As the fight continues against the one-size-fits-all changes enacted under Obamacare, some states continue to work on health care reform specific to the needs of their residents. Florida is one such state. Its Medicaid Reform Pilot passed with bipartisan support in 2005 and has been implemented in five counties over the last five years. It has been a remarkable success, shifting a failing government health program away from the status quo of top-down micromanagement toward consumer-driven, patient-centered care. In a detailed analysis written for The Heritage Foundation, Tarren Bragdon, CEO …
A recent Gallup poll revealed that 47 percent of Americans—a plurality—support repeal of Obamacare. While the reasons for the law’s unpopularity are limitless, its broken CLASS program and unsuccessful small business tax credit may play a role. A few weeks ago, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would halt implementation of the CLASS program, the government-run long-term care program created by the health care law, since it was unsustainable and unworkable. This put CLASS on life support, but since it isn’t dead yet, its repeal is crucial. …
Even without Obamacare, the United States faces rising health care costs and an economy struggling to recover from the recent downturn. Despite its supporters’ promises, the health care law does not solve these problems. A study released today by the National Federation of Independent Business highlights the impact of Obamacare’s new health insurance tax alone on Americans’ health care costs and the health of the economy. Obamacare institutes a premium tax on health insurers that offer full coverage beginning in 2014. Before it became law, Heritage expert Edmund Haislmaier wrote …
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation and Subcommittee on Health held a hearing last week on the future of the unsustainable, poorly designed CLASS program now that it’s on life support (though it still has a heartbeat). As Heritage analysts have already pointed out, there is a lot to look into in this flawed program. CLASS was created as a voluntary, government-run long-term care insurance program. According to the legislation, it would be fully funded from the premiums paid by its beneficiaries, requiring no federal taxpayer …
Thanks to Obamacare, Americans looking to tie the knot may find that it’s a lot cheaper to stay single. Last week, the House Oversight Committee released a report and held a hearing to unpack its subject matter: a hidden penalty on marriage created by the structure of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (PPACA) tax subsidies for low- and middle-income Americans to purchase health insurance. Obamacare’s new tax subsidies are linked to the federal poverty level, discriminating against married couples by failing to increase proportionally with household size. Heritage …
Next month, the “super committee” will release its plan to find savings in the federal budget over the next decade. A report from the Senate Finance Committee Republicans outlines a possible route forward and includes reforms to reduce unaffordable federal spending on health care and improve programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Several of the ideas outlined in the report are similar to The Heritage Foundation’s own Saving the American Dream plan to reduce the debt and restore prosperity. The Heritage plan also offers additional details on how to achieve some …
Yesterday, Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) shared his outlook for repealing and replacing Obamacare. Ryan pointed out that rising health care costs not only make insurance unaffordable for many Americans; they are also a main driver of growing federal deficits. As medical inflation pushes the cost of insurance and medical goods and services sky high, the cost to taxpayers of Medicare, Medicaid, and the new open-ended entitlements created in Obamacare goes up as well. Adequately addressing rising costs will require pinpointing the root causes of medical inflation. Ryan defined these as …
This week, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust released a major survey on employer-sponsored health benefits in the United States. Among the many important findings in the report, one fact stood out: Americans are paying more and more for their health insurance every year, a concerning trend that is only getting worse under Obamacare. The report explains that: The cost of insurance is increasingly unaffordable to American families. The cost of health insurance in the United States has grown significantly over the last decade. The …
Americans knew the negative impact Obamacare would have on the nation before the law even passed. Millions of Americans will be added to Medicaid, which already provides low-quality coverage and patchy access to care. The new law will not result in universal coverage, despite its $1 trillion+ price tag. Premiums will go up. And Americans who like their current health plans will not be able to keep them. Now, states are beginning to better understand the impact of Obamacare. Earlier this month, Gorman Actuarial and Jonathan Gruber reported on Wisconsin …
In its latest video railing against reform of Medicare and Social Security, AARP pushes for a pinch hitter to solve Washington’s spending problem—and a poor one at that. The organization charges Congress to cut wasteful spending and close tax loopholes instead of reducing Medicare and Social Security benefits. Once again, they get it wrong on how to balance the budget and put the nation on a fiscally sustainable path. Congress can work to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse to demonstrate it is serious about controlling spending and using taxpayer dollars …
