“The federal website Regulations.gov released the first round of public comments on the administration’s proposed anti-conscience mandate on Wednesday. The comments were overwhelmingly opposed to the measure: out of 211 comments submitted, only six, less than 3%, offered support for the mandate… The vast majority of the comments submitted focus on the mandate’s violation of Americans’ right of conscience, while a few discuss the health hazards of the medical procedures the mandate covers, and some call for full Obamacare repeal.”
“CMS’ goal here is to cut down on the number of procedures. The same device has been approved in Europe for almost 5 years and has gained widespread use by patients who want to forgo very invasive open-heart surgeries—for good reason. The minimally invasive approach poses a lot less hardship on patients. This ruling will force people to get open-heart surgeries that might have been avoidable. These decisions used to be left to patients and doctors. Now it’s clear that for costly procedures, Washington will be making more of these choices for us.”
“House Republicans attacked the 2010 healthcare law Wednesday for expanding a preventive care grant program that allegedly funded pet spaying and neutering in Tennessee. A statement from Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans also blasted grants they said paid for urban farming initiatives and the improvement of city bike lanes.”
“Quinnipiac University is out with a new poll of voters in three key swing states—Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The headline is that Romney slightly leads Obama in Florida and Ohio, whereas Obama is winning Pennsylvania. But the poll also asked voters if they wanted the Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare, and in all three states, voters said ‘yes.'”
“The Alabama Legislature is trying to get ahead of the federal Affordable Care Act. The House passed a bill establishing the framework for health insurance exchanges in Alabama. But the Governor said the legislation is premature.”