Medicare
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
Time To Liberate Health Savings Accounts
Two members of Congress are trying to make paying for health care easier. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., just introduced companion legislation that would boost the power of Health Savings Accounts, which allow consumers to set aside money tax-free for health care expenses. They’re right to ...
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
Trump and Obama promise to be terrible negotiators
President Barack Obama and presidential hopeful Donald Trump don’t agree on much. But they’ve found common ground in pushing to upend the Medicare drug benefit. At a rally days before his resounding victory in New Hampshire, Trump grumbled about government drug spending — and called for Medicare to take over ...
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, ...
Commentary
Obamacare’s ACOs punish hospitals for quality care
Obamacare promised to cut Medicare’s costs by coordinating care among doctors. But the first effort to do so – Obamacare’s Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations – lost $2.6 million. Now, the administration is trying a “new and improved” version – so-called Next Generation ACOs. Maine’s Beacon Health Network is participating. But ...
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
Single-payer collides with reality
It’s a two-horse race for the Democratic nomination for president. This week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) came within 0.2 percentage points of beating Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucuses. Sanders zealots are “feeling the Bern” in large part because of his healthcare plan. “I believe in a Medicare for all ...
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 ...
Time To Liberate Health Savings Accounts
Two members of Congress are trying to make paying for health care easier. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., just introduced companion legislation that would boost the power of Health Savings Accounts, which allow consumers to set aside money tax-free for health care expenses. They’re right to ...
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 ...
Trump and Obama promise to be terrible negotiators
President Barack Obama and presidential hopeful Donald Trump don’t agree on much. But they’ve found common ground in pushing to upend the Medicare drug benefit. At a rally days before his resounding victory in New Hampshire, Trump grumbled about government drug spending — and called for Medicare to take over ...
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, ...
Obamacare’s ACOs punish hospitals for quality care
Obamacare promised to cut Medicare’s costs by coordinating care among doctors. But the first effort to do so – Obamacare’s Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations – lost $2.6 million. Now, the administration is trying a “new and improved” version – so-called Next Generation ACOs. Maine’s Beacon Health Network is participating. But ...
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 ...
Single-payer collides with reality
It’s a two-horse race for the Democratic nomination for president. This week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) came within 0.2 percentage points of beating Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucuses. Sanders zealots are “feeling the Bern” in large part because of his healthcare plan. “I believe in a Medicare for all ...
