Tom Howell Jr.
Articles by Tom Howell Jr.
Attorneys general back Obama in health subsidies dispute
Eighteen states that implemented Obamacare in three discrete ways filed a legal brief Monday that says qualified Americans should enjoy the health law's tax credits no matter where they live, effectively joining the fight against high-profile lawsuits that claim federal assistance should only flow to certain states. Published November 3, 2014
Charlie Crist, Rick Scott in a dead heat in Florida governor’s race: Quinnipiac poll
The Florida governor's race is heading "down to the wire," according to a Quinnipiac University poll Monday that puts challenger Charlie Crist 1 point ahead of Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Published November 3, 2014
Half of Obamacare users wouldn’t return to the exchanges this year: survey
Disenchanted by high prices and technology woes, more than half of the households that used an Obamacare exchange last year said they would not use the portal again in the upcoming sign-up period, according to a survey released Monday. Published November 3, 2014
Paul LePage: Negotiations with Kaci Hickox for Ebola quarantine have failed
Maine Gov. Paul LePage said Thursday he is ready to use the "full extent of his authority" to rein in a 33-year-old nurse who worked with Ebola patients in West Africa but balked at a deal that would prevent her from entering public spaces. Published October 30, 2014
Obama praises health care workers, ‘American exceptionalism’ in Ebola fight
President Obama on Wednesday forcefully defended U.S. health care workers returning from the Ebola outbreak's front lines in West Africa as "heroes" deserving respect, in a White House pep rally designed to lift up volunteers fighting the virus at its source while rebuking those who let "fear" and "hysteria" dictate the country's response. Published October 29, 2014
White House steering clear of Ebola quarantine fight in Maine
The White House on Wednesday sidestepped the fight over Ebola quarantine policy that's brewing in Maine, where state officials want to legally quarantine a nurse who recently returned from West Africa and proclaimed she will not be confined to her home under protocols that put politics over science. Published October 29, 2014
Kaci Hickox won’t follow Maine protocols for Ebola isolation
Maine is on track to be the first state to see its quarantine laws put to the test since Ebola arrived on American shores, pitting broad state powers designed to protect public health against the liberties of health care workers who have an increasingly vocal ally in President Obama. Published October 29, 2014
Obama tries to tamp down Ebola fears
Battered by criticism on the home front, President Obama turned the nation's focus to the fight against Ebola at its source in West Africa, taking pains to praise health care workers doing "God's work over there" to keep Americans safe. Published October 28, 2014
White House: ‘Not unusual’ for Ebola quarantine rules to differ for military, general population
The Obama administration said Tuesday that a quarantine policy in place for Army troops leaving Ebola-stricken West Africa would not work for the civilian population — its latest attempt to explain the dissonance between its military policy and the criticism it doled out to states with strict solution measures in place for returning health workers. Published October 28, 2014
Amber Vinson, second nurse to get Ebola, thanks God for her recovery
The second person to contract Ebola in the U.S. is virus-free and was released from an Atlanta hospital Tuesday. Published October 28, 2014
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie defends Ebola policy, says states are leading the way while CDC lags
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie staunchly defended his state's Ebola quarantine policy Tuesday and said it will not change, one day after he allowed a nurse to return to Maine because she was symptom-free for 24 hours. Published October 28, 2014
CDC unveils a four-tier Ebola risk scale to help local authorities
Federal health officials released a risk scale Monday designed to smooth out state efforts to fight Ebola while bolstering the Obama administration's plea for calm, even as the Pentagon quarantined troops returning from the West African epicenter of the outbreak. Published October 27, 2014
White House blames James Madison for patchwork of Ebola quarantine laws
The White House insisted Monday that policies to contain Ebola within the U.S. must not serve as a "disincentive" for health care workers who are thinking about fighting the virus in West Africa. Published October 27, 2014
Kaci Hickox to be released from N.J. quarantine, then sent by private ambulance to Maine home
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced Monday his state will release the nurse who had been quarantined in a tent next to a Newark hospital upon returning from Ebola-stricken West Africa. Published October 27, 2014
5-year-old boy tested for Ebola in New York City
A 5-year-old boy returning from Ebola-stricken West Africa was hospitalized in New York City after presenting symptoms of the virus. Published October 27, 2014
Conflicting accounts roil Ebola debate over nurse quarantined in N.J. amid fears
New Jersey officials are trying to clear the air about the conditions in which a nurse returning from Ebola-stricken Sierra Leone is being isolated for 21 days. Published October 27, 2014
Ebola health worker quarantines pit politics vs. science
The nation's top infectious diseases official blasted states for putting into place "draconian" quarantine rules that they said could dissuade workers from volunteering on the front lines of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and raise the threat to the U.S. Published October 26, 2014
Winning the Senate: Democrats and Republicans show confidence
Democrats and Republicans gazed Sunday into starkly different crystal balls ahead of midterm elections a little more than a week away, doubling down on their chances to retain or retake the upper chamber and backing their respective leaders as men of vision. Published October 26, 2014
Anthony Fauci: Tighter Ebola measures may weaken gains in West Africa, expose U.S.
The American fight against Ebola must be driven by science and not fear, and stricter rules on workers returning from Africa could effectively heighten the risk to the U.S., the nation's top infectious diseases official said Sunday. Published October 26, 2014
Key senators from both parties like their chances on Nov. 4
Key senators from both parties, Democrat Charles Schumer and Republican Rob Portman, are gazing at starkly different crystal balls ahead of the mid-term elections next month. Published October 26, 2014