Tag: Obamacare

White House Obamacare reversal made over Cabinet objections

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 William 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 three sources with direct knowledge of the decision. Both are close allies of White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who helped to engineer the move.

But Monday’s terse, two-sentence letter from the Department of Justice to a federal appeals court reversing the administration’s previous partial opposition to a lawsuit challenging the 2010 health care law, took many Republicans aback — in part because they see it as bringing high political risk for a party that has failed to unite behind an Obamacare alternative and which lost House seats in the 2018 midterms when Democrats made health care a focus of their attacks.

View the complete March 26 article by Eliana Johnson and Burgess Everett on the Politico website here.

THE REAL STATE OF THE UNION: Mother Of A Child With A Pre-Existing Condition: ‘I’m Worried About Our Whole Family’

Take a break from Trump and hear from regular Americans about the real state of our Union. Watch the mother of a child with a pre-existing condition talk about the struggle to pay for her family’s health care as her son recovers from a brain tumor.

“Well, I’m worried about our whole family, honestly. … Medical bankruptcies are a reality and they were a much bigger reality before the Affordable Care Act.” – California resident

WATCH HERE

7 Million More Americans Uninsured Under Trump — Highest Level In 5 Years

A new poll released today shows the impacts of Trump’s health care sabotage. Trump’s relentless campaign to undermine the Affordable Care Act has made health care less accessible and less affordable for millions of Americans across the country.

7 million more Americans are uninsured now than when Trump was elected.

Gallup: “The 2.8-percentage-point increase since that low represents a net increase of about seven million adults without health insurance. Nationwide, the uninsured rate climbed from 10.9% in the third and fourth quarters of 2016 to 12.2% by the final quarter of 2017; it has risen steadily each quarter since that time.”

The uninsured rate is now the highest its been in nearly 5 years.

Gallup: “The U.S. adult uninsured rate stood at 13.7% in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to Americans’ reports of their own health insurance coverage, its highest level since the first quarter of 2014.”

DNC on Trump’s Latest Health Care Sabotage

In response to new rules proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, DNC spokesperson Daniel Wessel released the following statement:

“The Trump administration is continuing its relentless campaign to make health care less accessible and less affordable for millions of Americans. These new rules would increase out-of-pocket costs, drive up premiums, and put health care out of reach for many Americans across the country.

“Voters made their voices heard in the midterm elections: They overwhelmingly oppose Trump and Republican sabotage. While this administration has not learned its lesson, Democrats will never stop fighting to ensure that health care is a right for all.” Continue reading “DNC on Trump’s Latest Health Care Sabotage”

DNC on Trump Administration’s Unconstitutional Contraception Rule

DNC Women’s Media Director Elizabeth Renda released the following statement on the Trump administration’s new rule vastly expanding the number of employers that may refuse to cover workers’ birth control by citing religious or moral objections. The rule, which went into effect this morning, has already been temporarily blocked in 13 states and the District of Columbia by a U.S. district judge. A court in Pennsylvania is also already considering a request for injunction.

“The Trump administration’s new contraception rule is yet another attack on every woman’s right to make decisions about her own body with her doctor. This rule is unconstitutional, immoral, and shameful. This is just the latest move the Trump administration has made to turn its back on women, and it’s just another reason why Democrats are winning women’s votes by historic margins in the Trump era. Every woman deserves the fundamental right to make her own decisions about her reproductive health. Democrats will never stop fighting back against the Trump administration’s and Republicans’ ceaseless efforts to come between women and their doctors.”

Dem states take first step in appealing ObamaCare ruling

Credit: Getty/Sebastian Rose

A coalition of Democratic states defending ObamaCare filed notice Thursday to appeal a recent federal court ruling that struck down the health-care law as unconstitutional, sparking what’s likely to be a lengthy legal fight that could reach the Supreme Court and influence the 2020 elections.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) said that by appealing to the Louisiana-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the 17 states are standing up for Americans who count on health care.

“In this particular case we believe the stakes are not only great, but compelling,” he said Thursday on a call with reporters.

View the complete January 3 article by Lydia Wheeler and Jessie Hellmann on The Hill website here.

Conservatives Are Using the Courts to Attack Health Care for All Americans

Mem>A doctor in Milton, MA, wheels his patient into his office, February, 2018. Credit: Tlumaki, Getty Images

Conservative state officials, in conjunction with the Trump administration, have launched an all-out attack on health care in the United States. They have brought a suit to overturn the entirety of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which would have serious consequences for nearly every American who has health coverage, whether through their employer, the individual market, Medicare, or Medicaid. And they found a partisan judge who, last Friday, proved willing to ignore the rule of law and help them advance their political agenda through the courts.

For now, the ACA remains the law of the land. But if the partisan decision in Texas v. United States is upheld, the consequences could be devastating. The Urban Institute estimates that overturning the ACA would result in 17 million more Americans being uninsured in 2019—in addition to coverage reductions that would occur due to the elimination of the individual mandate penalty. Millions of American families could be left without access to health care—and without the financial safety and peace of mind that health insurance provides. Overturning the law would also have serious negative effects on public health and drug development and would shorten the life of the Medicare trust fund. Moreover, it would provide a major tax break to the wealthiest Americans, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers.

Supporters of the decision have talked about this as an effort to end “Obamacare,” which may cause some people to mistakenly believe it only affects those who obtain coverage through the individual marketplace. Nothing could be further from the truth: Virtually no American’s health care coverage would be safe from the effects of this decision. Here are just some of the impacts that this decision, if upheld, would have.

View the complete December 20 article by Sam Berger and Emily Gee on the Center for American Progress website here.

GOP lawmakers distance themselves from ObamaCare ruling

Republicans are keeping their distance from a recent court ruling that struck down ObamaCare, as GOP lawmakers are wary of the political backlash that could ensue from scrapping the law.

Many congressional Republicans remain silent after a federal judge on Friday struck down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. And those who have spoken out largely steered clear of embracing the decision.

The muted response illustrates how the politics of the 2010 health law have shifted, with Democrats successfully hammering Republicans during the 2018 midterms over GOP efforts to weaken the law’s pre-existing condition protections.

View the complete December 17 article by Peter Sullivan on The Hill website here.

Legal experts rip judge’s rationale for declaring Obamacare law invalid

A federal judge in Texas on Dec. 14 ruled the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, due to a recent change in federal tax law. (Reuters)

A federal judge’s ruling declaring the entire Affordable Care Act invalid came under harsh attack Saturday from legal analysts who predicted higher courts will reject the rationale as a tortured effort to rewrite not just the law but congressional history.

The ruling in Texas came on the eve of Saturday’s deadline for Americans to sign up for coverage in the federal insurance exchange created by the ACA, more commonly called Obamacare. The judge did not issue any injunction in the case, meaning that in the short term, nothing will change in health-care services or insurance while the courts consider the issue.

The 55-page ruling late Friday from U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor found the law invalid on the basis of the political and legal history of a few key provisions. O’Connor decided that once Congress repealed the tax penalty that enforced a mandate that most Americans get health insurance, the whole law became invalid.

View the complete December 15 article by Devlin Barrett on The Washington Post website here.

Republicans Own Court Ruling That Would Take Health Care Away From Millions

With Friday’s court ruling, Republicans have come as close as they’ve ever been to destroying the Affordable Care Act. It’s now clear that Republicans lied about protecting people with pre-existing conditions. Republicans are responsible for this threat to Americans’ health care, and will stop at nothing to dismantle the ACA.

The court’s ruling could take health care away from 20 million Americans, and puts as many as 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions at risk.

Politico: “A federal judge in Texas threw the health coverage of some 20 million Americans in limbo by ruling Obamacare must be scrapped because Congress struck the penalty for failing to obtain insurance coverage.”

CBS News: “Around 130 million people in the United States have pre-existing conditions, and without the ACA, insurers would no longer be required to cover those conditions.” Continue reading “Republicans Own Court Ruling That Would Take Health Care Away From Millions”