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 …
Everyone remembers President Obama’s repeated promise, “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period.” Unfortunately, Obamacare breaks this promise many times over. One way is through its medical loss ratio (MLR) requirement and the impact it will have on consumer-driven, high-deductible …
Gov. Scott Walker delivered a passionate defense of Wisconsin’s reforms at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday night. The embattled Republican governor used his keynote speech at CPAC to outline what’s at stake in Wisconsin and other states if his budget reforms are rolled back. “Our most powerful tool …
Earlier this week in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidates touted the benefits of a Medicare premium support system — the approach to entitlement reform embraced by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and The Heritage Foundation. Ryan’s recent partnership with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) helped thrust the idea of premium …
One provision of Obamacare has already spawned a nightmare for doctors, pharmacists, and patients. As of January 1, Americans with health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible savings accounts (FSAs), and health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) can no longer purchase over-the-counter (OTC) drugs using these tax-exempt accounts. After only a couple of months, …
Editor’s Note: On the right, please watch our exclusive interview with Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, and then below, please read an original guest blog to The Foundry from the Governor himself. We’ve been through a global recession. Now we’re fighting through a stalled recovery. Revenues are the lowest they’ve been …
All presidential assurances to the contrary, you can’t keep what no longer exists—not even health coverage you like. Millions of people like Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) paired with high-deductible insurance plans. The approach is so popular, in fact, that it’s the fastest growing type of coverage in the country. But …
Why is there so much excessive—indeed, downright wasteful—spending in health care? One reason is the disconnection between patients’ wallets and their health care bills. Most Americans get health insurance through their employers. They neither witness nor control the flow of their dollars from employer to insurer to health care provider. …
