There’s no GOP backup plan for the anti-Obamacare lawsuit

Now that a federal judge in Texas has handed down an order striking down the Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s individual mandate — and, with it, all 900-plus pages of the health law — what happens next?

That’s the question facing Republican lawmakers whose colleagues are party to the lawsuit, which was filed by 20 GOP-led states.

The lawsuit aims to strike down very popular provisions of the ACA, including but not limited to protections for pre-existing con...

The most screwed-up employee perk in America (and the man who just might fix it)

The last time Atul Gawande started a company, he named it after a Greek myth.

Ariadne Labs, based in Boston, Massachusetts—where Gawande also works as a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and teaches at Harvard—has been trying since 2012 to innovate in an area that has historically resisted innovat...

What a governor, insurer regulator, and consumer advocate want Congress to do about Obamacare

Congress won’t be able to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) after the midterm elections handed Democrats control of the House of Representatives — but that doesn’t mean lawmakers are done tinkering with the 2010 health care overhaul law.

Democrats ran and won on health care and the new House majority is expected to make strengthening the ACA a top priority next year. For some lawmakers, this means passing measures to further stabilize the marketplace...

Trump admin can’t use Congress to repeal Obamacare, so it’s asking states to rewrite the health law

Less than a month after the midterm elections ended the possibility of Obamacare repeal in Congress, the Trump administration has called on states to rewrite the health law in the image of failed GOP health bills.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued new guidance on Thursday encouraging states to implement changes to the marketplace that fundamentally undermine the goals of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

States have always had the ability to modify the ACA...

The Supreme Court will hear a subtle but terrifying threat to Obamacare

In a sensible world, Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill would have nothing whatsoever to do with the Affordable Care Act. On its surface, Bethune-Hill is a racial gerrymandering case which, the Supreme Court announced on Tuesday, will be heard by the Court for the second time.

Yet Bethune-Hill also presents a difficult issue regarding when non-parties to a federal lawsuit may appeal lower court decisions to a higher authority. And this technical q...

Illinois Democrat who helped implement Obamacare aims to unseat Republican who voted to repeal it

Illinois Rep. Randy Hultgren (R) voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) nine times since he was first elected in 2010. Now, in the midst of a competitive race, he’s saying he’ll preserve a central feature of the health law.

“I’ve voted 100 percent of the time protecting people with pre-existing conditions that they get coverage,” Hultgren told local media.

When his Democratic challenger Lauren Underwood called him out for lying last week during ...

This is how much more expensive health care premiums will be in 2019 thanks to Trump

Health care premiums will be up to 16 percent higher in 2019 than they would have been had the Trump administration not worked so hard to chip away at the Affordable Care Act.

A new study released Friday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the Trump administration’s decision to repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate and expand skimpy short-term health plans have made premiums across the board — whether on the Obamacare marketplace or not — an average of 6 percent h...