Medicaid
Commentary
Obamacare’s penalties shoot for quality, hit patients
Medicare’s doctors are revolting against Obamacare’s new system for paying them. Soon enough, patients will, too. This year, Medicare implemented a system of “value-based care,” whereby the government pays health care providers for the supposed quality of the care they provide, rather than the quantity. But value-based care isn’t what ...
Commentary
Walker Trumps the GOP Presidential Field in Healthcare Reform
Donald Trump may lead the Republican presidential candidates in the polls today. But he doesn’t lead the pack in ideas for how to replace Obamacare. At the recent GOP debate, Trump said he believed in single-payer healthcare. “It works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland.” The business mogul ...
Commentary
Four Healthcare Questions for the GOP Presidential Contenders
The U.S. healthcare system is a mess. Premiums and deductibles are soaring. Consumers have fewer choices when it comes to doctors and hospitals. And the United States could be short 90,000 physicians within a decade. Voters want to know how the next president will reverse these trends. Yet the 24 ...
Commentary
Bungled bundling of hospital payments for joint replacements
Federal officials are about to make orthopedic surgery a lot more painful. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services soon may order hospitals in 75 metropolitan regions to change the way they pay health care providers for knee and hip replacements for seniors on Medicare. Instead of paying for each ...
California
California’s reckless Medi-Cal expansion a disservice to the poor
California under Obamacare has enrolled three times as many people as originally projected in Medi-Cal, the welfare program that subsidizes low-income Californians’ access to health care. The total is now 12 million, about one-third of the state’s population. The overenrollment is provoking yet another fiscal crisis for the state, which ...
Commentary
The Doctor Won’t See You Now
Only three in ten enrollees in Obamacare’s exchanges report being satisfied with their health coverage, according to a new poll from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. Among the primary reasons for these poor numbers? Many exchange policies limit patients’ choices of doctors and hospitals in order to keep premiums ...
Commentary
A new cost of Obamacare: Surging emergency room usage
A new cost of Obamacare: Surging emergency room usage Emergency room usage has spiked in recent years. That’s the depressing finding from a new survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians — and it’s endangering those who need emergency care. The survey concluded that three in four ER doctors ...
Commentary
The Medicaid Poverty Trap is Growing Worse
Medicaid turns 50 today. And an expensive “celebration” it will be. The program now costs taxpayers nearly $500 billion a year. And its costs are projected to increase by almost 7 percent a year through 2023. How things have changed over the past half-century. The health-care program for the poor ...
Commentary
Here’s Why States Must Resist The Temptation To Expand Medicaid
Last week, Alaska became the 30th state to expand Medicaid with federal funding from the Affordable Care Act. “Alaska and Alaskans cannot wait any longer,” said Gov. Bill Walker. “We‘re not going to step away from this opportunity to help fellow Alaskans, period.” Some “help.” Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion is saddling ...
Obamacare’s penalties shoot for quality, hit patients
Medicare’s doctors are revolting against Obamacare’s new system for paying them. Soon enough, patients will, too. This year, Medicare implemented a system of “value-based care,” whereby the government pays health care providers for the supposed quality of the care they provide, rather than the quantity. But value-based care isn’t what ...
Walker Trumps the GOP Presidential Field in Healthcare Reform
Donald Trump may lead the Republican presidential candidates in the polls today. But he doesn’t lead the pack in ideas for how to replace Obamacare. At the recent GOP debate, Trump said he believed in single-payer healthcare. “It works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland.” The business mogul ...
Four Healthcare Questions for the GOP Presidential Contenders
The U.S. healthcare system is a mess. Premiums and deductibles are soaring. Consumers have fewer choices when it comes to doctors and hospitals. And the United States could be short 90,000 physicians within a decade. Voters want to know how the next president will reverse these trends. Yet the 24 ...
Bungled bundling of hospital payments for joint replacements
Federal officials are about to make orthopedic surgery a lot more painful. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services soon may order hospitals in 75 metropolitan regions to change the way they pay health care providers for knee and hip replacements for seniors on Medicare. Instead of paying for each ...
California’s reckless Medi-Cal expansion a disservice to the poor
California under Obamacare has enrolled three times as many people as originally projected in Medi-Cal, the welfare program that subsidizes low-income Californians’ access to health care. The total is now 12 million, about one-third of the state’s population. The overenrollment is provoking yet another fiscal crisis for the state, which ...
The Doctor Won’t See You Now
Only three in ten enrollees in Obamacare’s exchanges report being satisfied with their health coverage, according to a new poll from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. Among the primary reasons for these poor numbers? Many exchange policies limit patients’ choices of doctors and hospitals in order to keep premiums ...
A new cost of Obamacare: Surging emergency room usage
A new cost of Obamacare: Surging emergency room usage Emergency room usage has spiked in recent years. That’s the depressing finding from a new survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians — and it’s endangering those who need emergency care. The survey concluded that three in four ER doctors ...
The Medicaid Poverty Trap is Growing Worse
Medicaid turns 50 today. And an expensive “celebration” it will be. The program now costs taxpayers nearly $500 billion a year. And its costs are projected to increase by almost 7 percent a year through 2023. How things have changed over the past half-century. The health-care program for the poor ...
Here’s Why States Must Resist The Temptation To Expand Medicaid
Last week, Alaska became the 30th state to expand Medicaid with federal funding from the Affordable Care Act. “Alaska and Alaskans cannot wait any longer,” said Gov. Bill Walker. “We‘re not going to step away from this opportunity to help fellow Alaskans, period.” Some “help.” Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion is saddling ...
