When health care is talked about on the national stage, it’s largely been centered on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual and small group marketplace, which roughly affects 7 percent of United States residents. But what is the state of insurance for people who have employer-based health insurance?
Annual premiums for more than 150 million U.S. residents who get health insurance through their jobs increased 3 percent, on average. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and the Heal...
health care
GOP rushes to pass Trumpcare through irregular order
The next 11 days are critical for health care advocates who are looking to safeguard the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as September 30 marks the deadline for passing an ACA repeal bill with just 50 votes, according to typical Senate rules. But the next two weeks will also be a test of whether lawmakers care about these rules and precedents in the first place.
After repeated failed attempts to repeal and replace the ACA, Republican lawmakers are yet again rushing through a health bill w...
Republican congressman blames opioid crisis on Medicaid
Republican Congressman Jim Renacci (OH) argued this week that Medicaid expansion in Ohio and other states may have caused the current opioid crisis ravaging the country. His comments come just ahead of a highly-anticipated vote on the Graham-Cassidy heath care bill, which would end Medicaid expansion and, eventually, the entire program.
“Medicaid was, in some ways, the driver of this opioid addiction,” Renacci said, in an interview on WAKR radio. “…If [the ex...
If Trumpcare passes, many cancer patients will face $140,000 insurance premiums
A provision of the new Trumpcare bill gaining steam among Senate Republicans — a bill commonly referred to as “Graham-Cassidy” after its two leading proponents — would allow many insurers to drive up premiums the minute someone gets sick.
This provision allows states to obtain waivers from the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that no one can be charged a higher premium because of a “health status-related factor,” effectively allowing insure...
The GOP’s on the verge of passing a bill that will phase out Medicaid in its entirety
Senate Republicans are on the cusp of passing a bill that will eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars worth of health funding, destabilize insurance markets, and eventually phase out Medicaid in its entirety. Less than two months after three Republican senators stopped an earlier effort to strip away much of America’s health care safety net, millions of Americans’ health care is now in very serious peril.
The new Trumpcare legislation — often referred to as R...
Legislation to extend funding for clinics serving poor and uninsured stalls in Congress
Congress is fast approaching the deadline to renew federal funding for thousands of community health centers across the country, or risk leaving millions of Americans without health care.
Lawmakers must act by September 30, the end of the current federal fiscal year, to extend the Community Health Center Fund, which provides $3.6 billion of funding to nearly 1,400 community health center organizations. The health centers serve approximately 26 million people, including about 1.2 mil...
Congress is extremely close to repealing Obamacare
The last Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal bill left standing had a dubious chance of passing the Senate. But now, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) are reportedly weighing whether they could support the Cassidy-Graham bill, which would repeal ACA subsidies and the Medicaid expansion and instead give states a temporary block grant.
McCain tells @GarrettHaake he wants bipartisan bill with wks of hearings. BUT may "reluctantly" back Gr...
Lindsay Graham embraces Breitbart
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has often painted himself as a responsible Republican who will call out President Trump for his misdeeds, appealed to Trump’s nationalist base over the weekend, appearing on Breitbart News Radio to promote his bill that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The bill, which Graham has proposed with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), would repeal the individual and employer mandate as well as a number of the taxes established under the ACA. The...
Why is Sen. Cassidy obsessed with Obamacare repeal-and-replace when people who voted for him aren’t?
The Cassidy-Graham bill — the last Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal and replacement bill left standing — has a dubious chance of passing. It currently has the same problem past iterations of Republican Senate health bills had: it can’t get 50 votes.
The bill — authored by Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — starting in 2020, would repeal ACA subsidies and the Medicaid expansion. Instead, states would be given temporary block grants....
Trumpcare’s back, and now it will let insurers jack up premiums as soon as you get sick
Friday afternoon, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer sent a warning on Twitter that the tens of thousands of Americans who could die if Trumpcare becomes law are not out of the woods yet.
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