Tom Howell Jr.

Supreme Court to weigh religious rights of corporations vs. Obamacare’s ‘contraception mandate’

Obamacare is on the docket as the Supreme Court hears from corporate owners who say their personal beliefs should trump a government mandate that requires their company health care plans to insure birth control.

GOP campaign officials mark Obamacare anniversary with warning for Dems

Top Republican campaign officials on Friday marked the fourth anniversary of Obamacare's passage by warning Democrats they will suffer from a lack of credibility among midterm voters this fall because of the health care law's stumbles and flawed promises.

Obamacare a winning issue for Democrats, Pelosi says

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi predicted Thursday that Obamacare will be a winning issue for her party in congressional elections this year, despite a high-profile loss in Florida and hang-wringing among her fellow Democrats.

Top Dems insist Obamacare a political ‘winner’

Top House Democrats marked Obamacare's fourth anniversary by declaring it a political "winner" in congressional swing districts, despite a high-profile recent loss for the party in Florida and votes to water down the law by dozens of their colleagues.

States seek wiggle room on Obamacare deadline

The White House insists it is sticking by the March 31 deadline for enrolling in Obamacare, but states are forging plans to try to find extra wiggle-room that could let Americans complete their sign-ups months after the "drop-dead" date passes.

Brief bipartisanship period over Medicare ‘doc fix’ breaks down

Despite a brief burst of bipartisanship, both sides have retrenched in their search for a solution to exploding payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients, with the House GOP planning to put a partisan bill on its chamber floor Friday.

House GOP: Obama administration abandoning ‘individual mandate,’ should surrender to repeal

House Republicans said Thursday that the Obama administration has left a giant loophole in its own individual mandate requiring all Americans to obtain health care coverage, saying a vaguely worded "hardship" exception announced last week will let millions of Americans duck the law.

Where’s Obamacare? — Rural Virginians choose free clinic over government red tape

Many of the hundreds of people gathered on a recent Saturday for a free clinic are exactly the types of people Obamacare is trying to reach — generally poor in pocketbook and in health, who either lack insurance or whose bare-bones policies don't cover vision or dental care.

Obama threatens to veto Medicare-reform bill

President Obama would veto a House bill to scrap the formula used to set Medicare rates, because it pays for the repeal by delaying Obamacare's individual mandate, the White House said Wednesday.

Sebelius sticks to Obamacare sign-up deadline

President Obama’s top health official on Wednesday told Congress flatly that the administration will stick to the March 31 deadline requiring Americans to have health insurance, rejecting House GOP protests that the White House is giving breaks to special interests, but not to average voters.

Sen. Marco Rubio says Dems are angling for single-payer health care: report

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio says Democrats are "secretly and not so secretly" hoping to use Obamacare's missteps as leverage in seeking a single-payer system of government-run health insurance.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad wields big lead over likely Democratic opponent

Sen. Chris Murphy will parlay Obama’s foray into Web comedy into a formal floor speech

First President Obama's humorous Web interview went viral. Now it's a bona fide phenomenon, at least one Democratic senator said.

Obamacare 3 million shy of target — with 19 days left to sign up

More than 4.2 million Americans had selected private health care plans from the Obamacare marketplace through the end of February, though the rate of sign-ups dropped last month and young people still aren't enrolling quickly enough, according to numbers the administration released Tuesday.

President Obama goes ‘Between Two Ferns’ to pitch Obamacare

Hoping to reach a key Obamacare demographic, President Obama took his humorous side to a new level in a sit-down interview with Zach Galifianakis, a comedic actor who hosts the cable-access spoof show on the website Funny or Die.

Obama administration backs off plan to cut prescription-drug program

Congressional Democrats expressed relief and Republican leaders did a victory lap Monday after the Obama administration said it will not implement proposed changes to the Medicare program's prescription-drug benefits.

Prosecutors: Gray had firsthand knowledge of ‘shadow campaign’

Federal prosecutors said in court Monday that D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray knew firsthand of an illicit "shadow campaign" that funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to his 2010 mayoral bid.

Rate of uninsured Americans is dropping: Gallup

The Gallup polling group says the percentage of Americans without health insurance continued to fall in the first quarter of 2014, to nearly 16 percent compared to just over 17 percent at the end of 2013.

Russia should be booted from FIFA World Cup, senators say

Sens. Dan Coats of Indiana and Mark Kirk of Illinois wrote to FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, pleading for him to bar President Vladimir Putin's team from the biggest sporting event in the world this summer.

New tool helps figure Obamacare penalties

As Obamacare takes root, a think tank partnership is offering a new tool to let applicants know just how much they'll have to pony up to the government for lacking health insurance in the coming year.