Donald Trump FULL Press Conference with families of people killed by ill...

Cry Baby Cartoon

ObamaCare blamed for insurer mega-mergers amid premium hike fears

WASHINGTON –  A new wave of insurance mega-mergers is fueling fears that ObamaCare is crushing competition. Despite initial claims that the law would bring down costs, Republican critics and others say it's driving the industry to consolidate -- which could end up costing consumers more. 
"Without question, the enactment of ObamaCare has prompted increased consolidation in the health care industry," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a statement Thursday, announcing hearings on health care industry competition.
The concern, growing rapidly, is there may only be a few powerful operators still standing while smaller players are driven out of business. The billion-dollar deals accelerated following the Supreme Court's ruling that kept Affordable Care Act subsidies in place.
Whether that's coincidence remains to be seen. But conservatives worry the health law, which requires companies to insure virtually anyone, puts pressure on firms to join forces. To survive, insurers must spread fixed costs over more customers. The bigger they are, the easier it will be to meet ObamaCare-imposed caps on operating costs and boost profits.
The insurance giants claim the mergers will let them operate more efficiently, but others see the potential for rising premiums.
"[ObamaCare] eliminates many of the essential competitive checks remaining in the American health care system," Christopher Pope, a scholar at The Heritage Foundation, wrote. "Because the law relies so heavily on unfunded regulatory mandates to finance the benefit structure, it is obliged to strengthen the power of incumbent providers to prevent targeted competition from eliminating their profit centers."
The latest announcement came Friday when Anthem Inc. announced it agreed to acquire rival Cigna Corp. for $48.4 billion. If approved, the new insurance giant would have an estimated revenue north of $115 billion and serve the health needs of more than 53 million people.
The Anthem-Cigna news comes on the heels of another mega-merger announced earlier this month, when Aetna Inc. agreed to buy Humana for $37 billion.
If both mergers go through, only three major players in the U.S. insurance industry would be left competing for customers: Anthem, Aetna and UnitedHealth.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., earlier this month pointed the finger at ObamaCare for the developments. Goodlatte's hearings, meanwhile, will explore the role ObamaCare has had in shaping consolidations and the consequences American consumers may face.
"A concern that I have raised time and again is that, in the health care marketplace, the will of the market is being displaced by the judgment of the federal government," Goodlatte said. "That fear was realized when ObamaCare was enacted into law and we are seeing its tangible effects today."
Democrats, though, argue that insurers have been merging since long before the Affordable Care Act. Reps. John Conyers, Jr., D-Mich., and Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said in a statement that the law, "in combination with vigorous antitrust enforcement, can assist in alleviating some of the problems that are the result of decades of too little competition by instead  fostering competition with existing insurers and allowing for new and innovative players to enter the market."
And Edmund Haislmaier, another Heritage scholar, says the companies likely have been looking to trim costs and boost profits since before ObamaCare.
President Obama's health care overhaul was designed to generate more business for insurers because most Americans were required to have health coverage. However, the law also put pressure on industry profits with various mandates.
A recent analysis in The Economist suggested size does matter when it comes to insurance companies. "Scale will be needed to win the best deals from a hospital sector that has already raised its bargaining power through mergers," the report said. "The insurers with the most customers will be able to negotiate the best deals with the providers of care. Big insurers may also be able to negotiate better deals for drugs."
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a resident fellow at American Enterprise Institute, told CNBC it is only a matter of time before participants feel the pinch. "Health insurance costs [to consumers] haven't gone up because the plans are being hollowed out," he said, arguing people are getting less coverage than they used to.
"Eventually, the rising costs because of the monopolization of the hospitals is going to catch up," Gottlieb, who served as an adviser at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2004, said.
Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer, who heads up the Justice Department's antitrust division, told Bloomberg TV that he would assess the industry as a whole and given the surge of deals, would make sure competition is preserved.

Restaurants warn NY push for $15 wage could close hundreds of businesses

Critics are blasting a New York Wage Board decision to hike the minimum wage to $15 an hour for fast food establishments that threatens to close hundreds of businesses. 
The International Franchise Association, which represents tens of thousands of major chain restaurants and their franchisees, said that the decision could lead to massive job losses and closed stores.
The "New York wage board decision to discriminate against the quick service food industry will cost jobs and potentially cause small businesses to close," IFA president & CEO Steve Caldeira said in a statement. "Applying a new mandatory minimum wage increase to a narrow group of businesses creates an un-level playing field for owners that provide important entry-level jobs and valuable experience for millions of workers across the state of New York."
A wage board consisting of two labor friendly appointees and one entrepreneur voted to hike the starting wage to $15 -- more than double the $7.25 federal level and a 70 percent increase from the $8.75 statewide wage -- after several weeks of hearings. The board convened after a years-long pressure campaign by labor giant Service Employees International Union (SEIU) targeting McDonalds and other fast food establishments. SEIU spent more than $20 million on front groups that sponsored protests at McDonalds locations across the country in 2014.
The wage hike could have an immediate effect on small businesses. The franchise model relies on entrepreneurs paying licensing fees to parent companies in order to operate under the company umbrella; the typical franchisee takes home about $50,000 each year with one-in-three restaurant owners earning less than $25,000 per year. The new $15 minimum wage would give the average full-time fast food workers a starting salary of more than $30,000.

‘Flat-out lie’: Cruz calls McConnell a liar on Senate floor

An extraordinary scene unfolded on the Senate floor Friday as Republican Sen. Ted Cruz bluntly accused Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of lying and said he's running the Senate like his Democratic predecessor. 
The charges from the Texas senator and GOP presidential candidate were a rare departure from the Senate's usual staid decorum, even for a politician famous for his fiery speeches.
At issue were assurances Cruz claimed McConnell, R-Ky., had given that there was no deal to allow a vote to renew the federal Export-Import Bank -- a little-known federal agency that has become a rallying cry for conservatives. Cruz rose to deliver his remarks moments after McConnell had lined up a vote on the bank.
"It saddens me to say this. I sat in my office, I told my staff the majority leader looked me in the eye and looked 54 Republicans in the eye. I cannot believe he would tell a flat-out lie, and I voted based on those assurances that he made to each and every one of us," Cruz said.
"What we just saw today was an absolute demonstration that not only what he told every Republican senator, but what he told the press over and over and over again, was a simple lie."
Reports had emerged earlier this year that McConnell privately pledged a vote on the Ex-Im Bank, in exchange for winning support on President Obama's trade agenda. Cruz says he was assured at the time there was no deal.
He also charged that the Senate under Republican control is no different from when Harry Reid of Nevada ran the chamber and was accused by the GOP of shutting down debate and limiting amendments.
"Now the Republican leader is behaving like the senior senator from Nevada," Cruz complained. He also derided an announcement from McConnell that the Senate will vote Sunday to repeal Obama's health care law, calling it "an empty show vote" and "exercise in meaningless political theater" because the legislation will inevitably fail to get the 60 votes needed to advance.
"We keep winning elections and then we keep getting leaders who don't do anything they promised," Cruz said.
The majority leader was not on the Senate floor when Cruz issued his attack, and ignored reporters who tried to ask him about it in the Capitol's hallways. A spokesman said McConnell would have no response.
McConnell and Cruz have never had a thriving relationship. The new majority leader's allies earlier this year derided Cruz's Senate record, complaining that he often speaks out but has skipped important developments.
Some close to McConnell call Cruz, "Mr. 1 percent," referring to his share of support in the crowded race for the GOP presidential nomination. Recent polls have him a few points higher among more than a dozen contenders.
Cruz has grown increasingly outspoken about his contempt for McConnell and other Republicans, using his newly published book, "A Time for Truth," to attack his colleagues on various fronts and accuse them of failing to stand up for their principles.
It is rare for a senator to launch such a heated attack on the floor. Senate rules say, "No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator."

Pentagon wants individuals to stop guarding recruiting stations

The Pentagon asked Friday that individuals not stand guard at the military recruiting offices in the wake of the deadly Chattanooga terror attack.
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter “is currently reviewing recommendations from the services for making our installations and facilities safer - including our recruiting stations” following the July 16 attack that left four Marines and a Navy sailor dead.
“While we greatly appreciate the outpouring of support for our recruiters from the American public, we ask that individuals not stand guard at recruiting offices as it could adversely impact our mission, and potentially create unintended security risks,” Cook added.
In the days following the attack, citizens groups, veterans, local law enforcement and the National Guard have stood watch outside of recruiting offices across the country. It’s also raised questions over a 23-year-old federal policy that leaves service members unable to defend themselves on Pentagon property.
The governors of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma,  Texas and Wisconsin have all signed orders in the last several days to allow National Guard troops to carry loaded guns on bases and at military recruiting centers in their states.