AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas and a subsidiary of health care giant Johnson & Johnson reached a $158 million settlement in a Medicaid fraud lawsuit Thursday, allowing the drugmaker to pay a fraction of the potential $1 billion in penalties and fines that state officials had initially sought. (more)
One of the biggest political changes that 2011 brought — in large part due to the tea parties and their effect on the 2010 election — is the centrality of the Constitution to our public discourse. Lawmakers and citizens no longer consider simply whether a given bill or policy proposal is a good idea but whether it is constitutional. “Where does the government get the power to do that?” is often critics’ rallying cry. (more)
A major supporter of the president’s health care reform law will be relinquishing his post as head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid to his number two in command after Republicans successfully prevented his confirmation to the post. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Just as 55 million Social Security recipients are about to get their first benefit increase in three years, Congress is looking at reducing future raises by adopting a new measure of inflation that also would increase taxes for most families – the biggest impact falling on those with low incomes. (more)
Many commentators have portrayed Texas’s uninsured rate as evidence of Texans’ lack of access to health care. However, the reality is that Texas’s problem is not care but cost. (more)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York joined a group of House Democrats and progressive organizations in a rally on Capitol Hill to urge the super committee not to recommend Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefit cuts, arguing that the nation’s $14.9 trillion debt is “not as big a crisis” as the 9.1 percent unemployment rate. (more)
FreedomWorks PAC officially weighed in on the Nebraska Senate race Wednesday, endorsing Republican Don Stenberg. In 2012, Stenberg will be challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson. (more)
President Barack Obama will use a Rose Garden appearance Monday morning to broadcast his call for a deficit reduction package that would combine $1.5 trillion in various tax increases, $1.1 trillion in savings from the withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and a $320 billion cut from federal medical spending. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is expected to seek a new base tax rate for the wealthy to ensure that millionaires pay at least at the same percentage as middle income taxpayers. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s Republican governors, seeking a voice in Congress’ upcoming debt debate, pushed Tuesday for looser restrictions on how states spend money on health care for poor and disabled Americans. (more)
Those who still believe in our Constitution’s restraints on federal power were rightly delighted by Friday’s 11th Circuit decision striking down the individual mandate in Obama’s health care law. The part of the opinion that deals with the individual mandate is masterful and exhaustive, running to some 89 pages. (more)
Disease does not discriminate, but apparently Medicaid coverage does. (more)
Nearly every day, you hear about the failure of President Obama’s health care law, and rightfully so. You also hear a lot about the state budget crisis. Virtually every state is straining to balance its budget, and in some states the looming threat of bankruptcy is very real. What you don’t hear about is how the health care law is one of the main reasons for the crisis, and that Congress has the power to alleviate it if it listens to governors from both parties and uses common sense. (more)
Conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe released the third installment in his Medicaid fraud video investigation Wednesday. The new footage shows a government employee in New York City assisting a fictitiously named man, “Mario,” with a Medicaid application. (more)
Conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe released the second installment in his Medicaid fraud video investigation Tuesday. The new footage shows a government employee in South Carolina assisting a man who described himself as a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) with Medicaid applications — ostensibly for 25 IRA members he flew into the U.S. (more)
Conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe released the first installment in a new video investigation Monday morning, this one focused on Medicaid fraud. The first video in the series shows government employees in Ohio assisting two men who have described themselves as Russian drug smugglers with applications for Medicaid. (more)
A federal judge in Indiana has stopped enforcement of the state’s law that would eliminate Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, National Journal reports. (more)
Was it intentional? According to the Associated Press, it was a negative result of a “well-meaning effort.” Obama administration officials and senior congressional Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi haven’t answered this question, and Pelosi’s office hasn’t responded to requests from The Daily Caller seeking comment. (more)
This past week, 29 governors signed a joint letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Fred Upton, requesting flexibility for their states’ Medicaid programs. Medicaid is a federal-state partnership program that is jointly funded by federal and state tax dollars. However, because the federal government establishes most of the standards and rules for the program, states are denied the necessary flexibility to create programs that best meet the needs of their residents. (more)
The Obama administration is ready to announce Friday that Medicaid benefits will be extended to cover same-sex couples. (more)
