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| January 27th, 2012 by Cindy in Healthcare Reform The financial crisis of 2008, which resulted in a significant jump in unemployment, meant that the number of Americans with private coverage dropped. As a result, the overall rate of private health spending has decreased, compared to recent years, says John Graham, director of health care studies at the Pacific Research Institute.
- According the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the annual rate of increase in spending by private health insurance was 7.8 percent in 2007, but has since dropped to just 2.4 percent in 2010.
- CMS data also shows that the “net cost of health insurance” (that is, the share of health insurance that does not pay for medical claims) shrank by an average of about 2 percent annually in 2008 and 2009.
Continue reading from NCPA…
| December 28th, 2011 by Cindy in Healthcare Reform Central to the passage of the federal health-care law was the Obama administration’s assertion—ludicrous on its face yet convincing to enough members of Congress to provide the bill’s razor-thin margin of victory—that the law would contain health-care costs. Central to that assertion, in turn, is the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Congress invested IPAB with broad powers to control Medicare costs—powers with virtually no limits. Three features combine to make IPAB’s regulatory power unprecedented: its decisions are largely uncontrollable by Congress, its actions are unreviewable by the courts, and—amazingly—the agency’s existence is virtually unrepealable. Continue reading….
| November 15th, 2011 by Cindy in Healthcare Reform The Supreme Court decided on Monday to review President Obama’s 2010 health-care overhaul, promising a high-profile hearing on the question dominating American politics: the constitutional limits of the federal government’s power.
No initiative has exemplified Obama’s progressive domestic agenda or inflamed his conservative opponents like the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Republican presidential candidates have taken an oath to dismantle what they derisively call Obamacare, and the court’s decision will deliver an unmistakable — if unpredictable — jolt to the political system in the midst of next year’s national elections. Continue reading…
| August 21st, 2011 by Cindy in Healthcare Reform Earlier today, the Department of Heath and Human Services announced it was writing $29 million in checks to “expand access to health care”. These Obamacare funds would support “community health center programs across the country”, though it would appear Blue states did decidedly better than Red States. Of the $29 million HHS awarded, $24 million of it went to 2008′s Blue States. Continue reading…
| August 21st, 2011 by Cindy in Healthcare Reform In short, the Obama administration has lost its battle to delay review of the individual mandate until after the 2012 election. Until today, there was at least a chance that the Supreme Court would pass on the case until after its forthcoming term, but now, with a split between the Eleventh Circuit and Sixth Circuit, the High Court will have little choice but to take the case and resolve the fate of the forced-purchase mandate. After over a year of delaying tactics, the Obama Administration has no more options to slow-walk the constitutional end-game for the mandate.
Our best estimate is that the case will be argued either in late March or in April 2012. The Court will issue its decision near the end of its term in June, during the presidential candidate nominating season. Continue reading from The Heritage…
| July 28th, 2011 by Cindy in Healthcare Reform The economy is recovering at an unusually slow pace. Typically, employment grows strongly after a severe recession. Not this time. Unemployment remains stuck above 9 percent more than two years after the recession officially ended. What is going on?
Initially, the economy appeared on track for a steady recovery. The economy went from losing 841,000 jobs in January 2009—the recession’s low point—to gaining 229,000 jobs in April 2010. By the spring of 2010, the Administration confidently predicted a “Recovery Summer.” Continue reading…
| July 11th, 2011 by Cindy in Healthcare Reform When they took control of the House, Republicans could barely stop talking about their plans to “repeal and replace” the health care reform law.
Six months later, they hardly talk publicly about those plans at all. And they’re nowhere close to “replacing” the law.
Continue reading from The Politico.
| June 25th, 2011 by Cindy in Healthcare Reform Once provisions of the Affordable Care Act start to kick in during 2014, at least three of every 10 employers will probably stop offering health coverage, a survey released Monday shows. Continue reading…
| June 16th, 2011 by Cindy in Healthcare Reform By 2013, less than one-third of U.S. physicians are expected to remain in private practice and patients may increasingly find that being treated by physicians in private, small practice settings may be a thing of the past. Read more from UPI.com
| June 12th, 2011 by Cindy in Healthcare Reform A shocking new study out by McKinsey and Company finds that 30–50 percent of employers who currently provide health insurance for their employees are likely to drop their coverage. Yes, that’s right. Even if you like your insurance, you will not be able to keep it, as President Obama often and famously promised. Continue reading from The Heritage…
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