Health Care

Commentary

The $100,000 Obamacare Policy

However, all is not lost. The Democrats’ version of “reform” might at least reduce the number of uninsured. But to what degree, and at what cost? According to the Census, there are 28 million uninsured Americans (46 million, minus 9 million non-citizens, minus 9 million Medicaid beneficiaries whom the Census ...
Commentary

Public Option May Get Cut from Health Care Bill

As congressional Democrats work on the final version of sweeping health care legislation, it remains unclear which provisions will survive the complex bill-making process. Top aides to President Barack Obama say he may not require creation of a government-run health care system, known as the public option, as part of ...
Education

Another Victim of Medicaid (And Employer Benefits)

Mr. Kristof also recounts a horrible story: A man who suffers an abnormal growth of blood vessels in his brain, which has rendered him unable to work. Of course, he lost his employment-based “benefits,” and was unable to acquire individual insurance because of his severe condition. As usual, the story ...
Commentary

New Yorker Would Have Done Better With Individual Insurance To Start

Laurie Rippon notes that (s)he lost his job after being hit by a car while crossing the street, which resulted in traumatic brain injury. After timing out of COBRA coverage, he would not have been able to buy an individual policy because he would not have passed underwriting. Mr. Rippon ...
Business & Economics

Giving Thanks for Leading Health Technology Advances

While Congress debates an US$850 billion healthcare bill with questionable benefits, leaders in the technology industry are quietly creating products and services that will truly reform healthcare. This Thanksgiving, for example, Americans can be appreciative of the incredible price decline in genome sequencing, one of the most important health advances. ...
Commentary

Cutting Medicare Benefits Will Not Protect Taxpayers

While much of the “savings” promoted by the deficit chicken-hawks are delusional (waste, fraud, abuse, and no longer “fixing” doctors’ Medicare Part B reimbursement), one is very real: Cutting actual Medicare benefits by reducing seniors’ choices of Medicare Advantage plans. Traditional Medicare Part A (hospital) and Part B (outpatient) benefits ...
Commentary

Hiding Health Reform’s Real Costs

Washington: Senate Democrats say their reform bill will cost $848 billion over 10 years. They’re misleading the public by starting the count in 2010. The true cost would be $1.8 trillion over a decade. The $848 billion figure is based on a 10-year run beginning in 2010 when there will ...
Commentary

What the Health-Care Debate Is Really All About

Rather, it’s about liberty versus equality, personal control versus governmental control, dispersed power versus centralized power, freedom versus statism, American Founding principles of limited government and natural rights versus Progressive principles of activist government and conventional (man-made) “rights.” There is nothing particularly noble, compassionate, or decent about helping to hold ...
Commentary

A Cool $3.5 Trillion

And as the trajectory of the chart strongly suggests, it would get even worse from there. In the next five years (forget ten) after those depicted on the chart, the bill’s costs would be $1.7 trillion (double what Senator Reid is claiming for “ten years”). Thus, the true first-15-year costs ...
Health Care

The Advantage of Medicare Advantage: Why Reducing Seniors’ Choices Won’t Protect Taxpayers

Medicare Advantage, in which about one-quarter of Medicare beneficiaries are currently enrolled, is a program that subsidizes beneficiaries’ access to private health insurance. The Pacific Research Institute will shortly publish Medicare Advantage or Medicare Monopoly? a thorough analysis of the costs and benefits of this program for Medicare beneficiaries and ...
Commentary

The $100,000 Obamacare Policy

However, all is not lost. The Democrats’ version of “reform” might at least reduce the number of uninsured. But to what degree, and at what cost? According to the Census, there are 28 million uninsured Americans (46 million, minus 9 million non-citizens, minus 9 million Medicaid beneficiaries whom the Census ...
Commentary

Public Option May Get Cut from Health Care Bill

As congressional Democrats work on the final version of sweeping health care legislation, it remains unclear which provisions will survive the complex bill-making process. Top aides to President Barack Obama say he may not require creation of a government-run health care system, known as the public option, as part of ...
Education

Another Victim of Medicaid (And Employer Benefits)

Mr. Kristof also recounts a horrible story: A man who suffers an abnormal growth of blood vessels in his brain, which has rendered him unable to work. Of course, he lost his employment-based “benefits,” and was unable to acquire individual insurance because of his severe condition. As usual, the story ...
Commentary

New Yorker Would Have Done Better With Individual Insurance To Start

Laurie Rippon notes that (s)he lost his job after being hit by a car while crossing the street, which resulted in traumatic brain injury. After timing out of COBRA coverage, he would not have been able to buy an individual policy because he would not have passed underwriting. Mr. Rippon ...
Business & Economics

Giving Thanks for Leading Health Technology Advances

While Congress debates an US$850 billion healthcare bill with questionable benefits, leaders in the technology industry are quietly creating products and services that will truly reform healthcare. This Thanksgiving, for example, Americans can be appreciative of the incredible price decline in genome sequencing, one of the most important health advances. ...
Commentary

Cutting Medicare Benefits Will Not Protect Taxpayers

While much of the “savings” promoted by the deficit chicken-hawks are delusional (waste, fraud, abuse, and no longer “fixing” doctors’ Medicare Part B reimbursement), one is very real: Cutting actual Medicare benefits by reducing seniors’ choices of Medicare Advantage plans. Traditional Medicare Part A (hospital) and Part B (outpatient) benefits ...
Commentary

Hiding Health Reform’s Real Costs

Washington: Senate Democrats say their reform bill will cost $848 billion over 10 years. They’re misleading the public by starting the count in 2010. The true cost would be $1.8 trillion over a decade. The $848 billion figure is based on a 10-year run beginning in 2010 when there will ...
Commentary

What the Health-Care Debate Is Really All About

Rather, it’s about liberty versus equality, personal control versus governmental control, dispersed power versus centralized power, freedom versus statism, American Founding principles of limited government and natural rights versus Progressive principles of activist government and conventional (man-made) “rights.” There is nothing particularly noble, compassionate, or decent about helping to hold ...
Commentary

A Cool $3.5 Trillion

And as the trajectory of the chart strongly suggests, it would get even worse from there. In the next five years (forget ten) after those depicted on the chart, the bill’s costs would be $1.7 trillion (double what Senator Reid is claiming for “ten years”). Thus, the true first-15-year costs ...
Health Care

The Advantage of Medicare Advantage: Why Reducing Seniors’ Choices Won’t Protect Taxpayers

Medicare Advantage, in which about one-quarter of Medicare beneficiaries are currently enrolled, is a program that subsidizes beneficiaries’ access to private health insurance. The Pacific Research Institute will shortly publish Medicare Advantage or Medicare Monopoly? a thorough analysis of the costs and benefits of this program for Medicare beneficiaries and ...
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