Labor union leaders are complaining they are getting shortchanged by the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare." They are asking the White House to allow the health care exchange subsidies to be used for their worker's health care plans, which could dramatically increase the cost of the ACA.

In an op-ed for The Hill, Joseph Hansen, president of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, claims that, unlike what President Barack Obama promised labor leaders during his 2008 campaign, many workers now represented by a labor union will lose their current health insurance when the new law goes into effect.

The problem, Hansen says, is the ACA will pass higher costs, without additional cost-saving benefits, onto the non-profit health care plans that their members have negotiated with their employers, thus encouraging the employers to drop the health coverage altogether. Their workers would then get health insurance through the health care exchanges, or through Medicaid, if they are eligible. more >>

As a physician in private practice I enjoys taking care of elderly patients. Because most retirees over age 65 who want to be insured have no choice but to enroll in the Medicare program, I have continued to cooperate with the program. Many of my physician colleagues have opted out of Medicare, and I wonder how long I can hold out. As I continue to be presented with new Medicare requirements, it appears I am being given two choices. I can continue to provide comprehensive, personalized care for my patients, or I can focus on the paperwork, mandates, and forms required to get paid. I am coming to the conclusion that I cannot do both.

The federal government wants to dictate what I do for my patients even if it might compromise my best judgment. I must trust the dictates of those who never went to medical school. They cannot possibly know what is best for the patient sitting in front of me. Will I allow my judgment to be clouded by those with the power to deny me payment if I do not comply with their "standards?"

The Medicare bureaucracy has come up with more hoops through which I must jump to avoid penalties. The Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) is a new entity that is another distraction. The following is just one example of jargon from the Medicare website: more >>

As scandals rise around the Obama Administration, from Benghazi to the IRS, Republicans and some Democrats are also jumping on a new development: United States Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting private funding to implement the healthcare law.

When Congress denied her request for nearly $1 billion to promote the healthcare exchanges, a central part of the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare, Sebelius allegedly turned to healthcare executives to finance Enroll America, a nonprofit group devoted to expanding access.

In an official statement to The Christian Post, HHS acknowledged, "since March, the Secretary has made two fundraising calls on behalf of Enroll America to two organizations – the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and H&R Block – neither of which is regulated by us and both of whom share a commitment to helping uninsured Americans." more >>

Eighteen-year-old viral video inspiration Zach Sobiech's long goodbye came to a solemn halt on Monday morning when he died from the rare bone cancer osteosarcoma. He had been battling the disease for the last four years of his life.

The Lakeland, Minn., teen who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 14, began writing farewell songs to his friends and family last year after he ran out of treatment options and doctors gave him a year to live.

According to CNN, Sobiech's mother had initially encouraged the teen to write goodbye letters but writing wasn't something he liked very much. more >>

John Mark and Pamela Crawford are suing the state of South Carolina for performing sex assignment surgery on their adoptive infant three months prior to having legal custody of the child. This is the first lawsuit of its kind in the nation.

Their child, known as M.C., was born with both male and female reproductive organs, otherwise known as a special needs child that has an intersex condition. When M.C. was 16 months old and a ward of the state, under the care of the South Carolina Department of Social Services, doctors and department officials decided that M.C. should undergo sex assignment surgery to make M.C. a girl. The child's biological mother was deemed unfit and the biological father was considered to have abandoned the child. The decision about the child's sexuality was left to the state.

M.C. is now 8 years old, identifies as a boy, dresses as a boy, and refuses to be called a girl. M.C.'s surgery is irreversible. Left with female genitalia, his parents say that he feels like he has always been a boy and he has announced to his school and church community that he is a boy. more >>

Celebrated Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie, 37, revealed on Tuesday that she recently completed preventive double mastectomy due to a "faulty" gene that left her susceptible to an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer.

The actress made the revelation in a New York Times op-ed titled, "My Medical Choice."

Citing the influence of her mother who battled then died from cancer at age 56, Jolie explained that when doctors told her she carried the "faulty" BRCA1 gene, which increased her chances of developing both breast and ovarian cancer, she decided to be proactive. more >>