Affordable Care Act

AFL-CIO headed for a breakup?

By Paul Kersey
09/05/2013
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka presides over a union establishment that continues to lose members – more than 1.6 million between 2002 and 2012. The Obama administration’s more union-friendly posture hasn’t helped much – union members made up 12.4 percent of the workforce in 2008, but that declined to 11.2 percent in 2012. Making matters worse,...

TAGS: AFL-CIO

Illinois to target SNAP households for Medicaid expansion

By Jonathan Ingram
09/05/2013
This year, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, promised lawmakers that it had no plans to conduct outreach or marketing if the state decided to expand Medicaid eligibility under ObamaCare. Lawmakers explicitly asked whether the state would be conducting any kind of “marketing or other initiatives to recruit new enrollees.” Here’s how...

Illinois Medicaid officials under fire for no-bid ObamaCare contracts

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
09/04/2013
Illinois Medicaid officials are under fire for awarding no-bid ObamaCare contracts for tracking, storing and processing electronic files for individuals’ most-sensitive personal health and financial information. Circumventing a competitive bidding process is disturbing, but it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to privacy concerns under ObamaCare. The bigger concern is how ObamaCare might...

Big Labor may get ObamaCare subsidies intended for the uninsured

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
08/30/2013
The media is swirling with rumors that the Obama administration is considering subsidizing health premiums for Big Labor members who already have insurance – using funds intended for uninsured, low-income Americans. If true, this will be yet another example of the Obama administration giving preferential treatment to special interests while subjugating individual Americans to the high costs and destructive effects of...

Illinois should shun ObamaCare and pursue Rhode Island-style Medicaid reforms

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
08/29/2013
In a recent interview to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, President Barack Obama managed to plug the ObamaCare program by encouraging people to sign up for coverage on a government website. Few can disagree with the goal of affordable health care coverage, especially for the medically needy and poor. While...

TAGS: Medicaid

ObamaCare: Companies changing health plans for 2014

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
08/27/2013
President Barack Obama promised Americans that under the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare, “If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan.” The unfortunate reality is that only a lucky few can keep their health plan. As the new law is implemented, many employees will be left with less...

Sebelius uses video contest to attract young people to ObamaCare

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
08/26/2013
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently announced a video contest offering cash prizes to young people for pro-ObamaCare videos. According to Sebelius: “Soon the Health Insurance Marketplace will give uninsured young people the opportunity to enroll in affordable health insurance, and the Healthy Young America video contest will help them tell their stories to other young...

TAGS: Kathleen Sebelius

Unions and ObamaCare – It just gets worse and worse

By Paul Kersey
08/24/2013
The more that unions get to see of ObamaCare, the uglier it gets. At its annual convention the Nevada State AFL-CIO passed a strongly-worded resolution calling for changes to the “Affordable Care Act”. They aren’t the first, but the Nevada group’s statement might be the sharpest critique of ObamaCare to come out of the union movement yet. It...

TAGS: unions

Another day, another ObamaCare implementation delay

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
08/15/2013
The New York Times recently revealed yet another ObamaCare implementation delay. “In another setback for President Obama’s health care initiative, the administration has delayed until 2015 a significant consumer protection in the law that limits how much people may have to spend on their own health care. “The limit on out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and co-payments, was...