Politics/elections

Mitt Romney’s healthcare platform is one of the most regressive proposals in U.S. history, said David Cutler, a prominent healthcare economist and a top adviser to President Obama’s 2008 campaign.

In a harshly worded blog post on the Journal of the American Medical Association website, Cutler criticized what he said is the “negativity” of Romney’s platform.

“Romney’s plan will heal neither divisions nor sick Americans,” Cutler wrote. “Indeed, Romney’s health care ideas are the most radical and divisive of any candidate ever to run for President.”

House Democrats sought Wednesday to force a committee vote on women’s healthcare, an issue they hope will mobilize women voters this fall.

The maneuver came during a sprawling markup in the Energy and Commerce Committee, which is debating a slew of spending cuts that could be included in next year’s budget.

Committee Republicans want to repeal a fund, established in President Obama’s healthcare law, that covers preventive services. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) offered an amendment that would have repealed most of the fund while leaving intact funding for women’s healthcare services.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the panel’s top Democrat, accused Republicans of “punishing women” to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy.

Playing off Democrat's charges of a “war on women,” the Playboy founder slammed "repressed conservatives... pounding on America's bedroom door."

President Obama's standing among Catholic voters has slipped and a looming confrontation with Catholic activists could make it worse.

An increasing number of Democrats are taking potshots at President Obama’s healthcare law.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) isn’t the only retiring House Democrat who thinks the White House made a big mistake by pursuing healthcare reform. In interviews with The Hill on Thursday, several more Democrats piled on, saying Obama hurt Democrats’ electoral chances.

“I think we would all have been better off — President Obama politically, Democrats in Congress politically, and the nation would have been better off — if we had dealt first with the financial system and the other related economic issues and then come back to healthcare,” said Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), who is retiring at the end of this Congress.

Warren — the liberal icon challenging Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) — said Congress should repeal the tax on medical devices.

The retiring senator said the healthcare reform law would be Obama's "biggest downside" heading into the November election.

In an interview, retiring Rep. Barney Frank said he thought Obama made a "mistake" pushing healthcare reform in 2010.

In the wake of the administration's contraception mandate, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said "religious liberty is under attack."