John R. Graham
Commentary
Single-Payer and Group Coverage Empower Government, Not the People
I agree with Professor Chaufan that the “reforms” many states embraced to expand coverage with private insurance have failed, but disagree that it is because of a lack of government power. In fact, such reforms massively increase government power. For example, Massachusetts’ latest reform (passed by Governor Romney in 2006) ...
Health Care
Did You Hear About Anthem Blue Cross Cutting Premiums 20 Percent?
Probably not. But its just as accurate as recent headlines trumpeting a 39 percent increase for individual policyholders. The insurers letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, describes a wide range of premium changes, from a reduction of 20 percent to an increase of 35 percent, after ...
Commentary
Strickland Aims To Require Voter Approval Before Making Health Care Mandatory
KHTS Hometown Station, February 25, 2010 This morning State Senator Tony Strickland proposed Senate Constitutional Amendment 29, which if passed will require voter approval of any state or federal measure implementing a healthcare program that: Requires individuals to obtain health coverage; Requires individuals to guarantee issuance of health coverage; Creates ...
Commentary
What Are Republicans Talking about When Republicans Talk about ‘Buying Health Insurance Across State
The Republican health-reform bill (H.R. 4038 § 221) also retains this discriminatory tax-treatment, but contains 27 pages of legalese that purports to make it easier for Americans to buy health insurance across state lines. Unfortunately, it makes little sense once you get past the crowd-pleasing title. For example: “The primary ...
Commentary
Congress Should Not Pre-Empt State Antitrust Regulation of Health Insurance
Claiming that health insurers are uniquely exempt from antitrust laws is misleading in more than one way. In fact, federal law ensures that state antitrust and other consumer-protection laws dominate the field of insurance regulation. And this goes for all lines of insurance, not just health insurance. The law that ...
Commentary
Debate: Health Care Reform
Every member of our society is impacted by the quality, accessibility or affordability of health care in the United States. In 2007, U.S. Census figures estimated that over 22% of the population (69 million people) were either uninsured or underinsured. Is health care a right? Who should pay for it? ...
Health Care
Popular but Pointless: Subjecting Health Insurers to Federal Antitrust Laws Would Avoid, Not Achieve, Reform
Key Points Despite widespread media claims, health insurers are not exempt from antitrust laws. Instead, the McCarran-Ferguson Act allows state laws to supersede federal laws with respect to all lines of insurance not just health insurance. The McCarran-Ferguson Act was passed because of a 1944 Supreme Court decision, which ...
California
California’s New HMO Regulations
There are standards that a single-payer plan could not hope to achieve. Indeed, Californias current government-run health plans cant achieve them. The new regulations are a result of years of negotiations between HMOs, the government, and self-styled consumer advocates, who lobby for laws and regulation friendly to trial lawyers. Indeed, ...
California
Deadly Irony: California’s New HMO Regulations Versus Single-Payer Health Care
California has the unique distinction of being the only state that deploys two regulators of health plans: the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) as well as the Department of Insurance. Unsurprisingly, these departments busy themselves issuing ever-growing and more detailed regulations. The DMHC has been developing these regulations since ...
Commentary
‘Extending the Life of Medicare’? Good Luck with That
White House adviser David Axelrod told ABC News that the president wants to focus on “extending the life of Medicare” through cutting payments to providers. Good luck with that. As I’ve written before in NRO’s Critical Condition, and described in excruciating detail in a recently published study, elderly Americans are ...
Single-Payer and Group Coverage Empower Government, Not the People
I agree with Professor Chaufan that the “reforms” many states embraced to expand coverage with private insurance have failed, but disagree that it is because of a lack of government power. In fact, such reforms massively increase government power. For example, Massachusetts’ latest reform (passed by Governor Romney in 2006) ...
Did You Hear About Anthem Blue Cross Cutting Premiums 20 Percent?
Probably not. But its just as accurate as recent headlines trumpeting a 39 percent increase for individual policyholders. The insurers letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, describes a wide range of premium changes, from a reduction of 20 percent to an increase of 35 percent, after ...
Strickland Aims To Require Voter Approval Before Making Health Care Mandatory
KHTS Hometown Station, February 25, 2010 This morning State Senator Tony Strickland proposed Senate Constitutional Amendment 29, which if passed will require voter approval of any state or federal measure implementing a healthcare program that: Requires individuals to obtain health coverage; Requires individuals to guarantee issuance of health coverage; Creates ...
What Are Republicans Talking about When Republicans Talk about ‘Buying Health Insurance Across State
The Republican health-reform bill (H.R. 4038 § 221) also retains this discriminatory tax-treatment, but contains 27 pages of legalese that purports to make it easier for Americans to buy health insurance across state lines. Unfortunately, it makes little sense once you get past the crowd-pleasing title. For example: “The primary ...
Congress Should Not Pre-Empt State Antitrust Regulation of Health Insurance
Claiming that health insurers are uniquely exempt from antitrust laws is misleading in more than one way. In fact, federal law ensures that state antitrust and other consumer-protection laws dominate the field of insurance regulation. And this goes for all lines of insurance, not just health insurance. The law that ...
Debate: Health Care Reform
Every member of our society is impacted by the quality, accessibility or affordability of health care in the United States. In 2007, U.S. Census figures estimated that over 22% of the population (69 million people) were either uninsured or underinsured. Is health care a right? Who should pay for it? ...
Popular but Pointless: Subjecting Health Insurers to Federal Antitrust Laws Would Avoid, Not Achieve, Reform
Key Points Despite widespread media claims, health insurers are not exempt from antitrust laws. Instead, the McCarran-Ferguson Act allows state laws to supersede federal laws with respect to all lines of insurance not just health insurance. The McCarran-Ferguson Act was passed because of a 1944 Supreme Court decision, which ...
California’s New HMO Regulations
There are standards that a single-payer plan could not hope to achieve. Indeed, Californias current government-run health plans cant achieve them. The new regulations are a result of years of negotiations between HMOs, the government, and self-styled consumer advocates, who lobby for laws and regulation friendly to trial lawyers. Indeed, ...
Deadly Irony: California’s New HMO Regulations Versus Single-Payer Health Care
California has the unique distinction of being the only state that deploys two regulators of health plans: the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) as well as the Department of Insurance. Unsurprisingly, these departments busy themselves issuing ever-growing and more detailed regulations. The DMHC has been developing these regulations since ...
‘Extending the Life of Medicare’? Good Luck with That
White House adviser David Axelrod told ABC News that the president wants to focus on “extending the life of Medicare” through cutting payments to providers. Good luck with that. As I’ve written before in NRO’s Critical Condition, and described in excruciating detail in a recently published study, elderly Americans are ...
