The Senate canceled next week’s recess to address the country’s debt crisis. It’s an issue in the headlines every day as lawmakers and the White House debate a debt-reduction plan. Why does it matter? The national debt is set to explode in the coming decades as spending on entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security skyrockets. Even the International Monetary Fund has warned United States that it must reduce its debt or face serious economic consequences. Without action, the national debt will eventually reach a staggering 344 percent …
Yet another newly revealed flaw of Obamacare promises to add billions to the cost of the new health law. Due to what was presumably an oversight in the drafting of the legislation, it could potentially unload 24.7 million additional Americans onto the Medicaid program. That’s 50 percent higher than the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) original projection of 16 million. As Medicare Actuary Richard Foster explained in testimony before the House Budget Committee, the definition of income to determine eligibility excludes Social Security benefits, allowing couples in early retirement who …
This week, The New York Times highlighted a study on Medicaid, the federal–state partnership to provide health care to the poor and disabled, and its failure to offer enrolled children access to care. The researchers used a “secret shopper” technique to see how many specialists in Cook County, Illinois, turned away children with Medicaid compared to private insurance. The results were jaw-dropping. While specialists turned away 11 percent of privately insured children, 66 percent of children with Medicaid were unable to get an appointment. For those who did, the waiting …
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, outlined a comprehensive plan for reforming Medicaid yesterday at Heritage. Medicaid is a program for low-income Americans, one of the big three entitlements. Hatch’s vision corresponds with the wishes of more than two dozen Republican governors, who wrote him this week to express their desire for greater flexibility with Medicaid. Democrats, including 41 of Hatch’s Senate colleagues, have publicly voiced their opposition to any meaningful reforms to the program offered by Republicans. Before his Heritage speech, Hatch sat down …
Here’s an amazing statistic: Texas created 37 percent of all jobs since the beginning of the economic recovery, more than any other state. Excluding New York and Pennsylvania, Texas has created nearly as many jobs as all other states combined. How did Texas do it? According to the Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, “Texas is doing so well relative to other states precisely because it has rejected the economic model that now prevails in Washington. . .all states labor under the same Fed monetary policy …
As Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) pushes the debt ceiling debate back another month, Americans remain skeptical about how such legislation can really help solve the current financial crisis. And while much ado has been made regarding the vote, it is really beside the main point of our economic distress. When considering the nation’s $14 trillion debt and bankrupting out-of-control entitlement spending, it is ridiculous to focus on how much more to spend rather than how much to save.
Despite President Obama’s assurances that his massive overhaul of the health care system would control health care costs and allow Americans to keep their current coverage, the outlook indicates otherwise. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) recently released its annual report on medical cost trends for 2012, and it is revealing. The report shows health care costs and premiums continuing to rise—and uncertainty increasing for employers who offer insurance to their workers. Health care spending increased by 7.5 percent in 2010 and will grow by 8 percent this year. In 2012, it will rise …
Successful health care reform requires bold changes, not more of the status quo. Nowhere is this truer than in the case of Medicaid, the federal-state partnership to provide health care to the poor and disabled. Unfortunately for taxpayers and program beneficiaries, this was neglected by Obamacare. The new law leaves failing policies in place while expanding the program to cover more than 20 million new individuals. This will only exacerbate existing problems. Despite the bad policies that are now law under Obamacare, some in Washington continue to recognize that Medicaid …
On Sunday, May 22, the team at Heritage Libertad hosted their monthly talk show on WEBR Fairfax public radio. The bilingual show – with the first half in Spanish and the second half in English – featured commentary on a broad range of topics. The English segment covered the economy, debt ceiling, the Heritage budget plan, and included a special interview with Rep. Peter Roskam (R – Ill.), Chief Deputy Whip in the House, who discussed energy prices. In addition to drilling, can more be done to bring down oil …
Fellow Americans: Today, I am excited to announce the release of The Heritage Foundation’s comprehensive agenda that sets a new course for the size and scope of the federal government. The new report, “Saving the American Dream: Heritage’s Plan to Fix the Debt, Cut Spending, and Restore Prosperity,” lays out specific policy recommendations in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance, the tax code and federal spending. Saving the American Dream envisions real solutions for staving off America’s potential decline while strengthening the economy for current and future generations. We are …
