NHDP - On Third Anniversary, Heath Care Reform Continues to Save Money and Save Lives in New Hampshire

Concord - This past weekend marked the third anniversary of the Affordable Care Act becoming law.  Already health care reform has helped Granite Staters save money and live healthier lives.  Specifically, it has:

• Expanded preventative care coverage with no cost-sharing for 365,000 Granite Staters with private health insurance in 2012, including 253,000 women. While more than 160,000 New Hampshire citizen on traditional Medicare also accessed free preventative care services [healthcare.gov].
• Closed the Medicare Part D 'Doughnut Hole' and strengthened Medicare for Granite State senior citizens.  More than 12,000 New Hampshire seniors are on average saving over $660 per person annually [healthcare.gov].
• Provided access to insurance to 10,000 Granite Staters who would otherwise have been uninsured under the age of 26 through their parents' health plans [healthcare.gov]. 
• Protected more than 900,000 New Hampshire citizens with private insurance from the insurance industry's worst practices like arbitrarily capping or canceling benefits. 
• Insured more than 600 previously uninsured Granite Staters who were refused coverage because of a preexisting condition [healthcare.gov].
• Provided tax credits to thousands of New Hampshire Small businesses who offer employees health insurance helping them hire and grow.

This year, after spiraling out of control for decades health care cost increases are down.  In January, health care cost inflation dropped to 1.5%, one of the lowest rates on record.  In 2012, the readmission rates for Medicare patients dropped - saving approximately 70,000 American seniors from unnecessarily returning to a hospital. [WhiteHouse.gov]

Looking forward, the Affordable Care Act continues to expand access to affordable health care options.  In several months, Granite Staters who previously had trouble accessing affordable health care coverage will be able to enroll in a health care exchange and purchase health insurance in a more organized and competitive market place - with coverage taking effect in 2014.  Also in 2013, Medicare Advantage beneficiaries will have broader health care options through access to 21 more high-quality plans than were available last year. [WhiteHouse.gov] 

For more information about the Affordable Care Act visit http://www.healthcare.gov and stay turned to the New Hampshire Democratic Party's Facebook and Twitter feeds.  All this week, the New Hampshire Democratic Party will be sharing facts about how the ACA is helping Granite Staters save money and live healthier lives.

AUL Demands Real 1st Amendment Protections as HHS releases "Phony Compromise" Regulations in Obamacare

“The Obama Administration is trying to gerrymander the regulations but continues to leave most Americans without their Constitutional freedoms,” said AUL’s Dr. Charmaine Yoest.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (2/1/13) – “With another phony compromise, the Obama Administration continues to insult the intelligence of the American people and trample our Constitutionally-guaranteed rights,” said AUL’s President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest, as the Health and Human Services Department released additional regulations for Obamacare. “Our Freedom of Conscience, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment has been violated by Obamacare and these new regulations do not resolve the offense.” At issue are Obamacare mandates which force Americans to purchase insurance coverage for life-ending drugs and devices mislabeled as contraception as well as engage in other abortion-related activities.

“Today’s phony compromise from Health and Human Services only serves to illustrate the problem with Obamacare,” said Dr. Yoest. “The Obama Administration is trying to gerrymander the regulations but continues to leave most Americans without their Constitutional freedoms. The regulation is clear that the Obama Administration’s intent is to limit religious liberty to houses of worship. Meanwhile Christian universities, for-profit businesses - like the Bible publisher Tyndale and Hobby Lobby - or individuals are still forced to subsidize Big Abortion. The Obama Administration’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) violates the First Amendment Conscience rights of Americans, and that must be stopped.”

More detailed analysis of the regulations will be available within the hour at www.aul.org.

As the pro-life source of model legislation, AUL developed an opt-out bill that has been used by eight of the 18 states that have opted-out of offering insurance plans that cover abortion in the state Exchanges required under Obamacare. AUL has also filed amicus briefs in the following on-going cases, arguing that parts of Obamacare are not Constitutional because of violations of First Amendment Conscience Rights: Belmont Abbey College v. Sebelius, Wheaton College v. Sebelius, Nebraska v. Sebelius, and O’Brien v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  In addition, AUL filed a joint brief with other pro-life allies in United States Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida before the United States Supreme Court. For more on AUL’s efforts to protect Conscience rights, click here to learn more and view a unique video, “Who put THE CON in contraception?”

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Americans United for Life (AUL) is a nonprofit, public-interest law and policy organization whose vision is a nation in which everyone is welcomed in life and protected in law. The first national pro-life organization in America, AUL has been committed to defending human life through vigorous judicial, legislative, and educational efforts at both the federal and state levels since 1971.

AUL's legal team has been involved in every abortion-related case before the U.S. Supreme Court including the successful defense of the Hyde Amendment. AUL also publishes Defending Life, the most comprehensive state-by-state legal guide of its kind, which is distributed annually to legislators across the nation.

Recently, Americans United for Life detailed the facts on taxpayer-funding of abortion during the debate over federal health care legislation, provided legal assistance to states working to opt out of abortion provisions created by federal health care law, and has played a major role in educating policymakers on the record of President Obama’s then-nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court.

ALG's Daily Grind - Obamacare Mandate To Cut Worker Hours, Leaving The Poor Worse Off

Nov. 15, 2012

Obamacare Mandate To Cut Worker Hours, Leaving The Poor Worse Off

Employer mandate will not only hurt job growth among small businesses, it is already resulting in fewer hours and less income for workers at larger companies.

Video: ALG Is Urging Governors Not To Implement ObamaCare Exchange

America's Governors are set to make a decision on whether to implement an ObamaCare exchange. ObamaCareWatcher.org's John Vinci explains what Americans for Limited Government thinks they should do.

New York Misses Out on Natural Gas Revolution as Junk Science Carries the Day

The Marcellus Shale cuts across New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia and could potentially to help transform the world's energy portfolio. But this will require public policy decisions that rooted in sound science not unsubstantiated alarmism.

Roff: GOP Senators Need to Radicalize

Does Harry Reid want to restrict Republican use of the filibuster in the Senate?

ALG's Daily Grind: House proposes defunding much of Obamacare-including the HHS Mandate

July 23, 2012

House proposes defunding much of Obamacare—including the HHS Mandate

Rehberg: "This committee cannot repeal Obamacare directly. But we can prevent it from being further implemented with taxpayer dollars we have jurisdiction over."

Video: The Dems Flip-Flop On Payroll Tax Holiday...And Seemingly Everything Else They Say!

Nancy Pelosi and others once pushed for a payroll tax holiday. Now they are pulling back. What's going on? Are they ever going to be consistent?

The Farm (Food Stamp) Bill

80 percent spending of the so-called Farm Bill bill is dedicated to food stamps.

Ideas: up for auction?

The connection between the funding of education and the disproportionate leftist bias that permeates our entire school system goes a long way in explaining a progressive cultural phenomenon that appears to have been bought by the monied elite — through liberal subsidizing of propaganda, media, and (perhaps most dangerously) education in the United States. 

NHDP Chairman Raymond Buckley Statement on Bass, Guinta Joining the 31st Vote to Repeal Obamacare

Congressmen Have Not Voted Once for a Jobs Bill

CONCORD, NH - Raymond Buckley, Chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party releasd the following statement following Congressmen Charlie Bass and Frank Guinta's votes to repeal Obamacare while not voting once for a jobs bill:

"Today, Charlie Bass and Frank Guinta once again showed that they have the wrong priorities for middle-class families and our economy.  Bass and Guinta have voted more than 30 times to let insurance companies deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions; to take away the ability of parents to keep their children on their health insurance; and to increase prescription drug costs for seniors on Medicare. Guinta and Bass seem to prefer playing politics instead of working to improve the lives of middle-class New Hampshire families."