Medicare
Health Care
Just Say ‘No’ To New Health Insurance Taxes
This month, consulting firm Oliver Wyman released a new study revealing that surprise, surprise health insurance premiums will increase by several thousand dollars over the next ten years. Thats bad enough news for consumers. Even worse? The study only looked at the cost impact of Obamacares new tax ...
Health Care
The Medicare Auction Design and Incentives for Research and Development
Key Points: Government has incentives to focus far more heavily upon budget outlays than patient wellbeing in the operation of its health programs. So as to obtain medical devices and equipment for the beneficiaries of Medicare and Medicaid, the federal government uses auctions that are poorly designed, resulting in prices ...
Commentary
Health Spending and the “Supercommittee”: Seven Items from President Obama that Republicans And Democrats Should Embrace
Key Points: Congress has a unique opportunity to make a clean cut in government health spending by Christmas. President Obama’s deficit-reducing proposal contains seven items that shift Medicare and Medicaid spending closer to the people. Although these items represent a small fraction of President Obama’s deficit-reducing proposal, they offer the ...
Business & Economics
Our federal financial nightmares revealed … and how to fix them
During this week’s GOP presidential debate, Michele Bachmann twice said the federal government is spending about “40 percent more” than what it takes in. If only we were in such good shape. The federal government has actually been spending about 75 percent more than what it takes in. For every ...
Health Care
Part D Price Controls Kill Jobs
Washington faces two pressing tasks getting a handle on escalating federal debt and addressing the country’s unemployment crisis. Unfortunately, the White House, thanks to its usual ideological blinders, has come up with a plan that will actually cost jobs even as it achieves only trifling savings. The proposal, ...
Health Care
Higher Health Insurance Premiums This Year? Blame ObamaCare
Most Americans saw their insurance bills jump this year, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The average employer-based premium for a family increased a startling 9% in 2011. Over the next decade, rates are expected to double. The Kaiser report is only the latest piece of ...
Business & Economics
Comparative effectiveness reviews mean fewer cures
Elected officials have powerful incentives to spend, and the administrators of government agencies — always seeking to increase their budgets — are happy to oblige. But the federal budget is finite. There are equally-powerful incentives to create more programs, as politicians are driven to make more citizens dependent upon government. ...
Government Spending
The deficit ‘super committee’ and health care
The federal debt-reduction super committee recently held its third meeting to explore changes in the tax code. The 12-member bipartisan panel must find $1.5 trillion in federal savings by Thanksgiving. Committee members have gone to great lengths to emphasize their differences, but there is still room for agreement. The committee ...
Health Care
Doctors and AMA Split Over Contentious Issue of ObamaCare
For more than 160 years, the American Medical Association has served as the self-appointed chief lobbying group for doctors. But the AMAs lofty status has been under threat over the last several years and is under attack today. In fact, the AMA now only counts about 17% of doctors ...
Commentary
Democrats’ Plan B For Medicare: Medicare For All
Last month, ObamaCare was dealt another huge blow. On August 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta ruled that the law’s requirement that all adults purchase health insurance was unconstitutional. The court determined that the government isn’t empowered to force private citizens to buy a ...
Just Say ‘No’ To New Health Insurance Taxes
This month, consulting firm Oliver Wyman released a new study revealing that surprise, surprise health insurance premiums will increase by several thousand dollars over the next ten years. Thats bad enough news for consumers. Even worse? The study only looked at the cost impact of Obamacares new tax ...
The Medicare Auction Design and Incentives for Research and Development
Key Points: Government has incentives to focus far more heavily upon budget outlays than patient wellbeing in the operation of its health programs. So as to obtain medical devices and equipment for the beneficiaries of Medicare and Medicaid, the federal government uses auctions that are poorly designed, resulting in prices ...
Health Spending and the “Supercommittee”: Seven Items from President Obama that Republicans And Democrats Should Embrace
Key Points: Congress has a unique opportunity to make a clean cut in government health spending by Christmas. President Obama’s deficit-reducing proposal contains seven items that shift Medicare and Medicaid spending closer to the people. Although these items represent a small fraction of President Obama’s deficit-reducing proposal, they offer the ...
Our federal financial nightmares revealed … and how to fix them
During this week’s GOP presidential debate, Michele Bachmann twice said the federal government is spending about “40 percent more” than what it takes in. If only we were in such good shape. The federal government has actually been spending about 75 percent more than what it takes in. For every ...
Part D Price Controls Kill Jobs
Washington faces two pressing tasks getting a handle on escalating federal debt and addressing the country’s unemployment crisis. Unfortunately, the White House, thanks to its usual ideological blinders, has come up with a plan that will actually cost jobs even as it achieves only trifling savings. The proposal, ...
Higher Health Insurance Premiums This Year? Blame ObamaCare
Most Americans saw their insurance bills jump this year, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The average employer-based premium for a family increased a startling 9% in 2011. Over the next decade, rates are expected to double. The Kaiser report is only the latest piece of ...
Comparative effectiveness reviews mean fewer cures
Elected officials have powerful incentives to spend, and the administrators of government agencies — always seeking to increase their budgets — are happy to oblige. But the federal budget is finite. There are equally-powerful incentives to create more programs, as politicians are driven to make more citizens dependent upon government. ...
The deficit ‘super committee’ and health care
The federal debt-reduction super committee recently held its third meeting to explore changes in the tax code. The 12-member bipartisan panel must find $1.5 trillion in federal savings by Thanksgiving. Committee members have gone to great lengths to emphasize their differences, but there is still room for agreement. The committee ...
Doctors and AMA Split Over Contentious Issue of ObamaCare
For more than 160 years, the American Medical Association has served as the self-appointed chief lobbying group for doctors. But the AMAs lofty status has been under threat over the last several years and is under attack today. In fact, the AMA now only counts about 17% of doctors ...
Democrats’ Plan B For Medicare: Medicare For All
Last month, ObamaCare was dealt another huge blow. On August 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta ruled that the law’s requirement that all adults purchase health insurance was unconstitutional. The court determined that the government isn’t empowered to force private citizens to buy a ...
