Free Republic

Doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies may soon face lawsuits for treating male and female patients according to their biological sex, thanks to a health care rule finalized in May as part of the Affordable Care Act. On the same day President Barack Obama announced his controversial transgender school bathroom policy last month, a somewhat more sinister mandate was finalized by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with consequences for health care providers, insurance companies, and American taxpayers. The rule contains an explicit definition of gender identity that states a person can claim to be male, female, neither, both,...

Washington D.C., Jun 22, 2016 / 04:54 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Obama administration has rejected a challenge to the State of California’s requirement that health care plans include abortion coverage. A major federal budget amendment intended to protect abortion foes does not apply, it ruled. Leaders with the U.S. bishops’ conference said it was “shocking” that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allowed the State of California to force all employers, including churches, to fund and facilitate elective abortions. “Even those who disagree on the issue of life should be able to respect the conscience rights of those...

Under the guise of “reform,” President Obama is dismantling Medicare — dooming seniors to needless pain and disability and shortening their lives. The stakes are high, because Medicare and the access it gives patients to medical innovations have transformed aging. Before Medicare, older folks languished in nursing homes or wheelchairs with crippling illnesses. Now, seniors dodge that fate, thanks to hip and knee replacements, cataract operations and heart procedures — all paid for by Medicare.

House Republicans are unveiling new proposals to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care law, as Speaker Paul Ryan seeks to showcase a GOP governing agenda amid the tumult of the presidential campaign. The plan, revealed Wednesday, relies on individual tax credits to allow people to buy coverage from private insurers, and includes other largely familiar GOP ideas such as medical liability reform and expanding access to health savings accounts. It proposes putting $25 billion behind high-risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions and for others, and transforming the federal-state Medicaid program for the poor by turning it into...

Churches in California are officially subject to an onerous state regulation that requires them to pay for abortions, thanks to a ruling by the Obama administration. The troubling situation began in 2014 when the California Department of Managed Health Care reclassified abortion as a “basic health service” under the Affordable Care Act and ordered all insurance plans in the state to begin covering surgical abortions immediately. Even churches are not exempt from funding abortions. The churches filed a lawsuit against the regulation last October, and it has been moving through the courts. They also asked the Obama administration to uphold...

The Obama administration said Tuesday it will herd uninsured Americans into Obamacare plans this fall by targeting young adults and working with the IRS to root out people who paid a penalty for lacking coverage last year. Officials said people who were fined under the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate can expect to receive a paper notice that explains their coverage options on the law’s web-based exchanges. The state of Massachusetts is already working with its revenue agency to locate the uninsured, and the Obama administration said those efforts appeared to be working. The Health and Human Services Department said...

John Kerry, Angelina Jolie attend iftar dinner in US Published 4 hours ago Actress Angelina Jolie, UNHCR special envoy, speaks during an interfaith Iftar reception to mark World Refugee Day at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Virginia on June 20, 2016 (AFP Photo) Actress Angelina Jolie, UNHCR special envoy, speaks during an interfaith Iftar reception to mark World Refugee Day at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Virginia on June 20, 2016 (AFP Photo) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and actress Angelina Jolie attended an iftar dinner on Monday an iftaar dinner in Sterling,...

I’ve been in New York this morning to attend a meeting organized by Dr. Ben Carson and others who invited Donald J. Trump to speak to evangelical Christian leaders from across the country. Governor Mike Huckabee was moderator and Mr. Trump answered questions on a wide range of issues. Dr. James Dobson asked the first question–he asked Mr. Trump what he would do concerning religious liberty issues. Mr. Trump said the number one thing he could do for religious liberty would be to appoint great Supreme Court justices and he reminded everyone that the next president could appoint up to...

As Senate Democrats filibuster, I’m left wondering: what would Democrats do if conservatives agreed to halt the sale of semi-automatic assault-style rifles only if Democrats agreed to ban abortions after 20 weeks?In the wake of the horrific murders in Orlando, the Left has reverted to their self-righteous talking points and cherry-picked facts. As we now know, this attack had an immediate cause—an evil guy with a Sig Sauer MCX—and underlying causes—mental health problems, an adherence to extremist religious propaganda, a struggle with his sexual orientation. For tragic perspective, last year, there were 372 mass shootings (defined as an incident in...

In the ongoing battle over women’s reproductive health, high-profile GOP politicians haven’t exactly praised Planned Parenthood. However, George W. Bush’s daughter, Barbara, spoke in favor of the organization. In a conversation with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards for the New York Times, Bush said that part of the mission of her organization, Global Health Corps, is counting on millennials looking to effect change in the health industry. “So many young people want to work on social change. They want to do good,” she said. “Global Health started because this great talent pipeline was not moving into health care. It’s hard...

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill to expand Obamacare to cover illegal immigrants, but now it’s up to the Obama administration to determine if the nation’s largest state will get an exemption related to a specific promise the president made when trying to sell the health care law. The Golden State will be asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a “State Innovation Waiver” under Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. This would allow illegal immigrants in the state to purchase private health insurance plans from the California exchange, Covered California,...

Conservative Republican candidate for Governor of Texas - Debra Medina - writes an op/ed taking Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison to task for her longstanding opposition to pro-life issues. Medina says in part, "Conservative and pro-choice rarely fall in the same sentence, unless you’re referring to “conservative” gubernatorial candidate Kay Bailey Hutchison, of course. A long time Washington insider and clear adversary on pro-life issues, Senator Hutchison has had ample opportunity to rally against abortion, and she has failed."

Several weeks before he massacred 49 at an Orlando gay nightclub, Muslim terrorist Omar Seddique Mateen transferred over his interest in his Florida home to his older sister and Afghan brother-in-law, property records show — an indication the family possibly had some knowledge of his martyrdom plans. Authorities say the fatally shot Mateen clearly was prepared to die in a gun battle with police during the June 12 attack, the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil since 9/11. On April 5, Mateen “quit-claimed” the deed on his Port St. Lucie, Fla., house, signing it over to his sister, Sabrina...

Dayton-based Premier Health is seeking an average 40 percent premium increase next year for the health plans its sells on Ohio's federally-run health insurance marketplace, while the area's largest marketplace insurer, CareSource, has proposed an average rate hike of about 14 percent, based on the latest rate filings with the Ohio Department of Insurance. Of the more than 266,000 Ohioans who signed up for marketplace plans by the end of open enrollment for 2016, about 88 percent, or nearly 235,000 consumers, were eligible to receive premium tax credits, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Health Care: A new study shows that the average increase for low-cost ObamaCare plans in 2017 will be 11% — which is twice the rate from last year. Will the “rate shocks are a myth” crowd finally admit it’s wrong?

If you look up unaffordable in a dictionary, it should be right there under Obamacare. Premium hikes are coming for those on these health insurance plans. We all knew this was going to come down like a hammer. Guy has been tediously documenting how those on these plans are about to hit the inevitable iceberg, where hikes are expected to soar into the double-digits. It’s become so bad that Americans are now opting to pay the penalty and remain uninsured because it’s the better economical choice. Now, those double-digit hikes are going to hit those on low-cost plans under the law...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Premiums for popular low-cost medical plans under the federal health care law are expected to go up an average of 11 percent next year, said a study that reinforced reports of sharp increases around the country in election season. For consumers, the impact will depend on whether they get government subsidies for their premiums, as well as on their own willingness to switch plans to keep the increases more manageable, said the analysis released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

The organization is making lobbying for gun control a top priority. The AMA, the country's largest doctor group, also vowed to lobby Congress to overturn a decades-old ban on gun violence research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "With approximately 30,000 men, women and children dying each year at the barrel of a gun in elementary schools, movie theaters, workplaces, houses of worship and on live television, the United States faces a public health crisis of gun violence," AMA president Dr. Steven Stack said in a statement. "Even as America faces a crisis unrivaled in any other developed...

Houston prosecutors have dropped one of two charges faced by pro-life investigator David Daleiden, stemming from his investigation of Planned Parenthood. County Court at Law Judge Diane Bull threw out a misdemeanor count of trafficking in human organs. “Judge Diane Bull’s swift dismissal of the bogus charge against CMP founder David Daleiden of trafficking human organs is the latest confirmation that the indictments from a runaway grand jury in Houston were a politically motivated sham all along,” the Center for Medical Progress said in a statement. “The dismissal of the first indictmen [on Monday] sends a strong message to Planned...

The real numbers, that is “By almost every economic measure — every economic measure, America is better off when I — better off than when I came here. That is the truth. That’s true.” - President Obama June 1, 2016 That’s not the first time President Obama has made that statement, which is not true. But he and his liberal minions keep saying it so people will start believing it. They have done that throughout his presidency, and the liberal gullible media lets him get away with it. But we will not!