John R. Graham
Commentary
On the Republican Alternatives to Obamacare
Or, to put it in other words: The federal government should give the American people the health-care dollars it currently gives to our employers. Republican leaders really muddy this issue. To wit: Karl Rove’s advice in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. Read the entire post here .
California
California Single-Payer Bill Looks Backward, Instead Of Forward To A New Era Of Patient Choice
Here we go again. The California State Legislature is considering yet another bill to impose a so-called single-payer, government monopoly, health care system. This has long been an obsession of the California’s nurses unions, because a health system under total government control would suit the narrow interests of union leaders. ...
California
California Job Losses From Obamacare Repeal? Fear Not!
Obamacare was a cash cow for providers, which now argue it was a program for jobs and economic growth. They now say that repealing Obamacare will kill California jobs. That grabs any politician’s attention, but it is not true. According to a study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, which ...
Health Care
Health Insurers Want Obamacare Faster than Obama Does
While everyone else in the country is trying to figure out how to avoid Obamacare’s avalanche of mandates, taxes, and general red tape, one group is actually accelerating implementation. America’s health insurers are undertaking some of the law’s mandates well before they are required. Over a week ago, UnitedHealth Group ...
California
Would A “Public Option” Rescue Obamacare In California?
Dave Jones, California’s Insurance Commissioner, has lifted a page from Hillary Clinton’s playbook for the rescue of Obamacare – the so-called “public option.” The public option would probably look a lot like Medicaid. Its proponents give it a less pejorative name to lull people into a false sense of confidence ...
California
California’s Surprise Medical Bill Law Papers Over a Systemic Problem
Insured patients who go into hospital for scheduled surgery are often shocked to find they owe bills well beyond what they expected to pay, especially if they understood the hospital and surgeon to be in their health plan’s network. The problem usually occurs when an anesthesiologist or other specialist involved ...
California
Medi-Cal system encourages abuse
After more than a year, California’s politicians and health insurers have finally agreed to and passed last month what California Healthline calls a “tax hike in name only” to finance Medi-Cal. If only it were that simple. Funded jointly by the state and federal governments, Medi-Cal is the subject of ...
Commentary
To control drug prices, pursue fraud, not manufacturers
A Los Angeles-based nonprofit has gathered enough signatures to get two initiatives on the November ballot. The one of greater interest to ordinary Californians would legislate that any prescription drug paid for with state money cost no more than the amount paid by the Veterans Administration. The California Drug Price ...
California
California’s reckless Medi-Cal expansion a disservice to the poor
California under Obamacare has enrolled three times as many people as originally projected in Medi-Cal, the welfare program that subsidizes low-income Californians’ access to health care. The total is now 12 million, about one-third of the state’s population. The overenrollment is provoking yet another fiscal crisis for the state, which ...
California
What ACA ruling means for Covered California
It is usually not a good idea to take the risk of predicting what politicians and bureaucrats will do, but here’s a shot: California will decide to wind down the failing Covered California Obamacare exchange and transfer its operations to healthcare.gov, the federal exchange. That won’t solve any of the ...
On the Republican Alternatives to Obamacare
Or, to put it in other words: The federal government should give the American people the health-care dollars it currently gives to our employers. Republican leaders really muddy this issue. To wit: Karl Rove’s advice in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. Read the entire post here .
California Single-Payer Bill Looks Backward, Instead Of Forward To A New Era Of Patient Choice
Here we go again. The California State Legislature is considering yet another bill to impose a so-called single-payer, government monopoly, health care system. This has long been an obsession of the California’s nurses unions, because a health system under total government control would suit the narrow interests of union leaders. ...
California Job Losses From Obamacare Repeal? Fear Not!
Obamacare was a cash cow for providers, which now argue it was a program for jobs and economic growth. They now say that repealing Obamacare will kill California jobs. That grabs any politician’s attention, but it is not true. According to a study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center, which ...
Health Insurers Want Obamacare Faster than Obama Does
While everyone else in the country is trying to figure out how to avoid Obamacare’s avalanche of mandates, taxes, and general red tape, one group is actually accelerating implementation. America’s health insurers are undertaking some of the law’s mandates well before they are required. Over a week ago, UnitedHealth Group ...
Would A “Public Option” Rescue Obamacare In California?
Dave Jones, California’s Insurance Commissioner, has lifted a page from Hillary Clinton’s playbook for the rescue of Obamacare – the so-called “public option.” The public option would probably look a lot like Medicaid. Its proponents give it a less pejorative name to lull people into a false sense of confidence ...
California’s Surprise Medical Bill Law Papers Over a Systemic Problem
Insured patients who go into hospital for scheduled surgery are often shocked to find they owe bills well beyond what they expected to pay, especially if they understood the hospital and surgeon to be in their health plan’s network. The problem usually occurs when an anesthesiologist or other specialist involved ...
Medi-Cal system encourages abuse
After more than a year, California’s politicians and health insurers have finally agreed to and passed last month what California Healthline calls a “tax hike in name only” to finance Medi-Cal. If only it were that simple. Funded jointly by the state and federal governments, Medi-Cal is the subject of ...
To control drug prices, pursue fraud, not manufacturers
A Los Angeles-based nonprofit has gathered enough signatures to get two initiatives on the November ballot. The one of greater interest to ordinary Californians would legislate that any prescription drug paid for with state money cost no more than the amount paid by the Veterans Administration. The California Drug Price ...
California’s reckless Medi-Cal expansion a disservice to the poor
California under Obamacare has enrolled three times as many people as originally projected in Medi-Cal, the welfare program that subsidizes low-income Californians’ access to health care. The total is now 12 million, about one-third of the state’s population. The overenrollment is provoking yet another fiscal crisis for the state, which ...
What ACA ruling means for Covered California
It is usually not a good idea to take the risk of predicting what politicians and bureaucrats will do, but here’s a shot: California will decide to wind down the failing Covered California Obamacare exchange and transfer its operations to healthcare.gov, the federal exchange. That won’t solve any of the ...
