Seven patient advocate and health care groups are suing the Trump administration for expanding short-term limited duration plans, cheap health insurance with a history of discrimination.
These groups — representing patients, providers, and insurers — accuse the Trump administration of jeopardizing health care for the most vulnerable, as these short-term plans can skirt consumer protections outlined in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and deny people with pre-existing condit...
obamacare
Wildcard judge signals he’s doubtful Obamacare is legal without individual mandate
Legal scholars, even Obamacare’s loudest critics, believe the health law can stand without the individual mandate — and yet, a Texas federal judge appears to be skeptical.
Federal Judge Reed O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee and wildcard who’s ruled against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the past, listened to oral arguments Wednesday in Texas v. United States, the latest attempt to eliminate the 2010 health care law. O’Connor hasn’t formal...
These 15 House incumbents scrubbed ‘repeal Obamacare’ from their re-election sites
With their party majority in extreme peril in November’s midterm elections, House Republicans are facing a dilemma. While they ran on a pledge to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, support for Obamacare now far exceeds support for the GOP-controlled Congress. Several incumbents have employed a bold strategy: hide the evidence of their position.
ThinkProgress examined the campaign websites of dozens of Republican incumbents in races deemed competitive by ...
Here’s what you need to know about the lawsuit trying to end Obamacare
In a lawsuit that’s been labeled “absurd” and “ludicrous” by legal experts, conservative and liberal alike, Texas and 19 other conservative states are suing to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA) once and for all, as past Republican efforts failed to do so.
On Wednesday, Federal Judge Reed O’Connor, a wildcard who’s ruled against Obamacare multiple times, will hear oral arguments in a lawsuit brought forward in February. O’Connor is expected t...
The single most important issue in Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing
Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s bid to join the Supreme Court enters its theatrical stage on Tuesday, when his confirmation hearing begins. Kavanaugh will spend his week being intermittently praised by Republican senators and dodging questions from Democratic senators.
It’s a process that, in Justice Elena Kagan’s words, lacks “seriousness and substance” and risks taking on “an air of vacuity and farce.” Supreme Court nominees have gotten very good ...
John McCain, longtime senator and Trump antagonist, dies of brain cancer
Relatives for US Senator John McCain, 81, the Republican stalwart from Arizona, announced on Friday that he would no longer be receiving treatment for terminal brain cancer. Late Saturday, he succumbed to his illness.
Family and friends had gathered to be near him in his final hours as tributes poured in from both Republicans and Democrats for McCain, who in 2008 was his party’s presidential nominee.
John McCain was an American hero, a man of decenc...
It’s official: Medicaid expansion will be on the ballot in Nebraska this November
In November, Nebraska residents will get to decide whether or not more people should qualify for public health insurance. Should voters decide to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), roughly 90,000 low-income residents will gain health coverage.
The months-long grassroots campaign to get Medicaid expansion on the November ballot succeeded after activists and volunteers with the Insure the Good Life coalition collected more than 133,000 signatures from the state’...
Republicans who opposed pre-existing condition protections backtrack as midterms near
Ten Republican senators introduced new legislation on Thursday that aims to protect people with pre-existing conditions should an anti-Obamacare lawsuit succeeded in court. But a closer look reveals that the bill doesn’t completely safeguard people’s coverage as current health laws does. Instead, it’s likely an attempt to fend off criticism ahead of the midterm elections.
The new legislation was introduced just two weeks before court hearings begin on the case of ...
Half of sick Americans are uninsured or have affordability problems despite health coverage
Nearly one in two sick Americans cannot afford health care, even those with health insurance, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.
While the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) coverage expansions and consumer protections have dramatically reduced the uninsured rate to just under 11 percent, the United States still has a massive affordability problem.
About 15.5 percent of non-elderly people who have insurance either skipped or delayed medical care, citing cost...
Cities sue Trump for sabotaging Obamacare
Four cities filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Thursday accusing the president and his cabinet of “waging a relentless campaign to sabotage and, ultimately, to nullify” the Affordable Care Act.
The suit — filed in a Maryland federal court by Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Baltimore — comes on the heels of the Department of Health and Human Services’ finalization Wednesday of regulations allowing people to keep short-term health insurance plans for up to...