The stakes confronting Republicans determined to dismantle President Barack Obama’s health care law were evident in one recent encounter between an Ohio congressman and a constituent. “He said, ‘Now you guys own it.
Category: US House of Representatives
Obamacare Is First Item On Congress’ Chopping Block
… after almost a century of trying, today after over a year of debate, today, after all the votes have been tallied, health insurance reform becomes law in the United States of America,” Obama said that day, to long applause from the assembled crowd. …
Darrell Issa Proposes ‘Tort Reform’ To Replace Obamacare
Rep. Darrell Issa asserted on Sunday that part of the solution for replacing President Barack Obama’s health care law is to give patients fewer rights when suing doctors for malpractice. During a panel discussion on CNN’s State of the Union , Delaware Democratic Representative-elect Lisa Blunt Rochester pointed out that many of her constituents relied on the Affordable Care Act.
US lawmakers press pharma firm on high prices for antibiotic
Two US lawmakers are questioning whether Heritage Pharmaceuticals misled them in response to a 2014 congressional inquiry about the rising price a common antibiotic, after 20 US states this week accused the company of price fixing. In a Dec. 16 letter to Heritage seen by Reuters, Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings and Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders said they feared the company was “disingenuous at best” in October, 2014, when it told them it had not seen any significant price increases for its doxycycline hyclate product.
Rural New Mexico exports mentoring model for physicians
… opioids, while many prescription addicts have transitioned to cheaper heroin. Under the ECHO Act, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department – which oversees Medicare and Medicaid – will review the mentoring programs and look at ways they could …
Top Republicans say therea s a medical malpractice crisis. Experts say there isna t.
Rep. Tom Price , President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, has worked to protect doctors from malpractice lawsuits. Top Republicans say a medical malpractice crisis is threatening U.S. health care: Frivolous lawsuits are driving up malpractice insurance premiums and forcing physicians out of business.
With Trumpa s victory, Republicans hope to overhaul Medicaid
In this file photo, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., left, joined by Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., heads to a meeting of House Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington. When President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, Republicans will have the opportunity to do something they have desired for years – overhaul Medicaid, the program that provides health care to millions of lower-income and disabled Americans.
With Trump’s victory, GOP hopes to overhaul Medicaid
When President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, Republicans will have the opportunity to pull off something they have wanted to do for years – overhaul Medicaid, the program that provides health care to tens of millions of lower-income and disabled Americans. Any changes to the $500 billion-plus program hold enormous consequences not only for recipients but also for the states, which share in the cost.
Following Trump’s Victory, GOP Hopes to Overhaul Medicaid
In this August 1, 2013, file photo, Republican congressmen Paul Ryan and Tom Price talk before a committee hearing on Capitol Hill. Now House Speaker and President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of health and human services want to overhaul Medicaid by sending a fixed amount of money each year to U.S. states.
Continue reading What’s ahead in 2017? DFW patients, doctors, insurers await repeal and replace
… now and the new year. President-elect Donald Trump is ready to deliver on his campaign promise to massively transform health care and repeal the Affordable Care Act in his first few months in office. He’s positioned a vociferous Obamacare critic , …
It’s time to raise Indiana’s cigarette tax
… for every 99.5 cents tax Indiana collects on a pack of cigarettes, Indiana’s Medicaid system spends nearly $16 on health-care costs for smokers. Last winter, when the Legislature was considering a boost in the cigarette tax to $2 per pack, four …
Consumer Confidential: Insulin price hikes aren’t sweet – Sun, 25 Dec 2016 PST
A key feature of Republican plans to replace Obamacare is allowing market forces to boost innovation and competition among health care providers. “Unleashing the power of choice and competition is the best way to lower health care costs and improve quality,” declares House Speaker Paul Ryan in his conservative manifesto “A Better Way.”
Sorry, Santa – science skeptics must be stopped, for our own sake | Opinion
… The ideas that certain ethnic groups are inferior to others, that humans have no impact upon the environment, that health regulations such as vaccination laws actually harm us are all examples of pseudoscience. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a …
Mental health malfeasance
The 21st Century Cures Act signed by President Barack Obama contains smart, well-designed mental-health provisions. But unless President-elect Donald Trump and Tom Price, his nominee for secretary of health and human services, “drain the swamp” at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Center for Mental Health Services, many of the new law’s useful provisions could be negated or undone by the permanent bureaucracy.
Repealing key parts of Obamacare could be easy, but replacing it might be a mess
The Republican-dominated Congress that starts its 2017 work Jan. 3 is determined to repeal Obamacare – and fast. Yet consumers may not notice any difference in their health care coverage for a long time.
‘Obamacare’ holding its own: 6.4M signed up so far
The Obama administration says 6.4 million people have signed up so far this year for… . FILE – In this Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, the HealthCare.gov website, where people can buy health insurance, is displayed on a laptop screen in Washington.
Medicare’s Part B demo defeated but requires vigilance
As President-elect Trump continues to assemble his cabinet and designate key posts at the Department of Health & Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services , patient advocates must remain vigilant and poised to protect access to life-saving medicines. For the past several months Patients for Medicare Access fought on behalf of patients to delay a CMS proposed pricing model for Medicare Part B. The proposal, while well intentioned, is bad for patients from the outset.
A Reminder of the Heartlessness at the Root of Republican Politics
… This story triggered that shame once again. A Republican congressman outlined the way he would like to see the health care system operate if Obamacare is repealed, as GOP lawmakers are promising. It is a brave new world in which parents would wait …
Activists Defend ACA, March To Republican Party Headquarters
A small but boisterous group marched from Capital Community College to the Connecticut Republican Party headquarters on Pratt Street Tuesday afternoon, chanting, singing and protesting what they called “President-elect Donald Trump and his allies’ massive attack on every aspect of our families’ health care.” Once they arrived at the statewide GOP headquarters about 5:30 p.m., organizer Dan Durso rang the bell to the GOP office several times, but no one answered.
A fiscal hawk to OMB
President-elect Donald Trump has named Rep. Mick Mulvaney as his director of the Office of Management and Budget, signaling his intent to slash spending and address the deficit as president. Mulvaney, 49, was elected to Congress in 2010 in the wave that brought a cohort of younger, staunchly conservative members into the House.
GOP Says It Plans to Replace Obamacare With “Universal Access”
Responding to criticism that repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would leave millions without health insurance, House Republicans have announced that their goal in replacing the PPACA is to guarantee “universal access” to health care and coverage, not necessarily to ensure that everyone has insurance, according to an article in The New York Times. “Our goal here is to make sure that everybody can buy coverage or find coverage if they choose to,” a House leadership aide told journalists.