people’s needs.

Activists on both sides of abortion issue to protest across U.S

Anti-abortion groups have called demonstrations at more than 200 Planned Parenthood locations throughout the United States on Saturday to urge Congress and President Donald Trump to strip the women’s health provider of federal funding. Anti-abortion activists have said they were energized by the election of Republican Trump, who selected their long-time ally Mike Pence as vice president and nominated conservative jurist Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Activists on both sides of abortion issue to protest across US

Anti-abortion groups have called demonstrations at more than 200 Planned Parenthood locations throughout the United States on Saturday to urge Congress and President Donald Trump to strip the women’s health provider of federal funding. Pro-life and pro-choice activists gather at the Supreme Court for the National March for Life rally in Washington January 27, 2017.

Members of Congress are back home and getting an earful

Mollie Drake of Gainesville, Ga., spoke about her concern for Planned Parenthood during a meeting Friday for citizens to voice their concerns to members of Congress in Greensboro. – The voter identified himself as a cancer survivor, and he had a message for Rep. Justin Amash: “I am scared to death that I will not have health insurance in the future.”

Tom Price sworn in as health and human services secretary

Rep. Tom Price of Georgia was sworn in Friday as health and human services secretary, setting the stage for the conservative to play a leading role in dismantling President Barack Obama’s health care law. Vice President Mike Pence administered the oath to Price hours after he won Senate confirmation on a narrow 52-47 vote early Friday.

Senate confirms polarizing pick for health secretary

A polarized Senate voted early Friday morning to confirm Tom Price, the conservative Georgia congressman who has been one of Congress’s most vehement opponents of the Affordable Care Act, as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The 52-47 vote made Price the latest in a series of controversial Cabinet nominees whom the Senate’s Republican majority has been strong enough to muscle through on party-line votes.

Local woman asks Republicans to keep ACA

The Affordable Care Act [ACA] has helped to standardize health insurance plans for all Americans. All plans provide 10 essential health benefits such as preventative care services, prescription drug coverage, capped out-of-pocket expenses, no lifetime limits and coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions.

Read Story

… Act during a 90-minute primetime debate on CNN Tuesday. President Donald Trump has promised to repeal and replace the health care law, often referred to as Obamacare, while Democrats have vowed to defend former President Barack Obama’s landmark …

The Latest: Price transfers business ownership to wife

Tom Price, President Donald Trump’s pick for health secretary, has amended his government ethics agreement as the Senate prepares to debate and vote on his confirmation. In the amended agreement released Wednesday, Price says he has transferred ownership interest in a business to his wife.

Is GOP really softening on Obamacare?

… in Congress rethinking their opposition to the ACA in light of concerns that constituents will lose access to health care, or because of the push-back from an insurance industry troubled by uncertainty? While the challenges of dismantling the ACA …

Indiana seeks to continue Medicaid expansion program

Gov. Eric Holcomb has requested the renewal of a federal waiver that allows Indiana’s Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0 to serve hundreds of thousands of low-income Hoosiers. The request begins an eight-month process with the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that is expected to go smoothly under President Donald Trump’s administration.

Burgess leads GOP charge to undo ACA

In a delegation packed with chairmen and some of the most bombastic members of Congress, one of the quieter Texas members this week took on one of the most daunting U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, a Pilot Point Republican, led his first hearings this week to unwind the Affordable Care Act, the Democrats’ 2010 health care overhaul. But in an interview with the Texas Tribune on Wednesday, Burgess suggested his aim was not so much to unwind the landmark bill but “to fix” the overall health care system.

Could California go it alone on Obamacare?

That’s a question lawmakers might be asking residents in the months to come as President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress scurry to repeal the Affordable Care Act and scramble for a plan to replace it. One GOP-generated proposal would allow individual states to keep Obamacare-style health insurance – for a price.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan rejects calls to repair Obamacare

WASHINGTON In a growing rift among Republicans, Rep. Jim Jordan rejected calls by some GOP lawmakers to “repair” the 2010 health law, saying the law known as Obamacare was a “complete disaster” and needs to be swiftly and completely scrapped. During an interview Friday on Fox News, Jordan, R-Urbana said for Republicans “to say we’re going to repair something implies you can actually fix something.

Obamacare sign-ups decline in face of Trump repeal threat

Facing higher premiums, less choice and a last-minute advertising pullback, fewer people signed up for coverage this year through HealthCare.gov, according to data from a preliminary government report Friday. About 9.2 million people signed up through HealthCare.gov, the insurance marketplace serving most states, said the Health and Human Services department.

Women could take big hit if ACA is tossed

From a return to higher premiums based on gender, to gaps in coverage for birth control and breast pumps, experts say women could end up paying more for less if the Obama-era health care law is repealed. The 2010 law ended a common industry practice of charging women more than men for policies purchased directly from an insurer.

With no allies, Republicans step away from precipice of repeal

As they struggle to figure out how to deliver on the most important promise they made to their constituents over the last eight years – repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act – Republicans face two sets of problems, both of which are far thornier than they imagined. The first are the policy problems, which arise from the fact that health care reform is incredibly complex .