affordable care act

• Opinion

Single payer is a far better choice for health care

Instead of passing a ruinous health care bill, Congress ought to embrace single payer concept.

• Opinion

Don't rob the poor of health care to cut taxes for the rich

Senators should not deny Americans health insurance to give a handout to the wealthy.

• Opinion

Horsey: GOP health care scheme is all politics, no care

Here is the core problem with the Senate Republican health care plan: it is all about politics, not health care, says David Horsey.

• Maryland

'The alternative is the dead carcass of Obamacare'

The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that the ranks of the uninsured would increase by 22 million Americans under a Senate bill to replace

• Opinion

Sun offers skewed Medicaid 'facts'

Describing Medicaid proposal as a 'cut' is highly misleading.

• Opinion

McConnell's threat

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is threatening to work with Democrats on health care? That's rich.

• Maryland

Pyatt: Open letter to GOP elected officials

Per Jennifer Rubin's Op-Ed piece in The Washington Post (and re-printed in the Carroll County Times on June 29), I am offering my opinion on the draft Senate

• Opinion

Rhetoric boils over in health-care debate

I think the flawed Republican health-care plan is very much open to criticism, from the left and the right, but this rhetoric is repugnant and dangerously stupid.

• Opinion

Witcover: Trump under siege

Donald Trump that he who, as he might put it, is "the enemy of the people," says Jules Witcover.

• Politics

Maryland to become first state with law to protect Planned Parenthood

Maryland on Saturday will become the first state in the nation to protect funding for Planned Parenthood from a possible federal cutoff.

By Michael Dresser

Jun 29, 2017

• Opinion

How not to enforce immigration

Congress and the White House produce costly, ineffective immigration policies

• Opinion

Obamacare is just too costly

Affordable Care Act has put U.S. on unsustainable health care path

• Opinion

Alternative Fact of the Week: No cuts to Medicaid

If Kellyanne Conway thinks there are no cuts to Medicaid, she should ask the people who stand to lose coverage.

• Maryland

Other Voices: How to make sure the Senate's bill doesn't come back to life

WASHINGTON — Pushing off a vote on the horrible Senate health care bill (the Better Care Reconciliation Act) is a victory, but not cause for opponents of

• Opinion

Robert B. Reich: Health-care bill is a giant wealth transfer to the rich

The Senate's bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act is not a health-care bill. It's a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans paid for by the poorest

• Opinion

Senate health care bill: What's worse than 'mean'?

If President Donald Trump thought the House's health care bill was "mean," what's the right word for the Senate version?

• Opinion

Mitch McConnell's health care rewrite looks as 'mean' as House version

he Senate Republican bill would take away billions of dollars from Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor, and spend that money on a big tax break for wealthy people.

• Opinion

Health care reform, cloaked in secrecy, gets lukewarm reception

After weeks of closed-door deliberations on their version of Obamacare repeal and replacement bill, Senate Republicans and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are peddling it to a reluctant flock.

By Jules Witcover

Jun 26, 2017

• Opinion

The Senate health care bill is bad for everyone — but especially Maryland

The Senate health care bill would be a disaster for America’s health care system generally, but its effects would be even worse for Maryland. Here’s why.

• Opinion

Costs too great in Senate health care bill

The U.S. Senate’s health care bill, set to be voted on this week, carries worrisome ramifications for every one of us in Maryland, not just for those who will lose their health care coverage.

• Maryland

Senate health care bill provokes anxiety locally

The GOP-controlled Senate revealed a draft of its plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, on Thursday, to mixed reviews.

• Opinion

Ex-inmate Mark Farley Grant: 'I grew up in prison, you know'

Sentenced as a juvenile, former inmate Mark Grant seeks resolution of innocence claim.

By Dan Rodricks

Jun 24, 2017

• Maryland

Piel: How do we love and care for one another in the health care debate?

Our neighbor George recently commented on the combative issue of health care for Americans. Instead of starting with health care as either "privileged " (those

• Opinion

Hey, Trump, hands off my health care!

I find myself in a tug-of-war with Donald Trump and his gilded sidekicks over my health care coverage. It's hardly a fair match.

• Politics

Hogan joins swift backlash over Senate GOP's bill to overhaul Obamacare

Legislation unveiled by Senate Republican leaders to dismantle President Barack Obama's health care law ran into swift internal opposition Thursday, once again throwing into doubt the GOP's ability to make good on a years long campaign promise to repeal the controversial program.

• Opinion

New GOP health care bill is just as bad as the old one

The Senate's health care bill is just as bad as the House's.

• Health

State considers rate increases on the health exchange as another insurer drops out

As U.S. Senate leaders prepare to unveil their plan to remake the Affordable Care Act over time, Md. officials must press ahead with the system as it stands.

By Meredith Cohn

Jun 21, 2017

• Politics

Poll: House health care bill unpopular in GOP districts

A majority of voters in deeply red congressional districts oppose the health care overhaul approved by the House last month, according to a new poll.

By John Fritze

Jun 21, 2017

• Health

Consumer advocacy groups protest CareFirst rate increase proposal

More than three dozen organizations are calling on Maryland's insurance regulator to reject big rate increases proposed by the state's dominant carrier, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, for plans sold to individuals on the exchange created by the Affordable Care Act

By Meredith Cohn

Jun 20, 2017

• Opinion

An unhealthy secrecy shrouds the Senate's bill to replace Obamacare

For all the pumps of hand sanitizer that have cropped up everywhere in recent years to help prevent the spread of germs and illness, an even more plentiful

• Maryland

Sen. Ben Cardin talks health care, opioids, budget in Carroll tour

Sen. Ben Cardin made stops throughout Carroll County on Friday to talk with local leaders.

• Business

Maryland Insurance Administration approves Evergreen Health acquisition

Approval from the insurance administration clears the way for Evergreen to finalize a deal to be acquired and convert to a for-profit insurer.

By Sarah Gantz

Jun 14, 2017

• Opinion

Trump, GOP Congress would set back women's health

The Trump administration and the GOP Congress are doing damage to women's health care.

• Maryland

OPINION: Key Republican wants to rescue Obamacare, for now

The tumultuous past week provided reassuring evidence that there are still a few fully-functioning adults in the U.S. Congress — and not all of them sit on the

• Opinion

How Republicans can survive Trump

On the domestic front, Donald Trump's agenda is in a shambles. It's up to Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan to lead.

• Health

New Chase Brexton CEO wants to create more trusting culture

Patrick Mutch, the new CEO of Chase Brexton Health Care, prides himself on being a straight shooter.

• Politics

Maryland advocates resist efforts to target Medicaid in federal funding fights

With some 75 million beneficiaries nationwide, including 1.3 million in Maryland, proposed cuts to the 52-year-old Medicaid program have become a key stumbling block as the Senate considers the health care legislation approved by the Republican-controlled House in May.

• Opinion

Government-provided health care doesn't assure better health

The dream of implementing single-payer health care across the Golden State comes with a gobsmacking annual price tag: $400 billion — more than twice California's annual budget. So maybe this is a good opportunity to look for another homegrown solution to the problem of health care.

• Opinion

Birth control debate is about control

Donald Trump's desire to scrap Obamacare's birth control mandate is about controlling women

• Opinion

Will Trump kill the ACA contraceptive mandate?

Proposed Trump administration regulations would allow any employer — from a tiny, faith-based non-profit to a global conglomerate — to substitute its values for those if its workers.

• Opinion

Robert Reich: Making America meaner

Robert Reich: Donald Trump's hatefulness and vindictiveness have normalized a new meanness in America.

• Maryland

Scanlan: Much more can be achieved putting partisan politics aside

"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right" — well here we are — stuck in the middle. I know this is how most Americans must feel right now. With every

• Opinion

Fight to protect health benefits

Washington is playing games with health care and Marylanders must fight to protect the most vulnerable among us

• Politics

Trump budget lays out deep cuts to safety net programs

A $3.9 trillion federal budget proposal expected to be unveiled by the Trump administration Tuesday will call for deep cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and food stamps while increasing spending for infrastructure and a paid parental leave program.

By John Fritze

May 23, 2017

• Maryland

Culleton: Rogers best choice for FBI director

A senior White House official said former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers is being considered as a candidate to replace FBI Director James Comey, who was

• Opinion

Trump's assault on working voters

Donald Trump's budget slashes social safety net programs Trump voters rely on.

• Opinion

We should research our health care at least as well as our cars

When we buy an automobile, it is not necessary to know the displacement of the engine or even how it works. Instead we seek bottom line performance metrics such as fuel economy, acceleration and safety ratings to determine value. This is how health care purchasing decisions will evolve.

• Opinion

How U.S. health care measures up

Study shows the state of U.S. health care is an international disgrace with or without Obamacare

• Opinion

Is universal health care the future?

Trumpcare will have the same unpleasant outcome as Obamacare because the basic flaw in both is allowing healthy citizens the option to avoid health care premium payments until they are seriously ill at which time the cost becomes enormous. Young, healthy citizens will never be induced to voluntarily purchase health insurance. Ultimately, Trumpcare will become untenable, and the country will be forced to consider the obvious solution: universal health care.

• Maryland

Pyatt: Over-diagnosing, over-medicating serious problems

From what I've heard, Leslie Simmons is a caring nurse and is now CEO of Carroll Hospital. I read her "Other Voices" column on May 14 and agree heartily about