Libertarians and conservatives and others have spent five years complaining about the increased bureaucratic burden of Obamacare. New research by Sam Batkins of the American Action Forum, while not letting Obamacare off the hook, shows the problem predates the current Administration. The burden of paperwork has increased linearly since at least 2005.
Read more at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Research and commentary from a former senior executive in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Taxpayers Increasingly Victimized in Obamacare Exchanges
Recent news has renewed attention on Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges (misleadingly called “marketplaces” by the Administration).
America’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group, will all but withdraw from the Obamacare exchange business. Having sold plans in 34 states this year, the company will participate in only a “handful” next year. With 795,000 beneficiaries, UnitedHealth Group indicates it will lose $650 million in the exchanges this year – over $800 per enrollee.
Other insurers are sticking it out. Notably, Anthem, another leading for-profit insurer, which has nearly one million Obamacare enrollees, is positive about its future in the exchanges. Anthem’s optimism is surprising.
Read the entire op-ed in The Hill.
America’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group, will all but withdraw from the Obamacare exchange business. Having sold plans in 34 states this year, the company will participate in only a “handful” next year. With 795,000 beneficiaries, UnitedHealth Group indicates it will lose $650 million in the exchanges this year – over $800 per enrollee.
Other insurers are sticking it out. Notably, Anthem, another leading for-profit insurer, which has nearly one million Obamacare enrollees, is positive about its future in the exchanges. Anthem’s optimism is surprising.
Read the entire op-ed in The Hill.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Another Hit on Price Transparency
JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, has published a research article challenging the doctrine that price transparency leads to lower health costs. Sunita Desai, et al., found being offered the tool was associated with a mean $59 increase in outpatient spending.
Read more at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Read more at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Friday, May 6, 2016
Health Jobs Grow Three Times Faster Than Other Jobs
Health services jobs grew over three times faster than non-health, nonfarm civilian jobs in April. Health services jobs comprised 44,200 (28 percent) of 160,000 jobs added. The rate of growth from March was 0.29 percent for health services jobs versus only 0.09 percent for other jobs.
Also concerning is the revisions of the job figures from February and March (Table III). The estimates of overall employment growth in those months have been revised down significantly from the previous two reports. However, all the downward revision has been outside health services. Indeed, the originally reported health services job growth for February has been revised up, while the previously estimated growth in other jobs has been revised down by 22,000.
Read more at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Also concerning is the revisions of the job figures from February and March (Table III). The estimates of overall employment growth in those months have been revised down significantly from the previous two reports. However, all the downward revision has been outside health services. Indeed, the originally reported health services job growth for February has been revised up, while the previously estimated growth in other jobs has been revised down by 22,000.
Read more at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Is Consumer-Driven Health Care Going the Wrong Way?
While there has been significant growth in patients’ direct payments, it is increasingly malformed. In 2015, deductibles comprised 47 percent of patients’ direct payments, versus only 23 percent in 2004. However, deductibles are the crudest and least effective way for patients to increase the share of health spending they control directly. Deductibles are determined by the calendar year. They are a characteristic of what I have described as the (very flawed) heliocentric doctrine of health insurance.
Read more at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Read more at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Health Insurers Shift More Costs To Taxpayers in Obamacare Exchanges
America’s health insurers are undergoing a crisis of consensus with respect to their engagement with Obamacare. Between 2010 (when the Affordable Care Act was signed), and 2014 (the first year of taxpayer-subsidized coverage in the health insurance exchanges), it was widely understood that health insurers had scored a big win. After all, which other industry could get the federal government to pass a law mandating individuals purchase its product or service as a condition of residency in the United States?
Since then, we have learned that insurers have been losing money on Obamacare’s exchanges. We should not expect insurers which continue to participate in exchanges to just keep losing money. In fact, the evidence indicates some insurers have quickly learned how to shift more costs onto taxpayers, despite failing to win an explicit political commitment to do so.
Read the entire column at Forbes.
Since then, we have learned that insurers have been losing money on Obamacare’s exchanges. We should not expect insurers which continue to participate in exchanges to just keep losing money. In fact, the evidence indicates some insurers have quickly learned how to shift more costs onto taxpayers, despite failing to win an explicit political commitment to do so.
Read the entire column at Forbes.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Health Construction Boomlet Continues
The boomlet in health construction, first noted in last month’s Census Bureau release, continued in March. Health facilities construction starts grew 1.6 percent, while other construction grew only 0.3 percent.
Read more at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Read more at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
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