Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that average premiums in Medicare Advantage (MA) for 2012 have fallen by 7 percent, and enrollment has increased by about 10 percent. This is great news for the program, which allows seniors to receive Medicare benefits through a private plan of their choice. But in a serious twist of logic, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius credited Obamacare with MA’s success: “Now this is just one of the ways the Affordable Care Act is making …
Over the course of the campaign, President Obama repeatedly promised: “If you like your current insurance, you can keep your current insurance”—despite any reforms his Administration would implement. This claim is far from true, as Amy B. Monahan and Daniel Schwarcz illustrate in their 2011 study “Will Employers Undermine Health Care Reform by Dumping Sick Employees?” published in the Virginia Law Review. Schwarcz presented the study on Capitol Hill last week. Obamacare mandates that employers provide health insurance for their employees or pay a fine. With the increasing cost of …
Americans are well aware by now that Obamacare was sloppily written, a fact that has resulted in numerous unintended consequences that will adversely affect the nation. In light of a recent report from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the newly created Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) can be added to the list of poorly thought-out provisions of the new law. A temporary reinsurance program to run through 2014, the ERRP is an attempt to encourage companies to continue employer-sponsored coverage for early retirees between the ages of 55 …
This week marks the first anniversary of Obamacare. In response, Heritage analyst Brian Blase has provided a one-year checkup on the provisions that are already in place and the effects Americans are experiencing as a result. Obamacare’s more popular provisions were supposedly front-loaded, and liberals are taking full advantage of this in the ongoing attempt to build support for the unpopular law. This week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before the Senate Finance Committee on how, in her opinion, Obamacare is already benefiting Americans. But a closer …
One provision of Obamacare has already spawned a nightmare for doctors, pharmacists, and patients. As of January 1, Americans with health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible savings accounts (FSAs), and health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) can no longer purchase over-the-counter (OTC) drugs using these tax-exempt accounts. After only a couple of months, health care providers are already experiencing the negative consequences of the change. This provision was included to raise tax revenue to help pay for massive new spending under Obamacare. From its conception, its major flaw is that it creates additional …
Missed deadlines by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continue to show us the absent-minded way in which Obamacare was put together. Finishing the health care reform race “first” was more important to the liberals in Congress than finishing with “success.” Lawmakers hastily wrote and passed a book of reforms on our exhausted health care system without taking the time to fully comprehend the negative side effects the law would have—not to mention whether or not it was even possible to expand the reach of government to the …
While the Senate failed last week to pass a full repeal of Obamacare, the negative effects of the health care overhaul continue to build the case for scrapping it and starting over. Americans were told that Obamacare would open the door to medical coverage for all children. Those with preexisting conditions would become newly protected by a requirement that health insurance companies “guarantee issue” to all children 19 years old and under. No child would be denied coverage. But being able to get child-only coverage depends on the existence of …
Major Chicago pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories will be forced to cut 1,900 jobs (more than 2% of their entire workforce) it announced late yesterday afternoon. As Bloomberg notes, these cuts follow almost 9,000 jobs the company cut just last September. In a statement announcing the cuts, a spokesman explained that Obamacare had already cost the company $200 million in the past year and that the layoffs were “in response to changes in the health- care industry, including U.S. health-care reform and the challenging regulatory environment”. Maybe this time the White House will …
This year, as the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve, Americans who depend on health savings accounts (HSAs) to make medical expenditures more affordable will experience first-hand yet another adverse side effect of Obamacare. Starting in 2011, American families will no longer be able to use HSAs to purchase over-the-counter drugs, such as cough and allergy medicines. Americans using HSAs will not be the only ones affected. The provisions of the new law will also change rules regarding the use of flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health reimbursement accounts …
Within days of Obamacare’s passage, The Heritage Foundation began documenting all of the ill Side Effects the new law was inflicting on our country. It has been The Foundry’s most popular feature by far. The Side Effects index page is the third highest trafficked page on the blog. Continuing our Top Ten in 2010 series, here are the Top Ten Side Effects of 2010 ranked by pageviews with the 10th most popular post on top, and the most popular post at the bottom. 10. Doctor Participation May Vary 9. Congress …
