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Tom Howell Jr.

Tom Howell Jr.

Tom Howell Jr. covers politics and the White House for The Washington Times. He can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

Andy Slavitt, acting administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Image: http://www.cms.gov)

CMS proposes pay raise for Medicare Advantage plans

Private insurers that offer Medicare Advantage plans will receive a nearly 1 percent raise from the federal government next year, the Obama administration announced Monday. Published April 4, 2016

FILE-In this Saturday, March 7, 2015 file photo, health workers prepare to collect the ashes of people that died due to the Ebola virus at a crematorium on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia. As Liberia marks the second anniversary Wednesday of its first confirmed Ebola cases, many neighbors say they want to see the crematorium torn down so they can try to forget that terrible time. (AP Photo/ Abbas Dulleh, File)

Probe of Ebola flareup in Liberia widens; woman traveled from Guinea after husband died

A 30-year-old woman who died from Ebola last week arrived in Liberia from Guinea, where her husband had died of unknown causes, the World Health Organization said Monday as it traced the source of a flareup that put authorities on high alert for the virus that had been nearly stamped out after a two-year outbreak in West Africa. Published April 4, 2016

Janine Santos holds her 3-month-old son Shayde Henrique who was born with microcephaly while health workers visit her home in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) ** FILE **

White House: Money isn’t there to fight the Zika virus

Congress should "do its job" and take up President Obama's request for nearly $2 billion to combat the Zika virus, the White House said Friday in its most urgent plea to date for emergency funding to defend pregnant women against the mosquito-borne disease linked to serious birth defects. Published April 1, 2016

In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, samples of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, responsible for transmitting dengue and Zika, sit in a petri dish at the Fiocruz Institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

Tom Frieden, CDC chief, says Americans ‘deserve’ more Zika funding

The chief of the Centers for Disease Control said Thursday the U.S. needs new funding to "provide the protection that Americans deserve" against the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne virus that's been linked to serious birth defects in Latin America and has infected hundreds in Puerto Rico. Published March 31, 2016

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016, file photo, a medical researcher uses a monitor that shows the results of blood tests for various diseases, including Zika, at the Gorgas Memorial laboratory in Panama City. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday, March 30, 2016, they are granting use of an experimental blood test to screen blood for Zika virus, an emergency step that will help protect local blood supplies from the mosquito-borne virus. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco, File)

Zika-affected areas can screen blood with experimental test: FDA

Puerto Rico and other areas with active transmission of Zika virus can use an experimental test to screen local blood donations for the mosquito-borne disease that's been linked to serious birth defects, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday. Published March 30, 2016

Nuns have fought legal requirements to provide birth control to their employees at Roman Catholic charities. (Associated Press/File)

Supreme Court seeks new remedy in birth control case

The Supreme Court appears to be searching for a middle ground on the Obamacare contraceptive mandate, issuing an order Tuesday asking both the government and the religious charities challenging the rules to try to come up with options that can accommodate both sides. Published March 29, 2016

In this Tuesday, March 1, 2016, photograph, Dr. Josh Blum demonstrates how to administer a dose of naloxone while conferring with the inmate at the Denver County Jail in downtown Denver. Jails and correction agencies across the country such as Denver are teaching soon-to-be-released inmates how to use the heroin overdose antidote called naloxone, either to save others and sometimes themselves. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) ** FILE **

White House unveils long list of efforts to combat opioid abuse

President Obama proposed a series of steps Tuesday to save addicts who've been swept up by the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic, from allowing doctors to perform medication-based treatment on more patients to expanding the use of an overdose-reversing drug. Published March 29, 2016

A "discussion draft" by Rep. Rob Bishop, Utah Republican, to be released Tuesday would give the House a starting point to address Puerto Rico's $70 billion plight.

House Republicans’ draft legislation designed to save Puerto Rico

House Republicans will release draft legislation Tuesday designed to rescue Puerto Rico from its crippling debt crisis by imposing an oversight board to audit the U.S. territory's finances and put it on a path toward fiscal responsibility. Published March 28, 2016

President Barack Obama shares a humorous moment with a group of doctors from around the country in the Oval Office, Oct. 5, 2009, prior to a health insurance reform event at the White House. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

D.C. is worst place for doctors to practice: WalletHub

The nation's capital is the worst place for doctors to practice, according to a survey released Tuesday that looked at wages, the cost of malpractice and other factors that face a set of professionals who are highly paid and respected, yet reeling from student debt and an ever-shifting landscape. Published March 28, 2016

Shavonne Bullock, a recovering heroin addict, holds a demonstration dose of the medication Suboxone during an appointment at the West Division Family Health Center in Chicago on March 11, 2013. Each dose is incorporated on a dissolvable film, which is placed below the tongue where is dissolves and is absorbed into the bloodstream. Suboxone helps suppress withdrawal symptoms and reduce cravings for people recovering from addiction to opioid drugs. (Associated Press) **FILE**

HHS says Medicaid expansion will combat opioid crisis, mental illness

Nearly 2 million uninsured people with a mental illness or substance-abuse problem live in states that haven't expanded Medicaid, the administration said Monday in a report that urges state Republicans to embrace Obamacare as a pathway to recovery and economic growth. Published March 28, 2016

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, an Aedes aegypti mosquito is photographed through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. A new study suggests the worrisome Zika virus apparently has been in Brazil at least a year longer than experts previously thought. Some experts have speculated the virus first came to the Americas sometime in 2014. But the new study, led by Brazilian researchers, concludes Zika landed in Brazil a year earlier. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

Zika probably hit Brazil in 2013, before World Cup: Study

Zika virus probably arrived in Brazil in mid-2013, researchers said Thursday in a study that says the World Cup soccer tournament and other stand-alone events probably aren't to blame for the outbreak that's been linked to serious birth defects in Latin America. Published March 24, 2016

In this Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, the HealthCare.gov website, where people can buy health insurance, is displayed on a laptop screen in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

HealthCare.gov suffered 316 security incidents: gov’t report

The Obama administration reported more than 300 security incidents on its main Obamacare website during an 18-month span, according to a nonpartisan report Wednesday that says HealthCare.gov is weaker than it should be behind the scenes, despite front-end upgrades for consumers. Published March 23, 2016

Nuns with the Little Sisters of The Poor, including Sister Celestine, left, and Sister Jeanne Veronique, center, rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, March 23, 2016, as the court hears arguments to allow birth control in health care plans in the Zubik vs. Burwell case. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) ** FILE **

Birth control carve-out in Obamacare splits the Supreme Court

Catholic nuns and religious nonprofits that object to paying for employee contraceptives faced a deeply divided Supreme Court on Wednesday, as the liberal justices warned against allowing faith-based objections to stymie important government goals such as expanding access to women's health care. Published March 23, 2016

House Speaker Paul Ryan (Associated Press)

Paul Ryan’s budget plan crushed by House conservative rebellion

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Tuesday that he still wants Congress to pass a budget this year, but a conservative rebellion has likely squelched those chances, forcing Republicans to plow ahead with the annual spending bills without the guidance of a full plan for the money. Published March 22, 2016

A health worker, center, takes the temperature of people to see if they might be infected by the Ebola virus inside the Ignace Deen government hospital in Conakry, Guinea, Friday March 18, 2016. The World Health Organization deployed specialists to southeast Guinea on Friday after two new Ebola cases were confirmed. The cases were announced just hours after Sierra Leone heralded the end of its recent Ebola flare-up, again dashing hopes that the deadly disease was gone from West Africa. (AP Photo/Youssouf Bah)

DHS: Foreign nationals from Ebola-affected countries can stay 6 more months

The Obama administration said Tuesday it will allow foreign nationals from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa to stay in the U.S. for another six months, even though global health officials said the outbreak that killed 11,000 people abroad is officially over. Published March 22, 2016

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., joined by the House GOP leadership, talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 22, 2016, following a closed-door caucus meeting. In a response to a reporter’s question, Ryan said he's not worried that Donald Trump will cost Republicans control of the chamber in November's election. With Trump leading the race for the GOP presidential nomination, some in the party worry that his unbridled comments about women, Hispanics and others will cost Republican candidates in swing House districts. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Paul Ryan still pushing for GOP budget

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Tuesday that he wants to adopt a fiscal 2017 budget before annual spending bills hit the floor, though conservatives who balked at last year's bipartisan spending deal said they cannot support a blueprint until Congress cuts $30 billion as part of must-pass legislation. Published March 22, 2016