Shocked by Donald Trump’s election, Democrats adopted a strategy of resistance that’s simple and blunt: Anything Trump is for, they’re against. It’s turned out to be one of the least successful strategies a political party has ever pursued. Yet Democrats have stuck to it.
#Adulting is hard! CNN has an unintentionally funny look at 26-year-old "new" adults who are having trouble leaving the nest and finding health insurance.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at expanding Americans’ access to health insurance choices, the first official step of his pledge to tackle health-care reform solo after repeated congressional failures to pass legislation repealing Obamacare.
The fate of America's latest attempt at comprehensive health care reform may hinge on the opinions of a late night talk show host. I've nothing against Jimmy Kimmel; topical political jokes are the meat and potatoes of late-night comedy. And in fact, Kimmel has a reputation for joking about the…
For many years, starting in elementary school, my mother took me to an ophthamologist for an annual examination. Dr. Itzkovitz was a master in distracting a child just long enough to get a good look at his retina. By the time we arrived, after school, his part-time secretary had left for the day,…
Early Tuesday afternoon, a senior GOP House aide mapped out a short path through the House for the American Health Care Act (legislation that repeals and replaces parts of Obamacare): Due to the snowstorm on the East Coast, the Budget committee hearing would be pushed back from Wednesday to…
President-elect Donald Trump says his proposal to replace Obamacare will guarantee "insurance for everybody" and "great health care" that is "much less expensive and much better." Here's more from the Washington Post's interview with Trump:
President Obama and Hillary Clinton love to talk about the "20 million people" who've allegedly been added to the health insurance rolls under Obamacare. But in truth, a lower percentage of Americans have private health insurance now than in 2007, even though Obamacare is the law.
On July 28, 2009, newly elected President Obama made a "guarantee" during an AARP town hall pushing the then-newly introduced Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare:
In his latest assault on the separation of powers, President Obama seems poised to take unilateral executive action—in direct defiance of legislation he signed—to bail out insurance companies under Obamacare. In its above-the-fold story on Friday, the Washington Post mischaracterizes Obama's power…
The words President Obama used to sell his signature initiative, Obamacare—"if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor"—may end up the most memorable of his eight years in office. But according to information posted on Healthcare.gov, this "guarantee" from the president was wholly without…
Many Obamacare supporters have been taking solace in their belief that Aetna's recent decision to pull out of all but four government-run exchanges was a result not of Obamacare's slow-motion death spiral but of Aetna's playing politics with the Department of Justice, which has blocked the…
As Obamacare continues to face numerous setbacks, Tennessee's insurance commissioner declared on Tuesday that its exchange was "very near collapse" after she approved several large premium hikes to keep it in business.
"If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor" was President Barack Obama's signature catchphrase he used to sell the Affordable Care Act to the American people. Now Obamacare's flagship website, healthcare.gov, no longer even addresses the issue.
Recently, there's been renewed interest in reviving the "public option." Loosely, the public option is a policy proposal to create a giant government-run health insurer that would compete with private insurers. The rationale behind it is that a publicly run insurance company would be able to…
Aetna announced this week that it will no longer be providing Affordable Care Act "marketplace" insurance plans in nearly a dozen states, including Arizona. Aetna joins other insurers, including Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona, and Health Net in dropping Obamacare…
THE WEEKLY STANDARD has long observed that Obamacare, which President Obama pitched as a great deal for Americans of all stripes, is really only for the near-poor and near-elderly—at the expense of the middle class and the young. While only a small minority has benefitted from the 2,400-page…
Former president Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker at a conference of health-insurance executives this week. America's Health Insurance Plans, the largest health-insurance provider trade group in the country, is holding its Institute 2015 conference in Nashville this week. Clinton, whose…
Former president Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker at a conference of health-insurance executives this week. America's Health Insurance Plans, the largest health-insurance provider trade group in the country, is holding its Institute 2015 conference in Nashville this week. Clinton, whose…
Obamacare requires employers to provide "affordable" health insurance to full-time employees, and for the purposes of the law, the word affordable is defined very specifically:
Obamacare requires employers to provide "affordable" health insurance to full-time employees, and for the purposes of the law, the word affordable is defined very specifically:
Ramesh Ponnuru is no fan of the bizarre, anti-intellectual jeremiad that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal launched in Politico Magazine early this week. At Bloomberg View, Ponnuru writes:
I have just finished a new book on political corruption. The book takes a broad overview of corruption, across the whole history of the nation, explaining its typical patterns over time.The most pertinent revelation is how the government captures private interests, which in turn capture the…
The Associated Press reports that the Obama administration is admitting premiums for health-insurance plans sold on healthcare.gov will increase in 2015. Here's the AP:
One health insurer in Minnesota, once the top seller on the state' s Obamacare-mandated exchange, is expected to raise its premiums between 40 and 60 percent. Small-business health insurance rates are also expected to go up in Minnesota. KSTP-TV reports the story:
Republican Senate candidate Cory Gardner is going after Democratic senator Mark Udall for voting for Obamacare in a new TV ad. The 30-second spot shows the GOP congressman holding up a cancellation letter he received from his health insurance provider.
Health insurance is going to be more expensive in 2015 for those in Florida who purchase it on the individual market's exchange set up by the Obamacare. The Miami Herald reports:
A Democratic congresswoman told her colleagues at a House hearing Wednesday morning that the debate over a bill that would grandfather in otherwise canceled group plans under the Affordable Care Act reminded her of a comedy skit about "whiners."
An Oklahoma woman signed up for a new health insurance plan--only to find that there's not a doctor that will accept that plan within 400 miles. KTEN-TV reports that Janet Grigg, a cancer survivor, moved to Durant, Oklahoma to care for her elderly mother. But after signing onto a Blue Cross Blue…
Only two-thirds of the eight million enrollees into new health insurance plans as mandated by the Affordable Care Act have paid their first month's premium as of April 15, according to a report from the House Energy and Commerce committee. Here's an excerpt from the committee's statement:
Today is the last day of open enrollment in the Obamacare exchanges. Last week the administration had announced six million enrollments, with about five days left to go. If they enroll new people into the system at the same rate as they had the previous 10 days, that would put the final, nominal…
Americans for Prospertiy, a conservative tax-exempt organization, has a new 60-second television ad running in Michigan that criticizes Democratic congressman Gary Peters for his vote and continued support of Obamacare. The ad features Michigan citizen Julie Boonstra, who describes how she was…
A new TV ad running in Louisiana from Americans for Prosperity focuses on how the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, has negatively affected citizens' lives. Democratic senator Mary Landrieu, who voted for Obamacare in 2010, is up for reelection in Louisiana this year.
Tennesseans who purchased health insurance policies under Obamacare are discovering their doctors and health care providers often don't fall in their new networks. WSMV, Nashville's NBC affiliate, has the story (via the Free Beacon):
Democrat Jeff Merkley of Oregon probably isn't the first sitting senator Republicans think they can defeat this November. After beating incumbent Republican Gordon Smith in 2008 by 3 percentage points, Merkley appears safe in his seat. In 2012 Oregon voted for Barack Obama by more than 12 points,…
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast, with executive editor Fred Barnes on why Obamacare will remain a major issue in 2014.
On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services released a set of "additional steps" designed to "help" Americans get health insurance before the start of the new year. Philip Klein discusses those guidelines over at the Washington Examiner, reporting that HHS is "encouraging" health…
The Obama administration has decided to delay next year's enrollment period for Obamacare to begin after the November midterm elections. Bloomberg reports:
The House of Representatives voted Friday to pass a bill that would allow health insurers to continue selling plans they offered for 2013 in 2014. Fred Upton's "Keep Your Health Plan Act" received 261 aye votes, including 39 from Democrats, and 157 nay votes, including 4 Republicans.
Republican congressman Fred Upton, the Energy and Commerce chairman and author of the "Keep Your Health Plan Act," spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives Friday morning, ahead of the vote on the bill. Here's an excerpt:
The federal health insurance exchange website created by Obamacare has been a "complete disaster" said CNN analyst Gloria Borger. Speaking on Jake Tapper's program Wednesday afternoon, Borger was asked to respond to the enrollment numbers released by the administration following the first month of…
Fewer than 50,000 Americans have signed up for private health insurance plans via healthcare.gov, the federal insurance exchange website that opened on October 1. The Wall Street Journal reports:
For five years, Barack Obama repeatedly, emphatically, and unequivocally promised that under his health care scheme, “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan.” That promise has now been proven to be blatantly untrue. Multiple reports during the last 10 days of October made it clear that…
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Florida congresswoman and chair of the Democratic National Committee, told viewers of MSNBC Tuesday that Americans were not "myzled" by President Obama when it came to being able to keep their health plans under Obamacare.
Senator Mary Landrieu, the Democrat from Louisiana, has introduced a bill called the "Keeping the Affordable Care Act Promise Act." The bill recognizes that Americans are losing their individual health plans because they don't conform to the new regulations under the Affordable Care Act, better…
A new website from conservative organization Independent Women's Voice is looking for submissions from Americans who have received letters from their health insurer notifying them that their plans have been cancelled due to Obamacare.
Mary Landrieu, the Democratic senator from Louisiana, will introduce her own bill to allow Americans who like their health insurance plan to keep that plan. Landrieu, who said Wednesday she would be open to sponsoring legislation of that kind, released a statement about her intention:
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with staff writer Michael Warren on his recent piece with John McCormack about the struggle of Senate Democrats to defend the promises made about Obamacare.
In December 2009, Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu assured Americans that the Obamacare legislation being debated in Congress would not affect those who like their plans. Watch the video of her speech on the floor of the Senate:
In Missouri, the implementation of President Obama's health care law is having a negative impact on the health insurance market--including the market for plans that fall outside the government-run exchanges. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kaiser Health News report:
As the October 1 implementation of parts of Obamacare nears, House Republicans continue to pass legislation aimed at highlighting the health care law's flaws and weaknesses. On Thursday, the House passed a bill to reform an Obamacare verification process that would better stop fraudulent claims to…
As Obamacare's launch on October 1 draws closer, the Obama administration is trying to reassure the public that the program is going to deliver on the promises of the last four years. On Tuesday, White House Deputy Senior Advisor for Communications & Strategy David Simas tweeted (and the White…
The Chicago Tribune, the most widely read newspaper in the Windy City, editorializes:
Over at Powerline, Scott Johnson reprints an email from a reader who suffered (and recovered from) two debilitating strokes. The reader explains how Obamacare's new regulations would have drastically reduced his chance of having recovered:
Insurance companies are saying premiums could increase up to 400 percent as a result of Obamacare. Maryland ABC affiliate WMDT reports:
Reuters reports that the federal government is "months behind" its efforts to set up data security measures for the state health insurance exchanges, set to open on October 1, as created by Obamacare:
Gerald F. Seib runs the numbers from recent Wall Street Journal polling on Obamacare that found "almost half of Americans—47%—now say the law overhauling the nation's health system is a bad idea, compared with 34% who call it a good idea." The poll is interesting in its many particulars to include,…
Nancy Pelosi, while she was still speaker of the House and ramrodding the Affordable Health Care Act, famously said that it would be necessary to pass the legislation in order to find out what was in it. The bill was very long, you know, with lots of lawyerly locutions that would be deconstructed…
After getting over the shock of the Obama administration’s unilateral decision to delay the employer mandate for a year, supporters of the law have taken to downplaying the significance of the step. Jonathan Chait and Ezra Klein, among others, have said it is just not that big of a deal to delay a…
Charles Gibson, a former anchor with ABC News, is narrating a new online video touting the benefits of Obamacare and instructing viewers how the law will affect them. The video, sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation and running nearly seven minutes, informs Americans that they will fall under…
James Capretta, writing at National Review Online, explains how Mitt Romney's claim that his plan would help individuals with pre-existing conditions to purchase health insurance policies is correct:
Around the time Lisa Mulhearn’s Old English Sheepdog, Goober, turned 12, a veterinarian discovered a bone tumor in his nose. The doctors at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, gave Mulhearn a grim prognosis. Without expensive chemotherapy treatment, her dog—the newly divorced…
Yesterday, Newt Gingrich did not answer questions regarding his past support for an individual health insurance mandate, as a recently discovered audio clip recorded in May 2009 showed. Here's what Gingrich said then:
Wall Street Journal: "The Truth About Who Fights for Us"
Obamacare’s individual mandate—requiring that all Americans purchase government-approved health insurance beginning in 2014—has always been the law’s most vulnerable provision. It is incredibly unpopular, and not just among conservatives. Polls consistently show that a large majority of the…
President Obama and the Democrats claim that the Medicare reforms proposed by Paul Ryan and the Republicans would shift the burden of health costs onto the backs of seniors. This has been the central—and essentially the only—argument the Democrats have made against the GOP plan. But the Democrats’…