There has been a lot of gnashing of teeth among Democrats over President Donald Trump’s executive actions last week. Specifically his decision to cut off illegal subsidies for insurance companies selling individual policies in the Obamacare exchanges. “This disheartening decision was about claiming a political win, not supporting American families,” Senator Heidi Heitkamp said in…
John Andrist: U.S. Healthcare Is Too Big to Succeed
I would have loved to have given North Dakota a crack at devising its own health care system. The federal government is hopelessly in debt, while our state has the luxury of multiple savings accounts, called trust funds. We’re smarter, smaller, and far more innovative than Washington. And we have a can-do mentality. That’s why…
Audio: Godfread Says Medica Leaving Obamacare Exchange “A Sign of Things to Come”
Yesterday Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread ripped Congress for their inaction on healthcare reform while announcing that the insurance company Medica was leaving North Dakota’s iteration of the Obamacare exchanges. “This situation is one the Department understood to be a possibility but we were hopeful that Congress would come to a resolution regarding health care reform…
Did Obamacare’s Expansion of Medicaid Contribute to the Opioid Crisis in North Dakota and Elsewhere?
Back during their 2013 session North Dakota lawmakers voted to expand the state’s Medicaid program in accordance with Obamacare despite a Supreme Court ruling declaring any federal retribution for failing to pass that expansion to be unconstitutional. Former Governor Jack Dalrymple, though vocally opposed to Obamacare, was the fourth Republican governor to support the expansion.…
While Heidi Heitkamp Plays Partisan Politics Obamacare Is Hurting North Dakotans
With Republicans in the Senate pushing yet another (faltering) attempt at killing off Obamacare, the liberal left has cranked up their noise machine. Here in North Dakota the Democrats have cranked up their noise machine, coordinating letters to the editor and social media campaigns. Even Senator Heidi Heitkamp has cast aside her carefully cultivated “centrist”…
Podcast: Hoeven Accuses Heitkamp of “Scare Tactics” on Graham-Cassidy Healthcare Bill
Senator John Hoeven joined me on my radio show today to talk about healthcare reform. The Senator has indicated support for the latest version of Republican-flavored reform, the so-called Graham-Cassidy bill. The gist of the bill is that it replaces Obamacare’s stringent, top-down, federal-centric regulations with block grants and flexibility for state policymakers to tackle…
Podcast: Congressman Kevin Cramer House Would Probably Pass Graham-Cassidy Healthcare Bill
The national political debate is focused on the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill right now, yet another Republican effort to deal with Obamacare after campaigning on repealing and replacing that awful policy for years. Will they be successful? Or will Republicans fall on their faces again? “This was a little bit different than the last one in…
Does Anyone Actually Know What Senator Heidi Heitkamp Wants to Do on Healthcare?
North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp talks a big game about being a centrist moderate who likes to work with Republicans. That this desire to work with Republicans is more manifest the closer Heitkamp is to an election year in this deeply Republican state is noteworthy, and perhaps an indication that Heitkamp’s words are something less…
John Andrist: A Problem Which Defies a Solution
The score is even now. It’s a dead heat, and I think we are headed for overtime. When the Affordable Care Act was enacted with practically no study, the Democrats were determined to ram it through. They didn’t really care what. Remember, Nancy Pelosi made her infamous comment: “We have to pass it to see…
Jon Godfread: Don’t Get Sucked Into False Claims and Overblown Statements in Health Care Debate
With the recent passage of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) by the U.S. House of Representatives, it is important to have an honest and truthful discussion regarding what the AHCA is and what it is not. But before we get into that, what does the health insurance marketplace look like in North Dakota? There…
