Tag: Obamacare

Supreme Court to take up Trump appeal in ObamaCare birth control case

The Hill logoThe Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear the Trump administration’s appeal in a legal fight over religious exemptions for ObamaCare’s requirement that employer-based health insurance plans cover birth control.

The administration is seeking to expand exemptions for religious objectors to the Affordable Care Act’s so-called contraceptive mandate.

It will mark the third time the Supreme Court weighs in on the mandate, a controversial provision of ObamaCare that has been fiercely opposed by conservatives and religious groups for years.  Continue reading.

Trump lashes out at HHS secretary after briefing shows Democrats leading on health care

Washington Post logoPresident Trump lashed out at Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar for not doing enough on health care and drug pricing during a campaign meeting this week after he was briefed on polling that showed the public trusted Democrats more than Republicans on the issue, according to four people present at or briefed about the meeting.

Campaign advisers were updating Trump at the White House on Thursday on polling from battleground states, including Florida, that showed which party voters trusted more on various issues. One of those issues was health care, which often polls as the top voter concern, and the data showed the public trusted Democrats more than Republicans.

Trump reacted furiously and said the Democrats would “kill us” on health care, according to the four people, who requested anonymity to candidly describe the private meeting. The president then picked up the phone, called Azar and put him on speakerphone in the middle of the meeting, the people said. Continue reading.

Obamacare Curbed Racial and Ethnic Coverage Gaps, but Progress Has Slowed

States that expanded Medicaid saw particularly notable improvements in insurance coverage for black and Hispanic adults, a new report shows.

RACIAL GAPS IN ACCESS to health care narrowed after the Affordable Care Act took effect, a new study says, yet stubborn disparities persist.

These gaps in health insurance coverage have fallen across the country since 2014, especially in states that expanded eligibility for Medicaid, according to the analysis from The Commonwealth Fund, a health care foundation. Researchers assessed access to care by looking at the shares of adults 19 to 64 years old who lacked insurance coverage from 2013 to 2018, as well as those 18 to 64 who skipped health care due to cost concerns and those who had a regular source of care, such as a primary care doctor or a nurse practitioner. Groups were divided by race and ethnicity.

“Ensuring that everyone can afford and receive high-quality health care is essential to a high-performing health system,” Sara Collins, The Commonwealth Fund’s vice president for health care coverage and access, said in a call with reporters Wednesday. Continue reading.

DOJ asks SCOTUS to delay case that would void ObamaCare and steal health care from millions until after election

AlterNet logoEven while promising to protect popular aspects of the Affordable Care Act behind the scenes President Donald Trump and his administration have been hard at work trying to kill ObamaCare.  The Dept. of Justice is supporting a lawsuit brought by Republican governors and state attorneys general that has already received a ruling finding the individual mandate is unconstitutional. The DOJ then asked the court to declare the entire law – all of ObamaCare – unconstitutional.

Now that case is moving to the Supreme Court, but the Trump administration knows if it kills the now-popular health care law that bears his predecessor’s name, they will lose the support of millions whose lives literally depend on it.

So on Friday the U.S. Dept. of Justice under Attorney General Bill Barr asked the Supreme Court to delay deciding if it will hear the case, so any subsequent ruling would be handed down after the November, 2020 election. Continue reading.

5 Ways the Health Care Repeal Lawsuit Could Harm Women’s Health and Economic Security

Center for American Progress logoAuthor’s note: CAP uses “Black” and “African American” interchangeably throughout many of our products. We chose to capitalize “Black” in order to reflect that we are discussing a group of people and to be consistent with the capitalization of “African American.”

The Texas v. United States health care repeal lawsuit poses a significant risk to the health and economic security of millions of women and their families. On December 18, 2019, a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling added to the uncertainty around the future of the Affordable Care Act, threatening the benefits and protections that the law affords women, such as access to women’s preventive services and protections against gender discrimination. Continue reading “5 Ways the Health Care Repeal Lawsuit Could Harm Women’s Health and Economic Security”

The warped and twisted logic Republicans are trying to use to rip health care away from millions

AlterNet logoTo understand the stakes and debates around the current fight to tear down the Affordable Care Act — otherwise known as Obamacare — you must be able to wrap your head around the twisted the logic that Republicans are using in court.

At the center of the legal battle is the infamous “individual mandate,” the piece of Obamacare that required Americans to purchase health insurance. Advocates for the law backed this provision because of a collective action problem. They feared that without the mandate, too many people would opt to go without health insurance and make the system worse for everyone.

Some claimed this provision was unconstitutional. But in the Supreme Court case National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, Chief Justice John Roberts concluded in an opinion for the majority that the mandate was a permissible application of Congress’ taxing power. If you didn’t get insurance under Obamacare, you had to pay several hundred dollars extra in your taxes — that’s how the mandate was enforced. Roberts decided this was legitimate. Continue reading

Court Ruling Against ACA Hurts Patients and Destabilizes Health Insurance Markets

Center for American Progress logoYesterday, despite the faulty legal reasoning of the Republican attorneys general and governors who initiated the Texas v. United States health care repeal lawsuit, as well as the clear partisan nature of the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruledthat the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate was unconstitutional following enactment of the so-called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which zeroed out the individual mandate penalty. The 5th Circuit also remanded the case back to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to determine what other parts of the ACA can stay in place given its decision that the individual mandate is now unconstitutional. Not only does this ruling increase uncertainty and threaten health care coverage for millions, but it also places power over the U.S. health care system back into the hands of Judge Reed O’Connor—a man who legal scholars say was handpicked “for his partisan loyalties” and who previously ruled that the entire law must be struck down.

After several failed attempts by congressional Republicans to repeal the ACA, President Donald Trump’s allies—with the support of his Department of Justice—are taking a circuitous route through the judiciary to advance their assault against the ACA. Continue reading “Court Ruling Against ACA Hurts Patients and Destabilizes Health Insurance Markets”

Appeals court strikes ObamaCare mandate, sends case back to lower court

The Hill logoA federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that ObamaCare’s individual mandate is unconstitutional but punted on the larger question of what it means for the rest of the health law.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans remanded the case back to a federal judge in Texas to decide just how much of the rest of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), if any, is also unconstitutional.

“The rule of law demands a careful, precise explanation of whether the provisions of the ACA are affected by the unconstitutionality of the individual mandate as it exists today,” the judges wrote for the majority. Continue reading

HHS Proposal Puts Millions of Americans at Risk of Discrimination When Accessing Federally Funded Services

Center for American Progress logoThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is tasked with ensuring the health and well-being of all Americans, developing strategies to address public health crises, and conducting research and designing treatment interventions to end deadly chronic diseases. It accounts for more than one-fourth of all federal spending and is made up of 11 operating divisions. Under the Trump administration, however, the agency’s mission has been upended by the harmful political agendas of individuals such as Vice President Mike Pence and Office for Civil Rights Director Roger Severino. Under their leadership, it has reallocated significant resources away from civil rights and patient privacy in order to expand religious exemptions, promulgate rules that severely restrict access to reproductive health care, and undermine strong nondiscrimination protections under the Affordable Care Act.

The latest example of this attack on civil rights is a proposed rule change that would significantly curtail the ability of millions of people to access critical programs and services. On Friday, November 1—the first day of National Adoption Month—the HHS announced that it would not enforce strong and comprehensive regulations requiring its grantees to ensure that federal taxpayer dollars are not used to fund discrimination and that it would seek to replace these regulations with weak and ambiguous ones. This is a heartless proposal spurred on by the same interest groupswho have lobbied to keep same-sex couples and LGBTQ people from providing loving and secure homes for children in the foster care and adoption system. But now, the HHS has expanded the scope of its discriminatory policies to include grant programs designed to promote the well-being of vulnerable children, families, older Americans, and individuals with disabilities. Continue reading “HHS Proposal Puts Millions of Americans at Risk of Discrimination When Accessing Federally Funded Services”

Senate blocks effort to roll back Trump administration’s ObamaCare rule

The Hill logoThe Senate on Wednesday rejected a Democratic effort to roll back a Trump administration rule that allows states to ignore parts of ObamaCare.

Senators voted 43-52 on the resolution, falling short of the simple majority needed to pass the chamber.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was the only Republican to vote for the resolution.

View the complete October 30 article by Jordain Carney on The Hill website here.