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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, says he doesn’t trust Republican promises of addressing the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, later. (Associated Press/File)

Flint water aid spending bill’s sticking point

Democrats who held out for a better deal on Zika spending are now demanding money for Michigan residents suffering from lead-tainted water, hoping to squeeze Republican leaders who are relying on Democratic cooperation to avoid a government shutdown after the fiscal year ends Friday.

September 26, 2016
Mylan CEO Heather Bresch pauses as she prepares to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, before the House Oversight Committee hearing on EpiPen price increases. Bresch defended the cost for life-saving EpiPens, signaling the company has no plans to lower prices despite a public outcry and questions from skeptical lawmakers. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Maker of EpiPen defends price hikes

The CEO of Mylan Pharmaceuticals defended the rising cost of her company's lifesaving EpiPens to Congress on Wednesday, rejecting demands that she slash the price, though she insisted help is available for low-income patients and those with skimpy health care coverage.

September 21, 2016
Six years after the Obamacare market exchanges went online, the experiment looks faulty, and broadcasters appear to be ignoring the problem. (Associated Press)

Health care failures drive talk of public option

Rejected during the 2009 Obamacare debate as too controversial and unnecessary, the public option -- in which the government offers insurance that competes directly with private and nonprofit plans -- has been resurrected this year by Democrats who say it's the only way to rescue President Obama's struggling health care law.

September 20, 2016
FILE - In this July 8, 2016, file photo, a pharmacist holds a package of EpiPens epinephrine auto-injector, a Mylan product, in Sacramento, Calif. Mylan CEO Heather Bresch is defending the cost for life-saving EpiPens and is offering no suggestion that there are plans to lower prices. Bresch’s prepared testimony was released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ahead of her Sept. 21 appearance before the panel. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

EpiPen price hike siphoned millions from government: report

The skyrocketing cost of EpiPens is not just socking consumers, it's also siphoning more money from the government, which spent more than 10 times as much on the allergy treatment in 2014 than it did seven years prior, a nonpartisan analysis said Tuesday.

September 20, 2016
Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaks during a news conference at Wynwood Walls, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) ** FILE **

Zika threat eliminated in ‘ground zero’ Florida neighborhood

Mosquitoes are no longer spreading Zika in the Miami neighborhood that had been "ground zero" for transmission in the continental U.S. this summer, officials said Monday, saying they conquered the disease with aggressive spraying and careful disease-tracking.

September 19, 2016
Florida Gov. Rick Scott picks up fallen branches to put into the back of a truck Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016 during a debris cleanup from Hurricane Hermine in Indian Head Acres in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)

Rick Scott, Florida governor: Miami neighborhood now Zika-free

The first neighborhood to see mosquito-borne Zika cases in the continental U.S. is no longer an active area of transmission, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Monday, even as federal officials expand the zone of risk in nearby Miami Beach.

September 19, 2016
In this Oct. 24, 2013, file photo, Andy Slavitt, then-acting Medicare administrator, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)

House Dems: Obamacare still beats pre-2010 marketplace

The Obama administration and its Democratic allies defended the 2010 health law's struggles Wednesday as the natural growing pains of an ambitious program, saying it remains a net plus compared to the pre-Obamacare era.

September 14, 2016
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington in this Dec. 17, 2014, file photo. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Census: Uninsured rate dropped to 9.1 percent in 2015

Four million more Americans held health insurance in 2015 than in 2014, according to Census report Tuesday that found 29 million people were still not covered and that Hispanics lagged behind other race or ethnic groups in getting covered, despite widespread gains attributed to Obamacare.

September 13, 2016
Jason Herring, acting Assistant Director for Congressional Affairs at the FBI, is served a subpoena to provide the full investigative file during the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on classifications and redactions in the FBI's investigative file of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private server. (Associated Press)

Hillary Clinton email server investigation leads to oversight subpoena of FBI

House GOP investigators probing Hillary Clinton's use of private email at the State Department accused the Obama administration Monday of operating like a "banana republic" by withholding or blacking out documents tied to the FBI's decision not to prosecute the Democratic presidential nominee.

September 12, 2016
President Barack Obama listens as Secretary of Defense Ash Carter speaks during a memorial ceremony to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, at the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Obama thanks insurers for sticking with his health care law

President Obama on Monday thanked insurers who will offer coverage on Obamacare's insurance exchanges next year despite challenges that have caused companies like Aetna and UnitedHealth Group to largely withdraw from the program.

September 12, 2016
Republicans say instability in the Obamacare marketplace has left them no choice but to prop up the 2010 Affordable Care Act before killing it so there isn't more chaos during the transfer to a replacement sytem. (Associated Press)

GAO: Obamacare exchanges still vulnerable to fraud

Obamacare's web exchanges are still "vulnerable to fraud," according to a watchdog report Monday that says government investigators were able to get taxpayer-subsidized coverage for fake enrollees despite a brand-new safeguard against chicanery on the law's insurance exchanges.

September 12, 2016