Health insurers are being forced to leave markets across the country because onerous ObamaCare regulations already are taking effect, and the first casualties are small businesses and the health insurance agents who serve them. In December, Grace-Marie Turner testified before a congressional Small Business Committee hearing entitled “New Medical Loss Ratios: Increasing Health Care Value or Just … [Read more...] about December 2011 Highlights
Archives for December 2011
Ryan-Wyden: The best Medicare proposal yet
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden is getting hammered by the White House for his courageous move to join House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan in co-sponsoring the best Medicare modernization proposal yet. The Ryan-Wyden plan would move Medicare to a more modern defined-benefit program and give seniors a choice of competing plans -- plans that would have an incentive to innovate and produce the best … [Read more...] about Ryan-Wyden: The best Medicare proposal yet
Ryan-Wyden: The Best Medicare Proposal Yet
Oregon Democratic senator Ron Wyden is getting hammered by the White House for his courageous move to join House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan in co-sponsoring the best Medicare-modernization proposal yet. The Ryan-Wyden plan would move Medicare to a more modern defined-benefit program and give seniors a choice of competing plans — plans that would have an incentive to innovate and … [Read more...] about Ryan-Wyden: The Best Medicare Proposal Yet
Congressional testimony on MLR rules
ObamaCare is forcing health insurers out of markets across the country, and the first casualties are small businesses and the health insurance agents who serve them. The House Small Business Committee's Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations invited Grace-Marie Turner to testify on December 15, 2011 at a hearing on an obscure and complex provision in the health overhaul law … [Read more...] about Congressional testimony on MLR rules
New Medical Loss Ratios: Increasing Health Care Value or Just Eliminating Jobs? Testimony before the House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) already is leading to a loss of affordable options for health insurance for small employers, to a loss of jobs inside and outside the health sector, and to higher health costs that make hiring new workers a risky proposition, especially for struggling small businesses. The percentage of small businesses offering health insurance has … [Read more...] about New Medical Loss Ratios: Increasing Health Care Value or Just Eliminating Jobs? Testimony before the House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations
Lipitor And The Future Of Pharmaceutical Innovation
Today, nearly 80 percent of all prescriptions in the U.S. are filled with generics, and the percentage will rise when more than 10 major drugs go off patent in 2012. Late last month, the most popular drug in history, Lipitor, went off patent, allowing a generic version of the cholesterol-lowering drug to enter the market and be sold at lower prices. Pfizer has developed a novel program that … [Read more...] about Lipitor And The Future Of Pharmaceutical Innovation
A Preview of ObamaCare's "Rescue" Programs
With good news about ObamaCare in such short supply, supporters of the health overhaul law are circulating widely an article published in the Los Angeles Times written by a California woman grateful for her coverage under one of the law's early programs. Called "ObamaCare to the rescue," the article by Spike Dolomite Ward describes how "A woman who felt President Obama had let the middle class … [Read more...] about A Preview of ObamaCare's "Rescue" Programs
A Radical Restructuring of Health Insurance
One of the most fervent promises President Obama made to the American people before passage of the health overhaul law was “If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.” But, even before the law fully takes effect, millions of people are losing “the coverage they have now,” and tens of millions more surely … [Read more...] about A Radical Restructuring of Health Insurance