Despite the efforts of a coalition of free-market supporters to persuade Senators to pass an amendment to the farm bill to reduce sugar subsidies, the Senate voted it down on Wednesday, 54-45. The coalition, including the Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Americans for Tax Reform, stated in a letter to senators [...] Continue Reading 
In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is asking a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill. The Oklahoma City-based arts-and-crafts chain argues that businesses — not [...] Continue Reading 
The president and chief executive officer of a medical equipment company invoked the Fifth Amendment at Senate hearing Wednesday, declining to answer questions about aggressive marketing tactics used to sell scooters, sleep apnea machines and other home medical supplies to Medicare recipients who may not need or want them. Jon Letko of U.S. Healthcare Supply [...] Continue Reading 
Right now, the Louisiana Legislature is considering legislation to force Governor Jindal to accept the Medicaid expansion portion of Obamacare, and some Republican legislators are supporting it. While I may not agree with our governor 100 percent of the time, Gov. Jindal is 100 percent right in rejecting the expansion. Over time, the Medicaid expansion [...] Continue Reading 
The links between a nonprofit promoting President Obama’s healthcare law and the White House have created an “air of expectation” that insurers will contribute to the group, according to an insurance industry official. Current and former administration officials have taken on leadership and fundraising roles for Enroll America, a nonprofit aiming to make sure people [...] Continue Reading 
Defense Department (DOD) officials decided to stop covering a certain form of physical therapy for the disable children of military members, despite an administrative judge’s ruling that the treatment is covered under the law. “For my daughter, this therapy means life, death or some horrible surgery, but she’s not alone — there are 27 other [...] Continue Reading 
Portland just voted again to not fluoridate its public drinking water. This is treated as something of a joke in the eyes of the establishment. In the media, viewing water fluoridation as “a communist plot” is the time-honored smear against conservatives to show how insane and paranoid they are. (Another one was a refusal to [...] Continue Reading 
Medicare has sharply changed the way it pays for diagnostic tests, cutting payment rates and curtailing coverage for some new tests altogether. The makeover in the way that Medicare reimburses molecular diagnostics has been foreshadowed for years, but was abruptly put into effect this summer. Affected are the kinds of tests that probe for gene [...] Continue Reading 
Who is Judy Faulkner? Chances are, you don’t know her — but her politically connected, taxpayer-subsidized electronic medical records company may very well know you. Top Obama donor and billionaire Faulkner is founder and CEO of Epic Systems, which will soon store almost half of all Americans’ health information. If the crony odor and the [...] Continue Reading 
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (shown) told the World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday that “universal health coverage” is a “right” and that it is the responsibility of “national governments” to achieve this goal. Speaking at a plenary session of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) governing body in Geneva, Switzerland, Sebelius said, “One [...] Continue Reading