Jane M. Orient, M.D.

Senator John McCain of Arizona sequentially played the role of superhero, villainous traitor (to Republicans), and savior (to ObamaCare) as the McConnell “skinny repeal” lost by one vote—his.

Congress should take a vote on simply repealing ObamaCare. Republicans should be forced to go on the record to show how they keep—or renege on—their campaign promises.

The Senate has finally unveiled its heretofore secret plan for pretending to repeal the (Un)Affordable Care Act (ACA, UCA, or ObamaCare): the Better Care Reconciliation Act.

A consortium of medical societies is echoing former President Obama’s dire warning that climate change is the biggest threat facing the world and public health.

The reported success of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or ObamaCare) is based on enrollment numbers. Millions more have “coverage.”

Chemical weapons seem to be in a class by themselves: the ultimately gruesome way to die. Their use crosses the final Red Line to a heinous crime against humanity, and is a violation of international law.

Trump needs to see through the subterfuge, and drain the third-party (“insurance”) swamp before it drains the life out of American medicine—into activities that patients would probably find to be of zero value.

A 90-day ban on travel from seven countries has sparked tremendous outpourings of “worry” or outright opposition by some 33 medical organizations.

The Trump Administration and the Republican Congress is faced with a crisis in the Affordable Care Act.

Republicans say they are going to “replace” ObamaCare, but they will come up with something very similar and at least as bad if they start with the same misguided objective: “universal coverage.”

The Republicans are at it again: trying to tweak a bad idea, make it “bipartisan,” and set a flawed system more firmly in concrete. What we really need is a Republican reform – one that can restore the republic, along with medicine.

Mr. Trump has been castigated for saying that if the government goes bankrupt, he’d get creditors to accept less. That is standard operating procedure for businesses. Creditors make deals because something is better than nothing, and if a company is utterly destroyed, nothing is what they will get. They may complain, but unless they were actually defrauded, they voluntarily assumed a risk of loss, hoping to make a profit.

Big Healthcare is no exception, and it is important to understand just what healthcare is. The trillions of dollars of revenue sucked in by Big Healthcare are not just for medical care. “Healthcare” is mainly concerned with collecting and distributing the money. Perhaps half of the money gushing through the system pays nurses, doctors, orderlies, receptionists, or therapists, or buys medications, oxygen concentrators, wheelchairs, bandages, or x-ray machines. The rest is diverted to something else. It’s hard to figure out just how much because insurers may, in calculating the “medical loss ratio,” call a lot of things “healthcare” that you might call “administration.”