Why are Republicans on Capitol Hill having so much trouble repealing and replacing Obamacare? There are reasons all over the place: subsidies, tax credits, tax cuts, Medicaid, essential health benefits, and many others. But there is one fundamental obstacle to getting rid of Obamacare, and it is very simple: Once the government starts giving away,…

Die-hard Obamacare defenders are out in force over July 4 to protest Republican repeal efforts. The protesters are falsely claiming the repeal will gut Medicaid, causing frail, indigent seniors to be evicted from nursing homes. It's sheer demagoguery. But even these phony claims could have redeeming value if they get the public to take a closer look…

BOSTON — On the day Boston Children's Hospital celebrated being named "the number one pediatric hospital in the nation" by U.S. News & World Report, I was interviewing Dana Gottesfeld in nearby Somerville, Massachusetts. Dana is the young wife of Martin "Marty G" Gottesfeld, an imprisoned technology engineer/activist…

Former President Barack Obama is joining the demagogic slugfest against the GOP's latest bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. He claims the bill would "ruin Medicaid." Not so fast, Obama. Your health care law ruined Medicaid. Now, about half of all women who give birth in the United States are on Medicaid, a staggering figure. The Republican…

President Trump calls Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin his "100-to-nothing man" because Shulkin was confirmed by the Senate 100-0. That unanimity is turning out to be a red flag. Shulkin is not delivering 100 percent for vets. He told Congress last week that he plans to end the Veterans Choice Program, a setback for vets stuck on…

The deadliest superbug yet—Candida auris—is invading hospitals and nursing homes, killing a staggering 60 percent of patients it infects. Some exposed patients don't succumb to infection but silently carry the germ and infect others. So far, the lethal germ has sickened patients in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois and Massachusetts…

Here is what happens if you try to tell health care stories that defy big government orthodoxy: When GOP Congressman Rodney Davis of Illinois tried to recount how his wife, a nurse and colon cancer survivor, struggled in the nationalized Canadian health care system, liberal protesters responded by uttering "Ugh!" and catcalling him. When…

I feel your pain. But please use your brain. On Monday, late-night TV comedian Jimmy Kimmel delivered an emotional monologue about his newborn son. His baby was born with a congenital heart defect that required emergency open-heart surgery. Millions of American parents, myself included, have walked in Kimmel's shoes. We've experienced the terrifying…

The House vote on the GOP's Obamacare repeal bill vote is down to the wire, with dozens of Republicans waffling as "undecideds." What's the hold-up? Ninety-six percent of people who have to buy their own insurance stand to benefit from this bill, which will likely drive down premiums by double digits. The remaining 4 percent —…

"We're going to go when we have the votes," Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday when asked when the House will pass a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. Lawmakers will not be constrained by any "artificial deadline," Ryan declared. On March 24, when the Speaker pulled the GOP Obamacare bill before what would have been a sure defeat…

Going into a hospital? It's getting riskier because of drug-resistant infections—the kind almost no drug can cure. Despite one federal government "action plan" after another, the germs are winning. Government authorities are clueless about how many infections there are, or how many patients are dying. Alarming new research shows that…

First of all, the preferred free-market plan for health care policy should be no plan whatsoever. The idea that we need a federal top-down strategy to manage a huge chunk of the economy is at the very heart of the problem. We don't need a federal plan for health care. Yet Republicans have allowed liberals to frame the entire health insurance debate…

What's the biggest killer in hospitals? Secrecy. That's the bottom line from the Government Accountability Office and the Food and Drug Administration. Both report that hospitals are failing to disclose when medical devices injure or kill patients by spreading cancer cells throughout their body or infecting them with superbugs. Federal regulation…

On Saturday, Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders called for nationwide protests to stop Republicans from repealing the Affordable Care Act. The trigger event was Friday's confirmation of Dr. Tom Price as President Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services. Price is charged with making good on Trump's promise to repeal and replace…

Congressional Republicans are huddling at a closed-door retreat this week to craft a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, but it's President Trump who's calling the shots. On Friday, hours after taking office, he issued his first executive order. No surprise, it targeted Obamacare, instructing federal agencies to do everything possible while the…

As the new Congress convenes, budget cutters are eyeing Medicare, citing predictions that the program for seniors is running out of money. But federal bean counters have erroneously predicted Medicare's bankruptcy for decades, largely because they ignore the impact of medical breakthroughs. Worse, medical ethicists like Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, 59, insist…

Democrats are warning that once Obamacare is repealed, people with serious illnesses won't get health insurance. President Obama says repeal will mean going "back to discriminating against Americans with pre-existing conditions." That's fake news. The truth is, every Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act protects…

Going to a hospital is taking your life in your hands. New research shows patients treated at the worst hospitals are three times as likely to die as patients with the same health problem treated at the best hospitals. Yet most people pick a hospital based on convenience, a friend's recommendation or where their doctor practices. In fact, your doctor…

Last week, Veterans Affairs got caught covering up the quality ratings of its 146 medical centers. VA Secretary Robert McDonald insists, "No VA medical facility is bad or failing." Really? Not even a hospital that earns only one star out of five? McDonald denies he's hiding anything. But he and other VA brass have plenty to hide. In 2014…

On the stump, Donald Trump promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Now obstacles are emerging on the left and right. Democrats are sowing panic, falsely predicting that 20 million will lose coverage. Newly elected Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer claims Trump will "rue the day" Obamacare is repealed. Meanwhile, on Trump…

News flash, kids: Things aren't free. Things cost money. And "free" things provided to you by the government cost other people's money. Donald Trump gets it -- somewhat. He vows to repeal Obamacare's most burdensome federal mandates that are jacking up the price of private health insurance. But he also plans to preserve the most politically…

This election is a referendum on the Affordable Care Act. Almost everyone in America is affected, and it's harming millions more people than it's helping. Donald Trump is promising to "repeal and replace the disaster known as Obamacare." Hillary Clinton defends it and wants to "build on it." "Disaster" sums up the skyrocketing…

These days, there's been a lot of discussion about conservative media's culpability in creating unrealistic expectations and warped priorities among Republican voters. It's a reasonable critique. My question: When are we going to have this conversation about the other side — you know, the one that enabled the passage of a massive partisan…

Once was a shock. Twice was an outrage. Thrice is a nightmare that won't end. Over the past three years, my family's private, individual health insurance plan — a high-deductible Preferred Provider Organization — has been canceled three times. Our first death notice, from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, arrived in the fall of…

When The New York Times tells you Obamacare is "ailing" and must change to survive, rest assured that the law is in serious trouble. Then again, people who read The New York Times might be under the impression the only way to fix a collapsing state-run program is to pass another, more intrusive state-run program — in this case…

On Inauguration Day, the next president of the United States should suspend the penalty for being uninsured under the Affordable Care Act. President Obama promised his law would provide an array of affordable health plans. In 2017, consumers will get neither choice nor affordability. In nearly one-third of the nation, only one insurer will offer coverage…

Health officials are bowing to political correctness instead of taking obvious steps to protect residents in most of the United States from the Zika virus. For example, New York has more Zika cases — some 579 — than any other state. Officials warn pregnant women and their sexual partners not to travel to Zika-infested regions,…

So a giant, rent-seeking insurance company is accused of having threatened to leave Obamacare's health insurance "marketplace" if the government didn't approve its giant merger. If true, this would be the least surprising development in the past six years of Obamacare fiascos. Any giant regulatory scheme bringing together big business and…

"You get what you pay for," the adage goes. Not with the Affordable Care Act. When open enrollment starts Nov. 1, the public will see they're going to be paying lots more for health insurance in 2017 and getting less. Across the country, state insurance departments are announcing double digit premium hikes, often as high as 20 percent and…

Hillary Clinton is taking a sledgehammer to Medicare. In a move calculated to fire up the extreme left wing of the Democratic Party, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton pledges to open Medicare to people 55 to 64, and make a "public option" insurance plan for all ages. The 65-and-overs are already having a hard time finding a doctor willing…