Tag: "health policy"

Jindal’s Attack on Walker’s Health Plan is Off-Base

Yesterday, I addressed Governor Scott Walker’s health plan in largely positive terms. Governor Bobby Jindal, a competing Republican presidential contender, has launched a broadside against Walker’s plan, describing it as a “new federal entitlement.”

JW

The charge is way off-base. Governor Jindal proposed a health reform back in 2014, via his America Next policy shop. The point of contention is that Governor Jindal’s proposal would not offer everyone a refundable tax credit. Instead, it would eliminate the exclusion of employer-based health benefits from taxable income and replace it with a standard deduction.

I criticized the proposal when it was issued. True, it is an easier switch than a refundable tax credit. On the other hand, a deduction does nothing for low-income households – which means the welfare state continues to exist. Jindal himself proposed throwing $100 million more at states to fund their medical safety nets.

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Aug 20, 2015 | 10 comments | by

The Clinton Foundation’s Health Care Funders

Here is a list of the U.S.-based businesses, professional & trade associations, charities, individuals, and academic institutions in the healthcare sector who have given at least $100,001 to the Clinton Foundation, either as donations or speaking fees, compiled from the foundation’s website:

$1,000,001 to $5,000,000

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina

Humana, Inc.

Pfizer, Inc.

Tenet Healthcare Corporation

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May 22, 2015 | 2 comments | by

Congressional Budget Resolutions Shoot for the Sky; Miss Low-Hanging Fruit

The House Budget Committee and the Senate Budget Committee have passed budget resolutions that shoot for the sky with respect to health reform. Their proposals recommit the Republican majorities to patient-centered health reform and show a path forward for the next president. However, they do not harvest some low-hanging fruit offered by President Obama. Failure to do so might doom patient-centered health reform to the forever future.

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Mar 23, 2015 | 8 comments | by

Obamacare is Expensive and Difficult or Impossible to Afford

Obamacare is crushing agents and brokers, according to industry sources:

Amid the national debate over raising the federal minimum wage to $10 per hour, Scott Leavitt of Boise says he and his fellow advisors have been enrolling clients in their state’s health insurance exchange for an hourly wage that works out to about $4.50 – and sometimes even less. (Susan Rupe, InsuranceNewsNet)

And that is just the advisors. The same article also reports results from neutral or pro-Obamacare organizations like HealthPocket, Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Commonwealth Fund to show how much pain Obamacare is causing patients: Deductibles too high, premiums too expensive, and he whole shebang unaffordable.

 

Mar 17, 2015 | 4 comments | by

Health Wonk Review

The latest Health Wonk Review (“Spring Forward Edition”) curated by Professor Brad Wright is posted at HealthWorks Collective. There are a lot of items about King vs. Burwell, the case against Obamacare’s subsidies to insurers in states that do not have their own exchanges.

Referring to my article, Professor Bradley writes that “Graham…… anticipates that the Court will find for the plaintiffs…..”, which is not quite the impression I wanted to give. I think that the plaintiffs are correct. However, I make no prediction whatsoever as to the Court’s decision.

Mar 17, 2015 | 2 comments | by

The Kline-Ryan-Upton Republican Off-Ramp from Obamacare

Tomorrow is the day the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in King vs. Burwell, and all the talk is about what Congress will do if the Supreme Court directs the Administration to obey the law by not paying subsidies in the majority of states, which have declined to establish their own Obamacare exchanges and defaulted to the federal one.

The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed (available by subscription) by John Kline, Paul Ryan, and Fred Upton, who chair committees of jurisdiction in the House of Representatives that will be tasked with proposing a Congressional response to this decision. Here’s what they write:

Let people buy insurance across state lines. Stop frivolous lawsuits by enacting medical-liability reform. Let small businesses band together so they get a fair deal from insurance companies.

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Mar 03, 2015 | 10 comments | by

Crowd-out Effect of CHIP Expansion 44 to 70 Percent

In 2009, Congress reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), providing states added resources and options to insure children. About 15 states expanded CHIP eligibility to families with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level (an income of $94,000 for a family of four) with a median upper limit for coverage at 250 percent of poverty, the highest since CHIP’s inception in 1997. Federal CHIP funding is up for reauthorization in 2015 and some argue that CHIP is unnecessary because of Obamacare’s subsidies, which kicked in this year.

ex1

Source: “The Impact of Recent CHIP Eligibility Expansions on Children’s Insurance Coverage” from Health Affairs.

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Oct 09, 2014 | 10 comments | by

Where are the “Open Payments” from Government?

doctor-xray-2Well, now we know how much pharmaceutical companies and medical-device makers pay doctors for consulting and similar services. Paul Keckley aptly summarizes last week’s data dump from the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS):

  • In the last five months of 2013, drug manufacturers made 4.4 million payments totaling $3.5B to 546,000 physicians and 1,360 teaching hospitals to encourage acceptance and use of their drugs/devices: $1.49B for research, $1.02B for ownership interests, $380M for speaking/consulting fees, $302M for royalties/licensing, $93M for meals, $74M for travel, and $128M for “other.”

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Oct 07, 2014 | Leave a Comment | by

Half of Doctors Give Obamacare D or F

Confident DoctorsThe Physicians Foundation and Merritt Hawkins (a physician recruiting firm) have just published their biennial physicians’ survey. The survey interviews over twenty thousand physicians in all fifty states and multiple specialties:

  • Only 19 percent say they have time to see more patients.
  • 44 percent plan to take steps to reduce services or find non-clinical employment.
  • Only 35 percent describe themselves as “independent practice owners,” down from 62 percent in 2008.
  • 53 percent describe themselves as hospital or medical-group employees, up from 38 percent in 2008.

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Oct 07, 2014 | 3 comments | by

Price Transparency: Even Hospitals are Starting to Figure It Out!

credit-card-2Like many, we’ve been frustrated at the lack of price transparency in U.S. health care, especially form hospitals. Good news: They are coming around!

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has published an informative white paper, clearly explaining the state of price transparency for both hospitals and health plans. It surveys what hospitals are doing to ensure patients better understand their expected out-of-pocket costs, what tools health plans are offering beneficiaries to estimate costs, and the legal and regulatory environment. The language used in the white paper is strikingly different from that which we are used to seeing from hospitals:

Price transparency also can lead to improved quality and efficiency as providers benchmark and improve their performance against peers and national averages. To realize these potential benefits, policymakers and the public increasingly are calling for greater access to information.

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Aug 07, 2014 | 15 comments | by
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