Medicaid
California
Medi-Cal system encourages abuse
After more than a year, California’s politicians and health insurers have finally agreed to and passed last month what California Healthline calls a “tax hike in name only” to finance Medi-Cal. If only it were that simple. Funded jointly by the state and federal governments, Medi-Cal is the subject of ...
Commentary
Obamacare’s Sixth Birthday Provides No Reason To Celebrate
This Wednesday, March 23, Obamacare turns all of six years old. The administration is using the occasion to celebrate. At a speech in Milwaukee earlier this month, the president claimed that 20 million people have gained health insurance because of the law. The truth is far more complicated. Enrollment in ...
Commentary
Donald Trump’s Obamacare Alternative Isn’t Bad, But It Isn’t Great Either
“Repeal and replace with something terrific.” That was Donald Trump’s promise for how he’d deal with Obamacare shortly after he announced his candidacy in June. Trump has finally revealed just what he meant by “terrific.” Last week, he released a seven-point plan outlining his alternative to Obamacare. Trump calls it ...
Commentary
Telemedicine could revolutionize health care
The house call is back. Several tech companies are working to deliver doctors to patients’ doorsteps at the touch of a button — or the swipe of a smartphone. For patients outside the cities where these apps are taking off, there’s the virtual house call, whether via video-messaging services like ...
Commentary
Seniors paying price for Obamacare fraud
Fewer seniors are re-entering the hospital after an initial stay, according to recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Obama administration says that we have Obamacare to thank for this “positive transformative change.” But the only thing that’s “changed” is how hospitals fill out the government’s ...
Commentary
Sanders and Trump Are Singing From the Same Tattered Single-Payer Hymnal
Perhaps the cold — or the proximity to Canada — got to New Hampshire’s voters on February 9. Both Republicans and Democrats in the Granite State handed presidential primary victories to candidates who have — at one time or another — supported government-run, Canadian-style single-payer health care. Sen. Bernie Sanders, ...
Business & Economics
Yet Another Promise: The ACA and Entrepreneurship
Many were the benefits promised by supporters of the Affordable Care Act. If you like your doctor and health plan, you will be able to keep them. Health insurance premiums will fall by an average of $2500 per year for a typical family, even as coverage will be extended to ...
Commentary
Health laws’ cost-cutting and patient care priorities
The Affordable Care Act promised to cut Medicare’s costs by encouraging doctors to coordinate care — and thus eliminate waste and duplication. So far, it’s backfiring. The White House claimed that its first efforts to get doctors to coordinate care — the Shared Savings Program and Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations ...
Commentary
Obamacare Enrollment Has Tapped Out
Obamacare’s third open enrollment period ends in a few days. The White House insists that it’s been an unequivocal success. According to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, the exchanges have seen “unprecedented demand” for coverage and “steady progress signing up new customers.” Andy Slavitt, head of the Centers ...
Commentary
Here’s how to create a better health policy than Obamacare
One in 2 Americans now opposes Obamacare. It’s not hard to see why. Premiums will increase this year by an average of 7.5 percent for the law’s midlevel “silver” plans. More than half of Obamacare’s nonprofit insurance co-ops have failed, forcing 740,000 people to find new, often more expensive insurance. ...
Medi-Cal system encourages abuse
After more than a year, California’s politicians and health insurers have finally agreed to and passed last month what California Healthline calls a “tax hike in name only” to finance Medi-Cal. If only it were that simple. Funded jointly by the state and federal governments, Medi-Cal is the subject of ...
Obamacare’s Sixth Birthday Provides No Reason To Celebrate
This Wednesday, March 23, Obamacare turns all of six years old. The administration is using the occasion to celebrate. At a speech in Milwaukee earlier this month, the president claimed that 20 million people have gained health insurance because of the law. The truth is far more complicated. Enrollment in ...
Donald Trump’s Obamacare Alternative Isn’t Bad, But It Isn’t Great Either
“Repeal and replace with something terrific.” That was Donald Trump’s promise for how he’d deal with Obamacare shortly after he announced his candidacy in June. Trump has finally revealed just what he meant by “terrific.” Last week, he released a seven-point plan outlining his alternative to Obamacare. Trump calls it ...
Telemedicine could revolutionize health care
The house call is back. Several tech companies are working to deliver doctors to patients’ doorsteps at the touch of a button — or the swipe of a smartphone. For patients outside the cities where these apps are taking off, there’s the virtual house call, whether via video-messaging services like ...
Seniors paying price for Obamacare fraud
Fewer seniors are re-entering the hospital after an initial stay, according to recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Obama administration says that we have Obamacare to thank for this “positive transformative change.” But the only thing that’s “changed” is how hospitals fill out the government’s ...
Sanders and Trump Are Singing From the Same Tattered Single-Payer Hymnal
Perhaps the cold — or the proximity to Canada — got to New Hampshire’s voters on February 9. Both Republicans and Democrats in the Granite State handed presidential primary victories to candidates who have — at one time or another — supported government-run, Canadian-style single-payer health care. Sen. Bernie Sanders, ...
Yet Another Promise: The ACA and Entrepreneurship
Many were the benefits promised by supporters of the Affordable Care Act. If you like your doctor and health plan, you will be able to keep them. Health insurance premiums will fall by an average of $2500 per year for a typical family, even as coverage will be extended to ...
Health laws’ cost-cutting and patient care priorities
The Affordable Care Act promised to cut Medicare’s costs by encouraging doctors to coordinate care — and thus eliminate waste and duplication. So far, it’s backfiring. The White House claimed that its first efforts to get doctors to coordinate care — the Shared Savings Program and Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations ...
Obamacare Enrollment Has Tapped Out
Obamacare’s third open enrollment period ends in a few days. The White House insists that it’s been an unequivocal success. According to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, the exchanges have seen “unprecedented demand” for coverage and “steady progress signing up new customers.” Andy Slavitt, head of the Centers ...
Here’s how to create a better health policy than Obamacare
One in 2 Americans now opposes Obamacare. It’s not hard to see why. Premiums will increase this year by an average of 7.5 percent for the law’s midlevel “silver” plans. More than half of Obamacare’s nonprofit insurance co-ops have failed, forcing 740,000 people to find new, often more expensive insurance. ...
