All Articles Tagged "healthcare law"
Sickening Politics: Florida Continues Fight Against Health Care Law
(New York Times) — When it comes to pursuing federal largess, most of the states that oppose the 2010 health care law have refused to let either principle or politics block their paths to the trough. If Washington is doling out dollars, Republican governors and legislators typically figure they might as well get their share. Then there is Florida. Despite having the country’s fourth-highest unemployment rate, its second-highest rate of people without insurance and a $3.7 billion budget gap this year, the state has turned away scores of millions of dollars in grants made available under the Affordable Care Act. And it is not pursuing grants worth many millions more. In recent months, either Gov. Rick Scott’s administration or the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature has rejected grants aimed at moving long-term care patients into their homes, curbing child abuse through in-home counseling and strengthening state regulation of health premiums. They have shunned money to help sign up eligible recipients for Medicare, educate teenagers on preventing pregnancy and plan for the health insurance exchanges that the law requires by 2014.
Health Care Repeal Would Hurt Black Community
(Seattle Medium) — On Tuesday, President Obama outlined his vision for how the United States can win the future through investments and reforms that will give every family and business the chance to thrive. Effectively implementing the Affordable Care Act is a vital part of this effort. But some in Congress want to refight the political battles of the past two years and repeal the law along with all the new consumer protections and benefits that go with it. That would be a major setback for the African-American community. Up to 1 in 5 African Americans lack health insurance, one of the highest rates for any group. This, more than any other demographic or economic barrier, negatively impacts the quality of healthcare received by African Americans. The Affordable Care Act gives African-Americans more freedom to get the care they need by extending overage to 32 million previous uninsured Americans. There are also new protections for the nearly half of all African-Americans who have a disability or chronic disease, making them vulnerable to discrimination by insurance companies. Under the law, insurers may not turn away children with pre-existing conditions, a protection that will extend to all individuals with pre-existing conditions starting in 2014. Repeal would put millions of African-Americans with health conditions right back at the mercy of their insurance companies. The law is also helping African-Americans get care by bringing more doctors and nurses to chronically underserved communities. Repeal would take away these investments, including billions of dollars for Community Health Centers, a quarter of whose patients are African-American, and new funds for training and placing thousands of new primary care providers in the neighborhoods where they are needed most.
GOP Seeks to Block Health Law Funds
(Wall Street Journal) – House Republicans will use a stopgap spending bill coming to the floor next week as a vehicle to block money for the new health-care law, a top lawmaker said Tuesday. The latest push to neutralize the legislation, confirmed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, (R., Va.), comes on the heels of an earlier effort to repeal the law. That passed the House but fell short in the Senate. The spending bill, needed to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, is being drafted by the House Appropriations Committee, which is seeking deep spending cuts. The current stopgap bill expires March 4. While the initial version isn’t expected to include the health-law funding ban, Republicans plan to introduce it as an amendment to the bill, Mr. Cantor said. It is expected to block the use of money in the bill to carry out the law, for example by preventing the Department of Health and Human Services from hiring more workers to oversee the new benefits. The House Republicans’ strategy means President Barack Obama’s health-care initiative will be a major hurdle to passing the government-wide spending bill. Democratic leaders in the Senate are unlikely to back any move to defund the new law.
Awaiting Health Law’s Prognosis
(New York Times) — With a court decision on Monday declaring the health care law unconstitutional and Republicans intent on repealing at least parts of it, thousands of Americans with major illnesses are facing the renewed prospect of losing their health insurance coverage. The legislation put an end to lifetime limits on coverage for the first time, erasing the financial burdens, including personal bankruptcy, that had affected many ailing Americans.
