Vacation

I will be skiing until February 10. I have some blog entries scheduled at NCPA and Independent Institute, but will not be cross-posting them here until I return.

Arkansas: Caving In or Standing Up To Obamacare's Medicaid Expansion?

Almost two years ago, our colleague Linda Gorman was cautiously optimistic about Arkansas attempted Medicaid waiver. Instead of just expanding Medicaid, the state would take the federal funds that Obamacare offered, but use them to subsidize the newly eligible to buy commercial insurance on the Obamacare exchange.

Two years later, a new governor wants to do something a little different. The new governor, Asa Hutchinson, appears to have confused a lot of people in a recent speech about Medicaid, the joint state-federal welfare program for poor people’s health coverage.

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

The Congressional Budget Office's Rose-Colored, Short-Sighted View of Obamacare Spending

Obamacare’s spending is going to explode. CBO projects the average exchange subsidy per covered enrollee in 2015 will be $4,330 and increase to $7,710 in 2025, an increase of 78 percent in nominal terms. In real, inflation-adjusted terms it is an increase of 48 percent (using the CBO’s estimate of future Consumer Price Inflation).

And 2025 is only ten years in the future! We have had Medicare for fifty years, and their is little political will to get its unfunded liability under control. Don’t let the CBO’s rose-colored short-sighted vision lull us into complacency: Obamacare is a long-term spending disaster.

Read the entire column at Forbes.

Under Obamacare, Will America Keep Winning the War on Cancer?

The American Cancer Society (ACS) has just released its annual Cancer Facts and Figures. The announcement describes how successful the war on cancer has been:

Annual statistics reporting from the American Cancer Society shows the death rate from cancer in the US has fallen 22% from its peak in 1991. This translates to more than 1.5 million deaths from cancer that were avoided.

There are a number of explanations for this success.

Read the entire article at Forbes.

Are Employers Who Dump Workers Onto Medicaid Corporate Welfare Queens?

There have been a lot of predictions about the future of employer-based health benefits under Obamacare. Reports suggest that increasing numbers of small businesses are dropping health benefits and sending their employees to Obamacare’s insurance exchanges, where they are partially subsidized.

Other businesses have found a bigger cost-shifting approach. BeneStream, a new benefits advisor, advises employers how to make their workers dependent on Medicaid, a welfare program fully funded by taxpayers. And businesses are taking advantage of its advice.

So: Are these employers corporate welfare queens?

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

Hospitals Only Accounted for 15 Percent of 2014 Health Jobs Growth

Last Friday’s employment report demonstrated once again that Obamacare is not having the effect that the health services industry overall hoped for: Employment in health care is increasing at pretty much the same pace as in the rest of the economy. There is no evidence of an Obamacare jobs bump.

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

Obamacare Enrollments Slow To A Trickle

Only 102,000 people enrolled in Obamacare via the federally operated exchange during the week of December 27 – January 2, bringing the total to 6.5 million. This supports my previous expectation that Obamacare enrollment is petering out.

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