Medicare
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 ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 27, 2015
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 ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 27, 2015
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 ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 26, 2015
Commentary
We all deserve better than single-payer health care
A new report from the Government Accountability Office has confirmed that the Department of Veterans Affairs can’t take care of those it’s supposed to serve. The GAO has placed the VA’s health system on the “high risk” list of federal programs that are vulnerable to “fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement.” ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 12, 2015
Commentary
Buried In The Numbers: Obamacare’s Costs Are Climbing, Not Receding
Late last month, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the provisions within Obamacare expanding access to insurance coverage would cost 20% less than the agency estimated in 2010, when the law passed. The White House was ecstatic. “The estimates released today by CBO once again confirm the progress we’ve made,” ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 10, 2015
Commentary
Letting patients buy Canadian drugs will only import trouble
Good news for American patients — prescription drugs are effectively on sale. Drug spending climbed just 2.5 percent in 2013. Drug cost growth has now lagged overall health inflation for four straight years. Naturally, Washington lawmakers are ignoring the cost problems plaguing the rest of the healthcare marketplace and focusing ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 10, 2015
Commentary
Obamacare has failed to increase competition among insurers
Obamacare has done everything short of cure sickness altogether, according to its supporters. “Ten million Americans have gained health insurance just this past year,” said the president. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that patients “will pay less than they pay for their cable or their cellphone ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 26, 2015
Commentary
Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion Is Nothing to Brag About
At the end of last year, the Obama administration boasted that almost 10 million people had enrolled in Medicaid since Obamacare went into effect. “This is great news,” an administration official exclaimed. Maybe for the White House. But not for patients and doctors, according to several recent studies. Even before ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 26, 2015
Commentary
Sally Pipes: Resolutions for a do-something Congress
Here’s a New Year’s resolution for the new Republican Congress: Resolve to shed the “do-nothing” moniker. With Republicans in control in the Capitol and a Democrat in the White House, two years of political gridlock seems certain — especially over the president’s signature achievement, Obamacare. It will be virtually impossible ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 19, 2015
Commentary
Will Republican Majority Or Courts Dismantle ObamaCare?
Republicans officially take over Congress next month, but their leaders do not appear optimistic about fulfilling their campaign promises to repeal ObamaCare. Soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently said that scrapping the law was basically impossible because President Obama is “still there.” In other words, Republicans may have to ...
Pacific Research Institute
December 30, 2014
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 ...
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 ...
We all deserve better than single-payer health care
A new report from the Government Accountability Office has confirmed that the Department of Veterans Affairs can’t take care of those it’s supposed to serve. The GAO has placed the VA’s health system on the “high risk” list of federal programs that are vulnerable to “fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement.” ...
Buried In The Numbers: Obamacare’s Costs Are Climbing, Not Receding
Late last month, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the provisions within Obamacare expanding access to insurance coverage would cost 20% less than the agency estimated in 2010, when the law passed. The White House was ecstatic. “The estimates released today by CBO once again confirm the progress we’ve made,” ...
Letting patients buy Canadian drugs will only import trouble
Good news for American patients — prescription drugs are effectively on sale. Drug spending climbed just 2.5 percent in 2013. Drug cost growth has now lagged overall health inflation for four straight years. Naturally, Washington lawmakers are ignoring the cost problems plaguing the rest of the healthcare marketplace and focusing ...
Obamacare has failed to increase competition among insurers
Obamacare has done everything short of cure sickness altogether, according to its supporters. “Ten million Americans have gained health insurance just this past year,” said the president. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that patients “will pay less than they pay for their cable or their cellphone ...
Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion Is Nothing to Brag About
At the end of last year, the Obama administration boasted that almost 10 million people had enrolled in Medicaid since Obamacare went into effect. “This is great news,” an administration official exclaimed. Maybe for the White House. But not for patients and doctors, according to several recent studies. Even before ...
Sally Pipes: Resolutions for a do-something Congress
Here’s a New Year’s resolution for the new Republican Congress: Resolve to shed the “do-nothing” moniker. With Republicans in control in the Capitol and a Democrat in the White House, two years of political gridlock seems certain — especially over the president’s signature achievement, Obamacare. It will be virtually impossible ...
Will Republican Majority Or Courts Dismantle ObamaCare?
Republicans officially take over Congress next month, but their leaders do not appear optimistic about fulfilling their campaign promises to repeal ObamaCare. Soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently said that scrapping the law was basically impossible because President Obama is “still there.” In other words, Republicans may have to ...