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contraception Healthcare News ObamaCare Politics

GOP Targets Contraception, Again!

“The country wants Congress to focus on jobs and the economy, not on pushing an extreme agenda against birth control,” – Dawn Laguens, EVP, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

House Republicans have included a so-called “conscience clause” in the government funding bill in a plan they approved early Sunday.

The House voted 231-192 on a bill that would delay much of the 2010 health care reform package for a year. The bill also would try to repeal a tax on medical devices that helps finance the health care law.

The stated purpose of the measure is to allow employers and insurers the opportunity to opt out of providing health care services that they find morally or religiously objectionable, reigniting the debate over a portion of the health care reform law that requires most insurers to cover women’s preventative health care, including contraception. The provision would allow them to opt out of coverage for the next year.

House Republican leaders confirmed that the provision was added into the one-year delay of Obamacare during a House Rules Committee meeting on Saturday evening.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens called the move “desperate, misguided, and extreme”.

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ObamaCare Politics

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Battles With Michele Bachmann Over ObamaCare

The Minnesota Congresswoman went on CNN and had a rather heated discussion with host Wolf Blitzer over ObamaCare and the Republican push to shut down the government.

SIDENOTE: My sympathies go out to Mr. Blitzer for thinking that he was going to get a straight answer from the robot-like-talking-points queen.

In the clip below, Blitzer asked a set of reasonable questions about Obamacare:

  1.  Do you really believe if this law — and it is a law passed by the House, passed by the Senate, signed into law by the president, approved by the Supreme Court — goes into effect that women, seniors, children are going to die?
  2. Don’t you realize that millions and millions of Americans will now have health insurance earlier they didn’t have, health insurance.
  3. Is it good or bad that children can now be on their parents’ health insurance policies until they reach the age of 26?
  4. If you have a pre-existing condition, should you be allowed to buy health insurance?
  5. Should an insurance company be able to deny you insurance coverage?

All great questions. But Bachmann is a master of the Shake and Bake She should be playing basketball with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Bachmann was able to steer clear of any real answers to Blitzer’s questions by sticking to what she does best – the Republican talking points… in other words, she lied her way out of the studio.

See the encounter below.

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Healthcare ObamaCare

Obamacare: 94 percent will pay below-forecast premiums.

Jonathan Chait writes: The Obama administration today released the final numbers on the premiums in the state health exchanges. This is the single most important piece of data we have to gauge the plausibility of the exchanges, which are the crucial mechanism of Obamacare. The premiums are not spin, they are the collective judgment of the marketplace. The conservative judgment of Obamacare has been a ceaseless litany of doom — rate shock, fumbling bureaucracy, unreasonable regulations. If that indictment were true, insurers would be charging higher rates than the administration initially forecast. Instead, the premiums are clearly lower than forecast — 94 percent of customers in the exchanges will have the chance to pay below-forecast premiums.

In 2010, conservatives were highly confident that the inherent awfulness of Obamacare was such that premiums would rise. James Capretta, writing at National Review, criticized the Congressional Budget Office for issuing “rosy premium scenarios.” Capretta argued “this CBO analysis is terribly optimistic … the premium estimates are based as much on judgment as analytics, and CBO’s judgment is clearly on the optimistic side.” Too optimistic! Clearly! Conn Carroll, then at Heritage, enthusiastically endorsed Capretta’s critique.

But now we know the CBO’s forecasts of the premiums were not too optimistic but too pessimistic. Surely this might budge their evaluation of Obamacare, even a teeny bit, right? Their response? Total silence

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Healthcare ObamaCare

ObamaCare Explained – Even a Two-Year Old Will Understand – Video

Okay. So apparently some of you have complained that it was too complicated to understand Obamacare. Maybe you’ve listened to the Republicans talk about the 2000+ pages of the law and the government red tape it entails. Well complain no more (and while you’re at it, switch off the Republican commentators spewing non factual talking points). Below is a video explaining all the intricacies of the law and how it will or will not affect you.

So simple, even your two-year old will understand.

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New York ObamaCare Politics

Republicans Put Anti-ObamaCare Billboard In Heart of Time Square

Tucked up above 42nd Street in Times Square, situated next to advertisements for Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Madame Tussaud’s, is a new political message that feels out of place in a space touting the latest in fashion and entertainment.

The billboard, sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, is shaped like a federal tobacco disclaimer and warns New Yorkers about the dangers of Obamacare: “WARNING: Obamacare may be hazardous to your health”:

The message is just the latest political stunt from the organization that first developed the individual health care mandate in 1989 and later touted Obamacare-like reforms in Massachusetts. But this strategy is particularly obtuse. While premiums in the law’s soon-to-be opened health care exchanges have varied throughout the country, New Yorkers will experience savings of at least 50 percent as a result of Obamacare.

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ObamaCare Politics

New Study Finds Obamacare Premiums “Lower Than Expected”

A new Kaiser Family Foundation study found “lower than expected” premiums for the new Obamacare health insurance exchanges.

“While premiums will vary significantly across the country, they are generally lower than expected. For example, we estimate that the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office imply that the premium for a 40-year-old in the second lowest cost silver plan would average $320 per month nationally. Fifteen of the eighteen rating areas we examined have premiums below this level, suggesting that the cost of coverage for consumers and the federal budgetary cost for tax credits will be lower than anticipated.”

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ObamaCare Politics weekly address

President’s Weekly Address – Implementing The Affordable Care Act

President Obama used his Weekly Address to address the eventual full implementation of ObamaCare or the Affordable Care Act – a law that will allow millions of Americans to be finally able to afford healthcare. And again, he pointed out the fact that there are still Republicans hell bent on making sure these Americans don’t get healthcare.

Many Members of Congress, in both parties, are working hard to inform their constituents about these benefits, protections, and affordable plans.  But there’s also a group of Republicans in Congress working hard to confuse people, and making empty promises that they’ll either shut down the health care law, or, if they don’t get their way, they’ll shut down the government.

Think about that.  They’re actually having a debate between hurting Americans who will no longer be denied affordable care just because they’ve been sick – and harming the economy and millions of Americans in the process.  And many Republicans are more concerned with how badly this debate will hurt them politically than they are with how badly it’ll hurt the country.

A lot of Republicans seem to believe that if they can gum up the works and make this law fail, they’ll somehow be sticking it to me.  But they’d just be sticking it to you.

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ObamaCare Politics

Finally – ObamaCare Supporters at Republican Town Hall Meetings

Taking a page right out of the Tea party play book, Obamacare supporters have taken to the streets, showing up at Republican town halls and asking sensible questions.

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — attended a town hall meeting held by five-term Republican congressman Rep. Patrick McHenry (NC) on Thursday. According to Think Progress, many of the pro-Obamacare attendees would not have health insurance without the program and they demanded to know what the congressman would suggest they do should Obamacare be repealed.

McHenry is one of the Republican House members who have voted repeatedly to defund the ACA. The coalition held their 40th vote just before they began their five-week summer recess.

Thursday in Swannanoa, NC, voters turned up to voice their opinions of McHenry’s fierce opposition to the Act.

One protester was a grieving mother named Leslie Boyd. Boyd’s son Mike was denied health insurance coverage because of a birth defect that insurers considered to be a pre-existing condition. He died of colon cancer because he could not afford to get access to treatment.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that another protester, Skip Edwards, 63, and his wife would not have insurance at all without Obamacare.

Edwards was laid off during the recession and both he and his wife have pre-existing conditions. Without Obamacare, they would only be able to get coverage through a high-risk pool program called Inclusive Health.

“It cost us $1,300 bucks a month — extremely expensive,” Edwards said. “It taps us out every month. But at our age and health, we’ve got to have it.”

McHenry responded to Edwards by saying that he is voting against Obamacare on principle, that he believes it’s “bad policy.”

The crowd reportedly groaned and booed when McHenry suggested that high-risk pools are a better solution than Obamacare

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ObamaCare Politics Repeal

Republicans Threaten Government Shutdown to stop Obamacare

The Supreme Court called it constitutional, republicans have failed to repeal it on 39 different occasions. But this time, Republicans are prepared to shut down the government to stop people from getting health care.

ObamaCare is at the center of a rapidly escalating fight that threatens to shut the government down this fall.

Senate Republicans, including two members of the leadership, are coalescing around a proposal to block any government funding resolution that includes money for the implementation of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

But such a move is a nonstarter for President Obama and congressional Democrats. Republicans have tried this maneuver in Obama’s first term, only to back off later to the chagrin of Tea Party leaders.

This time, GOP lawmakers are emboldened by problems plaguing the administration’s ObamaCare implementation. But that zeal could put Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a tough spot. Both leaders have downplayed previous talk of shuttering the government.
In the House, 64 Republicans have signed onto a letter pressing Boehner not to bring any legislation funding ObamaCare to the floor.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the leader of the Senate effort, predicts the vast majority of the Senate Republican Conference will back his plan, giving him enough votes to sustain a filibuster of a stopgap spending measure.

“This is the last stop before ObamaCare fully kicks in on Jan. 1 of next year for us to refuse to fund it,” Lee said Monday on “Fox and Friends.” 

“If Republicans in both houses simply refuse to vote for any continuing resolution that contains further funding for further enforcement of ObamaCare, we can stop it. We can stop the individual mandate from going into effect,” he said.

“We have 64 of my colleagues on this letter and we’re asking the leadership not to bring anything to the floor that has funding for ObamaCare in it,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who is spearheading the House effort. 

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Healthcare ObamaCare

5 Things You Might Not Know About ObamaCare

1… Contrary to what 42 percent of Americans think, Obamacare really is happening. In fact, people can start signing up for state-run health insurance on October 1st. That’s when states and the federal government will open marketplaces, called exchanges, to offer subsidized benefits to the nation’s 50 million uninsured.

2… Another survey found that a majority of Americans think the law cuts Medicare benefits and covers undocumented immigrants. It doesn’t.

Actually, the government expects the average Medicare recipient to save approximately $35,000 over the next ten years.

3… Tax credits. Next year, health insurance for eligible individuals or families will be subsidized.

For example, someone making just under $23,000 a year wouldn’t have to spend more than 6.3 percent of their annual income on health insurance. Based on a $3,030 plan, their contribution would be $1,450. Under Obamacare, they’d receive a tax credit of $1,580 to put towards their coverage.

4… The 80/20 rule. Insurers are now required to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on providing healthcare. The other 20 percent can be used on overhead expenses like excessive administrative costs and profits. In 2012, this provision saved Americans over two billion dollars.

If insurers don’t comply, they’re required to provide customers with a rebate. In 2011, over 13 million consumers received $1.1 billion in rebates – that’s around $150 per customer.

5… taxes. No matter what you’ve heard, your health benefits under Obamacare will not be taxed. The law does require that employers report the value of your annual coverage on your W-2, but the government says that’s just for workers’ information.

h/t Yahoo

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ObamaCare Politics Repeal

Another Republican Attempt to Deny You Health Care Coverage

Republicans are so intent on making sure Americans lose their health care and that heath insurance companies make as much profit as possible, that they are willing to anything to accomplish their goal.

Besides wasting taxpayers money with fruitlessly attempting to repeal the law over 37 times and counting, Republicans have now come up with another plan – stop the implementation of the law by refusing to provide a committee necessary for the full implementation of the law.

In a letter to President Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) noted their original opposition to Obamacare, reiterated their intent to repeal it entirely, and declared that they would not make any appointments to the Independent Payment Advisory Board.

The IPAB is a 15-member panel whose members must be confirmed by the Senate. The President selects three members himself and is required by law to seek three recommendations each from the top Democrat and Republican in each chamber. With Thursday’s letter, Boehner and McConnell refused to make any recommendations.

The IPAB will be stood up in 2014 by Obamacare and tasked with making cuts to Medicare provider payments (it may not touch benefits) if costs exceed economic growth plus an additional percentage point in any given year. Congress can override it by passing equally large cuts with a simple majority or waiving the cuts entirely with a three-fifths majority.

“Because the law will give IPAB’s 15 unelected, unaccountable individuals the ability to deny seniors access to innovative care, we respectfully decline to recommend appointments,” Boehner and McConnell wrote in the letter.

But there is a catch: if IPAB fails to do its work for any reason, the Health and Human Services secretary must order the cuts herself. So in a way, Boehner and McConnell are surrendering some of their power in order to appear as though they’re thwarting Obamacare — when in reality they’re merely turning over more control to the executive branch.

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ObamaCare Politics Repeal

Here’s Something New: Republicans Will Try To Repeal ObamaCare #NoJoke

This one cannot be filed under the Breaking News category: House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor is promising his House Republicans that they would soon get a chance to vote to repeal ObamaCare.

“While we have not locked in the timing, I expect that the House will vote on full repeal of ObamaCare in the near future,” he told members.

Many Republicans have been eager to vote against the 2010 healthcare law, as they did last year. But so far, GOP leaders have refrained from calling up a repeal bill and instead tried to pass a tweak that failed to win enough GOP votes in April.

No, you did not stumble upon an old news article, this one was filed today, May 3rd, 2013. This new effort by Eric Cantor and his Republican party to take away health insurance from Americans would be their 40-something attempt at repeal.

Just another example of taxpayers dollars, paying these 435 House members to waste more time doing nothing.

 

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