Price Caps Will Only Cap Availability of Insurance
Submitted by Sally C. Pipes on 6.28.2011
Earlier this month, the California Assembly voted to give the state insurance commissioner the power to reject health insurance rate hikes that he deemed “excessive.” The state senate must now take up the measure, known as AB 52.
Congress Should Apply Clinton-era Reform to Medicare
Submitted by John R. Graham on 6.23.2011
A successful welfare reform from the 1990s offers a model to reform a currently out-of-control program many Americans assume to be an entitlement, but which is actually welfare. The program is Medicaid, which should be easier to fix, politically, than the so-called entitlements of Social Security and Medicare.
Policizing Premiums Does Not Control Health Costs
Submitted by John R. Graham on 6.21.2011
Last week, an overwhelming majority of Connecticut legislators passed a bill, SB-11, that would give the executive branch the power to decide whether health plans should be allowed to increase their premiums at rates that keep pace with medical costs.
Will Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Survive Obamacare?
Submitted by Sally C. Pipes on 6.21.2011
Reports from consulting firms don’t normally make national news. Then again, most such reports don’t predict the downfall of the American health care system.
Medicare Auctions for Durable Medical Equipment: Price Suppression and Research and Development Investment
Submitted by Benjamin Zycher, Ph.D on 6.14.2011
A new research study released by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based free-market think tank, reviews the auction design process currently established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for medical devices and equipment.
Even Obamacare's Supporters Don't Support the Rationing Board
Submitted by Sally C. Pipes on 6.13.2011
The House Energy and Commerce Committee just scheduled hearings for next month on one of the most controversial components of ObamaCare — the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). This 15-member, unelected Board will be charged with making recommendations for reducing Medicare spending if costs exceed a specified cap. Those recommendations will automatically become law unless Congress blocks them and offers equivalent spending cuts in their place.
Will Miracle Drugs Get to Market?
Submitted on 6.8.2011
“The primary concern should be whether care is medically effective. Doctors and patients should be in charge about health care, not government. Various governmental agencies are making decisions about whether these drugs are cost-effective, not medically effective and these decisions are destroying the American spirit.”
Medicaid is easier to fix than entitlement programs
Submitted by John R. Graham on 6.7.2011
Congress remains gridlocked on many important issues but not every politician is afraid to challenge the unsustainable growth of Medicaid. Consider S. 1031, by Sen. Tom Coburn. This measure would increase local control over Medicaid spending and improve the incentives that have led politicians to trap ever more low-income citizens in poverty and the poor access to care that characterizes this top-heavy system.
Single Payer Health Care Systems, Multiple Health Care Disasters
Submitted by Sally C. Pipes on 6.7.2011
Democrats have recently seized on a novel way of reducing health care costs — threats. The Obama Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced that any insurance company that wants to increase premiums more than 10% will have to get approval from the government. Congress didn’t pass a law mandating this draconian policy — HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius simply decreed it.
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