Obamacare
Commentary
Clarifying Ryan’s Medicare Reform
(Not that Ryan’s retreating from the term will prevent “voucher” being used to describe his reform. Grace-Marie Turner has explained how “premium support” differs from a voucher, but even Ryan supporter Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute insists on describing it as a voucher.) Of course, a good night’s sleep ...
Commentary
Ryan Flinched on Medicare
Path to Prosperity, however, eliminates the “payment” in favor of the woolier “premium support.” Nor does it even report how it would calculate this premium support, beyond asserting that “wealthier beneficiaries would receive a lower subsidy” (p. 46). It never ceases to amaze me that conservative policy analysts cheer such ...
Commentary
Rick Perry: No Obamacare Exchange for Texas
This is very good news. States that establish Obamacare exchanges are making a one-way, lose-lose bet on Obamacare, as I’ve written before. Governor Jindal in Louisiana and Governor Deal in Georgia have also recently learned this. Our friends at the Heritage Foundation, who are most closely associated with exchanges, have ...
Commentary
Repeal Obamacare’s 1099 Reporting Provision? No Way!
The 1099 provision refers to the justly reviled clause in Obamacare (section 9006) that compels any business spending at least $600 on a supplier to issue a 1099 to that supplier. So, if my consulting business buys $600 worth of office supplies from Staples, I’m supposed to issue Staples a ...
Commentary
What Explains Sebelius’ Ignorance of Health Law?
As I’ve written about previously, most of the so-called consumer protections that she touts were actually legislated back in 1996. The 1996 law resulted in dramatic increase in federal regulation of health care, but no sigificant positive outcomes. But Secretary Sebelius won’t quit trafficking scare-stories about denial of coverage that ...
Commentary
Piping Up: The Ulterior Motive Behind Rising ObamaCare Premiums
Last week, proponents of ObamaCare celebrated the one-year anniversary of the passage of the landmark health care law with several hundred events across the country. They have little reason to cheer, according to a sobering new study. In the report, former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin calculates that health ...
Commentary
A Mandate Is Not A Solution to Medical-Malpractice Crisis
First, Professor Avraham goes the way of many clever people who have a good idea, but become frustrated that society does not immediately adopt it: He proposes that the federal government mandate that physicians purchase (or license) appropriate guidelines from for-profit companies! If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Obamacare, ...
Commentary
Price of compassion for cancer patients
There was a time in this country when European-style health care served as a cautionary tale. Today it is beginning to look like something to envy. Future generations wishing to identify the moment the shift took place should look to Dec. 16, 2010. That was the day the U.S. Food ...
Health Care
Obamacare’s First Birthday: Radio Interviews
With respect to Mr. Krasny, I was debating Herb Schultz, an Obamacare employee who runs the west coast for Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services. Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News set up the discussion with a report on the state of Obamacare. It went ...
Commentary
Who Got Obamacare Waivers?
Some are just strange: Aetna received an exemption for plans that it offers to firms with more than 209,000 enrollees. So, what happens when a firm with 210,000 enrollees closes a plant and the headcount drops to 200,000? It loses its waiver, too? Also, note that these waivers are for ...
Clarifying Ryan’s Medicare Reform
(Not that Ryan’s retreating from the term will prevent “voucher” being used to describe his reform. Grace-Marie Turner has explained how “premium support” differs from a voucher, but even Ryan supporter Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute insists on describing it as a voucher.) Of course, a good night’s sleep ...
Ryan Flinched on Medicare
Path to Prosperity, however, eliminates the “payment” in favor of the woolier “premium support.” Nor does it even report how it would calculate this premium support, beyond asserting that “wealthier beneficiaries would receive a lower subsidy” (p. 46). It never ceases to amaze me that conservative policy analysts cheer such ...
Rick Perry: No Obamacare Exchange for Texas
This is very good news. States that establish Obamacare exchanges are making a one-way, lose-lose bet on Obamacare, as I’ve written before. Governor Jindal in Louisiana and Governor Deal in Georgia have also recently learned this. Our friends at the Heritage Foundation, who are most closely associated with exchanges, have ...
Repeal Obamacare’s 1099 Reporting Provision? No Way!
The 1099 provision refers to the justly reviled clause in Obamacare (section 9006) that compels any business spending at least $600 on a supplier to issue a 1099 to that supplier. So, if my consulting business buys $600 worth of office supplies from Staples, I’m supposed to issue Staples a ...
What Explains Sebelius’ Ignorance of Health Law?
As I’ve written about previously, most of the so-called consumer protections that she touts were actually legislated back in 1996. The 1996 law resulted in dramatic increase in federal regulation of health care, but no sigificant positive outcomes. But Secretary Sebelius won’t quit trafficking scare-stories about denial of coverage that ...
Piping Up: The Ulterior Motive Behind Rising ObamaCare Premiums
Last week, proponents of ObamaCare celebrated the one-year anniversary of the passage of the landmark health care law with several hundred events across the country. They have little reason to cheer, according to a sobering new study. In the report, former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin calculates that health ...
A Mandate Is Not A Solution to Medical-Malpractice Crisis
First, Professor Avraham goes the way of many clever people who have a good idea, but become frustrated that society does not immediately adopt it: He proposes that the federal government mandate that physicians purchase (or license) appropriate guidelines from for-profit companies! If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Obamacare, ...
Price of compassion for cancer patients
There was a time in this country when European-style health care served as a cautionary tale. Today it is beginning to look like something to envy. Future generations wishing to identify the moment the shift took place should look to Dec. 16, 2010. That was the day the U.S. Food ...
Obamacare’s First Birthday: Radio Interviews
With respect to Mr. Krasny, I was debating Herb Schultz, an Obamacare employee who runs the west coast for Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services. Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News set up the discussion with a report on the state of Obamacare. It went ...
Who Got Obamacare Waivers?
Some are just strange: Aetna received an exemption for plans that it offers to firms with more than 209,000 enrollees. So, what happens when a firm with 210,000 enrollees closes a plant and the headcount drops to 200,000? It loses its waiver, too? Also, note that these waivers are for ...
