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ATLANTA, GA, March 28, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal judge has blocked the Obama administration from enforcing its controversial contraception mandate against Roman Catholic-affiliated organizations in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of Savannah. U.S. District Judge William Duffey ruled Wednesday that the federal government cannot force Catholic schools, hospitals or charities to cover sterilizations, contraceptives or abortion-causing drugs in their health plans, as Obamacare requires of all employers, because to do so would violate their religious freedoms. The Catholic Church teaches that artificial contraception of any kind is gravely sinful.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CBSDC/AP) — U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius visited Nashville on Thursday to urge Tennesseans to sign up for insurance through the federal health care exchange before a March 31 deadline. Sebelius said that about 16 percent of Tennesseans are uninsured but eligible for insurance through the federal health care exchange, and she encouraged those who have not done so already to sign up. “If you are a 27-year-old in Nashville trying to make a break singing at the Bluebird Cafe … you can find insurance for as little as $104 a month,” she said,...

Pollster Celinda Lake's advice to fellow Democrats to take a midway position in the 2014 congressional campaigns is flawed because it can't be sold as honest. Reacting to results from her bipartisan Battleground Poll that show Obamacare to be a political loser, Lake said: "Don't defend it. Say it was flawed from the beginning and we're going to fix it." Note that she didn't advise to reject it outright, apparently because she knows that's never going to fly with Obama and the Democratic establishment and probably because it would be tantamount to an admission that the party has failed in...

In a dramatic moment at the Supreme Court Tuesday, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli told justices that U.S. business owners have no religious freedom to reject government mandates forcing them to cover abortions. Justices and lawyers also sparred over whether businesses actually have religious freedom and whether striking down the Obamacare mandate makes women second-class citizens. The notable abortion exchange between Verrilli and Justice Anthony Kennedy came during oral arguments in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius, two cases linked by the companies’ owners objecting to the Department of Health and Human Services requirement that businesses fully...

The U.S. Justice Department is telling the Supreme Court that killing a human embryo by preventing the embryo from implanting in his or her mother’s uterus is not an “abortion” and, thus, drugs that kill embryos this way are not “abortion-inducing” drugs. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby. The crux of the administration’s argument in this case is that when Christians form a corporation they give up the right to freely exercise their religion—n.b. live according to their Christian beliefs—in the way they run their business. It is in...

**SNIP** Guess who decided to skip out on the event? Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), even though the Senate was not in session and no committee meetings were on the books, according to the chamber calendar. Bayou Buzz pointed out that Landrieu wasn’t mentioned on the official schedule sent out by HHS, nor was there any mention of her in The Times-Picayune’s coverage of the event.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will highlight on Thursday local ObamaCare enrollment efforts in Louisiana, a deep red state with major 2014 midterm implications. Sebelius will appear with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to urge Louisianans to enroll before the March 31 deadline. Sebelius and other White House officials are targeting areas with high percentages of uninsured as the final sign-up days tick away. But Louisiana figures to be a battleground state in 2014, as Democrats seek to protect their Senate majority, and ObamaCare could play a big role in that. Many states run by Republican governors and...

EDITED Health industry officials say ObamaCare-related premiums will double in some parts of the country, countering claims recently made by the Obama administration. The expected rate hikes will be announced in the coming months amid an intense election year, when control of the Senate is up for grabs. The sticker shock would likely bolster the GOP’s prospects in November and hamper ObamaCare insurance enrollment efforts in 2015. Political operatives will be watching premium increases this summer, most notably in states where there are contested Senate races. In Iowa, which hosts the first presidential caucus in the nation and has a...

President Obama repeatedly promised Obamacare would reduce insurance premiums by $2,500 per year. He made this promise at least 22 times. Today Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted health insurance rates will increase under Obamacare. The Daily Mail reported: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told House Ways and Means Committee members on Wednesday that she expects health insurance rates to increase as the Affordable Care Act takes full effect.

Newly published emails show how health officials stonewalled a request by FoxNews.com for information about Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' under-the-radar fundraising for a pro-ObamaCare group. The emails were published Monday by The Washington Examiner, and show how officials were sent into a frenzy by the initial inquiry. FoxNews.com first reached out to the pro-ObamaCare group, Enroll America, last May to inquire about claims that Sebelius was making calls to nonprofits to raise money for its Affordable Care Act awareness campaigns. FoxNews.com was told "there was no truth" to the tip. But the emails show officials acknowledging, privately,...

HHS does not know how many of the people who signed up for Obamacare have followed through and paid their premiums, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a House panel this morning. “I can’t tell you because I don’t know that,” Sebelius told Rep. Tom Price at a Ways and Means Committee hearing on the agency’s budget.

The Obama administration will not delay ObamaCare's individual mandate or the March 31 deadline for enrolling in the new healthcare law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday.Sebelius offered the assurance during testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee, where Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) noted the administration has made dozens of other changes or delays to the law. ADVERTISEMENT Given problems caused by ObamaCare's faulty website last year, Brady asked Sebelius directly if delays to the individual mandate or enrollment deadline were next.“No sir,” Sebelius responded on both counts.

The big headline from the report: 15.9 percent of adults are now uninsured, down from 17.1 percent at the end of 2013. It's news that the Obama administration and the law's supporters are going to cheer as proof that the Affordable Care Act is working, and you'll likely hear a lot about it this week. The uninsured rate for the highly scrutinized 18-34 year-old demographic is dropping, but not yet to the levels the administration hopes for. The uninsured rate among 18-25 year-olds is now 23 percent, down from 23.5 percent, and the rate for 26 to 34 year-olds dropped...

As the number of seriously ill patients whose access to treatment has been impeded by the Affordable Care Act continues to increase, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius insists that “the actual number affected represents only a tiny minority of the population.” “No plan can comfortably accommodate every single person,” Sebelius pointed out. “Trade-offs are inevitable. We can’t let ourselves be distracted by the pitiful stories of a handful of unfortunate victims of rare diseases. The vast majority are receiving the coverage we deem essential.” Providing the “vast majority” with contraceptives, mammograms, and sex change surgery while short-changing the...

Emails obtained by the Washington Examiner through a Freedom of Information Act request raise new questions about how much the White House knew about Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' fundraising for Obamacare and whether she solicited donations from entities she regulates. White House officials have said they did not sign off on calls made by Sebelius to solicit donations from private entities for Enroll America, an outside nonprofit with close White House ties that promotes enrollment in the health law's insurance exchanges. Officials say they were only generally aware Sebelius would be seeking support from outside groups. In late January, HHS's Freedom of Information Act office released...

There is now little doubt that the Girl Scout cookie boycott is having an effect on cookie sales this year. Girl Scout spokesman Kelly Parisi went on The O’Reilly Factor this week to try and defuse the mounting controversy, and Girl Scout executives have sent threatening letters to their critics. Girl Scout CEO Anna Marie Chavez took to YouTube on Thursday to deny all charges leveled by the boycotters and to deny at least one charge they haven’t even made. “Recently, various individuals and organizations announced their intention to boycott GS cookies this year, based on mistaken beliefs about our...

Kathleen Sebelius: No job loss under Obamacare By: Lindsay Kalter February 18, 2014 07:40 AM EST Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says there is “absolutely no evidence” that the Affordable Care Act will drive down employment, despite a report from the Congressional Budget Office released Feb. 4 predicting fewer people would be working. “There is absolutely no evidence, and every economist will tell you this, that there is any job-loss related to the Affordable Care Act,” Sebelius told reporters in Orlando, Fla., on Monday. “Part-time physicians are actually down since 2010, not up. The number of full-time workers...

ORLANDO, Fla. — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said not enough of central Floridians are signed up for health care, and she's blaming state lawmakers. A YouTube video featuring Orlando resident Ali Kurnaz is part of the latest push to get uninsured Floridians to sign up for affordable health care. "I'm glad I can share my story about the Affordable Care Act," Kurnaz said at a news conference Monday. "I've benefitted a lot from it. My whole family has." But despite the outcome for Kurnaz, Sebelius said there's a lot of work to do in Florida, where...

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was in frequent contact with President Obama and senior White House aides before the disastrous launch of the federal ObamaCare exchange last year. While Sebelius has said the president was not aware of HealthCare.gov’s problems, more than 750 pages of documents obtained by The Hill through a Freedom of Information Act request show she made scores of visits to the White House. The documents reveal that Sebelius met with or attended calls and events with Obama at least 18 times between Oct. 27, 2012, and Oct. 6, 2013, including at least seven instances...

In November of last year, embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius spoke to Congress about the effects of the Affordable Care Act. She answered questions about whether the law should be delayed, considering the tremendous problems it was running into during its early implementation. Sebelius quickly snapped back that a delay was simply, unequivocally "not an option." She explained, suggesting that people with illnesses could not survive a delay: "Delaying the Affordable Care Act wouldn’t delay people’s cancer or diabetes or Parkinson. It doesn’t delay the higher cost all of us pay when uninsured Americans are left with...