Americans Say, "Soak the Rich"

After six years of income redistribution, Americans are hungry for more, according to the latest Gallup poll:

Despite the growing focus on inequality in recent years, the 63% of Americans who say that money and wealth should be more evenly distributed among a larger percentage of the people is almost the same as the 60% who said this in 1984.
Americans' agreement that money and wealth need to be more evenly distributed reached a high point of 68% in April 2008, in the last year of the George W. Bush administration, and just before the full effects of the Great Recession began to take hold. Americans became slightly less likely to agree with the idea later that year and in surveys conducted in 2009, 2011 and 2013.

Read the entire entry at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

Medicare's Pioneer ACO's Ending With A Whimper?

This blog has covered the mediocre and inconclusive results of Medicare’s Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model for a couple of years now. A new research paper in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association furthers the narrative that the much ballyhooed program has very slim results

Let’s leave the quality measurements aside for now, and focus on the fiscal effects. There appears to be a small positive effect. However, it appears extremely slim and likely even illusory for a number of reasons

Read the entire entry at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

Obamacare's Risk Corridors Are Back, And Bigger and Badder Than Ever!

Last December, I discussed with some relief that Congress had stopped the unlimited taxpayer liability of Obamacare’s risk corridors, which protect profits for health insurers by transferring money from insurers with extra profits to those whose profits from Obamacare are less than expected.

The CROmnibus, which funded the government for 2015, put a guardrail around the risk corridors by legislating that any payments beyond budget neutrality would have to be appropriated. (That is, if extra profitable insurers earned $100 “too much” and losing insurers lost $200 “too much”, the winners could pay the losers $100, but the U.S. Treasury could not just make up the balance without Congress appropriating the funds.)

Read the entire entry at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

Protecting Small Business From the Effects of King v. Burwell

(A version of this Health Alert was submitted as testimony to the hearing, “King v Burwell Supreme Court Case and Congressional Action that can be taken to Protect Small Businesses and Their Employees,” held on April 29, 2015, by the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.)

A number of independent sources confirm Obamacare is harming small businesses. According to a paper published by the American Action Forum last September, the increased burden of regulations and rising health insurance premiums have reduced pay in firms with 20 to 99 employees by at least $22.6 billion annually, and has led to 350,000 job losses. Employees who kept their jobs have seen a decrease in pay of just under $1,000 annually.

Read the entire Health Alert at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

Are Doctors Becoming Democrats?

New research published in JAMA shows that political giving by physicians has swung significantly towards Democrats and away from Republicans in 20 years or so. In 1993-1994, 69 percent of physicians who made political donations gave to Republicans, and their giving comprised 65 percent of doctors’ political giving. In 2013-2014, 45 percent of doctors who made political donations gave to Republicans, and they comprised 50 percent of doctors’ political giving.

Read the entire entry at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

State Health Insurance Exchanges Going Bust

From the Washington Post:

Nearly half of the 17 insurance marketplaces set up by the states and the District under President Obama’s health law are struggling financially, presenting state officials with an unexpected and serious challenge five years after the passage of the landmark Affordable Care Act.
Many of the online exchanges are wrestling with surging costs, especially for balky technology and expensive customer call centers — and tepid enrollment numbers. To ease the fiscal distress, officials are considering raising fees on insurers, sharing costs with other states and pressing state lawmakers for cash infusions. Some are weighing turning over part or all of their troubled marketplaces to the federal exchange, HealthCare.gov, which now works smoothly.

Well, whether the federal exchange “works smoothly” or not is a discussion for another day. Although, I would beg to differ with the WaPo.

Read the entire entry at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

Why Don't You Own Your Own Health Data?

David Brailer, MD, was the first head of the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (ONC), appointed by President George W. Bush. Today, he is a venture capitalist.

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Dr. Brailer notes that a law passed in 1996 governs our access to health information. Clearly, it needs updating.

Read the entire entry at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.