Obamacare

COMMENTARY

Let’s celebrate the Affordable Care Act anniversary, and finish the job of assuring healthcare for all

BY: - March 23, 2023

In the long struggle to win quality, affordable, equitable healthcare for everyone in our nation, there have been two large expansions of health insurance coverage beyond the private, employer-based insurance system established after the Second World War as a way to provide insurance coverage to veterans returning from their military service: the establishment of Medicaid […]

The Supreme Court could strike down Obamacare. Here’s what’s at stake.

BY: - November 10, 2020

WASHINGTON— The fate of the sweeping 2010 health care law known as Obamacare is again in limbo, with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday scheduled to hear arguments over whether the statute should be overturned. States are at the heart of the case; nearly every one has made an argument about why the Affordable Care Act, as it's officially titled, should be kept or struck down.

COMMENTARY

Wilmington small business owner: What the Affordable Care Act means to my company

BY: - November 10, 2020

[Editor’s note: Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act in the case of California v. Texas. The following article by Wilmington small business owner Caroline Fisher explores some of the disastrous impacts that the law’s demise would likely bring about for her company and others like […]

COMMENTARY

Weekend humor from Celia Rivenbark: Trump arrives at an awkward moment

BY: - August 15, 2020

For four years now we’ve listened to Donald Trump crow about his upcoming “really beautiful” health care program. Four years of hearing about a plan so brilliant it would metaphorically roll up Obamacare in a room-size rug, toss it in the trunk of an old Buick and push it off a cliff where it would […]

COMMENTARY

Advocates: Supreme Court ruling endangers reproductive freedom

BY: - July 8, 2020

Reactions are coming in to today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that permits employers opposed to providing reproductive health care to their employees from being required to do so under the terms of the Affordable Care Act. This is from the NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina: The U.S Supreme Court decision in Little Sisters of the Poor v […]

COMMENTARY

Conservatives ask Supreme Court one more time to scrap Obamacare

BY: - March 3, 2020

Third time’s the charm? As multiple outlets reported Sunday, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider the fate of Obamacare again, because eradicating a politically popular law and nullifying health insurance for 20 million Americans is worth doggedly pursuing in the Trump White House and the right fringes of the Republican Party, if nowhere else. Otherwise, […]

COMMENTARY

Amid N.C. Medicaid debate, Utah foregoes federal dollars in partial Medicaid expansion

BY: - April 3, 2019

Amid a roiling debate in North Carolina over Medicaid expansion, one U.S. state has opted for a partial expansion. Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved Utah’s 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver, which would introduce partial Medicaid expansion and, with it, no enhanced federal match funds. While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides […]

COMMENTARY

One Texas judge says the ACA is unconstitutional: What you need to know

BY: - December 17, 2018

Before anyone gets too panicked about the weekend ruling by a Texas federal judge named Reed O’Connor that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, they should check out an article from Vox.com by Sarah Kiff, entitled “Federal court rules Obamacare unconstitutional — but the law stands for now.” This is from the article: O’Connor’s decision will […]

COMMENTARY

The best editorial of the weekend: The absurd list of conditions not covered by junk GOP healthcare plans

BY: - October 8, 2018

Be sure to check out the excellent editorial that ran over the weekend in the Charlotte Observer that lays out the hard truth about Republican “health care reform” plans. In “Do you have a preexisting condition that Republicans don’t want to cover? Check this list” the Observer explains the folly of conservative schemes to allow […]

COMMENTARY

Another act of health care sabotage over the weekend from the Trump administration

BY: - July 9, 2018

On Saturday, the Trump administration announced it would temporarily suspend a program that helps health insurers in the individual market cover the costs of high-risk enrollees, injecting uncertainty into the health insurance markets that could lead to higher premiums and fewer insurers offering coverage. Sound familiar? It should, as it’s just the latest of many […]

North Carolina advocates, health care leaders press again for Medicaid expansion

BY: - June 26, 2018

Roughly five years after North Carolina lawmakers dismissed calls to join a federally-backed program that would have extended health care access to an estimated 500,000 low-income residents, advocates are making their case to take up the program again with the N.C. General Assembly. “All of that uncertainty about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is past […]

COMMENTARY

Charlotte Observer condemns legislative plan to end protection for people with preexisting conditions

BY: - June 14, 2018

In case you missed it this morning, there was an excellent editorial in the Charlotte Observer condemning the last-minute scheme by Republican leaders at the General Assembly to undermine one of the most important and popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Under the last minute bill, the state Farm Bureau would be empowered to […]