You may have read that health care spending in the private sector picked up both in the fourth quarter of 2013, and during the first two months of this year. Recent data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) show that during the last three months of 2013 spending on health care rose at an […]

Maggie Mahar: You probably have seen headlines like this one: “O-Care premiums to skyrocket.” The warning, which was posted on The Hill, seemed designed to cheer conservatives distraught by Obamcare’s enrollment numbers. It began by announcing that next year, “premiums will double in some parts of the country. The sticker shock will likely bolster the […]

After providing free medical services to individuals without Medicare, Medicaid, or commercial insurance since 1998, Polk County, Arkansas’ 9th Street Ministries medical clinic mission will be closing its doors on April 24, 2014. Although the clinic faced funding difficulties during the Great Recession, the reason for its closure is unrelated to finances or lack of […]

Maggie Mahar on the Uninsured: As I explain in an earlier post, Charles Gaba, the enrollment guru who has been tracking Obamacare sign-ups since October, now estimates that by April 15, some 17 million Americans will have purchased their own insurance policies either in the Obamacare Exchanges (8 million) or off-Exchange (9 million) But how […]

by Maggie Mahar at The Health Beat Blog. Charles Gaba, who has become the “Nate Silver” for Obamacare enrollment numbers; now predicts that by April 15, 17 million Americans will have purchased their own healthcare coverage. His back-of-the-envelope estimate includes “a nice round 8 million”  who buy policies in the government marketplaces. In parentheses, he […]

That’s right, folks.  It’s right here.

Maggie Mahar at The Health Beat Blog has been keeping track of the progress made by people in enrolling in the PPACA. Cross posted from The Health Beat Blog. As the “train wreck” called Obamacare pulls into the station it’s becoming clear that some 7 million Americans are signing up to purchase insurance in the […]

Roberts suggested that he believes Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood can bring forth claims of religious freedom, saying courts have held that “corporations can bring racial discrimination claims as corporations” and that “those cases involve construction of the term ‘person.’” — John Roberts Offers Conservatives A Way Out Of Birth Control Dilemma, Sahil Kapur, TPM, […]

When [U.S. Solicitor General Donald] Verrilli said the Court has never found a right to exercise religion for corporations, Alito wondered if there was something wrong with the corporate form that it would not be accorded religion freedom rights.  Did Verrilli agree, Alito said, with a lower court’s view that the only reason for a […]

Obamacare faces two separate court challenges on Tuesday, but only one could deliver a major knockout blow to the law. The case getting the most attention is tomorrow’s Supreme Court challenge to the health care law’s requirement for employers to provide birth control to their workers. At the same time Tuesday morning, the District of […]