For far too long, conservatives have failed to coalesce around a long-term vision of what a free-market healthcare system should look like. Republican attention to healthcare, in turn, has only arisen sporadically, in response to Democratic initiatives.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick says Mitt Romney demonstrates “chameleon-like behavior” on policy and politics. And, when it comes to health care, his stance is pegged to national polls.
He also tells Robert Wolf the Obama administration must do a better job of explaining the benefits of the healthcare law.
DEVELOPING: GlaxoSmithKline Plc has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay $3 billion to settle the largest case of healthcare fraud in U.S. history, according to court filings and prosecutors.
The settlement includes $1 billion in criminal fines and $2 billion in civil fines in connection with the sale of the drug company’s Paxil, Wellbutrin and Avandia products.
READ MORE: GlaxoSmithKline settles fraud charges for $3 billion
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives defied a White House veto threat on Friday and voted to take money from President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare overhaul to pay for an extension of low-interest federal student loans.
Democrats and Republicans have until July to find an election-year compromise. That’s when the rate is set to double on Stafford loans to 6.8 percent for more 7 million students, who represent an important voting bloc.
On a mostly party-line vote of 215-195, the House sent the measure to the Senate where Obama’s Democrats are certain to reject it.
Like Obama, Senate Democrats want to renew the low interest rate for students, but favor covering the $6 billion cost for one year by ending a tax break for the rich.
READ MORE: Republicans insert healthcare into student loan fight
You want us to go through 2,700 pages?
The Obama administration faced skeptical questioning from a US Supreme Court dominated by conservatives on Tuesday during a tense two-hour showdown over a sweeping healthcare law that has divided Americans.
Today’s graphic takes you inside the hearings giving you all the details on who is involved and the layout of the hearing.
LIVE BLOG: SCOTUS hearing on Affordable Health Care Act
LATEST: High stakes for Obama with healthcare on the line
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared closely divided along ideological lines over whether Congress had the power to require most people in the United States to buy medical insurance, with conservative justices asking skeptical questions about President Barack Obama’s healthcare law and liberals defending it.
During a dramatic two hours of arguments, pivotal justices on the nine-member Supreme Court suggested they would uphold the so-called individual mandate regarding obtaining insurance only if they believed they were not giving Congress new power over people’s lives.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, two conservatives who could join the four liberal justices to uphold the law, pressed an attorney for the Obama administration on what limits there would be on federal power if people who opted against insurance were forced to buy coverage.
Nonetheless, both justices also raised to the two lawyers challenging the individual mandate the government’s contention that Congress is validly regulating people who already are in the market because virtually everyone is going to need healthcare at some point.
The Supreme Court’s decision on the health care case is more than just a simple yes or no. View this handy chart for possible SCOTUS decisions.
The Health Care Case’s Legal Maze
Gay spouse given health benefits in U.S. court case
A U.S. judge ruled unconstitutional part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, saying that a plaintiff court employee’s same sex spouse should be allowed to enroll in her government health insurance program.
