[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5-BoR9hAvQ[/youtube] Dr. Norm Thurston is doing something extraordinary: he’s implementing consumer-driven health care fixes in Utah. When many employers recently started dropping health benefits the state reacted with reforms that make costs predictable for both employers and consumers. Predictability depends on accurate information for all sides. The Utah Health Exchange makes this possible. Here’s how it works: Companies choose a fixed amount to contribute toward employee health benefits. Employees contribute pretax money from their own paychecks, and they can make contributions from a spouse’s job or a second employer as well.
During tonight’s address to Congress, President Obama is expected to repeat his contention that health care reform should reduce federal health care costs and not expand the budget deficit. The House health bill (as amended by the Energy and Commerce Committee) fails those standards according to a new Lewin Group study commissioned by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. According to the study, the House bill: Would run a $39 billion deficit in the first decade, and a $1,010 billion deficit in the second decade; Faces a gross cost (excluding tax …
(Update: The website cited below has been suspended by barackobama.com. The screenshot to the right is the original page, but the embedded links will no longer work. Click on the picture to the right for a full-screen view.) Many Americans took off work and sacrificed family time this past August to attend congressional town halls, where they voiced opposition to a government-run overhaul of their personal health care choices. They hand painted signs, grabbed their children and drove to their local church or school gymnasium for valuable lessons in community organizing …
To help pay for its expensive and painfully complex health care bill, Congress plans on burdening families and small businesses earning over $350,000 with a surtax. Ill-conceived “soak the rich” plans devised by Congress tend to inspire a yawn, a sigh, or applause from the vast majority of citizens who don’t have to actually pay the lopsided amount of taxes that the “rich” pay. Well, as it turns out, more and more of us might actually be “rich” enough to have to chip in to help fund government-run health insurance …
Ever heard of the phrase “no such thing as a free lunch”? If you’ve taken Economics 101, you likely have. But evidently, this falls on deaf ears in the Obama administration. Six months after taking office, the President vows that his “reform” will insure the uninsured and rein in health spending. What he covers up in his flowery rhetoric, however, is how he intends to control these costs and eliminate waste. Writing today in the Washington Post, columnist Robert J. Samuelson says, “his ‘reform’ isn’t likely to compel needed changes, …
Much of the controversy in President Obama and congressional Democrats’ health care overhaul thus far has focused on the public option and concerns with the budget-busting price tag. But as negotiations in Congress on hundreds of pages of complex legislative text continue to move at break-neck pace, all leading up to floor consideration scheduled in the next few weeks, the issue of taxpayer funding for abortion is threatening to take center stage. Just before Congress broke for the 4th of July recess, nineteen Democrat members of the House sent a …
The recent letter to Congressman Rangel from the AMA in appreciation and support for H.R. 3200, the “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009” is disconcerting and fails to accurately represent the concerns of many of America’s physicians, myself included. The AMA has failed to clearly discuss the significant trade-offs that private practice physicians and their patients will face if this legislation is rushed through congress. First of all, if the legislation is passed along with the option of a public plan that competes with private plans, physicians will bear …
President Obama’s health care takeover will not just force most Americans into a government-run insurance plan, it will also give us European-style tax rates. Actually, we will be taxed at higher rates than most Europeans. Yes, that’s right. No need to do a double take. In order to pay for the White House’s dreams, Americans will be taxed at a higher top marginal rate than most Europeans, including the French, the Germans, and the Spanish. The White House and the President’s supporters in Congress will soon swing into gear with …
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate majority leader, wants to rush the Senate health care legislation through the process by July 27, 2009. It’s not hard to see why. After 13 days of intense debate, the Senate HELP Committee just finished work on the Senate bill (The Affordable Health Choices Act) and reported it to the full Senate for consideration. During the Committee consideration of the bill, there were hundreds of amendments, dealing with topics ranging from abortions to funding jungle gyms. Much of the internal Committee debate received little attention …
Following up on his infomercial last week , courtesy of ABC News’ “Questions for the President: Prescription for America” special, which was meant to be a town hall discussion for doctors, patients and health care experts to bring the tough questions, President Barack Obama is holding another “town hall” online today to “answer more of your questions” on health care reform. The online discussion, taking place at 1:15 pm in Annandale, Virginia, is using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to take questions from the public. Judging by Obama’s previous track record of …
