Obamacare
Commentary
Path Dependency in Medicare Reform
Arguments will not change this fact: People change when the pain of not changing becomes greater than the pain of changing, but not before. This can be the only explanation for the majority of respondents to polls (described here) which ask the foolish question whether “Medicare should remain as it ...
Business & Economics
Federal Health Reform and Stock Market Returns of Health Insurers
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) would not have passed without the support of business interests in the health sector. Stock prices of for-profit health plans have significantly outperformed the broader stock market since President Obamas election in 2008, but also since the Republican wave of 2010. ...
Commentary
Even Obamacare’s Supporters Don’t Support the Rationing Board
The House Energy and Commerce Committee just scheduled hearings for next month on one of the most controversial components of ObamaCare the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). This 15-member, unelected Board will be charged with making recommendations for reducing Medicare spending if costs exceed a specified cap. Those recommendations ...
Commentary
Single Payer Health Care Systems, Multiple Health Care Disasters
Democrats have recently seized on a novel way of reducing health care costs threats. The Obama Administrations Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that any insurance company that wants to increase premiums more than 10% will have to get approval from the government. Congress didnt pass ...
Commentary
Comparative-Effectiveness Research: How Many Lives Will It Cost?
Yes, I certainly appreciated the last “dig” and I shake my head at the irony of PhRMA funding research designed to push back key elements of a law for which PhRMA lobbied and invested. I doubt that Obamacare would have passed without PhRMA’s support. If PhRMA had resisted Obamacare, the ...
Commentary
Who Is the Republican Health Care Candidate?
As Romney and Gingrich bind their wounds, I’m sure that they are more surprised than anybody at the hostile response their recent comments have drawn. After all, it is true that trace elements of the “individual mandate” can be found in conservative policy proposals from the days of yore. Our ...
Commentary
Mission Impossible: Medicare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board
Key Points The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is a new bureaucracy established by Obamacare that will limit Medicare beneficiaries access to certain medical goods and servicesespecially new prescription drugs. IPAB puts Medicare beneficiaries access to prescription drugs and certain other medical goods and services under control of ...
Commentary
New Health Care Law Cripples State Budgets
America’s fiscal crisis is about to explode. In 2010 state budget deficits reached an all-time high of $191 billion. Former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch has predicted that state deficits could reach a staggering $500 billion this year when the stimulus funds propping up state budgets run out in ...
Commentary
Politicians can’t control health care costs
California legislators are considering Assembly Bill 52, which would give the executive branch in Sacramento the power to decide whether health plans should be allowed to increase their premiums at rates that keep pace with medical costs. Health plans may be a politically attractive target, but giving politicians the power ...
Path Dependency in Medicare Reform
Arguments will not change this fact: People change when the pain of not changing becomes greater than the pain of changing, but not before. This can be the only explanation for the majority of respondents to polls (described here) which ask the foolish question whether “Medicare should remain as it ...
Federal Health Reform and Stock Market Returns of Health Insurers
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) would not have passed without the support of business interests in the health sector. Stock prices of for-profit health plans have significantly outperformed the broader stock market since President Obamas election in 2008, but also since the Republican wave of 2010. ...
Even Obamacare’s Supporters Don’t Support the Rationing Board
The House Energy and Commerce Committee just scheduled hearings for next month on one of the most controversial components of ObamaCare the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). This 15-member, unelected Board will be charged with making recommendations for reducing Medicare spending if costs exceed a specified cap. Those recommendations ...
Single Payer Health Care Systems, Multiple Health Care Disasters
Democrats have recently seized on a novel way of reducing health care costs threats. The Obama Administrations Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that any insurance company that wants to increase premiums more than 10% will have to get approval from the government. Congress didnt pass ...
Comparative-Effectiveness Research: How Many Lives Will It Cost?
Yes, I certainly appreciated the last “dig” and I shake my head at the irony of PhRMA funding research designed to push back key elements of a law for which PhRMA lobbied and invested. I doubt that Obamacare would have passed without PhRMA’s support. If PhRMA had resisted Obamacare, the ...
Who Is the Republican Health Care Candidate?
As Romney and Gingrich bind their wounds, I’m sure that they are more surprised than anybody at the hostile response their recent comments have drawn. After all, it is true that trace elements of the “individual mandate” can be found in conservative policy proposals from the days of yore. Our ...
Mission Impossible: Medicare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board
Key Points The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is a new bureaucracy established by Obamacare that will limit Medicare beneficiaries access to certain medical goods and servicesespecially new prescription drugs. IPAB puts Medicare beneficiaries access to prescription drugs and certain other medical goods and services under control of ...
New Health Care Law Cripples State Budgets
America’s fiscal crisis is about to explode. In 2010 state budget deficits reached an all-time high of $191 billion. Former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch has predicted that state deficits could reach a staggering $500 billion this year when the stimulus funds propping up state budgets run out in ...
Politicians can’t control health care costs
California legislators are considering Assembly Bill 52, which would give the executive branch in Sacramento the power to decide whether health plans should be allowed to increase their premiums at rates that keep pace with medical costs. Health plans may be a politically attractive target, but giving politicians the power ...
