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....

Last-ditch Republican health care effort could reduce federal funding by nearly $300 billion

A bill proposed by Republican Senators Bill Cassidy (LA) and Lindsey Graham (SC) would dramatically reduce federal funding for health care over the course of the next decade, according to a new report.

Released Wednesday, the Graham-Cassidy bill is seemingly the last viable option for Republicans hoping to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, this year. The bill faces a steep — and likely doomed — battle in Congress: it has yet to be scored by the Congressional Budget...

An Obamacare bill — that has nothing to do with repealing it — could pass

The month of September has been bombarded with health care bills. This week alone, Democrat and Republican senators introduced both a single-payer plan and an Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal and replacement plan. But the most important bill has yet to be released. Language to the only health bill that’ll immediately secure the ACA marketplace and relieve nearly 22 million people of stress next year — and a host of coverage providers — will be released soon.

The la...

Medicare details sold on darknet not obtained by hacking but from ‘legitimate channel’

Details from Medicare offered on auction site came from a ‘bad person doing a bad thing’, Senate inquiry hears

Medicare details sold on the darknet were not obtained through hacking but by a “bad person doing a bad thing from a legitimate channel,” a Senate inquiry has heard.

Guardian Australia revealed in July that Medicare card details were offered for sale on a darknet auction site and that the vendor, provided with a journalist’s name and date of birth, was able to produce the requested Medicare number for a fee of 0.0089 bitcoin, or US$22.

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Why turning public health care into ‘block grants’ can’t work

Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) released their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Wednesday — the last GOP plan left standing.

The chances for the bill to pass are slim to none. It needs to be scored by the Congressional Budget Office and cleared by the Senate parliamentarian — the designated health care referee — to see if it adheres to budget rules. Additionally, many critical lawmakers have said that the Senate needs ...

While attention turns to health care for all, let’s talk about coverage for immigrants

As progressives consider proposals to implement universal health care, it’s important to define the principle that’s driving them. What unites Democrats right now is the idea that health care is a right afforded to all. If that’s the self-imposed litmus test, it’s essential to define “all” when discussing universal health care.

Millions of people who live in the United States are currently uninsured. High costs remain a major barrier to coverage; ...

How Bernie Sanders would fund his Medicare for All plan

On Wednesday afternoon on the second floor of the Hart Senate Office Building, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) officially unveiled his much-hyped Medicare for All plan. The senator was flanked by his 16 co-sponsors, many of them rising stars in the Democratic party and nearly every one of them talked about as a potential presidential candidate in 2020.

The basic idea of the plan is this: Over the course of four years, the state would expand eligibility for Medicare until every resident o...

My Health patient data will be safe despite Medicare breach, GPs say

RACGP has told a Senate inquiry layers of security will help prevent breaches such as the theft of Medicare numbers that were sold on the darknet

The breach of Medicare data that resulted in patient card numbers being sold on the darknet should not have any significant implications for the government rollout of My Health Record, says the peak body for general practitioners

My Health Record will involve patient’s health information being uploaded to an online database.

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