Lankford Introduces Legislation Giving Congressional Authority to Interstate Health Care Compact

In February, Rep. James Lankford (R-OK) introduced legislation (H.J.Res.110) that would give Congressional approval to states entering the Health Care Compact. This is an important step forward for one of the most innovative ideas that has been developed to reduce the degree of federal interference in regulating health markets. As Lankford notes in a recent Forbes op-ed, eight state legislatures have already voted to join the Compact.

All the Congressional Republican alternative health-reform bills recognize that regulating access to health care and health insurance from Washington, DC is a potential minefield. Adding Congressional recognition of a Health Care Compact is an important new development in the evolution of post-Obamacare health reform.

Read the entire article at John Goodman's Health Policy Blog or The Independent Institute's Beacon Blog.

Whose Blood Is It Anyway? On the New Clinical Lab Regulations

Many patients’ group and their allies understandably cheered a new regulation that just came about as a result of many years of advocacy: Nationwide, patients now have a “right” to access their lab results directly. The “right” to receive test results directly from labs now ranks equally with the “right” to get our medical records.

I certainly applaud the outcome. Nevertheless, I question whether the means fully justify the end. I have three major concerns, in increasing order of importance.

Read the entire column at The Independent Institute's Beacon blog or John Goodman's Health Policy Blog.

ALEC Is Critical To Defeating Obamacare

You may have never heard of ALEC before the last few days, when both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal editorialized on a campaign waged by shadowy lobbying groups to influence corporations to withdraw their support from this non-profit collaboration of state legislators.

The American Legislative Exchange Council, which was founded in 1973, is the only venue where state legislators committed to the Jeffersonian principles of limited government meet together to collaborate on model legislation that they are free to introduce in their state legislatures. As well as legislative members, ALEC includes private-sector members. I represent my employer in a small sub-set of the private-sector group, the non-profit private-sector members (a.k.a. the think tanks).

Anyone interested in defeating Obamacare and replacing it with a reform that puts patients – not the government – in charge of our own health-care dollars needs to support ALEC’s continued independence and success.

Read the entire column at Forbes.com: The Apothecary.

Rick Perry's Texas: It's Better to Create More Jobs Than More Medicaid Dependents

As Texas governor Rick Perry makes a splash in the Republican presidential primaries, one place where people are looking for evidence of poor executive leadership is his record on health care. Fellow conservatives have focused on his 2007 executive order that girls entering grade 6 should receive a vaccine, Gardasil™, which protects against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).

A criticism that will likely carry more weight as the campaign develops is Perry’s record on Medicaid and the uninsured. We see this in an article written by Noam N. Levey in the Los Angeles Times, which declared that Texans’ access to health care is “withering” under Perry. As Levey notes, Texas has the highest rate of uninsured in the nation, over one quarter of the population. This is important, but not in the way Levey believes.

Read the entire article in this month's Health Policy Prescription here.

What Should Rick Perry Say About Gardasil?

The Republican presidential primaries have been temporarily hijacked by a single incident in Rick Perry’s decade-plus tenure as governor of Texas. Despite Michele Bachmann’s ludicrous claim that Gardasil causes mental retardation, let’s recall that not one single schoolgirl was vaccinated by the offensive executive order: The legislature overturned it long before the school year began.

Furthermore, the executive order did not comprise a mandate.

The End of the Individual Mandate is Not the End of Obamacare

Last month Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli successfully argued that the so-called “individual mandate” in Obamacare was outside congressional competence. Advocates of individual choice in health care cheered a significant victory, but this is not the final judicial word on Obamacare.

If Obamacare is Unconstitutional, Why Aren't Medicare & Medicaid?

A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that the individual mandate in Obamacare is unconstitutional. The “Minimum Essential Coverage Provision” has no basis in the powers delegated to Congress by the Constitution, according to Virginia Attorney-General Ken Cuccinelli, and Judge Henry E. Hudson has agreed.

So how can Medicare and Medicaid be constitutional?

On An Interstate Compact for Health Insurance

As well as playing a key role in the upcoming defeat of Obamacare, states can seize the initiative on framing the real health reform that will replace it.  One commendable option is an interstate compact for health reform.

After all, Congress has had many opportunities to reform health care, and it has failed again and again.  It's time to get the federal government out of the health-insurance business.

Read this month's Health Policy Prescription here.

On Sebelius' & Holder's Defense of Obamacare

Today's Washington Post ran an op-ed by Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services, and Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney-General.  In it, they trot out the same old arguments that we've heard many times before, and debunked.

Health Care Freedom: 2 Out of 3 Ain't Bad

The Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act was on the ballot in three states. This is the model legislation that asserts the unconstitutionality of Obamacare's individual mandate. Before last night, it had already passed as statute or constitutional amendment in six states.

Yesterday's victory in Arizona (55% to 45%) "upgrades" the previously passed statute to a constitutional amendment. Yesterday's victory in Oklahoma (65% to 35%) overides the incumbent governor's previous veto. The measure was defeated in Colorado, but by a narrower margin of 47% to 53%.


All in all, yesterday was a great day for health freedom.

Election Gives States Momentum to Defeat Obamacare

Yesterday’s election resulted in a resounding setback for Obamacare. The federal government takeover of Americans’ access to medical services will suffer significant setbacks in the new Congress. While Congress works towards repeal, states have to choose whether to enable or obstruct Obamacare, which will further pummel states’ fiscal situations.

Antitrust: The U.S. Vs. Michigan Blue Cross Blue Shield

Today's news of the overreaching federal state brings reports of antitrust action by the US Department of Justice against Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan.  The purported violation? As Michigan's largest health plan, BCBS was able to persuade hospitals not to charge lower fees to any other carrier.  According to the story, other health plans paid hospitals 25 percent more than BCBS.

The GOP Pledge on Health Care: "Repeal" is Great, "Replace" Needs Work

Let’s start with the good news: The GOP has pledged to repeal Obamacare “immediately” (see page 27 of the Pledge), which means it will be the first legislative order of business on Monday, January 3, 2011, if the GOP takes the House.

When it comes to “replace,” however, the Republican alternative is still significantly malformed. Indeed, there’s more than a whiff of big-government Republican in it. It completely ignores the single most important reform to private health insurance: Amend the tax code to give individuals, instead of our employers, ownership of our non-taxable health dollars.

Read my entire response at National Review Online.

Washington Examiner Column: ObamaCare and the Right to Health Care

President Obama has made no secret of his belief that health care should be "a right for every American." This moral argument for reform was no doubt among the strongest offered by Obamacare's proponents.

Unfortunately, Obamacare doesn't guarantee a right to health care. Instead, it undermines that right by subverting Americans' freedom to obtain the health care they prefer.

Read the complete column at the Washington Examiner.

Did Judge Tauro Kill ObamaCare?

On July 8, a federal judge in Boston, Joseph Tauro, took it upon himself to find the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional. His decisions in two cases might have unwittingly facilitated the legal challenges to Obamacare.

Read the complete blog entry at National Review Online.

Orthopedic Surgeons Vs. Insurers in Idaho

The U.S. Department of Justice has settled antitrust allegations against a small group of orthopedic surgeons in Idaho. I suggest that the federal antitrust jurisdiction is inappropriate, at StateHouseCall.

Beyond ObamaCare: The 9th & 10th Amendments and The "Right to Health Care"

This month's Health Policy Prescription.

More on Buying Health Insurance Across State Lines - John R. Graham - Critical Condition on National Review Online

More on Buying Health Insurance Across State Lines - John R. Graham - Critical Condition on National Review Online. You don't need Congress to mandate it.

What Are Republicans Talking about When Republicans Talk about 'Buying Health Insurance Across State Lines'? - John R. Graham - Critical Condition on National Review Online

What Are Republicans Talking about When Republicans Talk about 'Buying Health Insurance Across State Lines'? - John R. Graham - Critical Condition on National Review Online. Sometimes, I'm not sure that even they know.

Next Step for Health Freedom: How about a Constitutional Amendment? - John R. Graham - Critical Condition on National Review Online

Next Step for Health Freedom: How about a Constitutional Amendment? - John R. Graham - Critical Condition on National Review Online