Category: Healthcare Law

Bankrate glossary: Medicaid

Medicaid is a government-sponsored health program designed to ensure that low-income citizens receive quality health care. It caters to over 72.5 million U.S. citizens, including children, senior citizens, parents, pregnant women and people with disabilities.

Judge Blocks Texas Cutting Medicaid to Planned Parenthood

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Texas can’t cut off Medicaid dollars to Planned Parenthood over secretly recorded videos taken by anti-abortion activists in 2015 that launched Republican efforts across the U.S. to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider. An injunction issued by U.S. District Sam Sparks of Austin comes after he delayed making decision in January and essentially bought Planned Parenthood an extra month in the state’s Medicaid program.

The Latest: Trump blames ‘liberal activists’ for protests

The president’s comments on Twitter Tuesday come as Republicans face angry constituents nationwide, frustrated by Trump’s Cabinet appointments and plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the federal health care law credited with drastically cutting reducing the number of uninsured people while also driving up the cost of monthly premiums. None have faced more scrutiny than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is managing a narrow majority to push through the president’s agenda and Cabinet appointments.

Judge blocks Texas cutting Medicaid to Planned Parenthood

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Texas can’t cut off Medicaid dollars to Planned Parenthood over secretly recorded videos taken by anti-abortion activists in 2015 that launched Republican efforts across the U.S. to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider. An injunction issued by U.S. District Sam Sparks of Austin comes after he delayed making decision in January and essentially bought Planned Parenthood an extra month in the state’s Medicaid program.

Right to try, right to buy, right to test

Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events In 2007, Eugene Volokh, the host of this site, published an essay in the Harvard Law Review titled ” Medical Self-Defense, Prohibited Experimental Therapies, and Payment for Organs ” in which he argued that the government should need “a very good reason” to prevent sick people from saving their own lives. That insight impels the Right to Try movement, which seeks to give terminally ill patients the right to try drugs that show promise but not have received FDA approval and which has received sympathetic hearings from President Trump and Vice President Pence .

It turns out Obamacare has staying power

House Speaker Paul Ryan listens to questions from reporters during news conference on Feb. Questions included the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. What’s the holdup, House Republicans? During the Obama administration, you passed literally dozens of bills to repeal all or part of the Affordable Care Act – knowing that none had any chance of being signed into law.

AARP seeks to protect Medicare

AARP has launched a campaign to protect Medicare in the face of proposals by some in Congress that would hurt West Virginians who have paid into the program their entire working lives, AARP officials said in a news release. Congressional proposals to change Medicare into a voucher system would dramatically increase health care costs and risks for current and future retirees, AARP said.

Photos: Trump rally draws thousands

President Donald Trump on Saturday took part in a campaign rally that mirrored the months leading up to Election Day, complete with promises to repeal the health care law, insults for the news media and a playlist highlighted by the Rolling Stones. Thousands of supporters packed an airport hangar to hear the president, with Trump telling his crowd that “I want to be among my friends and among the people.”

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.

Emerging GOP plan would replace parts of Obamacare as it’s repealed

Developing House Republican legislation to repeal the 2010 health care law would also include replacement provisions that are controversial among GOP rank and file, like a refundable tax credit to help individuals purchase insurance and a plan for dealing with Medicaid expansion. Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, and Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady on Thursday presented to the Republican Conference their vision for a “repeal plus” health care bill that would undo most of the Affordable Care Act and set up some pieces of a yet undeveloped Republican replacement.

Aetna, Humana call off $34 billion deal

Aetna and Humana called off a $34 billion proposal to combine the two major health insurers after a federal judge, citing antitrust concerns, shot down the deal. The announcement Tuesday comes several days after another federal judge rejected a tie-up between two other massive insurers.

Two Views: Grading Trump – Keeping promises, growing the economy

President Trump has hit the ground running since he was sworn in Jan. 20, and many have been shocked by the aggressive pace the new president has taken to deliver quickly on the promises he made during the campaign. And that’s primarily how our political leaders should be graded: whether they fulfill the promises they make to voters or not.

Editorial: Kansas should expand Medicaid

Kansas is one of only 19 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and it’s long past time for the Legislature to extend health coverage to 150,000 low-income Kansans by passing House Bill 2064. After three days of testimony from advocates and opponents of expansion in front of the House Health and Human Services Committee, one thing is clear: There are far too many uninsured Kansans who have to live with the grim knowledge that any serious health issue could ruin them.

The Health Care Uprising Is Just Beginning

In the dead of night, the Senate voted to confirm Rep. Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services. The vote was 52 to 47, along party lines, with Democratic Senators unanimously opposing Price, a drug corporation insider who has pushed legislation that would benefit corporations in which he has investments.

Partisan power struggle overshadows North Carolina governor

FILE-In this Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017 file photo, House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, smiles after taking the oath of office during the start of the 2017 Legislative session at the North Carolina General Assembly in Ral… . FILE-In this file photo taken Thursday, June 23, 2016, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Guilford, right, listens during a Senate session at the North Carolina General Assembly in Raleigh, N.C. A North Carolina … .

House Speaker Ryan Says Obamacare Replacement Bill to Pass This Year

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Republican leader said on Tuesday that legislation to replace former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law will be completed this year, trying to assuage concerns that the party is retreating from its campaign promise to dismantle Obamacare. “We are going to be done legislating with respect to healthcare and Obamacare this year,” House Speaker Paul Ryan told a news briefing.

What Republicans must decide on Obamacare

We don’t often see eye-to-eye with the right-wing Heritage Action, but in this case we agree with Dan Holler , vice president of communications and government relations, who is quoted as saying, “I think the longer this drags on, the more people are starting to understand the chance of a repeal is slipping away. Certainly it’s becoming harder and harder with each passing day.”

Trump’s Dodd-Frank Do-Over Diverted to Slow Lane With Obamacare

President Donald Trump’s pledge to dismantle the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul is colliding with the same reality as his pledge to gut Obamacare: The Republican majority in Congress can’t decide how to make it happen and Democrats are vowing to fight. Trump, who last month said Obamacare would be replaced “the same day or the same week,” or perhaps “the same hour,” acknowledged Sunday that the health-care law isn’t going away anytime soon.

Trump remarks latest evidence of health law repeal slowdown

Republicans insisted Monday that they’re moving ahead on their effort to void the health care law, even as President Donald Trump ‘s latest remarks conceded that the effort could well stretch into next year. “Maybe it will take till sometime into next year, but we are certainly going to be in the process,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly that was broadcast Sunday.

Obamacare hits slump, falls short of 2016 pace

After years of steady growth Obamacare’s sign-ups slumped in 2017, according to early numbers that suggest the law is struggling now that President Obama is no longer in office to give it a boost. The number of people selecting plans on the federal HealthCare.gov website dropped 4 percent this go-around compared to the 2016 season, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said.

Trump delivers for religious right

The last several days have brought a slew of victories for evangelicals, many of whom set aside their reservations about Trump to back him during the presidential campaign. From the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, to Trump’s affirmation of support for allowing tax-exempt churches to engage in politics, to the appointment of Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. to an education task force, evangelicals are seeing the new president quickly deliver on a number of fronts.

Obamacare sign-up period ends with a whimper, sees first decline

The number of Americans signing up for coverage through HealthCare.gov dropped by a half-million for 2017, as efforts by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to demolish the Affordable Care Act propelled the first enrollment decline in its history. The lower total, with 9.2 million consumers choosing health plans in ACA marketplaces through the enrollment deadline Tuesday, marks a striking turnabout from the trend as former President Barack Obama’s administration neared its end – when sign-ups for coverage under the law were running steadily ahead of a year ago.

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.

Top GOP senators in Obamacare replacement role soften stance on total repeal

Two top Republicans expected to lead the charge in the repealing of the Affordable Care Act said this week they are in favor of repairing it in lieu of a total repeal, which the GOP has aimed to do over the last eight years. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., both spoke about Obamacare and the hurdles the GOP is facing in order to repeal the law in its entirety, according to The Washington Post .