Posts belonging to Category Health care

Many Faiths Unite in Opposition to Obama Attack on Religious Liberty

The Obama Administration’s mandate under the Obamacare statute that many religious employers provide health care coverage for contraception, abortifacients, and human sterilization tramples upon their constitutionally guaranteed free exercise of religion.  Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced the Administration policy.  Many faiths have united in opposition to the Obama Administration attack on religious liberty. On January 20, 2012, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said that “To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their healthcare is … More

Will States Lose Medicaid Funds If They Fail to Create an ObamaCare ‘Exchange’?

By Michael F. Cannon

In recent weeks, officials from two states have claimed that if they do not set up an ObamaCare health insurance “Exchange,” the state will lose federal Medicaid or State Children’s Health Insurance Program funds. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R), has since walked back that claim. New Hampshire Commissioner of Health and Human Services Nicholas Toumpas has [...]

Will States Lose Medicaid Funds If They Fail to Create an ObamaCare ‘Exchange’? is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

Don’t Blame Heritage for ObamaCare Mandate

Is the individual mandate at the heart of “ObamaCare” a conservative idea? Is it constitutional? And was it invented at The Heritage Foundation? In a word, no. The U.S. Supreme Court will put the middle issue to rest. The answers to the first and last can come from me. After all, I headed Heritage’s health work for 30 years. And make no mistake: Heritage and I actively oppose the individual mandate, including in an amicus brief filed in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, the … More

The Real Tragedy of the Komen/Planned Parenthood Flapdoodle

By Michael F. Cannon

…is that it overshadowed news that the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to repeal one of two new entitlement programs created by Obamacare—the ironically named CLASS Act—with a bipartisan three-fifths majority. (With numbers like that, Congress could even repeal Obamacare’s death panel!) But really, one private organization pulling funding for another private organization is way [...]

The Real Tragedy of the Komen/Planned Parenthood Flapdoodle is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

Two Thoughts on Susan G. Komen & Planned Parenthood

By Michael F. Cannon

I’m sure that many of you are following the controversy over the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation’s decision to suspend its partnership with and funding of Planned Parenthood. Two thoughts on this: First, this controversy provides a delightful contrast to the Obama administration’s decision to force all Americans to purchase contraceptives and subsidize [...]

Two Thoughts on Susan G. Komen & Planned Parenthood is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

An Opportunity to Improve the FDA

This year, Congress will have to reauthorize the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), which funds the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug approval process. As noted by Amanda Kronquist, a Heritage Health Policy Graduate Fellow, the FDA drug approval process has become “increasingly unpredictable, uncertain, and inefficient.” The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held its first hearing this year on the topic yesterday. It heard from the FDA commissioner and others in the field on the PDUFA reauthorization and its effect on jobs, innovation, and patients. In … More

Lunch with Heritage Online Chat on Obamacare – LIVE NOW

Click here to join us right now for our “Lunch with Heritage” chat. We are joined by Health Policy expert Kate Nix. She is taking your questions about the CLASS Act and Obamacare. Earlier this week, the House voted to repeal the CLASS Act, …

Morning Bell: Obamacare’s Latest Victim Is Religious Freedom

It has not even been two years since Obamacare was enacted, and already the President’s health care law has taken another victim — the religious freedoms Americans hold dear, as reflected by the First Amendment. The Obama Administration recently reaffirmed a rule under Obamacare that requires many religious employers to provide health care coverage for all FDA-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and related education and counseling. On the grounds that certain FDA-approved contraceptive methods can sometimes “cause the demise of embryos both after and before uterine implantation,” many groups also … More

As Heritage Predicted, Obamacare Burdens Freedom of Conscience

The enormous storm brewing over health care in the last several years has included debate on everything from costs of care to covering the uninsured. One of the most charged issues involves moral controversies that intersect with health care. In 2006, Heritage published a paper explaining how reducing personal control over health care decisions would burden freedom of conscience. The paper argued that the main problem for freedom of conscience in health care “is that most Americans, as a practical matter, do not have [adequate] control over their own health … More

Obamacare’s Contraception Mandate Tramples on Religious Liberty

The Obama Administration’s mandate under the Obamacare statute that many religious employers provide health care coverage for contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization tramples upon their free exercise of religion.  The Obama Administration should immediately exempt such religious employers from the contraception mandate.  The Administration’s trampling upon religious liberty with the contraception mandate illustrates yet again the need to repeal the Obamacare statute. What the Obamacare Statute Says Section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act, enacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) (the “Obamacare” statute), provides … More