The United States faces financial collapse due to out-of-control government spending, and entitlement programs have a lot to do with it. Washington has promised more than it could ever possibly deliver. Medicare in particular puts the government on the hook for $38 trillion in long-term unfunded liabilities, and reform to address this is sorely needed. Change must address not only spending but also the system by which the program operates, which currently encourages inefficient use of health services. This trend has penetrated the health care system at large. According to …
The debate over health care reform has been a theoretical affair, full of abstractions that contradict one another. Amid all the ambiguity, one fact is unequivocal and unprecedented. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, every American will be compelled to purchase health insurance, or else – the “or else” being a fine collected by the Internal Revenue Service should you fail to ante up. “The mandate,” as it’s known, has its origins in the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which grants Congress the authority to regulate interstate commerce. …
“Pay-for-performance” medicine has gained popularity in recent years, and Obamacare makes it a reality for Medicare enrollees. But that’s not necessarily a good thing. Pay-for-performance allows third parties to pay physicians based on treatment outcomes. In theory, this sounds like a great way to encourage doctors to improve outcomes. But in practice, it’s a bit more complex. To determine payments, payers must use some sort of yardstick to measure outcomes. Medicare has done this for years. Its hospital and physician quality reporting programs require health care providers to report on …
Exactly one hundred days ago today, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. The President promised that the law would extend access to high quality care to the millions of uninsured Americans, while at the same reducing costs and overall health spending. Forget it. It’s not going to happen. It is clear that none of these promises will come true; instead, the legislation is likely, even certain in some cases, to make existing problems worse. To mark the 100 day anniversary of the health care …
Before passage of the president’s health care legislation in March, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) infamously exclaimed that “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” It has now been months since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became law, and as Heritage expert Stuart Butler explains in a recent paper, the consequences of the bill remain to be determined. Moreover, the ambiguity of the legislation and the amount of decision-making left to administrators means that several controversial questions surrounding the …
A U.S. district court judge will decide within 30 days whether to dismiss Virginia’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare. From the perspective of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the stakes could not be higher. The fate of federalism, he believes, hangs in the balance. “This case really goes to the foundations of this country,” Cuccinelli said last night in an exclusive interview. “It is truly a case about the outer limits of federal power under the Constitution. It’s really not a case about health care. It’s a case about …
Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released its annual long-term Budget Outlook, which provides a look at mandatory federal spending on health care after passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. One may have expected to see drastic changes after the passage of Obamacare. After all, this legislation was supposed to reduce costs and overall health spending. However, the CBO’s report highlights the unlikelihood that cost-containment strategies included in the new law will ever come to fruition. In its projections, CBO looks at two scenarios. The extended-baseline scenario assumes …
Thanks to a new tax that takes effect tomorrow, some small-business owners will get a first-hand look at Obamacare’s impact. “The first present we get under this new health care law takes effect this week — and that is the tanning tax,” lawyer and small-business advocate Karen Harned said yesterday at The Bloggers Briefing, hosted by The Heritage Foundation. The tax will hit small-business owners particularly hard, said Harned, who directs the Small Business Legal Center of the National Federation of Independent Business. Approximately 19,000 “mom and pop” small businesses …
As the Obama Administration’s allies are gearing up to spend $125 million over the next five years to sell the health overhaul law to the public, including seniors, there has been a noticeable vacuum in the discussion over the impact on younger adults. This topic was in the spotlight at a recent event sponsored by the CATO Institute: “How Will Obamacare Affect Young Adults?” While the President received one of the largest margins of support from 18-29 year old voters during the 2008 election, there is growing skepticism over the …
Recently, the New York Times highlighted a booming trend toward greater price transparency in medicine thanks to up-and-comers such as Castlight, a new company aiming to create a search engine of health care prices. Others sharing in this endeavor include both public and private entities in Tennessee and New Hampshire, as well as several insurance companies. Lack of transparency regarding pricing of medical services has often been attributed as one of the factors contributing to skyrocketing spending in the health care system, a concern which drew considerable attention during the …
