President Obama just delivered a speech and announced that states will now be eligible to receive waivers to get out from under the onerous provisions of No Child Left Behind. During the speech, he stipulated conditions that will be attached to the waivers. In one of the biggest education policy developments in a decade, President Obama has sorely mistaken bi-partisan distaste for No Child Left Behind as a mandate for him to unilaterally re-write the law from the White House. Both sides of the aisle agree that No Child Left …
It’s easy to see why Obamacare’s unpopularity grows substantially with every new detail that comes out. As former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) infamously noted, we had to pass the bill to find out what was in it. Well, now we know. Many businesses affected by Obamacare—those not lucky enough to receive the coveted waivers—now view their slimming insurance options with extreme caution. A shocking new study out by McKinsey and Company finds that 30–50 percent of employers who currently provide health insurance for their employees are likely to drop …
If a mandate for choice sounds oxymoronic, it’s because it is. But that’s what policymakers want for our vehicle fleet. Policymakers will convince you what they’re doing will promote markets and competition and that it will benefit the consumers. You won’t be paying $4 per gallon and we won’t be buying foreign oil. That’s the rhetoric you’re hearing as Congress rolls out legislation to promote natural gas vehicles. But it is legislation that won’t help the American consumer or the American taxpayer and the reason we have less natural gas …
The House of Representatives passed a measure to fully repeal Obamacare, but the negative effects of the law will continue to unravel until the legislation makes it to the President’s desk. These include the requirement under the new law that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) define “essential health benefits,” which must be included in all plans sold in the new health exchanges beginning in 2014. The process began last week. The legislation outlines general categories to guide the Administration, which is otherwise given unlimited authority to further …
Health Insurers Plan Hikes. That’s the headline of today’s Wall Street Journal story which reports: “Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating Democrats’ efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections. Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators.” It’s exactly what conservatives predicted. While …
“I’ve been working to dismantle Obamacare,” declared Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). “We have to fight this terrible law that’s a threat to liberty itself.” These comments came during a June 21st blogger conference call held by Sen. Hatch in which he sought to rally support for two bills aimed at representing “a strategic attack on the central tenants of Obamacare.” The American Liberty Restoration Act (S. 3502) would strike forthcoming individual mandates from the current law, while the American Job Protection Act (S.3501) would repeal what Hatch calls, a “job-killing …
President Obama says the health care reform bills before Congress will make health insurance more affordable and accessible for young Americans. Think again. As Heritage’s Paul Winfree explains, some of the promises the President makes are too good to be true. That truth involves higher costs and stiff penalties. Watch Winfree’s video, and be sure to share it with others. What do you think about the President’s promises? Join the debate in our comments section below.
The Senate Leadership is scheduling the first vote on their health care bill later today. A thorough critique and analysis of the 383 page manager’s amendment cannot possibly be done in the short time frame given by the Democratic leadership in the Senate. The race to push through the towering 2,000 page bill leaves little time for Senators, their staff, or voters to understand the breathtaking impact this legislation — that effects one-sixth of the U.S. economy — will have on the lives of every citizen. In our brief review …
The last time Congress debated fundamental health care reform, America’s health insurance industry fought against more government control of your health care, most famously with the “Harry and Louise” ad depicting a typical middle class family in despair. This time around, however, the health insurance industry is supporting more government control of your health care. Why? Because key reformers are offering to use government coercion to force fifty million Americans to become new health insurance customers. What industry wouldn’t want the government to create 50 million new customers overnight? In …
President Obama, who had previously opposed an individual mandate for health insurance, has now opened the door to including such a legal requirement as a central feature of health care reform. An excellent explanation of the difficulties involved in the implementation of such a mandate was recently outlined in a New England Journal of Medicine article, “Universal Coverage One Head at a Time—The Risks and Benefits of Individual Health Insurance Mandates” published last year by Sherry Glied, Ph.D. Dr. Glied has just been nominated to serve as the Assistant Secretary …
