Health Care

Commentary

Health-Care Reform: Where Do We Go From Here?

The Senate Finance Committee approved a health-care bill Tuesday in a 14-9 vote. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that Chairman Baucus’s plan would cost $829 billion over ten years and that it would reduce the federal deficit by $81 billion by 2019. The bill would be supported in part ...
Commentary

Healthcare Conference Call With Representatives Shadegg and Rodgers

Today at 4:30PM eastern a blogger conference call was held by Representatives John Shadegg (R, AZ) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R, WA). The subject we spoke about was that of House Republican’s ideas and problems on healthcare reform issues in both the Senate and the House. The following are my ...
Commentary

Obama flip-flops on insurance mandate

San Francisco Chronicle, October 13, 2009 President Obama has promised that his health reform plan will lower costs and expand coverage. He and his Democratic allies are counting on an “individual mandate,” or a requirement that everyone purchase health insurance, to achieve these goals. But Obama hasn’t always been gung ...
Health Care

Health care and tort reform

Congressional Budget Office research shows that tort reform could lower health care costs. CNN’s Lisa Sylvester reports and PRI’s Sally Pipes is featured in this video segment.
Commentary

Baucus’ Hefty Bill

The New York Post, October 9, 2009 So the Congressional Budget Office has produced the product that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and President Obama needed: a contorted acknowledgement that — if taxes are hiked, Medicaid expanded and Medicare reimbursements slashed permanently by 25 percent—Baucus’ $829 billion bill will ...
Commentary

Insurance ‘Reform’ Equals Single-Payer

Nope. It’s all a surprise. Here’s another: Political pressures to weaken the individual mandate, supposedly the quid pro quo for nonexclusion of insurance applicants with pre-existing conditions, are and will remain irresistible, for two reasons. First, the individual mandate is necessary to preserve the private insurance sector if all applicants ...
Commentary

Baucuscare’s Three Biggest Political Vulnerabilities

1. Seniors have nothing to gain and everything to lose. The Baucus bill pays for itself largely by shifting hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicare. The last thing seniors want is to have their representatives steal from Medicare to pay for Baucuscare. Seniors were surprisingly loud at the ...
Commentary

New numbers don’t help look of health care bill

Senate Democrats got the numbers they needed from the Congressional Budget Office on health care reform legislation: $829 billion over 10 years and $81 billion shaved off the federal deficit. The favorable-looking analysis should let their bill reach the full Senate in the next few weeks. Unfortunately, the Mark Twain ...
Commentary

The Death of Employer-Based Benefits Is Nigher Than I Thought

$1,900 came from the September 28 Wall Street Journal. However, the version of the Chairman’s mark dated September 22 (but posted on October 2) at the Senate Finance Committee’s website, reports a fine of $750 per adult as of 2017 (p. 35) – and confirms no jail-time for non-compliance with ...
Commentary

Taxing Baucus

Those numbers are phony for any number of reasons, but notice that the “deficit reduction” is the net result of $518 billion in increased spending from expanded insurance coverage, $404 billion in reduced spending from “other provisions affecting direct spending,” and $196 billion in increased revenues. The $404 billion “does ...
Commentary

Health-Care Reform: Where Do We Go From Here?

The Senate Finance Committee approved a health-care bill Tuesday in a 14-9 vote. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that Chairman Baucus’s plan would cost $829 billion over ten years and that it would reduce the federal deficit by $81 billion by 2019. The bill would be supported in part ...
Commentary

Healthcare Conference Call With Representatives Shadegg and Rodgers

Today at 4:30PM eastern a blogger conference call was held by Representatives John Shadegg (R, AZ) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R, WA). The subject we spoke about was that of House Republican’s ideas and problems on healthcare reform issues in both the Senate and the House. The following are my ...
Commentary

Obama flip-flops on insurance mandate

San Francisco Chronicle, October 13, 2009 President Obama has promised that his health reform plan will lower costs and expand coverage. He and his Democratic allies are counting on an “individual mandate,” or a requirement that everyone purchase health insurance, to achieve these goals. But Obama hasn’t always been gung ...
Health Care

Health care and tort reform

Congressional Budget Office research shows that tort reform could lower health care costs. CNN’s Lisa Sylvester reports and PRI’s Sally Pipes is featured in this video segment.
Commentary

Baucus’ Hefty Bill

The New York Post, October 9, 2009 So the Congressional Budget Office has produced the product that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and President Obama needed: a contorted acknowledgement that — if taxes are hiked, Medicaid expanded and Medicare reimbursements slashed permanently by 25 percent—Baucus’ $829 billion bill will ...
Commentary

Insurance ‘Reform’ Equals Single-Payer

Nope. It’s all a surprise. Here’s another: Political pressures to weaken the individual mandate, supposedly the quid pro quo for nonexclusion of insurance applicants with pre-existing conditions, are and will remain irresistible, for two reasons. First, the individual mandate is necessary to preserve the private insurance sector if all applicants ...
Commentary

Baucuscare’s Three Biggest Political Vulnerabilities

1. Seniors have nothing to gain and everything to lose. The Baucus bill pays for itself largely by shifting hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicare. The last thing seniors want is to have their representatives steal from Medicare to pay for Baucuscare. Seniors were surprisingly loud at the ...
Commentary

New numbers don’t help look of health care bill

Senate Democrats got the numbers they needed from the Congressional Budget Office on health care reform legislation: $829 billion over 10 years and $81 billion shaved off the federal deficit. The favorable-looking analysis should let their bill reach the full Senate in the next few weeks. Unfortunately, the Mark Twain ...
Commentary

The Death of Employer-Based Benefits Is Nigher Than I Thought

$1,900 came from the September 28 Wall Street Journal. However, the version of the Chairman’s mark dated September 22 (but posted on October 2) at the Senate Finance Committee’s website, reports a fine of $750 per adult as of 2017 (p. 35) – and confirms no jail-time for non-compliance with ...
Commentary

Taxing Baucus

Those numbers are phony for any number of reasons, but notice that the “deficit reduction” is the net result of $518 billion in increased spending from expanded insurance coverage, $404 billion in reduced spending from “other provisions affecting direct spending,” and $196 billion in increased revenues. The $404 billion “does ...
Scroll to Top