Obamacare
Commentary
Strategists on how to handle healthcare in the election
No bumper sticker slogan is going to cut it this time. They might both wish they could, but neither President Obama nor GOP presumptive nominee Mitt Romney are going to survive the general election without answering targeted questions about their healthcare visions. The upcoming election promises to be a nail-biter ...
Health Care
Obamnacare’s Tax on Medical Devices
Download the full PDF here Key Points: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) imposes an excise tax of 2.3 percent on medical equipment and supplies, effective in 2013. Regardless of the past and recent profitability of investment in the research and development of new and improved medical devices, ...
California
Skin in the Game: Governor Brown is Right and Secretary Sebelius Is Wrong About Medicaid Co-Pays
Key Points: Governor Jerry Brown and California legislators have attempted to get Medi-Cal’s budget under control by charging reasonable co-pays for medical and hospital services, especially emergency rooms. Secretary Sebelius has just quashed the state’s co-pay reform, relying on dubious legal interpretation. This federal overreach cost California taxpayers half a ...
Health Care
Block Grants to States Give Medicaid New Hope
The House of Representatives is now considering a piece of legislation that would fundamentally improve Medicaid the health insurance program for low-income Americans jointly funded by the federal government and the states and help this country avoid fiscal apocalypse. Medicaid is on the front-burner in Washington, as the ...
Health Care
Chart Focus: Will Americans Ever Control As Many Of Our Own Health Dollars as the Swiss, the Swedes, or the Canadians?
Key Points: Americans control a smaller share of our health spending than do residents of most other developed countries. In the late 1980s, the United States allowed patients to control more health spending than any other country, except Switzerland. In the twenty years to 2008, the share of U.S. health ...
Health Care
Obamacare faces Supreme test
The Supreme Court on Monday begins hearing what could be one of the most important cases in our country’s history. The nine justices are set to determine the constitutionality of the “individual mandate” included in the president’s health care bill, passed two years ago this month. The mandate requires that ...
Health Care
ObamaCare Individual Mandate Shifts Costs To Others
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week on the constitutionality of President Obama’s health reform law. One of the issues the high court will consider is whether Congress can require virtually every American to buy health insurance. The law’s defenders claim that forcing the uninsured to buy ...
Commentary
Obamacare drives up health care costs for everyone
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released their annual report on health care spending in America. And surprise, surprise – spending continues to grow. It amounted to 17.9 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product in 2010, or $2.6 trillion. But the annual rate of growth was lower ...
Commentary
Health spending slows but premiums still rising
A funny thing happened as a result of Obamacare, signed in March 2010: Although the cost of health care has increased at a slower rate than in previous years, premiums for health insurance and the share of premiums used for purposes other than paying claims has been increasing faster than ...
Strategists on how to handle healthcare in the election
No bumper sticker slogan is going to cut it this time. They might both wish they could, but neither President Obama nor GOP presumptive nominee Mitt Romney are going to survive the general election without answering targeted questions about their healthcare visions. The upcoming election promises to be a nail-biter ...
Obamnacare’s Tax on Medical Devices
Download the full PDF here Key Points: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) imposes an excise tax of 2.3 percent on medical equipment and supplies, effective in 2013. Regardless of the past and recent profitability of investment in the research and development of new and improved medical devices, ...
Skin in the Game: Governor Brown is Right and Secretary Sebelius Is Wrong About Medicaid Co-Pays
Key Points: Governor Jerry Brown and California legislators have attempted to get Medi-Cal’s budget under control by charging reasonable co-pays for medical and hospital services, especially emergency rooms. Secretary Sebelius has just quashed the state’s co-pay reform, relying on dubious legal interpretation. This federal overreach cost California taxpayers half a ...
Block Grants to States Give Medicaid New Hope
The House of Representatives is now considering a piece of legislation that would fundamentally improve Medicaid the health insurance program for low-income Americans jointly funded by the federal government and the states and help this country avoid fiscal apocalypse. Medicaid is on the front-burner in Washington, as the ...
Chart Focus: Will Americans Ever Control As Many Of Our Own Health Dollars as the Swiss, the Swedes, or the Canadians?
Key Points: Americans control a smaller share of our health spending than do residents of most other developed countries. In the late 1980s, the United States allowed patients to control more health spending than any other country, except Switzerland. In the twenty years to 2008, the share of U.S. health ...
Obamacare faces Supreme test
The Supreme Court on Monday begins hearing what could be one of the most important cases in our country’s history. The nine justices are set to determine the constitutionality of the “individual mandate” included in the president’s health care bill, passed two years ago this month. The mandate requires that ...
ObamaCare Individual Mandate Shifts Costs To Others
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week on the constitutionality of President Obama’s health reform law. One of the issues the high court will consider is whether Congress can require virtually every American to buy health insurance. The law’s defenders claim that forcing the uninsured to buy ...
Obamacare drives up health care costs for everyone
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released their annual report on health care spending in America. And surprise, surprise – spending continues to grow. It amounted to 17.9 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product in 2010, or $2.6 trillion. But the annual rate of growth was lower ...
Health spending slows but premiums still rising
A funny thing happened as a result of Obamacare, signed in March 2010: Although the cost of health care has increased at a slower rate than in previous years, premiums for health insurance and the share of premiums used for purposes other than paying claims has been increasing faster than ...
