This week, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its recommendation of women’s preventive services that should be covered with no co-pay or deductible under Obamacare—a list that included birth control and emergency contraception. While this raises important questions regarding social policy, it’s also relevant to the ongoing debate about Obamacare …
AARP’s latest video opposing spending reductions in Social Security or Medicare once again pushes the flawed argument that cutting federal budget waste and loopholes would effectively address America’s unsustainable fiscal problems. A senior featured in the video asks, “With billions in waste and loopholes, how could they look at us?” Yes, …
Conservatives, including The Heritage Foundation, support reforming Medicare to provide seniors with a defined contribution to apply to the health care plan of their choice. This approach would address the program’s insolvency, and it is superior to other options—including the President’s plan to allow an unelected board of officials to …
This morning, the House Budget Committee invited Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to a hearing on the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), the left’s weapon of choice for tackling Medicare’s $38 trillion in unfunded promises to America’s seniors. Both sides of the debate agree that extensive reductions to …
The Hill reports that conservatives in Congress are considering extending Medicaid drug rebates to low-income seniors participating in the Medicare prescription drug program (Part D) as part of a deficit reduction deal to increase the debt limit. Transforming certain federal health programs—i.e., Medicare and Medicaid—is crucial to making a meaningful …
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on bureaucratic barriers for patients covered by both Medicare and Medicaid. These two programs serve the elderly and the poor, respectively, and people who fall into both categories—the “dual-eligibles”—should get better-quality care with more efficient taxpayer spending. According to the WSJ, an estimated 9.7 …
While Americans across the country were celebrating independence on Monday, Talking Points Memo (TPM) was churning out its “Chart of the Day” to support the false claim that the nation doesn’t have a serious spending problem. According to TPM, conservatives in Congress are focused on cutting discretionary spending as part …
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released its annual Long-Term Budget Outlook, which highlights the effects of existing policy on the federal budget. The verdict: The current trajectory is “unsustainable.” Growing federal health care spending is a major driver of future deficits. As CBO explains, “Spending for health care in …
Spending in the U.S. health care system is growing too fast to ignore. Yet, the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (PPACA), also known as Obamacare, does nothing to “bend the cost curve.” Containing health spending requires engaging consumers in their health care expenditures, and one way to achieve …
While the national debt continues its climb above $14.3 trillion, the day is fast approaching when Congress will, once again, vote to increase the debt limit. This brings new urgency to the need to rein in Washington’s out-of-control spending binge. Since entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) are the …
