Healthcare

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Tuesday that millions of workers’ dependents would still be left without options for affordable family health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

“Without action, millions of hard working Americans are going to be squeezed by the family glitch,” Wyden said. “Many people will be left with a false choice of taking family coverage through work they can’t afford or struggling to find a better plan in the exchange without a subsidy.”

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require security features on generic versions of the addictive painkiller, Oxycodone.

Next month, Oxycodone will lose its patent protection, but the FDA has not required generic drug manufactures to include security measures used in Oxycodone to make it more difficult to abuse the drug through crushing and snorting the medication.

Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) and five other House Republicans have introduced legislation that would repeal the 2010 expansion of Medicaid benefits to lower-income Americans.

The Medicaid Expansion Repeal and State Flexibility Act, H.R. 1404, would eliminate the expansion of Medicaid that happened under the 2010 healthcare law. Salmon said that law "essentially bribed states" to expand Medicaid eligibility to people with incomes at 138 percent of the poverty level.

Majority Leader Harry Reid and several other Democrats voted in favor of waiving budget rules for the Florida Republican's amendment.

The Senate on Friday rejected another GOP attempt to repeal President Obama’s healthcare law.

An amendment to the Senate budget resolution from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) failed on a 45-54 vote on Friday. Cruz’s amendment would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and encouraged patient-centered reforms to reduce costs.

The tax has proven unpopular, but was key to ensuring that the Obama healthcare law did not add to deficit.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Thursday turned the tables on Democrats who say Republican policies would hurt women and children, by arguing the 2010 healthcare law does more damage to women and children than anyone else, and could even "literally" kill women and children.

"We also know who's going to be hurt," Bachmann said on the House floor. "More than anyone in this bill, it is women who are hurt by ObamaCare. It is children who are hurt by ObamaCare. And even worse ... it is the poorest women and the poorest children who are going to be hurt.

"That's why were here, because we're saying let's repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. Let's not do that," she said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) acknowledged the third anniversary of the Affordable Care Act becoming law.

“Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the greatest single step in generations toward ensuring access to quality, affordable healthcare for every American — the Affordable Care Act,” Reid said Thursday morning on the Senate floor.

House Republicans will hold a committee hearing next week to examine the choices the Obama administration has made implementing the $85 billion sequester.

Republicans have slammed the administration for complying with the sequester by furloughing thousands of federal workers, instead of finding ways to cut waste or duplicative programs. The decision to cancel White House tours is one that the GOP has focused on as an example of the Obama administration trying make the sequester as painful as possible.

"We had an election about that. We won. The president won," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said.