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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is outlining a list of demands to win his support for the GOP's latest ObamaCare replacement bill that would require major changes to the legislation. Paul's primary demand, according to his office, is to substantially reduce the central component of the bill sponsored by GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (La.): block grants to states with money to spend on health care. "Graham/Cassidy keeps and redistributes/spends over a trillion dollars," Paul says in a document provided by his office. "My promise to the voters was to repeal Obamacare - not block grant and keep...

McCainCare The dishonorable Senator from Arizona. September 25, 2017 Daniel Greenfield ​Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism. It’s official. Senator John McCain won’t vote for ObamaCare repeal. He won’t vote for any health care bill that isn’t “bipartisan.” And any bipartisan bill will be ObamaCare plus something even worse. If McCain won’t vote for a health care bill that isn’t bipartisan, he won’t vote for ObamaCare repeal. Period. That’s information that voters could have used when Senator McCain was running for reelection...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters on Air Force Two on Tuesday that Breitbart News and former White House Chief Strategist and present Breitbart News Executive Chairman Steve Bannon have been critical to passing a state-based Obamacare repeal bill. (snip) Breitbart News has been at the forefront of the new Obamacare repeal legislation. Breitbart News first broke the story in an exclusive interview with former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

We’re not all socialists yet but we’re getting there. A majority of Democrats are, in any case. The single-payer numbers in Morning Consult’s new survey not only aren’t surprising, they’re right in line with what other studies have showed this year.

The Senate’s 52 Republicans have multiple options open to keep the Obamacare repeal process alive after September 30. The only question is whether they have the political will to do so. One Earlier this month, the parliamentarian advised Senate staff of her viewpoint that the reconciliation instructions would terminate on September 30—meaning the bill and process would lose their privileged status and access to the expedited Senate procedures. But her opinion remains advisory and not binding on either the chair or the body as a whole Option 2: Pass a New Budget While that requirement has since been changed, Congress...

Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday that he’s pushing President Trump to allow people to buy health insurance across state lines. “What I would do, and what I’ve been talking to President Trump about, is I think we should allow people to buy across state lines through health care associations, and actually I think the president is going to do this on his own within a week or two, and I think this could help millions and millions of people get affordable insurance,” Mr. Paul, Kentucky Republican, said on Fox News. “It’s not a federal program, and it doesn’t cost any...

Only half of America’s smallest businesses now offer health coverage to their workers because many say steady cost hikes have made it too expensive to afford a benefit that nearly all large employers still provide. The Kaiser Family Foundation said Tuesday that 50 percent of companies with three to 49 employees offered coverage this year. That’s down from 59 percent in 2012 and 66 percent more than a decade ago. “There’s just not as much money around for compensation, including benefits,” said Gary Claxton, a Kaiser vice president and lead author of the nonprofit health policy organization’s annual health benefits...

WASHINGTON — A last-ditch Republican effort to repeal Obamacare picked up steam on Monday as a key senator opened the door to supporting the bill, which is popularly known as Graham-Cassidy. The GOP got a boost when Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who was one of three Republican "no" votes in July that derailed the last GOP health care effort, said he might "reluctantly" vote for the bill if his governor supported it. Democrats and health care advocacy groups opposed to the legislation, which include AARP and the American Heart Association, are taking the latest Republican push very seriously. Republicans lawmakers...

Sarai was 25 years old when she died of Wilson’s disease, an inherited disorder that causes liver failure. A liver transplant could have cured her, but she was uninsured and was denied an appointment at two prominent Chicago transplant hospitals, including my own. Sarai’s plight was brought to my attention when a local religious group held a hunger strike advocating transplant access for Sarai and other uninsured patients. When she died, her congregation marched seven miles, holding her photograph and lugging coffins emblazoned with her name, to launch a sit-in in front of Northwestern University Hospital. Her death certificate named...

Public support for single-payer health care is growing—in fact, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll in July found a majority of Americans support it—but that increase comes with an important caveat. Most Americans only want government-run health care until they find out that it means the government will run their health care. I thought about that this morning while reading J.D. Tuccille's excellent piece asking, "Are You Sure You Want Medicare For All?" He walks through the various ways government-run health care seems to be appealing—it means families no longer have to bear the cost of heartbreaking medical disasters on their...

"It represents yet one more example of CMS’ ill-advised attempts to dictate what transpires in the course of the doctor-patient encounter."

The Affordable Care Act added millions of mostly poor people to the insurance rolls. But the law is driving premiums so high that middle-class people can no longer afford insurance. Several million are expected to drop coverage in 2018. Under ObamaCare, poor lives matter. Middle-class lives? Not so much. The ACA is actually two laws glued together: a vast Medicaid expansion to cover the poor and a federal takeover of individual insurance markets, previously regulated by states. Since that takeover, individual premiums have more than doubled, and they’re predicted to rise another 25 percent to 35 percent next year. The...

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) told reporters on Thursday morning that “11 or 12 governors” support former Sen. Rick Santorum’s plan to repeal and replace Obamacare through block grants. Breitbart News reported on former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s plan to block grant health care to the states. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), as well as Rep. Meadows, endorse the plan. During the Thursday meeting at Bloomberg’s D.C. office, Meadows revealed that “11 or 12 governors” support the concept of block granting health care to the states. Santorum told Breitbart News that the plan will allow...

The Trump administration is slashing funding for ObamaCare enrollment outreach. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials announced on a call with reporters Thursday that funding for advertising and other outreach for ObamaCare enrollment will be cut from $100 million last year to $10 million this year. A department official argued the administration is seeing "diminishing returns" from ObamaCare spending. Officials also pointed to ObamaCare's shortcomings to justify the cuts. “A health-care system that has caused premiums to double and left nearly half of our counties with only one coverage option is not working," said HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley....

If you’re waiting for the administration to replace the Affordable Care Act, you should pray that you won’t need an ambulance. If you do call the 911 emergency services, then you’ll be waiting longer than you would have before President Obama’s signature healthcare reform was implemented. How much longer? On average, close to 20 percent more, according to new research from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says there is “zero chance” Congress will allow the country to default on its debts by voting to not increase the borrowing limit. McConnell’s comments came Monday during a joint appearance in his home state of Kentucky with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. It was one of McConnell’s first public appearances since President Donald Trump publicly criticized him for failing to pass a repeal and replacement of former President Barack Obama’s health care law. McConnell did not mention Trump in his remarks, and he did not take questions from reporters after the event. But in...

With the September deadline for insurers to decide whether they are in or out of the Obamacare exchanges fast approaching, some insurers are opting to get out now. Aetna announced it was getting out of the Obamacare business in May. Today, the company announced it was leaving the one exchange where it had considered staying because of a Medicaid contract. From the Washington Examiner: The company said during an earnings call that it was withdrawing from the exchange in Nevada, the last state it had considered staying in. Aetna was leaving the possibility open because it was applying for...

Director of insurance says to stabilize the market and reduce rates, Congress should repeal and replace Obamacare! Health care insurers in Idaho have requested premium rate hikes as high as 81 percent for next year, according to the state's Department of Insurance. The five insurers serving the individual market in Idaho are Blue Cross of Idaho Health Service, Mountain Health Co-Op, PacificSource Health Plans, Regence BlueShield of Idaho, and SelectHealth. For all plans, insurers requested rates ranging from a low of 25 percent to a high of 51 percent for a combined average statewide rate increase of 38 percent. For...

Health insurer Aetna announced Thursday that it would completely withdraw from the Obamacare exchanges in 2018, after seeing its profits soar from reducing its participation this year. The company said during an earnings call that it was withdrawing from the exchange in Nevada, the last state it had considered staying in. Aetna was leaving the possibility open because it was applying for a Medicaid managed care contract, and the state gives extra consideration to insurers that participate in both programs.

Posobiec said that after the vote, a staffer near McCain’s office heard McCain say, “Let’s see Donald make America great again now.”