Health Care
California
Whatever Happened to California’s Obamacare Exchange?
The most disappointing news on the Obamacare front these days is that at least two Republican governors cannot wait to implement Obamacare in their states. Apparently, one Republican state senator in Oklahoma has finally decided to prevent an Obamacare exchange bill from reaching Gov. Mary Fallin for signature. Fair enough, ...
Commentary
Romneycare’s Popularity Plummets
A recent poll from Suffolk University and WHDH-TV reports that 49 percent of respondents do not believe Romneycare has helped, while only 38 percent believe that it is working. Fifty-four percent said that Romney’s signing the law likely hurt his presidential chances, while only 22 percent believed that it helped. ...
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
Good News for All States and All Taxpayers: Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver Survives Scrutiny
Rhode Island, the smallest state, is wielding big influence against federal control of health care. Other states would do well to take notice. Federal taxpayers pay about 53 percent of Rhode Islands Medicaid costs. This has created a perverse incentive for state politicians to increase dependency on Medicaid in order ...
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
How Many Melanoma Patients Did the FDA Kill?
After an “expedited” analysis that lasted a year and a half, the FDA has finally approved Bristol-Myers Squibbs’ Yervoy (ipilimunab) for metastatic melanoma. The deadliest type of skin cancer, melanoma killed 8,700 Americans last year, according to the National Cancer Institute. BMS submitted its application to the FDA on August ...
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 ...
Whatever Happened to California’s Obamacare Exchange?
The most disappointing news on the Obamacare front these days is that at least two Republican governors cannot wait to implement Obamacare in their states. Apparently, one Republican state senator in Oklahoma has finally decided to prevent an Obamacare exchange bill from reaching Gov. Mary Fallin for signature. Fair enough, ...
Romneycare’s Popularity Plummets
A recent poll from Suffolk University and WHDH-TV reports that 49 percent of respondents do not believe Romneycare has helped, while only 38 percent believe that it is working. Fifty-four percent said that Romney’s signing the law likely hurt his presidential chances, while only 22 percent believed that it helped. ...
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 ...
Good News for All States and All Taxpayers: Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver Survives Scrutiny
Rhode Island, the smallest state, is wielding big influence against federal control of health care. Other states would do well to take notice. Federal taxpayers pay about 53 percent of Rhode Islands Medicaid costs. This has created a perverse incentive for state politicians to increase dependency on Medicaid in order ...
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 ...
How Many Melanoma Patients Did the FDA Kill?
After an “expedited” analysis that lasted a year and a half, the FDA has finally approved Bristol-Myers Squibbs’ Yervoy (ipilimunab) for metastatic melanoma. The deadliest type of skin cancer, melanoma killed 8,700 Americans last year, according to the National Cancer Institute. BMS submitted its application to the FDA on August ...
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 ...
