A little-noticed part of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act channels some $12.5 billion into a vaguely defined “Prevention and Public Health Fund” over the next decade–and some of that money is going for everything from massage therapists who offer “calming techniques,” to groups advocating higher state and local taxes on tobacco and soda, and stricter zoning restrictions on fast-food … [Read more...] about Stuart Taylor: Obamacare’s Slush Fund Fuels A Broader Lobbying Controversy
Archives for May 2013
Tom Miller: A hidden tax in Obamacare
The central provisions of the Affordable Care Act require younger and healthier Americans to buy insurance policies that will, in essence, subsidize the healthcare of older and sicker Americans. But one of Obamacare's hidden taxes — a new limit on contributions to health flexible spending accounts, or FSAs — will hit older and chronically ill individuals hardest. Starting this year, the … [Read more...] about Tom Miller: A hidden tax in Obamacare
45 states have safety net coverage for citizens
By Grace-Marie Turner. States have been operating high-risk pools for decades, long before the ACA's Temporary High Risk Plan was instituted, providing coverage to tens of thousands of their citizens. The House of Representatives is considering an initiative to provide new federal assistance to the states to create or maintain high-risk pools and continue providing coverage to these … [Read more...] about 45 states have safety net coverage for citizens
A Model for Reform
By Grace-Marie Turner Democrats and Republicans are sharply divided over how best to improve Medicare, a program that covers nearly 50 million Americans and that will spend almost $600 billion this year. President Barack Obama has highlighted the need to reform our nation's entitlement programs, saying that healthcare spending is the key driver of our ballooning federal debt and spending … [Read more...] about A Model for Reform
Secure The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain From Risky Counterfeiters
By Grace-Marie Turner The Food and Drug Administration is investigating a rising number of cases involving counterfeit prescription drugs — cases that threaten the health of individual patients and the safety of the nation’s drug supply. The FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigation opened 72 new cases in 2010, up from just six a decade earlier. Federal officials document that American … [Read more...] about Secure The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain From Risky Counterfeiters
Another attack on innovative care
By Grace-Marie Turner An article in The Wall Street Journal today attacks physician-owned hospitals – among the highest quality, most efficient hospitals in the country – just as 50 physician owners “descend on Congress,” according to the article, to seek relief from strict limits on expansion of their facilities imposed by the Affordable Care Act. “Doc-owned hospitals prep to fight,” a … [Read more...] about Another attack on innovative care
Applying for ObamaCare: Still Not Simple
by Grace-Marie Turner, The Wall Street Journal. During his news conference last week, the president sounded defensive in trying to tamp down fears of an impending ObamaCare train wreck. One positive note was his boast about whittling down from 21 pages to three the application for subsidies that individuals have to file. But even that may need some defending. The three-page application is for … [Read more...] about Applying for ObamaCare: Still Not Simple
Adding More People to Medicaid Isn’t the Answer
Evidence from the latest Oregon Medicaid study shows that the program is not helping, and numerous other studies show that in some cases Medicaid may even be harming, the very people it is designed to assist. President Obama argued during the health care debate that we can't keep adding "more people to Medicare or Medicaid ... in the absence of cost controls and reform," putting them in a … [Read more...] about Adding More People to Medicaid Isn’t the Answer