Commentary
Commentary
The Senate reform fraud
THE Senate Finance Committee yesterday voted on a fraud: Sen. Max Baucus’ “responsible” health-reform bill is actually a recipe for fiscal disaster — and the Congressional Budget Office report that supposedly bolstered the bill actually exposes it. As others have noted, Baucus used all manner of budgetary gimmicks to oblige ...
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 ...
Commentary
Against the odds
Principal’s success at poor school captures national attention VICTORVILLE • When Linda Mikels took the helm as principal of Sixth Street Prep eight years ago, the elementary school near Old Town had seen its test scores sink three straight years. It’d be easy to blame poor performance on the demographics ...
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 ...
The Senate reform fraud
THE Senate Finance Committee yesterday voted on a fraud: Sen. Max Baucus’ “responsible” health-reform bill is actually a recipe for fiscal disaster — and the Congressional Budget Office report that supposedly bolstered the bill actually exposes it. As others have noted, Baucus used all manner of budgetary gimmicks to oblige ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Against the odds
Principal’s success at poor school captures national attention VICTORVILLE • When Linda Mikels took the helm as principal of Sixth Street Prep eight years ago, the elementary school near Old Town had seen its test scores sink three straight years. It’d be easy to blame poor performance on the demographics ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
