It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. For two free health care clinics, that is. In Mena, Arkansas, the 9th Street Ministries free clinic closed its doors after 16 years, its services no longer needed by the low income residents in poverty-stricken Polk County who have now obtained health insurance […]

For Democrats, the discovery that Romneycare and Obamacare consultant Jonathan Gruber is, well, a schmuck represents a triple whammy. For starters, the arrogance of anyone calling American voters "stupid" (or even just 47 percent of them) helps perpetuate every conservative stereotype of pointy-headed Northeastern elites. Worse still, Gruber is simply wrong that key aspects of […]

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal doesn't just want to be President of the United States. In 2012, he claimed he wanted to rid his Republican Party of its demons to purge it of "dumbed-down conservatism" and ensure the GOP was no longer "the stupid party." But he didn't mean it. After all, in the intervening two […]

PBS Newshour on Friday ran a segment examining the impact of the Affordable Care Act in the hard-fought Kentucky race. As well they should: incumbent Republican Mitch McConnell wants to take away health insurance "root and branch" from 520,000 of his Blue Grass State constituents, coverage through the state's popular Kynect program that Democrat Alison […]

From the beginning, the magnitude of Republicans' lies about Obamacare has been directly proportional to their fears it would succeed. First it was "death panels," which Politifact cited as its 2009 Lie of the Year. In 2010, it was the Affordable Care Act's mythical "government takeover of health care," a fraud that earned the GOP […]

Not content with having blocked President Obama's nominee for Surgeon General over his common sense description of gun violence as a public health issue, Republicans in and out of Congress want one of their own to be the President's point-man on Ebola. Instead of Ron Klain, conservatives including Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Steve Forbes […]

The President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was arguably President George W' Bush's single greatest achievement. Thanks to American leadership and over $50 billion in U.S. funding committed since President Bush launched the initiative in 2003, millions of lives have been saved and millions more HIV/AIDS cases prevented in 15 African countries targeted for […]

As the Washington Post among others reported Monday, Google is testing a new service "that provides live video chat advice to searchers looking for information on some medical conditions." The feature, uncovered by a Reddit user who noticed his Android phone suggested "Talk with a doctor now" when he did a search about "knee pain," […]

In a midterm campaign filled with affronts to voters and reality alike, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reached a new low in last night's Kentucky Senate debate. Declaring once again that the Affordable Care Act should be repealed "root and branch," McConnell pretended nothing would happen as a result to the 520,000 Kentuckians whose new […]

News of the first reported case of Ebola virus in the United States is an even more virulent strain of right-wing outrage. While GOP Senator and 2016 White House hopeful Rand Paul worried that President is doing too much to help contain Ebola in West Africa ("Can you imagine if a whole ship full of […]