Commentary
Commentary
Obamacare’s ‘Accountable Care’ experiment is all hype, no substance
Good news about Obamacare keeps coming out of the White House. In May, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that the law’s “Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations” have saved Medicare $385 million. HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell proudly proclaimed that this “innovative payment model”has produced “substantial savings,” so she’s now ...
California
California doesn’t need to be selling health insurance
It’s taken longer than it should have, but Covered California, California’s Obamacare health insurance exchange, is finally being exposed as a billion-dollar boondoggle. In 2013, as news about the glitches and scandals in other Obamacare exchanges became impossible to avoid, the New York Times’ Paul Krugman, former Princeton professor and ...
Commentary
State-Run Obamacare exchanges careening toward disaster
This year was supposed to be the first wherein Obamacare’s state-based insurance exchanges would be self-sufficient. By now, the law’s architects assured, the exchanges would be thriving, competitive marketplaces, where all Americans could secure affordable coverage. It hasn’t worked out that way. Two of the original 17 state exchanges have ...
Commentary
Private insurance exchanges thrive while Obamacare’s falter
The federal government is desperate for Americans to enroll in Obamacare’s exchanges. But most people have refused. When the exchanges officially closed in February, the U.S. Treasury estimated that there were still some 6 million people who would have to pay the penalty established by Obamacare for going without insurance. ...
Commentary
Ordinary consumers are paying for Obamacare’s ‘savings’
Federal programs rarely come in under budget. Consider Medicare, which will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary. In 1967, lawmakers projected annual spending in the program would reach $12 billion in 1990. The actual tab that year? A cool $110 billion. A new report from the Congressional Budget Office says that ...
Commentary
Numbers raise doubts about Obamacare spin
The Obama administration has counted everyone who signed up for health coverage through its exchanges this year. Unsurprisingly, they’ve declared the law a success. As of late February, some 11.7 million people enrolled — 8.8 million on Healthcare.gov and 2.9 million via state marketplaces. That’s nearly 30 percent more than ...
Commentary
Reconciliation can solve GOP’s irreconcilable differences with Obamacare
“It’s time to embrace reality.” That’s what President Obama said about Obamacare on its 5th anniversary in late March. He meant it as a warning to critics — Obamacare is here to stay, so quit “belly-aching.” But after five years of false promises, massive disruptions to the healthcare marketplace, enormous ...
Commentary
Medicare Part D saves money and lives
Federal officials recently set off budgetary alarm bells with new data on Medicare prescription drug spending. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pegged Medicare Part D’s 2013 price tag at $103 billion. That’s a large number — and largely misleading. A closer look at Part D reveals a program ...
Charter Schools
Affluent School Districts Don’t Guarantee Better Academic Performance
Some parents in affluent Michigan school districts may be surprised to learn the local school isn’t just failing to give their kids a leg up, it’s holding them back. New research shows that a number of Michigan schools in middle- to upper-income areas are underperforming on state and national proficiency ...
Business & Economics
Congress should pass Trade Promotion Authority
Too frequently politics trumps sound policy. Fast track trade negotiating authority, also known as trade promotion authority (TPA), presents an opportunity for our lawmakers and the executive branch to illustrate that good policy can still prevail. If re-authorized, TPA, which was first passed in the Trade Act of 1974, would ...
Obamacare’s ‘Accountable Care’ experiment is all hype, no substance
Good news about Obamacare keeps coming out of the White House. In May, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that the law’s “Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations” have saved Medicare $385 million. HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell proudly proclaimed that this “innovative payment model”has produced “substantial savings,” so she’s now ...
California doesn’t need to be selling health insurance
It’s taken longer than it should have, but Covered California, California’s Obamacare health insurance exchange, is finally being exposed as a billion-dollar boondoggle. In 2013, as news about the glitches and scandals in other Obamacare exchanges became impossible to avoid, the New York Times’ Paul Krugman, former Princeton professor and ...
State-Run Obamacare exchanges careening toward disaster
This year was supposed to be the first wherein Obamacare’s state-based insurance exchanges would be self-sufficient. By now, the law’s architects assured, the exchanges would be thriving, competitive marketplaces, where all Americans could secure affordable coverage. It hasn’t worked out that way. Two of the original 17 state exchanges have ...
Private insurance exchanges thrive while Obamacare’s falter
The federal government is desperate for Americans to enroll in Obamacare’s exchanges. But most people have refused. When the exchanges officially closed in February, the U.S. Treasury estimated that there were still some 6 million people who would have to pay the penalty established by Obamacare for going without insurance. ...
Ordinary consumers are paying for Obamacare’s ‘savings’
Federal programs rarely come in under budget. Consider Medicare, which will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary. In 1967, lawmakers projected annual spending in the program would reach $12 billion in 1990. The actual tab that year? A cool $110 billion. A new report from the Congressional Budget Office says that ...
Numbers raise doubts about Obamacare spin
The Obama administration has counted everyone who signed up for health coverage through its exchanges this year. Unsurprisingly, they’ve declared the law a success. As of late February, some 11.7 million people enrolled — 8.8 million on Healthcare.gov and 2.9 million via state marketplaces. That’s nearly 30 percent more than ...
Reconciliation can solve GOP’s irreconcilable differences with Obamacare
“It’s time to embrace reality.” That’s what President Obama said about Obamacare on its 5th anniversary in late March. He meant it as a warning to critics — Obamacare is here to stay, so quit “belly-aching.” But after five years of false promises, massive disruptions to the healthcare marketplace, enormous ...
Medicare Part D saves money and lives
Federal officials recently set off budgetary alarm bells with new data on Medicare prescription drug spending. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pegged Medicare Part D’s 2013 price tag at $103 billion. That’s a large number — and largely misleading. A closer look at Part D reveals a program ...
Affluent School Districts Don’t Guarantee Better Academic Performance
Some parents in affluent Michigan school districts may be surprised to learn the local school isn’t just failing to give their kids a leg up, it’s holding them back. New research shows that a number of Michigan schools in middle- to upper-income areas are underperforming on state and national proficiency ...
Congress should pass Trade Promotion Authority
Too frequently politics trumps sound policy. Fast track trade negotiating authority, also known as trade promotion authority (TPA), presents an opportunity for our lawmakers and the executive branch to illustrate that good policy can still prevail. If re-authorized, TPA, which was first passed in the Trade Act of 1974, would ...
