Free Republic

Now that Mitt Romney has named Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan as his running-mate on the Republican ticket, dishonest liberals are dusting off their old standby of "Mediscare," making false accusations that conservatives want to completely dismantle Medicare and Social Security simply because they wish to make some changes in order to preserve them. Democrats, it is implied, would never dare to change such programs. Unfortunately for this argument, there is one prominent liberal Democrat who has not only reduced Medicare spending growth, he's even touted his willingness to do the same to Social Security. That liberal Democrat is none other...

States that have refused to implement the Obama health law have already blocked $80 billion of its new deficit spending. If more states follow suit, they can block the other $1.6 trillion and force Congress to repeal the law. The law relies on states to implement two of its most essential pieces: health-insurance "exchanges" and a vast expansion of Medicaid. Exchanges are government agencies through which the law channels $800 billion to private health-insurance companies.The Medicaid expansion adds another $900 billion to the federal debt, with private insurers again taking a slice. States are under no obligation either to implement...

President Obama takes the offensive by presenting Mitt Romney’s tax-cutting plan as something that will actually raise taxes on the middle class so the wealthy can pay less. Seizing on a new study, Mr. Obama is trying to convince voters that his opponent will do exactly what he says he will not. THE SCRIPT A male narrator says: “You work hard. Stretch every penny. But chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him. Mitt Romney made $20 million in 2010 but paid only 14 percent in taxes, probably less than you. Now he has a plan that would...

(CBS News) Beginning today, up to 47 million women may be eligible to get free access to preventive health care services as that provision of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act goes into effect. Under the new provision that goes into effect August 1, 2012, women will be eligible to receive the following eight services without paying a co-pay: Well-woman visits, Contraception and contraceptive counseling, Gestational diabetes screening, HPV DNA testing, Annual sexually transmitted infections (STI) counseling, HIV screening and counseling, Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling, and Interpersonal and domestic violence screening and counseling.

An Indiana-based medical equipment manufacturer says it's scrapping plans to open five new plants in the coming years because of a looming tax tied to President Obama's health care overhaul law. Cook Medical claims the tax on medical devices, set to take effect next year, will cost the company roughly $20 million a year, cutting into money that would otherwise go toward expanding into new facilities over the next five years. "This is the equivalent of about a plant a year that we're not going to be able to build," a company spokesman told FoxNews.com. He said the original plan...

President Barack Obama's health care law is putting new strains on some of the nation's most hard-pressed hospitals, by cutting aid that they use to pay for emergency care for illegal immigrants, which they have long been required to provide. The federal government has been spending $20 billion annually to reimburse these hospitals — most in poor urban and rural areas —for treating more than their share of the uninsured, including illegal immigrants. The health care law will eventually cut that money in half, based on the premise that fewer people will lack insurance after the law takes effect. But...

........."We see the strength of the Houston housing market as a direct reflection of improving consumer confidence in the local economy as a whole," said Wayne A. Stroman, HAR chairman and CEO of Stroman Realty. "One of the principal factors in the demand for homes throughout greater Houston has been steady job gains that the Texas Workforce Commission reports has amounted to more than 90,000 hires over the past year. In its July economic outlook, the Greater Houston Partnership said 'Houston is the strongest of all the major metro economies in the U.S., and if job growth continues at the...

A number of Havana doctors, nurses and others are under investigation for allegedly treating paying patients in public hospitals and running post-surgery recovery rooms in private homes,... ...The case highlights the growing reports of low paid Cuban medical personnel treating patients who pay under the table to receive better care than what they can receive from a deteriorated public health system — the island’s only legal alternative. Cubans living in South Florida often pay in dollars to improve the care of relatives on the island,...or undergo medical procedures themselves during visits to the country to avoid the high costs of...

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Mohammad N. Akhter will no longer be the District’s health director. Officials said Dr. Akhter officially requested a yearlong leave of absence from Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s Cabinet so he can serve on a board charged with carrying out a key portion of President Obama’s health care reforms within the District. By law, Dr. Akhter had to step aside from his job as director of the D.C. Department of Health so he could serve on the city’s Health Benefit Exchange Board. He followed through on those plans before his swearing-in Tuesday alongside six other appointees...

Medicaid is failing Texans. Recipients are dissatisfied with the care they receive, and fewer doctors are participating in the program. By refusing to expand Medicaid at the whim of the expensive Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Gov. Rick Perry is recognizing that the first step in getting healthy begins with stopping what has made us ill. Let's be clear: the Obamacare expansion of Medicaid being discussed isn't about more help for the poor, it is about expanding the program well past the poverty line and into the middle class. If the only measure of success is found in spending...

Supporters of the Obama health law are incorrectly reading the Supreme Court’s ruling as a victory. First, the ruling severely limited the Obama health law’s Medicaid expansion, effectively giving states the green light to refuse to expand their Medicaid programs. Coupled with the fact that the statute already enables states to block the other half-trillion dollars of new entitlement spending, the law is in a very precarious position. Second, the Court ruled 5-4 that the individual mandate is not a legitimate use of the Commerce Power. That too is a defeat for the government, even if it is of no...

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes,” President Obama, September 12, 2008 Beginning January 1, 2013, ObamaCare imposes a 3.8% Medicare tax on unearned income of “high-income” taxpayers which could apply to proceeds from the sale of single family homes, townhouses, co-ops, condominiums, and even rental income, depending on your individual circumstances and any capital gains tax exclusions. Importantly, the “high income” thresholds are not...

If you have yet to make up your mind about the Affordable Care Act, this list might help you decide. 1. Individual mandate Obamacare may have been upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court, but Chief Justice John Roberts’ extraordinary opinion clearly labeled the law’s individual mandate a tax. Whether the power to enact a penalty for failing to purchase a product derives from the Commerce Clause or Congress’ taxing authority makes little difference. Every American will have to purchase health insurance and those who don’t will face an IRS-enforced tax that totals 2.5 percent of adjusted growth income in...

The Treasury Department released proposed regulations on June 22, 2012 interpreting and implementing specific requirements for hospitals to maintain their Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status as part of the 2010 Health Care Reform Act. Section 501(r)(4) requires a hospital organization to establish a written financial assistance policy. The statute specifies that the financial assistance policy must include: (1) eligibility criteria for financial assistance, and whether such assistance includes free or discounted care; (2) the basis for calculating amounts charged to patients; (3) the method for applying for financial assistance; (4) in the case of an organization that does not have a...

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows that — by a 15-point margin — the Supreme Court’s Obamacare ruling makes voters less likely, rather than more likely, to cast their vote for President Obama. Twenty-seven percent of registered voters say that the ruling makes them “less likely” to vote for Obama, while only 12 percent say that it makes them “more likely” to do so. Only 9 percent of independents say that they are “more likely” to vote for Obama because of the ruling, compared to 27 percent who are “less likely.”  Among Catholics — a large percentage of whom are historically swing voters...

A majority of Florida voters oppose the national health care law and half want it repealed, a new Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9 poll shows two weeks after President Barack Obama’s signature achievement was largely upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Only 43 percent of voters statewide support the Affordable Care Act and 52 percent oppose it, with 5 percent undecided. With the exception of southeast Florida, more voters think the law will make the health care system worse. More voters also favor the state opting out of provisions of the law, something Gov. Rick Scott has already said...

Over the last couple of months, Americans for Tax Reform has highlighted the 20 new or higher taxes on American families and employers created by Obamacare. The significance of these tax increases is that they are a direct violation of candidate Obama’s promise not to raise “any form” of taxes on these families. In an attempt to justify this widely unpopular piece of legislation, the Obama campaign released their own sort of “Fact Check” today. The response, however, missed the mark by ignoring hard numbers and common sense. They chose 5 of the 20 overall new or higher taxes to...

Part Two -- The Strategy As we saw in Part One of this series, the Achilles Heels of Obamacare are taxes and trust. If the voters had known in 2010 what they know in 2012--that Obamacare is ObamaTax--the bill would not have passed. And Obama and the Democrats know that, too. That’s why they are still fighting over whether or not it’s a tax or a penalty; for the sake of their own survival, they need to keep their rhetorical fog machine fogging. In this effort, partisan Democrats enjoy the full support of the hard ideological left, and the left...

The Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee will later today release the following chart, detailing the rising projected cost of President Obama's signature legislation, Obamacare: The latest estimate, as the chart details, is that Obamacare will cost $2.6 trillion dollars in its first real decade. The bill does not fully go into effect until 2014, therefore the estimate begins with that year. "President Obama promised a joint session of Congress in 2009 to spend $900 billion over ten years on his health care law: 'Now, add it all up, and the plan that I’m proposing will

I am retired USN and currently pay a small Premium to HUMANA for TRICARE PRIME this covers my family with medical insurance. Since I began working for my employer he has allowed me to keep the portion that he would have to pay for my healthcare insurance as incentive pay it works out to be about $2.50 per hour. How is this going to be impacted by Obamacare? Any references would be appreciated.