Mifepristone: Science vs Politics discussed the ruling of a Federal District Judge in Texas on Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA that banned the use of mifepristone for abortions. After many challenges, including the current administration, this ruling was mitigated by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which provided a compromise ruling that allowed the use of mifepristone, but only until seven weeks after conception; down from the previous ten weeks limit. This ruling only affected a small number of people. A different conservative Federal District Judge in Texas has now made a ruling on Braidwood Management v. […]
Category: Affordable Care Act
Open Enrollment for 2023 Coverage
The Affordable Care Act (ACA; aka Obamacare) Health Insurance Marketplace is set to begin its Open Enrollment period today. American healthcare consumers can sign up on the federal insurance exchange at healthcare.gov or through their state marketplaces. In recent years there has been increased confusion surrounding Open Enrollment due to changes (and proposed changes) made to the ACA under the past administrations. Open Enrollment lasts at least 75 days — running from November 1 to January 15, 2023. Some states have longer enrollment periods, and special enrollment periods are available for those with a qualifying life event. Premiums are […]
How the Pandemic Affects Insurance Rates and Costs
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of our lives. While the economy has been a frequent topic of fallout throughout the ongoing pandemic in the United States, the reality for lives of workers who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic is often overlooked or erroneously blamed on an unwillingness to work. Roughly 9.6 million American workers lost their jobs in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing the unemployment rate from 3.8% in 2019 to 8.6% in 2020. Not only did 23% of those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic not […]
Open Enrollment for 2022 Coverage
The Affordable Care Act (ACA; aka Obamacare) Health Insurance Marketplace is set to begin its tenth Open Enrollment period today. American healthcare consumers can sign up on the federal insurance exchange at healthcare.gov or through their state marketplaces. In recent years there has been increased confusion surrounding Open Enrollment due to changes (and attempted changes) made to the ACA under the Trump administration, though President Biden has reversed some of the harmful changes that led to the first increases in U.S. uninsured rate since 2014 and largest single-year increase since 2008. When Obama was president and launched the ACA, […]
The Affordable Care Act in 2021
According to reported statistics, more than a half million people have used the healthcare exchange/marketplace created by The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) to obtain health insurance under the Biden administration. This is possible due to the expanded open enrollment in 2021 which continues until August 15, 2021. With the ACA often misunderstood/maligned and the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in millions of people losing their health insurance, especially vulnerable minority communities, we wanted to review what the ACA is really all about. The ACA was enacted in 2010 to ensure access to adequate/minimum value affordable healthcare, […]