It's not often you see budgetary sense coming out of the California state Capitol. So, we should cheer the legislators and governor who have proposed a modest reform to Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program for low-income residents, that would have improved incentives for patients and reduced the budgetary bleeding by about half a billion dollars - if it had take place last year.
California governor Brown believes - correctly - that if Medi-Cal beneficiaries have "skin in the game," that they will make better use of the medical services that the taxpayers subsidize. Unfortunately, U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Sebelius has quashed this reform, on questionable legal grounds.
Read the entire Health Policy Prescription here.
Research and commentary from a former senior executive in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Showing posts with label Sebelius. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sebelius. Show all posts
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Thursday, October 20, 2011
955 Pages of Rules to "Eliminate" Excessive Federal Health Regulations
I kid you not. The U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, has announced that "It’s time to cut the red tape. Our new proposals eliminate unnecessary and obsolete standards and free up resources so hospitals and doctors can focus on treating patients.”
And they've done this by issuing six new regulatory documents, ranging in length from just five pages up to 696 pages. The total number of pages in all six documents? 955!
If this is what reducing red tape looks like, I'd hate to see what they do when they decide they need more regulatory wrapping.
And they've done this by issuing six new regulatory documents, ranging in length from just five pages up to 696 pages. The total number of pages in all six documents? 955!
If this is what reducing red tape looks like, I'd hate to see what they do when they decide they need more regulatory wrapping.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Georgia Should Shun an Obamacare Health Benefit Exchange
Unfortunately, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal continues to collaborate with the Obamacrats on establishing an Obamacare "exchange". Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran "pro" versus "con" columns by myself and Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services. Read them both here.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Sebelius Vs. Wall Street Journal (and the Truth)
Apparently, The Wall Street Journal enjoys sacrificing valuable real estate on its editorial page to serve as bait for politicians who traffic in misinformation about ObamaCare. Witness last week's op-ed by Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services. We know that the WSJ accepted her op-ed to trap her, because it rebutted her claims in a subsequent editorial, which makes entirely valid criticisms — but there’s more.
Read more of my response here.
Read more of my response here.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Did Senator Baucus's "Experts" Read the Bill?
I doubt that it surprises anyone that Senator Max Baucus did not read the ObamaCare bill that he navigated through the Senate, but we should all be surprised that he has no shame in admitting it in a town hall meeting that he hosted last week with the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kathleen Sebelius. Indeed, he appears proud of the fact that he did not “waste” time reading the bill, but delegated it to “experts.”
Many of the bill’s supporters have been walking away from it recently. An August 19 report on “A Communications Perspective” for ObamaCare, prepared for the pro-ObamaCare lobbying group Families USA (and leaked to Politico.com), significantly reframes the mission of ObamaCare’s supporters.
Read more here.
Many of the bill’s supporters have been walking away from it recently. An August 19 report on “A Communications Perspective” for ObamaCare, prepared for the pro-ObamaCare lobbying group Families USA (and leaked to Politico.com), significantly reframes the mission of ObamaCare’s supporters.
Read more here.
Monday, August 9, 2010
ObamaCare's New Website Explained
A few days ago, President Obama gave a demo of the new ObamaCare website. Here's my more accurate version:
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sebelius' $100 Million SCHIP Marketing Bailout
One of the most pathetic consequences of the federal government's drive to control children's access to medical services is the failure of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to enrol most of the kids eligible for it. In California, 80% of families eligible for SCHIP reject it for their kids.
The obvious remedy? Bail out SCHIP's sales & marketing operation. 350 self-styled advocacy groups joined U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius for a teleconference where she announced her intention to release $40 million of a budgeted $100 million for "outreach".
Release the hounds!
If she really wanted to enrol kids in SCHIP, instead of perverting civic groups through government handouts, she'd offer commissions to insurance brokers to sign up kids.
Obviously, that would be unacceptable - because insurance brokers are businesses, not community activists.
Was ACORN on the teleconference? I have no idea. I think it's time for a stronger spotlight of transparency on groups that accept taxpayers' money to promote government dependency for health care.
The obvious remedy? Bail out SCHIP's sales & marketing operation. 350 self-styled advocacy groups joined U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius for a teleconference where she announced her intention to release $40 million of a budgeted $100 million for "outreach".
Release the hounds!
If she really wanted to enrol kids in SCHIP, instead of perverting civic groups through government handouts, she'd offer commissions to insurance brokers to sign up kids.
Obviously, that would be unacceptable - because insurance brokers are businesses, not community activists.
Was ACORN on the teleconference? I have no idea. I think it's time for a stronger spotlight of transparency on groups that accept taxpayers' money to promote government dependency for health care.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Healthy San Francisco a Model for U.S.: Sebelius, Obama
The Sacramento Bee reports that U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and President Obama have praised Mayor Gavin Newsom's Healthy San Francisco municipal bureaucracy as a model of U.S. health reform.
What part of "government failure" don't these folks understand? Healthy San Francisco is a tax-hike levied in accord with the gospel of the Church of Universal Coverage (as defined by Cato's Michael Cannon). It taxes small businesses (mostly restaurants) to fund the county's public-health bureaucracy, and declares that it is "covering" all San Franciscans.
I have written about it's tax-hiking ways before, and noted that it has failed to attract private hospitals and physicians to accept its "coverage." Healthy San Francisco claims that its members are enrolled in medical homes. I took a gander at its website, and saw that it has added a grand total of two private providers to its "network" of public-health centers and community clinics.
However, one private provider is the Sr. Mary Philippa Health Center, the charity wing of St. Mary's Medical Center (which is part of the mega-system Catholic Healthcare West). It's a fine center for poor people, no doubt, but I believe that non-profit hospitals affiliated with communities of faith have been doing this long before the Mayor of San Francisco got involved.
The second private provider is the Chinese Community Health Association, undoubtedly a similarly motivated organization.
Noticeably absent from "The Care Network" are any mainstream hospitals or physician practices.
High taxes and limited choice: Is this the future of U.S. health care?
What part of "government failure" don't these folks understand? Healthy San Francisco is a tax-hike levied in accord with the gospel of the Church of Universal Coverage (as defined by Cato's Michael Cannon). It taxes small businesses (mostly restaurants) to fund the county's public-health bureaucracy, and declares that it is "covering" all San Franciscans.
I have written about it's tax-hiking ways before, and noted that it has failed to attract private hospitals and physicians to accept its "coverage." Healthy San Francisco claims that its members are enrolled in medical homes. I took a gander at its website, and saw that it has added a grand total of two private providers to its "network" of public-health centers and community clinics.
However, one private provider is the Sr. Mary Philippa Health Center, the charity wing of St. Mary's Medical Center (which is part of the mega-system Catholic Healthcare West). It's a fine center for poor people, no doubt, but I believe that non-profit hospitals affiliated with communities of faith have been doing this long before the Mayor of San Francisco got involved.
The second private provider is the Chinese Community Health Association, undoubtedly a similarly motivated organization.
Noticeably absent from "The Care Network" are any mainstream hospitals or physician practices.
High taxes and limited choice: Is this the future of U.S. health care?
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