Employers’ health benefit cost growth had the smallest increase in 15 years—only 4.1 percent in 2012 compared to 6.1 percent in 2011—according to Mercer’s National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans. The lower-than-usual increase in costs is attributed, in part, to increased usage of consumer-directed health plans (CDHP). Despite this, many …
Heritage’s Kevin Dayaratna finds in a recent survey of academic literature that “Medicaid’s so-called safety net cripples the very people it is designed to help.” The structural flaws in the program produce a cascade of failures, starting with underpaid and overburdened doctors, which produces longer waits for care, in turn …
Governor John Kasich (R) is expected to opt not to set up a state Obamacare exchange. This is the right decision for Ohio. The President’s health care law is unworkable and unsustainable. Rejecting the health insurance exchanges, and equally as important, the Medicaid expansion, are two opportunities states have to …
In Washington, there is one issue on everyone’s minds: the “fiscal cliff.” With time running out before a massive tax hike strikes on January 1, and wide-ranging budget cuts scheduled to hit at the same time, the economy is bracing for another storm. Today, five public policy organizations including The …
Thought the “public option” was dead? Think again. Chief among the most dangerous provisions in Obamacare is the creation of government-sponsored national health plans, which are, in effect, another embodiment of the public option. Through its multi-year implementation, the law steadily evolves into a national single-payer health care system. Here’s …
In a new video parodying Dr. Seuss’s whimsical style, the American Enterprise Institute puts the problem of growing entitlement program spending in a form elementary school kids can understand. It’s a good thing, too, because their generation will be burdened with paying for this skyrocketing spending if Congress and the …
In recent weeks, liberal politicians, editorialists, and policy analysts have vigorously attacked reform of Medicare based on defined-contribution financing. In fact, this approach to reforming Medicare has a long bipartisan tradition going back to the 1980s and Representatives Richard Gephardt (D–MO) and David Stockman (R–MI). In fact, much of this …
