Four more Democratic senators, Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), have announced that they will co-sponsor Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) Medicare for All bill.
Booker announced his support on NJTV news Monday afternoon, where he echoed comments made by Harris and others who have come out in support of the bill.
First on @NJTVNews: @CoryBooker co-sponsoring @SenSanders ‘Medicare for all’ bi...
health care
How governors want to fix the finicky Obamacare marketplace
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace is less competitive than the drafters intended it to be. President Barack Obama once said the marketplace — where people can shop online for health insurance and compare plans — would be like an “Expedia for health care.” But if Expedia were anything like the ACA, people in some states would log on and see just one airline listed. In Virginia, they’d log on and see no listings at all.
To date, 1,476 counties are...
Top Democrats are making support for single-payer the party standard
It’s looking increasingly likely that supporting single-payer health care will be the standard for Democratic lawmakers who want to be considered serious 2020 candidates, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced Thursday that she will co-sponsor Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) Medicare for All bill.
“There is something fundamentally wrong when one of the richest and most powerful countries on the planet can’t make sure that a person can afford to see a doctor when they’re sick. T...
3 things we learned from the Senate’s first Obamacare hearing since the GOP health bill failed
Early in the summer, hearings on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) seemed unlikely to ever happen. But with fall swiftly approaching, the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has decided it will hold four, the first of which took place on Wednesday.
During this week’s hearing, senators were joined by state insurance commissioners. Wonk-ish health experts guided senators on how best to strengthen the law’s marketplace. Commissioners from blue and red state...
Medical award to Planned Parenthood honors its services for low-income women
While Americans’ access to reproductive health care and education is under assault from the Trump administration and Congress, Planned Parenthood received a prestigious medical award for its range of health care services and its scope in reaching low-income women. The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced on Wednesday that the Lasker Awards would go to Planned Parenthood, as well as three scientists.
Planned Parenthood received the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award f...
Trump slashes funds for ACA advertising, undermines Obamacare at every turn
The Trump administration is dramatically cutting funding dedicated to advertising and promoting enrollment in Obamacare. The cuts are further evidence that the Trump administration will undermine its least favorite health care law at all costs, despite having no legislation to replace it if it fails.
The administration announced Thursday afternoon that it would be cutting the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) advertising budget by 90 percent, from $100 million to $10 million. Additi...
Colorado, Ohio governors propose ‘bipartisan blueprint’ for saving Obamacare
Govs. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and John Kasich (R-OH) released what they are calling a “bipartisan blueprint” for stabilizing the Affordable Care Act Thursday, but many of their “fixes” detailed in a letter to congressional leadership are simply pleas that the law be enforced as written.
“We’re not trying to start a revolution here,” Hickenlooper said at a press conference in Denver Thursday. “These are very cautious, pragmatic efforts.”
Six other governors from across the co...
A growing number of Democrats are embracing single-payer health care
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has become the latest high-profile Democrat to embrace expanding Medicare coverage to all Americans, the freshman senator announced at a town hall in Oakland Wednesday night.
“I’ll break some news. I intend to co-sponsor the Medicare for All bill because it’s just the right thing to do,” Harris said Wednesday. It’s just the right thing to do… But it’s also about being smart.”
Harris will co-sponsor the Medicare for All legislation with Sen. Bernie Sa...
It’s official: Every Obamacare marketplace in the country has at least one insurer
The Ohio Department of Insurance announced Thursday that CareSource will sell Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans in Paulding County, officially marking the end of the health law’s empty counties problem. Every person looking to buy coverage on the ACA marketplace in Ohio and nationwide will have at least one health insurance option.
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has been tracking the state of counties that were at risk of having no insurer in 2018 at some point since Februar...
The Trump administration is ignoring these states’ questions about Obamacare enrollment
It’s late August, and state officials who work in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace in Nevada and Oregon say they still have not been contacted by their federal partners about open enrollment, which is slated to begin November 1. This is the latest testimony in a string of recent reports that suggest the president meant what he said when ACA repeal efforts in Congress failed last month: “let Obamacare implode.”
Nevada’s ACA health insurance marketplace avoi...