Free Republic

A more recent independent study estimates 30 million uninsured at the end of Obama’s second term, and finds, remarkably, that the uninsured will have the same features (poor, Hispanic, young) as before ObamaCare. And I thought the primary goal of ObamaCare was to insure everyone, not to leave close to 30 million uninsured behind! These two projections raise the question: How can ObamaCare raise the number of insured by 30 million as it leaves some 30 million uninsured?

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has told Vista volunteers and other AmeriCorps workers that their government-provided health coverage does not measure up to the standards of the new health care law, and that they may be subject to financial penalties unless they obtain insurance elsewhere. The notice has surprised and worried workers in AmeriCorps, the federal community service program that is often described as a domestic version of the Peace Corps. Mary Strasser, the director of AmeriCorps’ Vista program, described the changes in a bulletin to members on Dec. 16. The coverage provided by the agency — the AmeriCorps Health...

After a month of trying, I still can't complete an application to join the D.C. Health Exchange. For a week, the Obamacare marketplace asked me to prove my citizenship, my daughter's existence, and my fixed address in the District of Columbia, but it would not allow me to submit the requested material. That changed, slightly, yesterday when it started allowing me to submit those things, which I did, but it must now validate them via a person. Perhaps this is why Barack Obama’s staff had to physically visit the D.C. exchange in order to sign up the president for Obamacare....

New Obamacare taxes that were previously kept secret have been unveiled by outraged customers who feel betrayed. Residents in many states have yet to feel the change that will come when President Obama's signature health care program which will go into full effect in January. But Blue Cross Blue Shield subscribers in Alabama got a glimpse of the future when they received their latest bill which had a separate line spelling out how much extra they will have to pay as a result of national health insurance. A local paper, AL.com, obtained a picture from a reader who received a...

Remember the White House “Reality Check”?  The White House communications office made a blog post Aug. 4, 2009,called “Facts Are Stubborn Things” to combat the idea that people will lose the insurance they like. In the video, Linda Douglass, then communications director for the White House office of health reform, sought to correct “the disinformation that’s out there about health reform.” Apparently, there were all sorts of wannabe news breakers back in 2009, armed with “a computer and a lot of free time,” who were waiting to pounce on Obama’s health care plan. “There are a lot of very deceiving headlines out there,” Douglass said...

A spokesman for California's health insurance exchange says enrollment action is heavy during the deadline day to sign up for coverage that will start Jan. 1. Covered California set Monday as the sign-up deadline and had no current plans to extend that by another day. The Obama administration announced it was extending the sign-up deadline through Tuesday for the 36 states using the federal health insurance exchange. California runs its own exchange under the federal Affordable Care Act. Agency spokesman Larry Hicks says the enrollment website has been running smoothly with no technical problems and that Covered California was expecting...

“Obviously, we screwed it up.” —President Barack Obama, December 20, 2013, discussing health care reform in response to a question at a year-end press conference. This column needs to be finished quickly so I can drive over to the headquarters of a local health insurance company with a premium check and copies of three proofs of state residency. I tried to use the ObamaCare exchange in my state, I really did. I probably spent about seven hours on the site in four or five sessions over the past few months. Theoretically, I’m the sort of person who might benefit from...

As the Obama administration scrambles to corral individuals into Obamacare before today’s deadline, experts worry that first-time health insurance buyers may be in for a rude awakening once they understand the conditions and terminology contained in their policies. A recent academic study published in the Journal of Health Economics found that just 14% of individuals who have health coverage could correctly answer all four of four basic questions about health insurance, including understanding what a “deductible” and “copay” are. If comprehension figures are that low for the insured, analysts worry what that portends for the uninsured, especially for a program...

Millions of Americans who had their health plans cancelled will be exempt from the Obamacare individual mandate, the administration said Thursday – a surprise move that comes just before Monday’s deadline to sign up for coverage starting Jan. 1. The administration also said people who had their plans cancelled could get a scaled back catastrophic plan, which has more limited benefits than those included in other Obamacare health plans. The move prompted sharp criticism from Republicans and concern from the insurance industry that another last-minute change would disrupt coverage and lead to tumult in the new marketplaces. “This latest rule...

The lie of the year, according to Politifact, is “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” But the story of the year is a nation waking up to just how radical Obamacare is — which is why it required such outright deception to get it passed in the first place. Obamacare was sold as simply a refinement of the current system, retaining competition among independent insurers but making things more efficient, fair and generous. Free contraceptives for Sandra Fluke. Free mammograms and checkups for you and me. Free (or subsidized) insurance for some 30 million uninsured....

Christmas Day...a time for family and friends to honor the birth of God's only begotten Son. Christmas Day...the day the birth of one small child forever changed the course of humanity. Christmas Day...the day Michelle Obama asks that as you and your family gather around your tree and eat your Christmas meal that you use that time to talk about health care...to visit the exchanges... and decide which plan is right for you and your family. Christmas Day...a day of the year that is for anything but a discussion on ObamaCare. Barack HUSSEIN Obama, since leaving Jeremiah Wright's 'G-D America'...

As the fifth year of the Obama presidency draws to a close, it may be time to examine the unspoken but powerful assumption behind the policies of the president and his party. That is the assumption that in times of economic distress Americans would be, more than usual, supportive of or amenable to Big Government programs. The assumption was widely shared, and not just by Democrats. And it has pretty well been disproven, insofar as any abstract proposition can be disproven, in the five years of the Obama presidency. The Obama assumption has its origins in the 1930s, in the...

THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG THE BLOG TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH, 2009 AT 6:55 AM Facts Are Stubborn Things Posted by Macon Phillips Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, "facts are stubborn things." Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to "uncover" the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions. In this video, Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White House’s Health Reform Office, addresses one example that makes it look like the President intends to...