WASHINGTON (AP) — Ted Cruz and Mike Lee stand as the Senate’s dynamic duo for conservatives, crusading against President Barack Obama’s health care law while infuriating many congressional Republicans with a tactic they consider futile, self-serving and detrimental to the party’s political hopes in 2014. Cruz, the Texan who’s been anything but a wait-your-turn freshman, […]
Obamacare
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Republicans at odds as ‘Obamacare’ showdown nears
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans struggled to tamp down a family feud Thursday as they approached a politically charged showdown with the White House that combines the threat of a government shutdown, a possible first-ever federal default and the GOP’s bid to repeal the nation’s three-year-old health care law. One day after conceding that the […]
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Posted inFranklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, Oxford Hills, River Valley
Maine health insurance companies say they have won final approval for upcoming marketplace
LEWISTON — Officials from Maine Community Health Options and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield say their companies have both won final approval from the federal government to post health insurance plans on the upcoming Affordable Care Act marketplace. MCHO, based in Lewiston, is the state’s first health insurance co-op, a nonprofit governed for and […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Lewiston-Auburn, The Franklin Journal
Affordable Care Act info session set for Auburn
AUBURN — A public information session on the federal health care reform law will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the commons at Saint Dominic Academy at 121 Gracelawn Road. Individuals seeking information about the new federal health insurance exchanges, newly proposed insurance plans on the exchanges or other aspects for the […]
Posted inLetters
K. Breazeale: Cal Thomas got it all wrong
I am not surprised that Cal Thomas has joined the conservative rant against Obamacare. However, his U.K./U.S. comparison (Aug. 25) is worse than misleading. He notes “13,000 needless deaths in 14 U.K. hospitals in an eight-year span.” Our own Institute of Medicine estimated, in 2000, up to 98,000 such deaths annually in U.S. hospitals. But […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Lewiston Library hosts Affordable Care Act discussion
LEWISTON — The Lewiston Public Library and the Maine chapter of the AARP will host a discussion Sept. 4 on the finer points of the Affordable Care Act. The program, “The Affordable Care Act and You,” will be presented by AARP representative Ellen Harris-Howard at 6 p.m. in the library’s Callahan Hall. Harris-Howard will discuss the […]
Posted inLetters
T. Shields: Democrats can’t get it right
My letter of July 25 regarding the inadequacies of the Democrat-led government had defensive responses from David Marquis (July 31) and Nancy Willard (Aug. 1). Marquis admitted that the Obama administration made mistakes in handling the tragic events at Benghazi, refusing to send requested aid to those trapped there. He had no comment about individuals […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Cal Thomas: U.K health care horror stories could happen here
PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland — Each visit to the U.K. brings new horror stories about the National Health Service (NHS). Last month, Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS, issued a forensic report, commissioned by the government, which found that 14 underperforming hospitals in England had substandard care, contributing to the needless deaths of nearly […]
Posted inFranklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley
State to hold public comment session on Anthem narrow network plan
The Maine Bureau of Insurance will hold a public comment session Thursday on Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s proposal to move a number of its current individual policyholders into a narrow network plan that strictly limits which hospitals and doctors they can use. In central Maine, Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Bridgton Hospital, […]
Posted inBusiness, Maine, sj-web
The biggest change for small businesses under Obamacare you haven’t heard of
Since the Affordable Care Act was made law in 2010, the impact it would have on businesses has been debated in Maine and throughout the country. Today, a mere five weeks from the beginning of open enrollment on Oct. 1, the debate is still raging. Much of the attention about the act’s impact on businesses […]