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Health policy
Contained inside the Democrats' $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill is a political time bomb for Republicans. Included in the bill's long list of stimulus spending is a provision that delivers on President Biden's promise to strengthen the Affordable Care Act…
Contained inside the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill is a political time bomb for Republicans.
Included in the bill’s long list of stimulus spending is a provision that delivers on President Biden’s promise to strengthen the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.
Obamacare’s big failure has been what it did not do to help––and actually hurt––middle-class buyers of individual health insurance. Since the health law’s inception, consumers, who are eligible for little …
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Inside the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill is a political time bomb for Republicans
Health policy
I've been doing health policy for thirty years. I arguably know something about health insurance. For the life of me, I can't figure out what Kelly Loeffler is proposing under her health plan––particularly when it comes to current protections for…
I’ve been doing health policy for thirty years. I arguably know something about health insurance.
For the life of me, I can’t figure out what Kelly Loeffler is proposing under her health plan––particularly when it comes to current protections for preexisting conditions.
In 2017, Republicans proposed a plan that would have arguably given states the ability to reverse Obamacare’s protections for preexisting conditions. Something I highly doubt states would have done if …
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What does Kelly Loeffler’s health plan do to coverage for preexisting conditions?
Health policy
Presuming the North Carolina and Alaska Senate seats remain in Republican hands, the Senate will come out no better for Democrats than a 50-50 tie with Vice President-elect Harris being the tiebreaker. If Republicans win at least one of the…
Presuming the North Carolina and Alaska Senate seats remain in Republican hands, the Senate will come out no better for Democrats than a 50-50 tie with Vice President-elect Harris being the tiebreaker. If Republicans win at least one of the two Georgia run-off Senate races, the Republicans will maintain control, and the Democrats will not have the votes to move any partisan health care legislation.
But the Democrats will control the …
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Joe Biden won. What does that mean for health care?
Health policy
Now that it appears certain that the Republicans will approve a new Supreme Court justice in the coming weeks, there is great concern among Obamacare supporters that this could well mean the end of Obamacare. That concern is being amplified…
Now that it appears certain that the Republicans will approve a new Supreme Court justice in the coming weeks, there is great concern among Obamacare supporters that this could well mean the end of Obamacare.
That concern is being amplified in the hyper-partisan environment in the ramp-up to the election––it makes for good scare tactics.
The Obamacare case currently before the court deals with the 2017 repeal of the law’s individual mandate …
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Will the Supreme Court destroy the Affordable Care Act?
Health policy
If the Democrats capture the White House, keep the House, and take over the Senate, the Biden health care outline stands a good chance of being enacted. The Biden health care proposal directly takes on the big things that haven't…
If the Democrats capture the White House, keep the House, and take over the Senate, the Biden health care outline stands a good chance of being enacted.
The Biden health care proposal directly takes on the big things that haven’t worked in Obamacare.
Here are the things that are most broken in Obamacare:
- The individual health insurance premiums and deductibles are, and have from the beginning of the program,
…
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Analyzing the Biden health plan. Will it work?
Drugs and prescribing
President Trump recently signed two executive orders directly related to prescription drug prices in the U.S. One order would allow the "reimportation" of prescription drugs from Canada. This longstanding idea would allow U.S. pharmacies and drug wholesalers the ability to…
President Trump recently signed two executive orders directly related to prescription drug prices in the U.S.
One order would allow the “reimportation” of prescription drugs from Canada. This longstanding idea would allow U.S. pharmacies and drug wholesalers the ability to pay generally much lower prices for their prescription drugs by getting them from Canadian suppliers who benefit from government management of the system. Many consumers have been buying direct from Canadian …
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Why is the government so scared of directly negotiating drug prices?
Health policy
Readers of my articles know that no one has been more critical of Obamacare's flaws––particularly over the impact the program has had on middle-class consumers in the individual health insurance market. And, readers already know that no one has been…
Readers of my articles know that no one has been more critical of Obamacare’s flaws––particularly over the impact the program has had on middle-class consumers in the individual health insurance market.
And, readers already know that no one has been more supportive of the Medicaid expansion from the very beginning.
Now, the Trump administration wants to give states the option to abolish the open-ended federal funding of Medicaid via fixed block grants …
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Supporters of Obamacare should consider this Trump proposal
Health policy
The Republicans don't yet have a health care plan less than a year before the 2020 elections. But based upon their 2017 Obamacare repeal and replace efforts, as well as a major document recently issued by the House Republican Study…
The Republicans don’t yet have a health care plan less than a year before the 2020 elections.
But based upon their 2017 Obamacare repeal and replace efforts, as well as a major document recently issued by the House Republican Study Committee, what might a Republican plan look like?
First, let’s review the plan House Republicans passed in 2017 during their failed repeal and replace efforts.
House Republicans would have repealed the Medicaid expansion …
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What is the Trump health plan for 2020?
Health policy
As the year winds down and must-pass year-end spending bills are completed -- and with that, any chance of attaching and approving health care legislation -- the special interests have won big, and consumers have lost big. Employers, unions, and…
As the year winds down and must-pass year-end spending bills are completed — and with that, any chance of attaching and approving health care legislation — the special interests have won big, and consumers have lost big.
Employers, unions, and insurance companies won big with the repeal of the “Cadillac” tax on high cost-benefit plans at a cost of $200 billion over ten years as well as the repeal of the …
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How special interests won big and consumers lost big
Health policy
Fixing Obamacare and adding a public option is the health care policy territory first staked out by Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden. Writing about Biden's plan recently on my blog, I said: If the Democrats capture the White House, keep…
Fixing Obamacare and adding a public option is the health care policy territory first staked out by Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Writing about Biden’s plan recently on my blog, I said:
If the Democrats capture the White House, keep the House, and take over the Senate, no matter who they elect as President, this Biden health care outline, not Medicare for all, will likely be the plan Democrats
…
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Medicare for all is dead because Democratic voters aren’t buying it
Health policy
There are few things in our health care system that are more unfair than surprise medical bills. Consumers think they have good coverage and are getting treatment in their health plan network only to get a huge unexpected bill in…
There are few things in our health care system that are more unfair than surprise medical bills. Consumers think they have good coverage and are getting treatment in their health plan network only to get a huge unexpected bill in the mail because it turned out that something like the anesthesiologist at their recent surgery wasn’t covered.
How were they to know that? As you’re sitting on the gurney about to …
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Compromise vs. greed in ending surprise medical bills
Health policy
If the Democrats capture the White House, keep the House and take over the Senate, no matter who they elect as president, this Biden health care outline, not Medicare for all, will likely be the plan Democrats embrace in 2021.…
If the Democrats capture the White House, keep the House and take over the Senate, no matter who they elect as president, this Biden health care outline, not Medicare for all, will likely be the plan Democrats embrace in 2021.
The Biden health care proposal directly takes on the big things that haven’t worked in Obamacare. Here are the things that are most broken in Obamacare:
- The individual health insurance premiums and
…
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An analysis of Joe Biden’s health plan
Health policy
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that 14 million of people would lose coverage in 2018, 21 million in 2020, and 24 million in 2026 if the House Republican plan is allowed to significantly amend the Affordable Health Care…
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that 14 million of people would lose coverage in 2018, 21 million in 2020, and 24 million in 2026 if the House Republican plan is allowed to significantly amend the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare).
In my last post, I called the House Republican bill “mind-boggling” for the negative impact I believe it would have on the number of those uninsured and …
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The CBO scores the Republican health plan. What does it mean?
Health policy
It won't work. Obamacare works for the poorest that have affordable health insurance because all of the program's subsidies tilt in their favor. Obamacare doesn't work well for the working and middle class who get much less support -- particularly…
It won’t work.
Obamacare works for the poorest that have affordable health insurance because all of the program’s subsidies tilt in their favor.
Obamacare doesn’t work well for the working and middle class who get much less support — particularly those who earn more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level, who constitute 40 percent of the population and don’t get any help.
Because so many don’t do well under the law, …
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Obamacare was poorly constructed. The Republican plan is worse.
Health policy
The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CBS News and other news outlets have led with headlines touting the big news that Donald Trump is willing to keep parts of the Affordable Care Act -- notably the pre-existing condition protections…
The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CBS News and other news outlets have led with headlines touting the big news that Donald Trump is willing to keep parts of the Affordable Care Act — notably the pre-existing condition protections and the ability for children up to the age of 26 to stay on their parents policies.
Except this isn’t news.
In May, Trump’s policy advisor told Healthline that …
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Donald Trump keeping the pre-existing conditions protections isn’t new
Health policy
It's been pretty quiet lately on the Obamcare front. So quiet, that there has been a flurry of articles recently over how Obamacare has dropped to a second or even third tier issue and will hardly matter come election-time. Wishful…
It’s been pretty quiet lately on the Obamcare front.
So quiet, that there has been a flurry of articles recently over how Obamacare has dropped to a second or even third tier issue and will hardly matter come election-time.
Wishful thinking.
Obamacare has largely been out of the news cycle for a couple of months but that is about to change.
A few thoughts.
The 2015 rate increases have been largely modest. Does that prove Obamacare …
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All is quiet on the Obamacare front. That’s about to end.
Health policy
The 2-1 decision by the DC Court of Appeals striking down federal premium subsidies, in at least the 27 states that opted for the feds to run their Obamacare insurance exchanges, has the potential to strike a devastating blow to…
The 2-1 decision by the DC Court of Appeals striking down federal premium subsidies, in at least the 27 states that opted for the feds to run their Obamacare insurance exchanges, has the potential to strike a devastating blow to the new health law.
The law says that individuals can get subsidies to buy health insurance in the states that set up insurance exchanges. That appears to exclude the states that do …
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Why Republicans should worry about the Halbig ruling
Health policy
The administration issued a report recently that says individuals who selected plans in the federal health insurance exchanges have a post-credit premium that is on average 76% less than the full premium for the plans they selected. And, 69% are…
The administration issued a report recently that says individuals who selected plans in the federal health insurance exchanges have a post-credit premium that is on average 76% less than the full premium for the plans they selected. And, 69% are paying less than $100 after the subsidies — 46% are paying $50 or less.
The administration also pointed out that 65% of individuals selecting the silver plan in the federal exchange chose …
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Obamacare plans aren’t attractive to the middle class
Health policy
House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans seemed surprised recently when representatives of the insurance industry reported that they didn't have enough data yet to forecast prices for next year's health insurance exchanges, the market was not about to blow up,…
House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans seemed surprised recently when representatives of the insurance industry reported that they didn’t have enough data yet to forecast prices for next year’s health insurance exchanges, the market was not about to blow up, and that so far at least 80% of consumers have paid for the health insurance policies they purchased on the exchanges. The executives also reported there are still …
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Obamacare is up for grabs: Who wins in November?
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