Now that Obamacare passed, the Left is calling it a truly historic achievement, chalking it up as a victory for health care reformers everywhere. With the enactment of the House-Senate reconciliation bill, the so-called “fix” to the Senate bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) remarked that the bill did “something very important for the American people, very significant to their daily lives.” Well, Congressional liberals are correct about one thing. It’s historic. It is an unprecedented takeover of Americans’ health care now equal to one-sixth of the entire US economy. It …
At the signing of the Senate health bill today, President Barack Obama said: “In a few moments, when I sign this bill, all of the overheated rhetoric over reform will finally confront the reality of reform.” Let’s review some of the “overheated rhetoric” that is about to get tested by reality. Over the past months, the President and Congress have promised: that premiums would drop by $2500 per family; that if you like what you’ve got, you can keep it; that it would bend the cost curve down; that it …
Congress and its allies on the left are hell bent to overhaul the health care of every American. They have focused strongly on increasing regulation of insurance companies. They get the most of the blame for increasing premiums and skyrocketing health spending. Though certain targeted and technical reforms of the health insurance market are sorely needed, making insurers the scapegoat for out-of-control costs in our current health system misses the point. Recent premium increases in health plans offered by Anthem Blue Cross in California have attracted federal scrutiny of insurers, …
Last week’s bipartisan summit on health care reform seems to have done little, if anything, to build support for the President’s vision of health care reform. Strong opposition to the Democrats’ proposals remains the position of a majority of Americans. And now, even the President’s biggest fans are following suit. In an interview‘ with CNBC, Warren Buffett, a Democrat and supporter of President Obama, advised the President to follow the wishes of the American people to scrap the current health care legislation and start over. Buffett highlighted the failure of …
The Chief Actuary in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Obama Health and Human Services department issued a memorandum late yesterday looking at the potential impact of the House health reform legislation (H.R. 3200). As the Associated Press and other media outlets have been reporting, the study shows that- among other things- the legislation would, as President Obama promised, bend the health care cost curve … but in the wrong direction.
Yesterday’s New York Times editorial, “Financing Health Care Reform,” outlines the need to “make the hard choices” including “cutting and reallocating hundreds of billions of dollars from projected spending on Medicare and Medicaid…” However, judging by last week’s action by the Obama Administration to rescind three Medicaid regulations, the Times’ admonition is likely to fall upon deaf ears. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would rescind three regulations that were designed to place needed fiscal and programmatic accountability in Medicaid. As Medicaid now spends more …
In his Jimmy Carter-esque “New Foundation” speech Tuesday, President Barack Obama linked health care reform and deficit reduction claiming: “If we want to get serious about fiscal discipline … we will also have to get serious about entitlement reform. Make no mistake: health care reform is entitlement reform.” Problem is, Obama’s health care reform plan includes a Medicare-for-all like public plan that will “compete” with private plans. The idea that the path to reduced health care spending must go through expanding Medicare is laughable. former Political Science professor at the …
