Category: US House of Representatives

Pre-existing conditions complicate health care replacement

As Republicans try to unite around a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, one of the most popular parts of the law will be among the most difficult to replace: the guarantee of health coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. The challenge of providing insurance for Americans who have no other alternative has some congressional Republicans considering whether to ask the states to reboot high-risk pools, an option with a rocky history.

GOP proposal aims to end insurance mandate in ‘Obamacare’

A draft Republican bill replacing President Barack Obama’s health care law would end its Medicaid expansion, scrap fines on people not buying insurance and eliminate taxes on the medical industry and higher earners. Instead, it would create tax credits worth up to $4,000, allow bigger contributions to personal health savings accounts and impose a new levy on expensive health coverage some employees get at work.

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.

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.

John Boehner says swift Obamacare repeal, replace is just ‘happy talk’

The Ohio Republican, who left Congress in late 2015 amid friction with hardline conservatives, told an Orlando health conference that he started to laugh when Republicans promised swift moves to repeal and replace the massive law, according to a Politico report . Mr. Boehner’s blunt assessment comes as GOP lawmakers struggle to explain the path forward to angry liberal activists and constituents back home.

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.

Important public forum

… appointed, and the Senate confirmed on a party line vote, Atlanta’s Rep. Tom Price as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Price, like his friend Speaker Paul Ryan, wants to do away with traditional Medicare and change the age of …

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.

Kasich v Tiberi: Who’s Driving Who On ACA?

… last year when he tried for the second time in 16 years to run for president, wants President Barack Obama’s health care law to continue, especially the law’s expansion of Medicaid. Kasich’s concern is to not repeal the Medicaid expansion part …

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.

Dozens rally to keep Affordable Care Act

… affordable care act is repealed, more than 110 thousand jobs in Illinois would be lost by 2019. The fear of losing health care has also sparked across the nation. More than 11 point 5 million people have signed up for coverage through the federal …

Traumacare: son of ACA

… places.” He said the best hope is to “learn how to put it all together so we can move forward.” K. John McConnell, Health Economist & Director of the Center for Health Systems Effectiveness, Oregon Health & Science University, cautioned that it took …

The Shameful Republican Assault on Medicaid

… lawmakers outlined proposals that are familiar from a plan that Ryan put out last year . They included expanded health savings accounts, financial aid for the establishment of high-risk pools at the state level, and the replacement of income-based …

Three ways Republicans want to replace Obamacare

House GOP members met Thursday to hear more from committee leaders about efforts to replace the massive health reform law. In a presentation, Representatives Greg Walden of Oregon and Kevin Brady of Texas explained how the party wants to overhaul America’s health care system through the use of tax credits, health savings accounts and changes to Medicaid funding, among other measures.

Trump nominee has decried Medicaid for fostering dependency

In this Jan. 10, 2017 file photo, Seema Verma, left, then President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, gets on an elevator in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York. Verma, the businesswoman selected by President Donald Trump to oversee Medicaid, the health care program for 74 million low-income Americans, has said the program is structurally flawed at its core by policies that burden states and foster dependency in the poor.

House GOP discusses Obamacare replacement ideas – but does not call them a plan

House Republicans left a highly anticipated meeting on health care Thursday with some new details on the options GOP leaders are considering to replace the Affordable Care Act – but without the fully formed plan that those leaders and President Trump have promised. The meeting in the Capitol basement included presentations from leaders of key House committees and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and it was intended to give lawmakers more information ahead of a week-long recess where many of them will be meeting constituents eager for details on what will replace the health care law the GOP has pledged to repeal.

Medicaid exposes rifts within the GOP over the programa s future after the ACA

Seema Verma, nominated to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, testifies at her confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee. As congressional Republicans move from talking points to details of how to abolish the Affordable Care Act, behind-the-scenes jockeying over the future of Medicaid demonstrates the delicate trade-offs the GOP faces in trying to steer health policy in a more conservative direction.

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.