Obamacare
California
Medi-Cal system encourages abuse
After more than a year, California’s politicians and health insurers have finally agreed to and passed last month what California Healthline calls a “tax hike in name only” to finance Medi-Cal. If only it were that simple. Funded jointly by the state and federal governments, Medi-Cal is the subject of ...
Commentary
Obamacare’s Sixth Birthday Provides No Reason To Celebrate
This Wednesday, March 23, Obamacare turns all of six years old. The administration is using the occasion to celebrate. At a speech in Milwaukee earlier this month, the president claimed that 20 million people have gained health insurance because of the law. The truth is far more complicated. Enrollment in ...
Commentary
Donald Trump’s Obamacare Alternative Isn’t Bad, But It Isn’t Great Either
“Repeal and replace with something terrific.” That was Donald Trump’s promise for how he’d deal with Obamacare shortly after he announced his candidacy in June. Trump has finally revealed just what he meant by “terrific.” Last week, he released a seven-point plan outlining his alternative to Obamacare. Trump calls it ...
Commentary
Time To Liberate Health Savings Accounts
Two members of Congress are trying to make paying for health care easier. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., just introduced companion legislation that would boost the power of Health Savings Accounts, which allow consumers to set aside money tax-free for health care expenses. They’re right to ...
Commentary
Seniors paying price for Obamacare fraud
Fewer seniors are re-entering the hospital after an initial stay, according to recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Obama administration says that we have Obamacare to thank for this “positive transformative change.” But the only thing that’s “changed” is how hospitals fill out the government’s ...
Commentary
Sanders and Trump Are Singing From the Same Tattered Single-Payer Hymnal
Perhaps the cold — or the proximity to Canada — got to New Hampshire’s voters on February 9. Both Republicans and Democrats in the Granite State handed presidential primary victories to candidates who have — at one time or another — supported government-run, Canadian-style single-payer health care. Sen. Bernie Sanders, ...
Commentary
Book Review: Sally Pipes’ ‘The Way Out Of Obamacare’
Back in January of 2011, and over drinks with Sally Pipes and Rowena Itchon (respectively President and Vice President of the Pacific Research Institute), we got to talking about Pipes’ emigration from Canada to the United States when she was a young adult. Her mother’s parting plea to Pipes was ...
Commentary
Obamacare’s ACOs punish hospitals for quality care
Obamacare promised to cut Medicare’s costs by coordinating care among doctors. But the first effort to do so – Obamacare’s Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations – lost $2.6 million. Now, the administration is trying a “new and improved” version – so-called Next Generation ACOs. Maine’s Beacon Health Network is participating. But ...
Business & Economics
Yet Another Promise: The ACA and Entrepreneurship
Many were the benefits promised by supporters of the Affordable Care Act. If you like your doctor and health plan, you will be able to keep them. Health insurance premiums will fall by an average of $2500 per year for a typical family, even as coverage will be extended to ...
Commentary
The Right Way to Replace Obamacare’s Subsidy
On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, nine candidates for the Republican presidential nomination remain. All are staunch critics of Obamacare. But they differ on what they’d put in its place. One point of tension? How to replace Obamacare’s overly complicated subsidy system. The GOP roughly falls into two ...
Medi-Cal system encourages abuse
After more than a year, California’s politicians and health insurers have finally agreed to and passed last month what California Healthline calls a “tax hike in name only” to finance Medi-Cal. If only it were that simple. Funded jointly by the state and federal governments, Medi-Cal is the subject of ...
Obamacare’s Sixth Birthday Provides No Reason To Celebrate
This Wednesday, March 23, Obamacare turns all of six years old. The administration is using the occasion to celebrate. At a speech in Milwaukee earlier this month, the president claimed that 20 million people have gained health insurance because of the law. The truth is far more complicated. Enrollment in ...
Donald Trump’s Obamacare Alternative Isn’t Bad, But It Isn’t Great Either
“Repeal and replace with something terrific.” That was Donald Trump’s promise for how he’d deal with Obamacare shortly after he announced his candidacy in June. Trump has finally revealed just what he meant by “terrific.” Last week, he released a seven-point plan outlining his alternative to Obamacare. Trump calls it ...
Time To Liberate Health Savings Accounts
Two members of Congress are trying to make paying for health care easier. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., just introduced companion legislation that would boost the power of Health Savings Accounts, which allow consumers to set aside money tax-free for health care expenses. They’re right to ...
Seniors paying price for Obamacare fraud
Fewer seniors are re-entering the hospital after an initial stay, according to recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Obama administration says that we have Obamacare to thank for this “positive transformative change.” But the only thing that’s “changed” is how hospitals fill out the government’s ...
Sanders and Trump Are Singing From the Same Tattered Single-Payer Hymnal
Perhaps the cold — or the proximity to Canada — got to New Hampshire’s voters on February 9. Both Republicans and Democrats in the Granite State handed presidential primary victories to candidates who have — at one time or another — supported government-run, Canadian-style single-payer health care. Sen. Bernie Sanders, ...
Book Review: Sally Pipes’ ‘The Way Out Of Obamacare’
Back in January of 2011, and over drinks with Sally Pipes and Rowena Itchon (respectively President and Vice President of the Pacific Research Institute), we got to talking about Pipes’ emigration from Canada to the United States when she was a young adult. Her mother’s parting plea to Pipes was ...
Obamacare’s ACOs punish hospitals for quality care
Obamacare promised to cut Medicare’s costs by coordinating care among doctors. But the first effort to do so – Obamacare’s Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations – lost $2.6 million. Now, the administration is trying a “new and improved” version – so-called Next Generation ACOs. Maine’s Beacon Health Network is participating. But ...
Yet Another Promise: The ACA and Entrepreneurship
Many were the benefits promised by supporters of the Affordable Care Act. If you like your doctor and health plan, you will be able to keep them. Health insurance premiums will fall by an average of $2500 per year for a typical family, even as coverage will be extended to ...
The Right Way to Replace Obamacare’s Subsidy
On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, nine candidates for the Republican presidential nomination remain. All are staunch critics of Obamacare. But they differ on what they’d put in its place. One point of tension? How to replace Obamacare’s overly complicated subsidy system. The GOP roughly falls into two ...
