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Demonstrators hold up pro-Affordable Care Act signs outside the U.S. Supreme Court as it hears oral arguments that challenge the Affordable Care Act in Washington on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

While the Supreme Court deliberates on the Affordable Care Act, Congress and the White House may act

The ACA’s third date with the Supreme Court was Nov. 10, and it will be months before a decision. In the meantime, however, Congress and the new president can do things to bolster the law.
Open enrollment for health care in the ACA marketplaces ended at 3 a.m., Dec. 18, 2019, the same day a panel ruled that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services/AP Photo

How undoing ‘Obamacare’ would harm more than the health of Americans

Obamacare has been under siege since its passage in 2010. A ruling by a three-judge panel on Dec. 18 further chopped at the law by saying a key provision is unconstitutional.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announces legislation at the Capitol on March 26 to lower health care costs and protect people with pre-existing conditions. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

DOJ efforts to kill Obamacare, the cat with 9 lives, could cause health care havoc for millions

Obamacare, while highly controversial, has been a tough law to kill. The efforts of a federal district judge in Texas had seemed yet another ineffective assault. Then came the DOJ’s actions Monday.
Austin, Texas contractor Mike Hewitt, who depends on insurance provided by the Affordable Care Act. A Texas judge ruled Dec. 14, 2018 that the law is unconstitutional. Eric Gay/AP Photo

Why the Texas ruling on Obamacare is on shaky legal ground

A judge in Texas ruled Dec. 14 that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. His ruling has no immediate effect, however, except to signal more perils ahead for the health care law.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a Nov. 30, 2017 photo as he talked to small business owners about the tax bill. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

How the tax bill opens wide a big back door to overhaul health care

The Senate tax bill cuts taxes for many of the nation’s richest and cuts programs for social safety nets. Here’s how the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid are all affected.
From left, Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., hold a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

How the latest effort to repeal Obamacare would affect millions

A Senate vote in July seemed to signal the end of efforts to kill the Affordable Care Act. With a Sept. 30 deadline looming, though, a new bill has real possibilities. Here’s why that could be bad.
For many, the heart of the health care debate is the ability of patients to choose their own health care, including whether to buy insurance and which doctor to see. Alpa Prod/Shutterstock.com

What does choice mean when it comes to health care?

The Republican position on health care has been based upon a belief in individual choice. Here’s how their own versions of health care bills eroded choice, however, and how they also did harm.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) smiles after he unveiled the Senate health care bill on June 22, 2017. Scott Applewhite/AP

How to make sense of the Senate health care bill: 4 essential reads

The Senate released its new health care bill on June 22, 2017, and it differs slightly from a bill passed by the House in May. Read what our experts have written in recent months about key pieces.
Lisa Schwetschenau, who has multiple sclerosis, shown in a photo in Omaha, Nebraska on March 16. She worries that she could lose some of her essential health benefits under the new proposed health care law. Nati Harnik/AP

Essential health benefits suddenly at center of health care debate, but what are they?

Essential health benefits under Obamacare are suddenly the center of controversy in the proposed replacement bill. If certain health benefits are so essential, why are they so loathed? Here’s a look.
Smokers not only pay a lot of money for cigarettes but also for their health insurance. www.shutterstock.com

Another cost of smoking: Sky-high insurance

To discourage smoking, insurance companies charge higher premiums for smokers. This is having an unexpected consequence: rather than quit smoking, poor people are quitting insurance.

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