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Former President Trump on Monday vowed to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with his own “much better” alternative program, reviving his push to slash the now-popular healthcare option used by millions of Americans. “Obamacare is too expensive, and otherwise, not good healthcare,” Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination next year, wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Former President Donald J. Trump said on Saturday he would “obliterate the Deep State” if elected president and told supporters he is their “warrior” and “retribution.” “In 2016, I declared I am your voice. Today, I add, I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution,” said Trump, delivering the keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, DC.

A little-discussed but transformative patient protection policy put into place by the Trump administration is proving to be an extremely effective tool in unwinding the tangled mess of American medical pricing. Under the orders, hospitals must provide the federal government with records on all the prices they negotiate with private insurers.Some hospitals banded together to sue the administration (they lost…twice), and the insurers’ trade association wrote a 57-page letter to the government calling the Transparency Rule “unconstitutional” and insinuating that too much transparency would not be helpful to the average health consumer.Every American should be able to get the health...

Major hospital operators say they will comply with new rules to make public their prices for medical procedures starting Friday, exposing previously secret market rates in an industry that accounts for about 6% of the U.S. economy. The roughly $1.2 trillion hospital sector will begin posting prices publicly in the New Year after losing a legal challenge to overturn new transparency rules that are a centerpiece of the Trump administration’s health-care policy. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said earlier in December the hospital pricing data and other transparency rules put forward by the administration were fundamental to a...

President Trump on Tuesday appeared to signal support for a bipartisan deal to help stabilize ObamaCare. Trump called the proposal “a short-term solution so that we don’t have this very dangerous little period” for insurance companies. The president spoke minutes after Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced he and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) reached an agreement to aid insurers. “They are working together and I know very much what they’re doing,” Trump said. Their proposal would extend key ObamaCare payments to insurers for two years and offer states greater flexibility to waive the law's rules. Trump announced last week he would...

On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) predicted that the Graham-Cassidy bill will receive 50 Republican votes and votes from a few Democrats. Graham said, “I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never been more excited than I am right now. We need 50 votes to get this over the finish line. The president has been working like a tiger. The vice president, Mitch McConnell’s going to give us a vote. … And I can tell you this, if you want money and power out of Washington, you want to end the march to...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters on Air Force Two on Tuesday that Breitbart News and former White House Chief Strategist and present Breitbart News Executive Chairman Steve Bannon have been critical to passing a state-based Obamacare repeal bill. (snip) Breitbart News has been at the forefront of the new Obamacare repeal legislation. Breitbart News first broke the story in an exclusive interview with former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

The Senate’s 52 Republicans have multiple options open to keep the Obamacare repeal process alive after September 30. The only question is whether they have the political will to do so. One Earlier this month, the parliamentarian advised Senate staff of her viewpoint that the reconciliation instructions would terminate on September 30—meaning the bill and process would lose their privileged status and access to the expedited Senate procedures. But her opinion remains advisory and not binding on either the chair or the body as a whole Option 2: Pass a New Budget While that requirement has since been changed, Congress...

Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday that he’s pushing President Trump to allow people to buy health insurance across state lines. “What I would do, and what I’ve been talking to President Trump about, is I think we should allow people to buy across state lines through health care associations, and actually I think the president is going to do this on his own within a week or two, and I think this could help millions and millions of people get affordable insurance,” Mr. Paul, Kentucky Republican, said on Fox News. “It’s not a federal program, and it doesn’t cost any...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he wants to make federal funding of Obamacare subsidies permanent before working with Republicans on other reforms to the troubled health care law the GOP has been unable to repeal. Schumer said "there is a thirst" among Republicans to work with Democrats on reforming Obamacare following early Friday's defeat of the Republican plan to repeal the law.

The Senate rejection of repeal of ObamaCare, coupled with its obvious failure, leaves Americans in a hell of a mess. Because of the inherent problems in the ObamaCare law, premiums will continue to skyrocket and outpace subsidies. More insurance firms will refuse to participate and people will be stuck. In addition, President Trump is likely to take two actions that are good policies but will worsen the situation: 1. He will probably direct his agencies, including the IRS, to stop enforcing the requirement that everybody buy insurance. Last year, six million people ran afoul of the requirement and had to...

The Senate voted narrowly on Tuesday to begin debate on a bill to repeal major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, but hours later, Republican leaders suffered a setback when their most comprehensive plan to replace President Barack Obama’s health law fell far short of the votes it needed. The Tuesday night tally needed to reach 60 votes to overcome a parliamentary objection. Instead, it fell 43-57. The fact that the comprehensive replacement plan came up well short of even 50 votes was an ominous sign for Republican leaders still grappling with a formula to pass final health care legislation...

It's no great revelation that Republicans have bungled the Obamacare repeal bill beyond belief. What's killing Republican reform efforts are the headlines projecting that some 20 million people will lose their health insurance under virtually any GOP plan. These numbers are complete fabrications, but all voters hear is that people will suffer under the Republican plan. That's why the GOP must change the narrative and focus on the three C's of health care reform: choice, competition and cost reduction. Lowering premiums through choice and competition will make health insurance more affordable for tens of millions of Americans. Obamacare promised these...

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If you’ve read a newspaper or watched cable news in the last month, you’ve probably seen someone say that the Senate GOP health care bill would “kick 22 million Americans off of their health insurance.” But it’s not true. New information from the Congressional Budget Office—leaked to me by a congressional staffer—shows why. CBO’s faith in the individual mandate’s magical powers For years, the CBO has been convinced—despite real-world experience to the contrary—that Obamacare’s individual mandate is the biggest reason why that law has increased the number of Americans with health insurance. When Senator Barack Obama ran against Hillary Clinton...

Congress just proved something that we all suspected: They are the wrong tool for fixing health care. The topic is too complicated, the politics are too corrosive, and the money interests are too strong. That’s why citizens will step in and fill the gap with their own proposals. I expect to see a number of citizen-created health care proposals emerge soon. To that end, I thought I would get the ball rolling by framing the problem in this short 4-minute video. This is how any large business would approach the problem of spiraling healthcare costs. Here is the graphic from the...

Republicans are finally getting smart on Obamacare. It took one of the savviest Republican senators -- Ted Cruz of Texas, with an assist from Mike Lee of Utah -- to get the GOP to figure out how to replace Obamacare, reduce premiums and save money for the government, all without alienating millions of voters. He's pulled the Republicans' fannies out of the fire, flipping a losing strategy into a big-time winner. The Cruz amendment -- which has been inserted into the GOP Senate health plan -- is smart, because it doesn't take anything away from anyone. If you want Obamacare,...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and the GOP leadership are scrambling this week to corral 50 out of 52 Republican votes for an historically unpopular health-care bill. Why did so many House Republicans already vote for a bill that large majorities in every state detest? And why are their Senate colleagues considering walking the same plank, given the electoral risk? In our book, “Representing Red and Blue: How the Culture Wars Change the Way Citizens Speak and Politicians Listen,” we find that thumbing one’s nose at public opinion might spell trouble for elected Democrats. But Republicans typically have much...

The new bill includes major changes to the original. One of the most significant was the inclusion of an amendment by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, which would allow insurers offering Obamacare plans to also offer cheaper, bare-bones policies. The amendment was included in an effort to earn more conservative support, but could also drive away some moderates who fear the amendment could drive up premiums for those with pre-existing conditions.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will support the new version of the GOP ObamaCare replacement bill, a major boost for the measure's chances of passage in the upper chamber. "If this is the bill, I will support this bill," Cruz told reporters Thursday after a meeting of GOP senators. "Now, if it’s amended and we lose the protections that lower premiums my view could well change." An amendment from Cruz to allow insurers to offer plans that do not meet ObamaCare requirements was included in the new bill in a key move to win his support.