The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its Budget and Economic Outlook for years 2012 to 2022 yesterday, and as Heritage’s Patrick Knudsen shows, the numbers add up to a dismal fiscal future. As the government continues its fiscal irresponsibility, 2012 will be the fourth straight year of trillion-dollar deficits. This trend is on track to continue as a result of increasing federal spending on health care, which will more than double between 2012 and 2022. The CBO estimates that by 2022, the government will spend $1.8 trillion on health care, …
In its yearly survey of health insurance coverage, the U.S. Census Bureau published figures that underscore the trend toward greater dependence on government for coverage. The percentage of Americans on government health programs continues to grow, while employer-based coverage continues to decline. According to the latest Census report, 31 percent of the population received coverage through the government in 2010 compared to 23 percent in 1987. In contrast, 64 percent of the population had private coverage in 2010, compared to 75.5 percent in 1987. Employer-based coverage declined from 62.1 percent …
Congress and the President have low approval ratings because Congress and the President continue to ignore the will of the American people. One reason for this disapproval is ObamaCare – the President’s signature health care “reform” law. According to Real Clear Politics (RCP), the average approval rating for the President is 43.0% approval and 53.2% disapproval. RCP has Congressional job approval at a dismal 12.3% approval and 84.0% disapproval. These numbers indicate anger and rage toward federally elected politicians. Lachlan Markay wrote on The Foundry yesterday that HHS Secretary Sebelius …
A top advisor to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently compared opposition to the administration’s new health care law to opposition to the 1960s civil rights movement, Politico Pro reported: Jay Angoff, special adviser to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, drew parallels between the two contentious efforts during a panel presentation in Baltimore. He said pushback from state governors over implementation of the law mirrors the acrimony held by many state lawmakers decades earlier when they had to adopt the civil rights package. “The states fought the civil rights …
Medicare continues to be a looming problem in the fiscal crisis. In an effort to lower the program’s cost and improve quality of care for the seniors it serves, Obamacare creates accountable care organizations (ACOs), which are supposed to encourage health care providers to band together and create savings through better coordinated care. In a new Heritage research paper, health policy expert John Hoff writes: The ACO scheme is a microcosm of the PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) and, like it, will not deliver on its rhetorical promises. …
The disheartening impact of Obamacare has solidified doubt and resistance surrounding federal health reform. It will burden small businesses and dump millions more into the failing Medicaid program. As a result, states are increasingly using their authority to implement health-care reforms tailored to their citizens. Gov. Paul LePage of Maine is leading the way in the fight against government-run health care. Today he visits Heritage to share his insights on the issue. The event will be broadcast live online at 2 p.m., followed by an expert panel, including Florida state Rep. …
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on bureaucratic barriers for patients covered by both Medicare and Medicaid. These two programs serve the elderly and the poor, respectively, and people who fall into both categories—the “dual-eligibles”—should get better-quality care with more efficient taxpayer spending. According to the WSJ, an estimated 9.7 million Americans fall under the dually eligible criteria. They account for 16 percent of the Medicare population but 27 percent of Medicare spending, and 15 percent of Medicaid’s population but 39 percent of its spending. More efficient financing for this …
While economic growth remains sluggish, the last thing the United States needs is another weight holding it back. Unfortunately, the new health care subsidy program created under Obamacare for low- and middle-income Americans does precisely that. In recent research, Heritage’s Paul Winfree lays out exactly how the Obamacare subsidies will negatively impact the economy. According to Winfree, “tax subsidies are available for certain households who purchase federally approved coverage in the newly created state health insurance exchanges…unless they are eligible for Medicare or Medicaid or they can receive coverage through …
On Tuesday, May 10, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report on the uninsured population and their ability to pay their hospital bills. One of the more interesting takeaways from the report is that if you add up all the savings of the uninsured with incomes over 400 percent of the federal poverty level (or about $88,000 for a family of four), it will cover about 37 percent of their total hospital bills. How do the uninsured get away with not having the assets to …
Once again the U.S. House plans to take another whack Tuesday at defunding Obamacare—although the Senate and White House are poised to protect the funding. The bill scheduled for a vote, HR 1213, would repeal the automatic funding that Obamacare provides for federally-dictated insurance exchanges, the mechanisms to sell the re-fashioned and federally-approved insurance policies. And while the bill does not repeal the requirement that each state either establish such an exchange or have the feds do it for them, billions of taxpayer dollars could be saved if the House …
