Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) has emerged as a leading contender to become the next secretary of the Health and Human Services department. Flint Hills Center for Public Policy senior fellow Gregory Schneider previews what a Sebelius HHS might look like: For one thing, she is an able bureaucrat, presiding …
The Senateneeds to take its time with Obama’s Trillion Dollar Debt Plan. There are jut too many permanent government expansions tucked away inside this bill, especially on the health care front, including these four: Surprise #1—Congress as a predatory lender. Surprise #2—Former C.E.O.s and out of work politicians could Qualify …
State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is the federal-state welfare program to provide health insurance for poor children. The House recently passed a major expansion of SCHIP, which is now under consideration in the Senate. Most of the controversy surrounding this expansion has been related to eligibility. Nobody opposes health …
Pushing for deficit spending as part of his own economic stimulus package in 1971, President Richard Nixon famously told ABC News, “I am now a Keynesian in economics.” Increasingly, it seems that everyone on Capitol Hill is adopting Nixon’s economic views … but a thousand times worse. Where Nixon wanted …
Last week, after the Congressional Budget Office report showed that the pre-stimulus budget deficit would reach $1.2 trillion in FY 2009, President-elect Barack Obama reiterated his campaign promise to make Social Security and Medicare reform a “central part” of his efforts to control skyrocketing federal spending. Democrats on the Hill …
Responding to the sticker shock of the Congressional Budget Office’s projected record $1.2 trillion budget deficit, President-elect Barack Obama said: We will — we are working currently on our budget plans. We are beginning consultations with members of Congress around how we expect to approach the deficit. We expect that …
Yesterday the nation’s largest health insurance trade group, the America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), unveiled its proposal for major reform of the U.S. health care sector. AHIP President Karen Ignagni told the Los Angeles Times, “The nation is on the eve of a national discussion about healthcare. This comes around …
It’s widely known that while there is some variation, in most states Medicaid reimburses physicians at significantly lower rates than private insurers. As we’ve previously highlighted, research indicates that these low rates of payment affect physicians’ decisions to treat Medicaid patients. While low reimbursement is a serious problem in Medicaid …
Most people are skeptical about statistics, claiming that mathematically-minded people just bend numbers to their will. But when it comes to long term budget projections, economists from the left, right, and center all agree we on an unsustainable course, and that the entitlements—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—are the main driver …
Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are offering ambitious, comprehensive and expensive health care reform plans. Both would greatly expand health insurance coverage for millions of Americans. Examining the key elements of these two competing plans, one can discern clearly two very different visions of America’s health care future. …
