Free Republic

When U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Col.) got the word that he could opt out of Obamacare or keep his current health-care plan — which you might be surprised to learn is a private plan — he took a road some might say is less traveled…and then hit a big pileup:(Credit: Twitter via Twitchy) He breaks it down a bit more:(Credit: Twitter via Twitchy) Instead of heading down a woe-is-me path, Gardner harnessed his unfortunate news to get a conversation going about what’s happening to people’s health-care plans in the wake of

My annoyance here isn’t because her point is invalid — I said the same thing last night about taking care to keep Congress’s priorities in line with voters’ — but that, as a member of the caucus, she’s gift-wrapping a meme for the media about the GOP “overplaying its hand” or whatever. The Times a few other outlets have already picked it up, in fact. Yes, of course it’s important for Republicans to keep spending and the economy as their first order of business (ask former Speaker Pelosi about that), but isn’t that bound to happen now anyway? The House...

It's been more than a week since pastor Joshua Kulendran Mayandy has been given food or water at a Brampton, Canada, hospital where he is being treated for a brain impairment following a heart attack. The medical facility's officials are following a determination that he will get his next sustenance only when he can ask the doctor for it. The Sri Lankan Mayandy, who arrived in Canada 10 years ago to pastor a small church, complained of chest pain and was hospitalized after collapsing with a heart attack May 29. He was revived successfully, although the apparent brain damage from...

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) became the first medical society to sue to overturn the newly enacted health care bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). AAPS sued Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (AAPS v. Sebelius et al.).

NORFOLK If Congress wants meaningful health care reform, its leaders must stop rushing to pass a bill and hold legislative hearings to air the pros and cons of specific proposals, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb said Thursday. "My thought right now is to slow this down," the Virginia Democrat said. "Open it up. Have some hearings. Let people get their different viewpoints out in a very public way." The problems today with angry people shouting at each other during community forums around the country and the confusion over what might be included in any health care overhaul have their roots in...

NORFOLK It actually happened Wednesday: a civil, bipartisan discourse on health care. Two local members of Congress - a Democrat and a Republican - sat side by side, politely offering broad principles and predictions. They emphasized common ground and dodged any opening to snipe at the other party. The crowd of nearly 100 submitted questions, most in writing, that were sober, substantive. No outbursts, no tirades. "This is how it ought to be," one of the participants, Democratic Rep. Glenn Nye, said afterward. Nye and Rep. Rob Wittman, a Republican, spoke Wednesday morning before a gathering of the Eastern Virginia...

As he pushes his cart around the Southwest Side selling steamed ears of corn, sliced cucumbers and other street food, Omar Castillo embodies a potential life-and-death issue that has become the third rail in the debate over health-care reform. Peddling snacks -- doused with lime and chili powder and priced at $1.50 each -- is how Castillo, 19, is trying to pay for expensive medication he needs to stay healthy after receiving a kidney transplant last year. Because he is in the U.S. illegally, he has no ready access to aid for such long-term medical expenses. To cover such needs...