Tag Archives: healthcare

The Washington Post reports: A federal judge in Washington ruled late Thursday that the Trump administration’s push to make health insurance plans available outside the Affordable Care Act that avoid the requirements of the health care law was illegal, calling the efforts “clearly an end-run around the ACA.” The 43-page ruling, submitted by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates of …

Politico reports: The Trump administration’s surprising move to invalidate Obamacare on Monday came despite the opposition of two key cabinet secretaries: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Attorney General Bill Barr. Driving the dramatic action were the administration’s domestic policy chief, Joe Grogan, and the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, according to …

The Austin Statesman reports: Opening what promises to be one of the most contentious fights of the 2019 legislative session, a Senate committee on Monday approved a bill to give state-licensed professionals — including doctors, lawyers, pharmacists and barbers — broad protection for actions taken according to their religious beliefs. Opponents said the bill, and more than a dozen similar …

The Week reports: A federal judge in Texas ruled Friday night that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, must be “invalidated in whole” because its individual mandate provision is unconstitutional. District Judge Reed O’Connor argued the mandate is “essential to and inseverable from the remainder of the ACA,” and that it cannot “be fairly read as an …

CNBC reports: It’s been a year in the making, but CVS Health finally closed Wednesday on its acquisition of Aetna, creating a new health-care powerhouse. The merger combines CVS’ pharmacies with Aetna’s insurance business, blurring traditionally distinct lines in hopes of lowering costs. CVS also has one of largest pharmacy benefits managers through CVS Caremark and a major Medicare Part …

CNBC reports: The Department of Justice gave conditional approval Wednesday for CVS Health’s acquisition of insurer Aetna, cementing a deal that could transform how U.S. consumers access health care. The two companies cleared their path to approval when Aetna announced Sept. 27 that it reached an agreement to sell its Medicare Part D drug plan business to WellCare Health Plans …

Glorious Leader “wrote” an op-ed for USA Today: Throughout the year, we have seen Democrats across the country uniting around a new legislative proposal that would end Medicare as we know it and take away benefits that seniors have paid for their entire lives. Dishonestly called “Medicare for All,” the Democratic proposal would establish a government-run, single-payer health care system …

The Associated Press reports: Leon Lederman, an experimental physicist who won a Nobel Prize in physics for his work on subatomic particles and coined the phrase “God particle,” died Wednesday at 96. Lederman directed the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago from 1978 to 1989. He’s described as a giant in his field who also had a passion for sharing …

Axios reports: New York Democratic House candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN’s State of the Union that Medicare for All would act not as “a short-term band-aid,” but as a “generational investment” that would ultimately save the American people money. Ocasio-Cortez and many of the progressive Democratic candidates running in 2018 have made single-payer healthcare, which would cost about $32.6 …

Axios reports: The 64 health care CEOs in the S&P 500 cumulatively made almost $1.7 billion in 2017, according to a new Axios analysis of their compensation. That total is 74% higher than the $949 million that is normally highlighted in company proxy documents. Within the compensation totals, Axios’ Bob Herman calculated the actual realized gains of CEOs’ stock options …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: Gov. Rick Scott would not directly say Wednesday whether he supports a Trump administration move that critics say could wipe away health care protections for pre-existing conditions — a cornerstone of Obamacare — while saying he believes such protections are needed. “I believe that if you have a pre-existing condition, you need to still be …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration says it plans to roll back a rule issued by President Barack Obama that prevents doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies from discriminating against transgender people. Advocates said the change could jeopardize the significant gains that transgender people have seen in access to medical care, including gender reassignment procedures — treatments for …

The Daily Beast reports: The Trump administration has spent taxpayer money meant to encourage enrollment in the Affordable Care Act on a public relations campaign aimed at methodically strangling it. The effort, which involves a multi-pronged social media push as well as video testimonials designed at damaging public opinion of President Obama’s health care law, is far more robust and …

NBC News reports: Jimmy Kimmel used his opening monologue Monday night to give an emotional account of how his newborn son was diagnosed with a rare heart condition and almost died. During the 13-minute speech, Kimmel also gave an impassioned defense of Obamacare and criticized President Donald Trump’s failed attempts to cut health spending. The 49-year-old, who also hosted this …

Vox reports: House Republicans appear to have included a provision that exempts members of Congress and their staff from their latest health care plan. The new Republican amendment, introduced Tuesday night, would allow states to waive out of Obamacare’s ban on preexisting conditions. This means that insurers could once again, under certain circumstances, charge sick people higher premiums than healthy …

NBC News reports: No one will be adversely affected by the Republicans’ new health care bill once it’s enacted and more people would be covered, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. “I firmly believe that nobody will be worse off financially in the process that we’re going through,” Price insisted when pressed by NBC’s Chuck Todd during …

The Hill reports: Only one-quarter of the public wants to repeal ObamaCare completely, according to a new poll. The poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that 26 percent of the country wants to repeal the entire law. Meanwhile, 30 percent want to expand the law, 19 percent keep it as is and 17 percent scale it back. The results …

According to the legislation tracker Protect Thy Neighbor, there are presently 59 anti-LGBT bills active nationwide in state legislatures. The site is tracking this post-Obergefell avalanche in multiple categories including same-sex marriage, adoption, healthcare, public accommodations, and religious liberty. Hit the link, check out your home state, and bookmark the site, which is a project of Americans United For Separation …

CNBC reports: Pfizer announced Monday it will buy Allergan for $363.63 a share, or about $160 billion. The deal represents a premium of over 30 percent based on the companies’ unaffected shares price as of Oct. 28, Pfizer and Allergan said in a joint statement. Allergan shareholders will receive 11.3 shares of the combined company — Pfizer PLC — for …

UnitedHealthcare, which reported a net income of $8.4 billion this year, says it’s not making enough money with Obamacare and may leave the system within two years. “In recent weeks, growth expectations for individual exchange participation have tempered industrywide,” said Stephen Hemsley, the company’s CEO. “Co-operatives have failed, and market data has signaled higher risks and more difficulties while our …