As expected, the Supreme Court has decided to take up the court cases challenging Obamacare’s individual mandate and the question of whether the whole law should be struck down if the Court finds the mandate unconstitutional. This is another important step toward undoing this unpopular and unworkable health care law. Recall the process by which the law came to be: Due to the special circumstances of Senator Scott Brown’s election, the House and Senate (under duress) jammed through the poorly drafted health care law, bypassing the normal conference process intended …
Last week’s Des Moines Register’s editorial page takes a sardonic view of the majority of Americans (51 percent as of last week) who are opposed to the health reform law. Saying they are trashing the law they call Obamacare—a word that supporters have openly embraced because of its widespread usage—the editorial charges “if you don’t agree with the law, then don’t use anything it offers.” Oh, if it was only that simple. While the editorial correctly notes that Obamacare is not a full government takeover of the private health sector, …
The Supreme Court today granted review in related cases that raise the question whether Congress had the power to adopt the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – known colloquially as ObamaCare – health regulatory scheme and, if not, what components of that law must fall and can survive. The Court granted the petitions for writs of certiorari in three separate cases – one filed by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (No. 11-393), one filed by the states No. 11-400), and one filed by the federal government (No. 11-398). …
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation and Subcommittee on Health held a hearing last week on the future of the unsustainable, poorly designed CLASS program now that it’s on life support (though it still has a heartbeat). As Heritage analysts have already pointed out, there is a lot to look into in this flawed program. CLASS was created as a voluntary, government-run long-term care insurance program. According to the legislation, it would be fully funded from the premiums paid by its beneficiaries, requiring no federal taxpayer …
There’s more bad news for Obamacare. A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that 51 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, while only 34 percent see it favorably. Kaiser reports that this is “a low point in Kaiser polls since the law was passed,” and that the reason for the law’s declining popularity is rooted in decreased Democrat support: While Democrats continue to be substantially more supportive of the law than independents or Republicans, the change in favorability this …
Back in February 2010, when Congress was still debating the Obamacare legislation, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) proclaimed to America that the law “will create 400,000 jobs almost immediately.” But according to a new report by Heritage’s James Sherk, Obamacare will have the opposite effect, pricing many unskilled workers out of full-time employment due to the law’s requirement that employers offer health benefits to full-time employees. According to Sherk, the minimum cost of employing full-time workers under Obamacare amounts to an average of $27,500, more than what many …
We understand that the White House is experiencing some difficulties of late across many fronts—the Solyndra scandal and Operation Fast and Furious are two issues that come to mind. That, however, does not give spokesman Jay Carney license to misrepresent what The Heritage Foundation supports or does not. Yesterday Mr. Carney once again defended Obamacare, this time by strongly implying that we think the health care law is wise and Constitutional. Specifically, the spokesman said: We note that not only have lower courts upheld its constitutionality, but the fact of the individual mandate …
On January 21, 2009, Barack Obama stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and, in his inaugural address, pledged to America that he would “wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.” What he did wield, of course, was a 2,000-page bill known as Obamacare. More than a year on, we now know that health care costs are soaring, and the President’s signature legislation is to blame. Most Americans know that medicine is getting more expensive, but a new survey puts a shocking sticker price …
This week, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust released a major survey on employer-sponsored health benefits in the United States. Among the many important findings in the report, one fact stood out: Americans are paying more and more for their health insurance every year, a concerning trend that is only getting worse under Obamacare. The report explains that: The cost of insurance is increasingly unaffordable to American families. The cost of health insurance in the United States has grown significantly over the last decade. The …
Many state lawmakers are concerned that if their states accept Obamacare grant funding, they will be implementing policies counter to the states’ best interests. In any battle, it is wise to pick targets strategically. Obamacare is a many-headed monster—its funding is not one block grant. Conservatives should focus on refusing federal funding for elements of Obamacare that are integral to the legislation’s design and have significant policy consequences—while giving lower priority to funding that doesn’t meet both of those tests. The Obamacare grant programs now attracting the most attention are …
