Free Republic

A Texas union’s dirty laundry -- aired out in court when workers charged they were cheated out of overtime pay – also shows the labor organization ripped off taxpayers under a $1.3 million contract to sign people up for ObamaCare, a watchdog group is claiming. Non-profit group Southern United Neighborhoods got a $1.3 million federal grant in 2013 to serve as a "navigator," enrolling people in Affordable Care Act coverage. The group subcontracted with United Labor Unions Local 100, which, according to Cause of Action, paid members less than it billed the government and, in some cases, paid them to...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, I asked at the beginning of the program, is it fair to ask, we're gonna beat George W. Bush up for Katrina. Where does Obama come in for similar treatment when it comes to Ebola? I mean, there's no comparison. Katrina was one of the smoothest, most efficient operations you can imagine, compared to the way this Ebola circumstance is being dealt with. So this morning on CNN's New Day, they had a fill in co-host there, John Berman. He spoke with Van Jones, the former communist -- well, current communist but former member of the...

My mother took up golf in her 69th year. She had a terrible grip since she was missing her left thumb. It had become infected prior to the discovery of penicillin and was amputated. She played golf for more than 15 years on the 9-hole course in Deer River, Minnesota. We bought her a golf cart for her 80th birthday which made her a heavily recruited partner. Those were some the best years of her life. She died at 89.This all came to mind when I saw Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel’s appearance on Morning Joe. He discussed an article he wrote...

From the moment liberal blogger Ezra Klein launched Vox as an "explanatory journalism" project, it has exemplified the prevailing conceits of the modern American Left. Sometimes useful, frequently ideological, and more than occasionally embarrassing, the work of Vox's self-stylized wonks is required reading among those news consumers whose unshakable faith in their own intellectual superiority is a boundless source of smug satisfaction.  Klein's latest dispatch serves up a delicious premise to these eager members of the so-called "reality-based community:" President Obama's health care law has been a big success in the real world (Vox has offered countless variations on this same argument), yet it remains unpopular in many quarters...

Last week Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe announced his intention to proceed with Medicaid expansion even without the General Assembly’s approval. After revealing a more modest plan this week, his approach is less certain. But one thing is clear: if lawmakers surrender to executive bullying, they will do far more damage than saddling the state with dependency and debt. They will be complicit in an act of lawlessness. Abusing the legislative process has become part and parcel of rolling out the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare). Since it became law in 2010, the Obama Administration has...

Businesses are cutting jobs due to ObamaCare, according to surveys by several regional Federal Reserve Banks. Health economist John Goodman noted that "three Federal Reserve Banks in Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta have surveyed the folks in their area and roughly one fifth of the employers are saying they cut back on employment. “Roughly one fifth are saying they're moving from full time to part time,” Goodman added. “More than one in ten are saying they're doing more outsourcing - all this because of the new health care reform."

I’m very worried about the burden of government spending.Moreover, I’m quite concerned that poorly designed entitlement programs will lead to fiscal disaster.And I’m especially irked that Obama made the problem worse by ramming through yet another misguided and costly health care entitlement.Given this background, you can imagine that I was very interested (and depressed) to see that Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center put together some very important charts and analysis based on new fiscal policy projections.After crunching the new numbers from CBO, here’s her bottom line conclusion. …data from the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) recently released update to its...

The bill is coming due for ObamaCare and it’s a whopper. According to Medicare Care’s own actuaries U.S. health care spending is about to rocket. Federal meddling in what was once the finest and cost-effective health care system on the planet is nothing new. Back in the 1960s, many Americans paid for doctor and hospital services out of pocket or through modestly priced private insurance. Health care spending was about 6 percent of GDP. Enter President Johnson and Medicare. He bought millions of votes by giving seniors free health care that they never paid for through payroll taxes during their...

Millions of people are out of work and can’t find a job. Many of those who have jobs are being forced to work part-time instead of full-time. And those who have full-time jobs are in for a nasty surprise. Next year’s take home pay is like likely to be smaller than what they earn right now.In all cases the reason is the same: Obamacare.Why can’t people find a job? Three Federal Reserve Banks – in Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta – have released business surveys that confirm what many of us have been predicting. The new health law is discouraging...

"About half the practice of a decent lawyer consists in telling would-be clients that they are damned fools and should stop." So supposedly said Elihu Root, New York lawyer and secretary of war and of state, and U.S. senator from 1909 to 1915. Today it seems that many liberal "would-be clients" are in desperate need of what Root called "a decent lawyer." Take Texans for Public Justice, the so-called public interest group that has been pushing for the indictment of Gov. Rick Perry by a grand jury at the urging of special prosecutor Michael McCrum. The basis for the indictment...

Breakdown by Category 82,679,000 Medicaid51,471,000 Food Stamps22,526,000 Women, Infants and Children Program20,355,000 Supplemental Security Income13,267,000 Public Housing or Housing Subsidies 5,442,000 Temporary Assistance to Needy Families 4,517,000 Other Forms of Federal Cash Assistance Population Estimates (2013 estimates) California 38,332,521Texas 26,448,193New York 19,651,127Florida 19,552,860 Those four states have a population of 103,984,701. Those on welfare nearly totals that amount. Full Time Employment BLS figures show 115.735 million "usually" working full time at the end of 2012. There are currently 118.489 million "usually" working full time. Obamacare Welfare Expansion Inquiring minds may be asking "How did Obamacare effect welfare numbers?" Let's take...

Paul Ryan proposed a private health insurance alternative to Medicare for future retirees, liberal critics pounced. It’s another scheme to undermine health care for the elderly by “privatizing” and “voucher-izing” the program, they said.Yet, almost one third of seniors are already in private health insurance plans. They are called Medicare Part C, or Medicare Advantage, plans. And you would be hard pressed to find any Democratic office holder who wants to abolish them. The reason? Seniors choose to be in these plans because they like them better than traditional Medicare.Not only do seniors like them, but they appear to provide...

In a bit of dubious cherry-picking, a new Bloomberg article concludes that the Affordable Care Act is losing its effectiveness as a political issue for Republicans and is diminishing as a major issue. How do we know the end is near-ish? Well, so many Americans are "benefiting from the law," theorizes Heidi Przybyla, that political ads are simply not doing the job anymore. This news is somewhat unexpected -- and unpersuasive -- when you consider that a Kaiser Family Foundation poll recently found that only 15 percent of Americans believe Obamacare has directly helped them, whereas 28 percent say it...

The language of the Obamacare legislation is unambiguous: the monthly premiums for such month for 1 or more qualified health plans offered in the individual market within a State which cover the taxpayer, the taxpayer’s spouse, or any dependent (as defined in section 152) of the taxpayer and which were enrolled in through an Exchange established by the State under 1311 [1] of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act This language clearly and concisely provides that the Obama administration did not and does not have the right to provide subsidies to individuals enrolled in states that did not organize...

At one time, the United States was the “Great Melting Pot,” the only nation on Earth where people from all backgrounds, nationalities, races, sexual orientations, pretty much any configuration of human being you can think of, came together under the banner “American.” People from every corner of the planet wanted to move here, throw themselves into that pot, become Americans and melt themselves into all the opportunity that word offered. That’s no longer the case. Thanks to the progressives’ “divide and conquer” electoral strategy, the melting pot has been thrown away and replaced with a series of chafing dishes. People...

Some people want you to suspend your imagination and your memory regarding what the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) actually states in terms of who can receive subsidies for their health insurance. Of course, as usual, when you have right on your side, truth does not matter. But we will explain why the subsidies disbursed from the federal exchange fails the test of what is right. As you know by now, there were two rulings issued in a Court of Appeals that were diametrically opposed to each other. The issue revolves around whether the federal exchange (operating in 36 states)...

Many of you probably heard about the “Halbig” decision, in which a federal court struck a blow against Obamacare by ruling that the IRS was wrong to arbitrarily grant subsidies for health insurance policies purchased through a federal exchange. And why did the judges rule against the IRS? Well, for the simple reason that the Obamacare legislation specifically says that subsidies are only available for policies purchased through exchanges set up by state governments. My Cato colleague Michael Cannon explains: The PPACA authorizes the IRS to issue health-insurance tax credits only to taxpayers who purchase coverage “through an Exchange established...

Happy Friday, Mr. President. Overall disapproval: AP/GfK Poll: Obama job approval drops six net points from May to fall to 40-59, both an all time high disapproval and widest approval gap. — Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) August 1, 2014 We ran through the immigration numbers yesterday. And now, foreign policy: Foreign policy used to be a bright spot in Americans’ dimming opinion of President Barack Obama. Not anymore. Associated Press-GfK polling found a spring and summer of discontent with the president’s handling of world events. Obama’s consistently low marks across crises such as the fighting in Ukraine and the conflict between...

Last week, by 2-1 vote, a Washington, D.C., appellate panel ruled that the Obama administration unlawfully changed Obamacare. Meanwhile, on the same day, on the same question, a panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the other way. This issue is headed for the Supreme Court. Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, is -- according to CNBC -- the "intellectual godfather" of what is perhaps Obamacare's most serious court challenge. Cannon says when Congress drafted Obamacare, they made it clear: Tax credits, grants and other subsidies would be available only to those enrollees...

True, the Halbig case, if it makes its way to the Supreme Court, will present an opportunity for Chief Justice John Roberts to redeem himself from his abominably activist salvation of Obamacare. But more important, it will be an opportunity for the high court to reaffirm this nation's commitment to the rule of law. In Halbig v. Burwell, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held that under the Affordable Care Act federal health insurance subsidies are available for policies purchased only on state exchanges and not those purchased on the federal exchange. If the Supreme Court takes the case, it...