Former Speaker of the U.S. Representatives Newt Gingrich said something last week that many feared, but few have been willing to admit: Republicans in Congress have no intention of repealing and replacing Obamacare with patient-centered health reform.
Faced with an interviewer who seemed to believe opposition to Obamacare is actually opposition to Barack Obama, and who suggested that after this president leaves office, opposition will soften, Mr. Gingrich accused his former colleagues of misrepresenting their commitment.
Now that we are in the twilight of the Obama presidency, and Republicans have majorities in both chambers of Congress, they should be able to put such charges to rest. Unfortunately, last week’s overwhelming bipartisan support in the House of Representatives for a deal to lock in Obamacare’s way of paying doctors sends a terrible signal.
Read the entire column at Forbes.
Research and commentary from a former senior executive in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Access to Health Care Unchanged After Obamacare's First Year
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released early estimates of health insurance and access to health care for January through September 2014. The National Health Insurance Survey (NHIS) is (in my opinion) the most effective survey of health insurance, because it asks people three different but important questions: Are they uninsured at the time of the survey? Have they been uninsured for at least part of the year? Have they been uninsured for more than a year?
The proportion of long-term uninsured is about the same as it was circa 2000. The proportion of short-term uninsured has shrink a little in Obamacare’s first year. Further, this increase in government dependency has not lead to a change in access to health care.
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
The proportion of long-term uninsured is about the same as it was circa 2000. The proportion of short-term uninsured has shrink a little in Obamacare’s first year. Further, this increase in government dependency has not lead to a change in access to health care.
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Critics Pile on Flawed Medicare Doc Fix
The Boehner-Pelosi so-called Medicare “doc fix” is taking on water, despite (or because of?) overwhelming bipartisan support in the House of Representatives.
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Budget Gimmicks Hide $213 Billion Cost of Medicare Doc Fix
The headline of the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) damning assessment of the fiscal damage done by H.R. 2 — the so-called Medicare doc fix negotiated secretly by House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — is that the deal will add $141 billion to the deficit over the next ten years.
Even this appalling outcome is sugarcoated. After unpacking the gimmicks underlying the estimate, the actual result is much worse.
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog:
Even this appalling outcome is sugarcoated. After unpacking the gimmicks underlying the estimate, the actual result is much worse.
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog:
Fraser Institute: Canadians Leave Canada for Medical Care
Canada’s government monopoly of health insurance leads to long waits, and an increasing number of Canadians have to leave the country to get care, according to The Fraser Institute:
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
In 2014, more than 52,000 Canadians received non-emergency medical treatment outside Canada.
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Churn, Churn, Churn: Measuring the Cost of Fragmented Coverage
Low-income Americans face bewildering bureaucratic requirements when they try to obtain welfare benefits. One of the challenges is that they have to frequently re-apply for benefits because the state needs to know whether their incomes are still low enough form them to remain eligible. This moving in and out of benefits is called churn, and Dottie Rosenbaum of the left-wing Center for Budget and Policy Priorities has written an interesting paper discussing the challenges in measuring and understanding it.
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Health Insurers Just Fine Under Obamacare
New research from the Commonwealth Fund, a pro-Obamacare think tank, shows that health insurers are doing just fine under Obamacare.
Well, the stock market has been telling us that for years. The report’s purpose is to cheer the rebates that insurers which made too much money paid to consumers. Obamacare regulates the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR). If an insurer does not spend enough premium on medical claims, it has to pay a rebate to its beneficiaries.
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
Well, the stock market has been telling us that for years. The report’s purpose is to cheer the rebates that insurers which made too much money paid to consumers. Obamacare regulates the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR). If an insurer does not spend enough premium on medical claims, it has to pay a rebate to its beneficiaries.
Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.
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