Category: Health Alerts

How to Solve the Pre-Existing Condition Problem

The primary sticking point in health reform is what to do with high -cost individuals who have pre-existing health conditions. People with episodic medical needs are easy to insure, while those with persistent needs are far more difficult unless insurers are allowed to underwrite enrollees’ risk. Republicans have long favored high-risk pools to cover individuals who are otherwise uninsurable. Prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) just over two-thirds of states had some type of high-risk pool. Most people turned down prior to the Affordable Care Act could ultimately obtain coverage either at a higher price or after meeting some preconditions. In 2011, high-risk pool enrollment varied from 0.1% in Alabama to a high of 10.2% in Minnesota. By most accounts only about 2% of people are uninsurable. However, one Kaiser Family Foundation study argues the actual rate may be a dozen times higher.

Apr 25, 2017 | 57 comments | by Devon Herrick

Weak Idea at Bernie’s: Bureaucrats Should Not Negotiate Seniors’ Drug Prices

Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Elijah Cummings — along with a few other liberal Members of Congress — want to change the way Medicare purchases drugs for seniors. It is a popular talking point mainly because many Americans naively assume Medicare does not bargain over the price of drugs. Even President Trump has perpetuated the bogus idea that having the government negotiate the price of drugs would lower Medicare’s drug costs. This may sound appealing to many because drug makers don’t elicit much sympathy these days. Yet, seniors, drugmakers and taxpayers alike have a stake in the outcome because drug therapy is the most convenient and efficient way to care for patients.

Apr 19, 2017 | 55 comments | by Devon Herrick

Shopping for Health Care is Easier than You Realize

Conventional wisdom holds that it is nearly impossible to compare prices for medical care like consumers do in other markets. It’s easier than you realize — my wife and I do it just about every time we see our doctors or fill a prescription. Health plan deductibles have nearly tripled over the past decade. Shopping for medical care is more important than ever.

Apr 12, 2017 | 111 comments | by Devon Herrick

John R. Graham Appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at HHS

The political website Politico (gated) broke the news that NCPA senior fellow, John R. Graham, will be the next principal deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Daily Caller also broke the news earlier this week with a rather provocative headline: “Trump Admin Appoints Healthcare Reform Expert To HHS Amid Obamacare Negotiations.” The photo was taken during Graham’s Congressional testimony on the individual mandate, which can be viewed here.

An announcement by NCPA CEO Jim Amos can be found here:

We at NCPA are excited to learn that President Trump and Secretary Tom Price have chosen our trusted and accomplished colleague, NCPA Senior Fellow John R. Graham, to lead the Division of Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Mr. Graham has a record of accomplishment in many areas of health policy, including payment reform, regulation of drugs and devices, comparing international health systems, and the importance of incentives in medical innovation. Everyone who has worked with Mr. Graham has experienced his collegiality, humor, intelligence, and organizational and thought leadership. Although we are sorry to lose him from our team, we know his new colleagues – and the American people – will benefit greatly from his skills and drive to put patients before politicians in health reform. Mr. Graham’s senior appointment by the Trump Administration is yet another example of NCPA’s impact on public policy.

Apr 06, 2017 | 7 comments | by Devon Herrick

Invisible High-Risk Pools

There has been some discussions about invisible high-risk pools. That is a condition where the state assumes responsibility for some subset of sick enrollees’ high claims cost. For instance, Alaska began subsidizing the cost for a few individuals so the remaining 25,000 Alaska Obamacare enrollees would not be priced out of the market.

Apr 05, 2017 | 25 comments | by Devon Herrick

Propping Up Obamacare: Playing the (Bad) Hand You’re Dealt…

Caduceus with First-aid Kit — Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis

Obamacare is enrolling too many sick people and too few healthy ones to prevent a death spiral. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a unit of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), has proposed a new rule to stabilize the Obamacare markets for individual health insurance. This was the first rule issued since Dr. Tom Price was appointed HHS secretary. The proposed Market Stabilization rule includes a number of measures to prevent people from entering the market when sick and exiting when healthy.

Apr 03, 2017 | 26 comments | by Devon Herrick

Obamacare Repeal & Replace 2.0: Where Do We Go From Here?

The failed House Republican American Health Care Act (AHCA) was always a work in progress. The three-phased approach to reform health care called for passage of the AHCA to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) taxes and mandates; and slow the growth in Medicaid (phase one). Phase two was the selective tweaking of Obamacare regulations by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Phase three was to be a forthcoming health care bill to revamp onerous insurance regulations.

Mar 29, 2017 | 85 comments | by Devon Herrick

Third-Party Payment Is The Root Cause of Health System Dysfunction

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

Largely absent from the vigorous debate over reforming the nation’s health care laws is the understanding that simply being covered by health insurance does not reduce health care costs.

Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed in March 2010, President Obama repeatedly promised that the typical family’s health premiums would go down by (sometimes “up to” but frequently “on average”) $2,500. That decline did not occur because the ACA strengthened the control that insurance companies—as opposed to patients—have over health care spending. In fact, Americans’ increasing dependence on health insurance over the last seven decades has been a major contributor to exploding health costs.

Mar 27, 2017 | 15 comments | by John R. Graham

California Single-Payer Bill Looks Backward, Not Forward to A New Era of Patient Choice

(A version of this Health Alert was published by the Orange County Register.)

Here we go again. The California state legislature is considering yet another bill to impose a so-called single-payer, government monopoly, health care system. This has long been an obsession of the militant California Nurses Union, because a health system under total government control would suit the narrow interests of union leaders. They would accrue power similar to that wielded by other public-sector unions and might even be able to negotiate contracts similar to those enjoyed by state and local employees, which are driving public finances across the state into the ditch.

Mar 23, 2017 | 4 comments | by John R. Graham

The Logic Defying CBO Obamacare Replacement Score Breaks Its Own Rules, Among Other Problems

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

Dr. Tom Price, the U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services has said the Congressional Budget Office’s recent “score” of the Republican Obamacare replacement bill defies logic. Even worse, it defies the very rules which govern the CBO.

The 2016 Budget Resolution, agreed by both the House and Senate in May 2015 directed the CBO to do so-called dynamic scoring of major legislation. Dynamic scoring includes proposed laws’ macroeconomic effects. It is especially important when new laws cut taxes, as the American Health Care Act would do. Old fashioned, static analysis does not result in accurate estimates.

For example, say a 10 percent tax on a base of $100 million raises $10 million. Cutting that tax to five percent would cut revenue by $5 million, under static analysis. This ignores the economic growth that would occur as a result of the tax cut.

Mar 17, 2017 | 96 comments | by John R. Graham

Category: Health Alerts

How to Solve the Pre-Existing Condition Problem

Weak Idea at Bernie’s: Bureaucrats Should Not Negotiate Seniors’ Drug Prices

Shopping for Health Care is Easier than You Realize

John R. Graham Appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at HHS

Invisible High-Risk Pools

Propping Up Obamacare: Playing the (Bad) Hand You’re Dealt…

Obamacare Repeal & Replace 2.0: Where Do We Go From Here?

Third-Party Payment Is The Root Cause of Health System Dysfunction

California Single-Payer Bill Looks Backward, Not Forward to A New Era of Patient Choice

The Logic Defying CBO Obamacare Replacement Score Breaks Its Own Rules, Among Other Problems

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Category: Health Alerts

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