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American Health Insurance Is Upside Down

Writing in The Week, Ryan Cooper shares a chilling story about an Obamacare Gold-level health insurance policy that let its beneficiary down when he needed it most:

Stewart is 29 years old, and was pursuing his Ph.D in American history at Texas Christian University until ill health forced him to withdraw. He lives in Ft. Worth, Texas, with his wife of six years, who is a junior high school teacher in a low-income district. They own their home. Before he came down with complications from cirrhosis caused by autoimmune hepatitis, he says he led a scrupulously healthy lifestyle — he does not drink or do any other non-medical drugs, he says, and was a devoted hiker before disaster struck. And he was insured — indeed, he had a gold plan from the ObamaCare exchanges, the second-best level of plan that you can get.

But now he faces imminent bankruptcy and possibly death.

(Ryan Cooper, “This is How American Health Care Kills People,” The Week, January 14, 2017.)

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Feb 03, 2017 | 50 comments | by

Health Construction Picked Up in December

Census2Health facilities construction turned around in December, growing 0.6 percent versus a decline of 0.3 percent in starts for other construction. Health facilities construction accounted for almost 6 percent of non-residential construction starts. However, the growth was all in private health facilities.

Construction of private health facilities grew 1.2 percent, versus an increase of 0.2 percent for private non-health facilities. Private health facilities construction starts accounted for less than 4 percent of private nonresidential construction starts. Construction of public health facilities dropped by 1.5 percent. However, construction of other public facilities dropped by even more, 1.8 percent. In other words, health facilities construction outpaced non-health construction by 1.0 percentage points in the private construction market, versus only 0.3 percentage points in the public construction market (Table I).

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Feb 02, 2017 | 1 comment | by

Private Sector Health Benefits Grew 17 Percent Faster Than Wages Last Year

blsReleased yesterday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics quarterly Employment Cost Index showed private sector health benefits increased 2.7 percent in 2016, versus only 2.3 percent for wages.

Overall, private-sector benefits grew only 1.8 percent, indicating non-health benefits would have grown little if at all. State and local government workers’ benefits grew 3.1 percent, 72 percent faster than private-sector benefits!

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Feb 01, 2017 | 5 comments | by

Obamacare Is A Terrible Jobs Progam

doctor-with-family(A version of this Health Alert was published by American Thinker.)

As congressional Republicans embark on their promise to repeal and replace President Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, they are being overwhelmed by claims that imply it’s a jobs program.  Scholars affiliated with the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University estimate Obamacare repeal would kill 2.6 million jobs by 2019.  Almost a million jobs would be lost from health services, while the balance would be lost in construction, real estate, retail, finance, and insurance.

Unfortunately, such research relies on the so-called “multiplier effect,” a politically seductive but misleading type of voodoo economics.  It goes like this: Obamacare throws money at hospitals, doctors’ offices, and other health services.  Those recipients build new facilities and hire more workers, who spend their paychecks in their communities.  It is the same kind of research that developers seeking taxpayer-subsidized stadiums commission – and it is meaningless.

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Feb 01, 2017 | 14 comments | by

Obamacare’s Individual Mandate: J.R. Graham Testifies on Capitol Hill

On January 24, Senior Fellow John R. Graham testified in the effect of Obamacare’s individual mandate before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways & Means Committee Oversight Subcommittee. A three-minute highlight reel is posted below:

You can read his written testimony at this link and watch the entire testimony at this link.

 

Jan 30, 2017 | 5 comments | by

GDP: Tame Health Spending In Weak Report

BEAFor those (like me) concerned about how much health spending continues to increase after Obamacare, today’s flash report of fourth quarter Gross Domestic Product confirmed good news.

Overall, real GPD increased 1.9 percent on the quarter, while health services spending increased only 1.6 percent, and contributed only 10 percent of real GDP growth. Growth in health services spending was somewhat higher than growth in non-health services spending (1.2 percent) but significantly lower than non-health personal consumption expenditures (2.7 percent). Further, the implied annualized change in the health services price index increased by just 1.5 percent, lower than the price increase of 2.4 percent for non-health services, 2.3 percent for non-health PCE, and 2.2 percent for non-health GDP.

(See Table I below the fold.)

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Jan 27, 2017 | Leave a Comment | by

Massachusetts Governor Hiking Taxes To Rescue Failed Health Reform

(A version of this Health Alert was published by Forbes.)

Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts has proposed a tax of $2,000 per worker on businesses which do not offer health coverage to employees who become dependent on Medicaid. This makes him the second Republican governor of Massachusetts to buy into the notion that imposing taxes (or fines or penalties or fees) on individuals and businesses can force them to accept responsibility for government failure at getting health spending under control.

image017bEvidence from Massachusetts and the nation shows the opposite is true. Yesterday, I testified on the effect of Obamacare’s individual mandate before the Oversight Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee. (The video is at this link, and my written testimony is at this link.)

I was joined on the panel of witnesses by Dr. John E. McDonough of Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Professor McDonough was a central figure in Governor Mitt Romney’s 2006 Massachusetts health reform, where the individual mandate was first implemented. Governor Romney tried to label it a “conservative” or “Republican” idea. The spin was that the mandate characterized individual responsibility.

The reality is the mandate merely camouflages significant growth of government spending and control over health insurance. This has been the case in Massachusetts since day one: Spending has grown out of control despite many failed efforts to bend the cost curve.

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Jan 25, 2017 | 27 comments | by

Obamacare’s Bureaucracy: The Amazing Rise in Health Insurance Jobs

health-insuranceAs Congress and President Trump debate how to repeal and replace Obamacare, the obsession with health insurance, rather than actual access to health care, has dominated the debate. It invites the question: How have jobs in health insurance fared before and after Obamacare?

They have boomed, growing over one quarter since the pre-recession January 2008 employment high-water mark.

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Jan 23, 2017 | 2 comments | by

Obamacare’s Individual Mandate Very Inefficient

Healthcaredotgov(A version of this Health Alert was published by Forbes.)

Next Tuesday afternoon, I am scheduled to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee on Obamacare’s individual mandate that almost all Americans maintain health insurance.

This is Obamacare’s least popular feature. It was the subject of the 2012 lawsuit asserting Obamacare was unconstitutional: Never before had the federal government forced any resident to buy a good or service from a private business. The people lost that argument. Nevertheless, Republicans have pledged to eliminate the individual mandate. This commitment remains good politics. However, it is also good economics.

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Jan 20, 2017 | 56 comments | by

Feel The Bern! No Right To Health Care In Canada

220px-Tom_PriceOn Wednesday, I watched the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) Committee’s courtesy hearing for Dr. Tom Price, MD, whom President-elect Trump has nominated to be the next United States Secretary of Health & Human Services. As a game of “gotcha,” the hearing played out predictably.

However, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stood out for asking a pointless “question” (actually a statement), which was because it was based on an error. As he has many times, Senator Sanders made the false claim that health care is a right in Canada and other countries outside the United States. According to Mr. Sanders, this is a unique stain on the United States. With respect to Canada, it is simply and plainly not true that health care is a “right.”

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Jan 19, 2017 | 5 comments | by
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