Free Republic

The current political debate over Medicaid has centered on the idea of putting patients to work so they can earn their government benefits. Yet some experts say the country would be better served by asking this question instead: Are insurance companies — which receive hundreds of billions in public money — earning their Medicaid checks? More than two-thirds of Medicaid recipients are enrolled in such programs, a type of public-private arrangement that has grown rapidly since 2014, boosted by the influx of new beneficiaries under the Affordable Care Act. States have eagerly tapped into the services of insurers as one...

The GOP just won’t stop.Senate Leader Mitch McConnell today revealed plans to renew efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act if Republicans control Congress next year.Washington Post: McConnell: GOP may take another shot at repealing Obamacare after the midtermsMcConnell said that his party’s failure last year to repeal the health-care law, also known as Obamacare, was “the one disappointment of this Congress from a Republican point of view.”“If we had the votes to completely start over, we’d do it. But that depends on what happens in a couple weeks …” McConnell said.McConnell only echoes other Republicans hoping to return to...

Non-Issue: In recent weeks, you may have begun to hear Democratic attack ads aimed at bashing Republicans over their stances on “healthcare.” Whether the ad claims GOP candidates want to “take away coverage for preexisting conditions” or “make health care more expensive,” Democrats cannot escape the fact that they, not Republicans, own the disaster that is the current state of U.S. healthcare delivery and financing.

Support from family and community appear to shield Latinos from rising suicide rates. ... experience illustrates a “suicide paradox,” experts say. Even though Latinos face economic disadvantages and other stress in their lives, their suicide rate is about one-third that of non-Hispanic whites, both in Texas and nationally. Experts attribute the relatively low suicide rate among Latinos to the culture’s strong family and community support systems, which appear to provide some degree of protection. In Texas, the suicide rate among non-Hispanic whites has been steadily increasing during the past 16 years, from 13.4 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2000 to...

It’s a good thing Democrats made health insurance “affordable” when they passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010. I’d hate to see how much health insurance would cost if it were expensive. The Kaiser Family Foundation just released its annual survey of employer-sponsored coverage, finding that the average premium for family coverage increased 5 percent to $19,616. To put that in perspective, the real median household income in 2017 was $61,372. Thus family health coverage costs nearly a third of the median family’s income. But citing the average family premium of nearly $20,000, as high as that...

The NBC/Marist Poll released figures for the statewide Senate and Governor's races in Nevada this week with Republican Adam Laxalt leading 46-45 in a 'head to head' contest with Democrat Steve Sisolak for Governor. But there are other candidates in the race like Libertarian Jared Lord and Independent Ryan Bundy. NBC/Marist did create a three way set-up and there Laxalt gets a wider lead over Sisolak 44 to 40 percent with Jared Lord at eight percent. But again no Ryan Bundy listed in the poll. They put other categories in with the three candidates with "None of these candidates" getting...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) revealed a shocking detail the establishment media covered up about James Hodgkinson, the left-winger who attempted a mass murder at a Republican congressional baseball practice: according to Paul, the man who almost killed Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and wounded four others was shouting, “This is for health care!” During an appearance this week on Fox & Friends, Paul said: I was there at the ballfield when Steven Scalise almost died from a very, very angry, violent man who was incited, really, by rhetoric on the left. And this hasn’t been reported enough: When he came on...

The Trump administration’s often overlooked list of achievements has surpassed those of former President Reagan at this time and more than doubled since the last tally of accomplishments after his first year in office, giving President Trump a solid platform to run for reelection on. As Trump nears the two-year mark of his historic election and conducts political rallies around the country during which he talks up his wins in hopes it will energize Republican voters, the administration has counted up 289 accomplishments in 18 categories, capped by the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. They include 173...

When President Trump declared in a USA Today op-ed that the Democrats' "Medicare for all" proposal would "outlaw" private health insurance, CNN's Jim Acosta indignantly tweeted that this was "false." But reading the text of the leading proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders makes clear that Trump's op-ed was correct. "It is right there in their proposed legislation: Democrats outlaw private health plans that offer the same benefits as the government plan." This is, in fact, 100 percent accurate. The plan would require, in four years time, for individuals to be enrolled in the new government plan at birth. At that...

A Republican allegation that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jared Polis invested in a company benefited by his work as a congressman is now a formal complaint. Former Secretary of State Gessler, a GOP candidate for governor in 2014, filed the complaint Tuesday with the Secretary of State’s Office on behalf of Kristina Cook, a Denver County Republican Party official and conservative radio personality. She and Gessler allege that Polis failed to disclose in his official paperwork that he had invested between $5 million and $25 million in BridgeHealth Medical Inc. “This failure to report his interest in BridgeHealth is not a...

The Senate on Wednesday defeated a Democratic measure to overrule President Trump’s expansion of non-ObamaCare insurance plans as Democrats seek to highlight health care ahead of the midterm elections. The Democratic measure would have overruled Trump’s expansion of short-term health insurance plans, which do not have to cover people with pre-existing conditions or cover a range of health services like mental health or prescription drugs. It was defeated on an extremely narrow, mostly party line 50-50 vote, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) voting with Democrats in favor of overturning the short-term plans. Republicans argue the short-term plans simply provide a...

About SCO The Surgery Center of Oklahoma is a 32,535 square foot, state-of-the-art multispecialty facility in Oklahoma City, owned and operated by approximately 40 of the top surgeons and anesthesiologists in central Oklahoma. The facility has been accredited by the AAAHC since 1998 without interruption and has annually provided care to thousands of patients. If you have a high deductible or are part of a self-insured plan at a large company, you owe it to yourself or your business to take a look at our facility and pricing which is listed on this site. If you are considering a trip...

Whenever one segment of an economy exhibits, year after year, inflation above the general rate, and when there is no constraint on supply, then either a cartel is in operation or there is a lack of price transparency—or both, as is the case with American medical care. So it is clear that there is something terribly wrong with how health care is financed in our country. And a consensus on how to fix the problem—how to provide Americans the best medicine money can buy for the least amount of money that will buy it—has proved elusive. But the history of...

Just when things seemed to be looking up for the Post Office, more bad news comes to darken their doorway. They may be turning a profit in the next couple of quarters, but there’s a financial dark cloud looming on the horizon. Like many state and municipal governments around the country, the USPS offers a generous retirement plan for its workers. Very generous. It includes guaranteed health care coverage for the rest of your life. But a new report at Government Executive reveals a recent audit showing that the pool of available money to pay for those benefits is...

A proposal to repeal Obamacare entitlements and replace them with grants to states would reduce premiums for individual coverage by as much as 32 percent, according to an analysis by the Center for Health and Economy.The Health Care Choices Proposal also would modestly reduce the deficit, increase the number of people with private health insurance, and cut Medicaid spending, according to Center for Health and Economy.The proposal, the product of national and state think tanks, policy analysts, and others in the conservative community, embarks on a new path to empower consumers and return authority to the states to provide people...

1) After Obamcare was passed, unions that supported its passage requested and received special exemptionsWithin months after Obamacare was passed, Obama gave some organizations an exemption from some of the requirements of Obamacare. As time went on, more than 1,300 organizations received these exemptions.More than half of the people who are covered by insurance plans that received these exemptions are in union insurance plans. These unions supported the passage of Obamacare. But immediately after Obamacare was passed, these unions wanted exemptions from the very same law that they wanted to force everyone else to obey. This reveals an extreme level...

Democrat Congressman Jared Polis is running for Colorado governor on a platform largely constructed from the splintered and moldering remains of Barack Obama’s failed ideas. His opponent is two-term Colorado Treasurer and solid conservative Republican, Walker Stapleton. Polis would re-impose Obama-esque state government-controlled healthcare that has pounded family budgets with hundreds of dollars in monthly premiums for insurance they can’t even use because deductibles are so high. In Congress, Polis has introduced repeal of the Trump tax cuts that would steal thousands of dollars Colorado families are saving because of the new law, and cost the Colorado state budget hundreds...

Just two years after Colorado voters overwhelmingly rejected a costly, unworkable universal health care ballot measure, Rep. Jared Polis, the Democratic candidate for governor, is sidling up with the same kooky progressives who brought us the failed ColoradoCare proposal by touting "Medicare for all." Coloradans should be skeptical that the $387 Million Man really means, "Medicare for you – but not for me." After all, he can buy his way out of a lousy government health care system after he wrecks health care for the rest of us. Amendment 69 was rejected 79 percent to 21 percent by Colorado voters...

A rare sexually transmitted disease that causes flesh-eating ulcers on patients’ genitalia has popped up in England, the Lancashire Post reported. [Snip] Donovanosis, which is spread through sexual intercourse with an infected patient, or by coming into contact with a patient's infected ulcer, is typically seen in India, New Guinea, parts of the Caribbean, central Australia and southern Africa. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the painless disease causes progressive ulcerative lesions on the genitals or perineum, which are prone to heavy bleeding. Patients are at risk of extragenital infections that can occur in the pelvic...

If you are frustrated by wait times to see your doctor, the cost of health insurance and prescription drugs, just wait until there may be no doctor to see. NBC News recently broadcast a story about how fewer young people are entering the medical profession. The network cited a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges that "projected a shortage of 42,600 to 121,300 physicians by 2030, up from its 2017 projected shortage of 40,800 to 104,900 doctors." Only part of it has to do with the high cost of medical school and lengthy residencies. I asked my longtime...