Obamacare
Commentary
Don’t Divorce Americans From Short-Term Health Insurance
More than 800,000 Americans divorce each year. Many more change jobs or otherwise have their employment status interrupted. Getting divorced or losing a job is hard enough. Unfortunately, the Obama administration wants to make it even harder. It’s looking to implement a new rule that would curb short-term health insurance ...
Sally C. Pipes
November 1, 2016
Commentary
Obamacare’s Open Enrollment Season Is a Healthcare Horror Show
Obamacare’s fourth open enrollment period begins tomorrow — and what a fitting epilogue to Halloween. After all, when Americans log on to either their state or the federal health insurance exchanges, they’ll be in for a fright. What they’ll discover is a witch’s brew of double-digit premium hikes, restrictive provider ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 31, 2016
California
Would A “Public Option” Rescue Obamacare In California?
Dave Jones, California’s Insurance Commissioner, has lifted a page from Hillary Clinton’s playbook for the rescue of Obamacare – the so-called “public option.” The public option would probably look a lot like Medicaid. Its proponents give it a less pejorative name to lull people into a false sense of confidence ...
John R. Graham
October 21, 2016
Commentary
Taxpayers And Medicare Patients Can’t Afford Obamacare’s ‘Savings’
Administration officials just unveiled an Orwellian new strategy for masking ObamaCare’s mounting costs — rebrand them as “savings.” The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced that Medicare saved $466 million last year thanks to the Affordable Care Act’s “Accountable Care Organizations” — groups of doctors, hospitals, and other ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 17, 2016
Commentary
Executives debate exchange viability, Obamacare
Want proof that Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges are doomed? Just look at what the law’s former supporters say about them now. Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt, who in 2013 predicted that Obamacare would “flourish” over time, now warns that the exchanges have entered a “death spiral.” Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini called ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 14, 2016
California
California’s Surprise Medical Bill Law Papers Over a Systemic Problem
Insured patients who go into hospital for scheduled surgery are often shocked to find they owe bills well beyond what they expected to pay, especially if they understood the hospital and surgeon to be in their health plan’s network. The problem usually occurs when an anesthesiologist or other specialist involved ...
John R. Graham
October 14, 2016
Health Care
Who Has the Best Health Care Plan – Hillary or Donald?
SACRAMENTO – As America prepares to choose a new president, the Pacific Research Institute today offered voters a nonpartisan guide to help them decide which candidate is best on health care. “Who is elected as our next President will have a significant impact on the future of America’s health care ...
Pacific Research Institute
October 11, 2016
Commentary
Rejecting Obamacare’s Perverse Ultimatum
One of Obamacare’s central pillars, the individual mandate, boils down to a crude ultimatum. Buy health insurance or pay the price — a tax penalty of the greater of $695 or 2.5 percent of income, to be exact. But what if it’s essentially impossible to buy health insurance — because ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 3, 2016
Commentary
Stop Bending The Law To Protect Obamacare
President Obama is scrambling to keep his signature health reform law intact. A slew of insurers — including industry giants Aetna and United Health — have elected to leave most of the exchanges they initially participated in after sustaining heavy losses over the last two years. President Obama has responded ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 3, 2016
Commentary
The Public Option Rides Again
Like a gambler who doesn’t know when to quit, Democrats are doubling down on their favorite losing bet — Obamacare. Hit by multimillion-dollar losses — UnitedHealthcare, for instance, expects to lose $850 million this year alone – insurers are pulling out of the exchanges. All but six of Obamacare’s 23 ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 3, 2016
Don’t Divorce Americans From Short-Term Health Insurance
More than 800,000 Americans divorce each year. Many more change jobs or otherwise have their employment status interrupted. Getting divorced or losing a job is hard enough. Unfortunately, the Obama administration wants to make it even harder. It’s looking to implement a new rule that would curb short-term health insurance ...
Obamacare’s Open Enrollment Season Is a Healthcare Horror Show
Obamacare’s fourth open enrollment period begins tomorrow — and what a fitting epilogue to Halloween. After all, when Americans log on to either their state or the federal health insurance exchanges, they’ll be in for a fright. What they’ll discover is a witch’s brew of double-digit premium hikes, restrictive provider ...
Would A “Public Option” Rescue Obamacare In California?
Dave Jones, California’s Insurance Commissioner, has lifted a page from Hillary Clinton’s playbook for the rescue of Obamacare – the so-called “public option.” The public option would probably look a lot like Medicaid. Its proponents give it a less pejorative name to lull people into a false sense of confidence ...
Taxpayers And Medicare Patients Can’t Afford Obamacare’s ‘Savings’
Administration officials just unveiled an Orwellian new strategy for masking ObamaCare’s mounting costs — rebrand them as “savings.” The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced that Medicare saved $466 million last year thanks to the Affordable Care Act’s “Accountable Care Organizations” — groups of doctors, hospitals, and other ...
Executives debate exchange viability, Obamacare
Want proof that Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges are doomed? Just look at what the law’s former supporters say about them now. Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt, who in 2013 predicted that Obamacare would “flourish” over time, now warns that the exchanges have entered a “death spiral.” Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini called ...
California’s Surprise Medical Bill Law Papers Over a Systemic Problem
Insured patients who go into hospital for scheduled surgery are often shocked to find they owe bills well beyond what they expected to pay, especially if they understood the hospital and surgeon to be in their health plan’s network. The problem usually occurs when an anesthesiologist or other specialist involved ...
Who Has the Best Health Care Plan – Hillary or Donald?
SACRAMENTO – As America prepares to choose a new president, the Pacific Research Institute today offered voters a nonpartisan guide to help them decide which candidate is best on health care. “Who is elected as our next President will have a significant impact on the future of America’s health care ...
Rejecting Obamacare’s Perverse Ultimatum
One of Obamacare’s central pillars, the individual mandate, boils down to a crude ultimatum. Buy health insurance or pay the price — a tax penalty of the greater of $695 or 2.5 percent of income, to be exact. But what if it’s essentially impossible to buy health insurance — because ...
Stop Bending The Law To Protect Obamacare
President Obama is scrambling to keep his signature health reform law intact. A slew of insurers — including industry giants Aetna and United Health — have elected to leave most of the exchanges they initially participated in after sustaining heavy losses over the last two years. President Obama has responded ...
The Public Option Rides Again
Like a gambler who doesn’t know when to quit, Democrats are doubling down on their favorite losing bet — Obamacare. Hit by multimillion-dollar losses — UnitedHealthcare, for instance, expects to lose $850 million this year alone – insurers are pulling out of the exchanges. All but six of Obamacare’s 23 ...