We had an article published in The Wall Street Journal this week that exposes some of the damage that ObamaCare already is doing just one year after it was enacted over the strong objections of the American people. See below for the full article, which summarizes pretty well where we are just a year later with this terrible law.
Next, if you are in Washington this coming Monday, March 14, please join us for a briefing on Capitol Hill marking “The Real March Madness” — ObamaCare. We’ll be serving up pizza and policy and a prestigious line-up of congressional speakers. You can register and learn more here.
And finally, we are gearing up for the release of our major new book, Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America, that was published by HarperCollins and will be available in bookstores nationwide after March 22. You can pre-order your copy now, either for speedy delivery of the actual book or to get the ebook delivered to your Kindle.
This is the book that you must have to truly understand the damage that this law is going to do to your health care, the economy, and our liberty. You can learn more and find out how to order at our dedicated website, www.WrongForAmericaBook.com. Don’t miss it!
ObamaCare’s March Madness
After one year as the law of the land, mayhem abounds.
The Wall Street Journal, March 7, 2011
By Grace-Marie Turner, Alex Cortes and Heather R. Higgins
Sports fans relish this time of year for the NCAA Championship Basketball Tournament, aka “March Madness.” But this year the tournament has a serious contender for that title. March is also ObamaCare’s anniversary month.
Last year, President Obama gave Congress an arbitrary deadline to pass his health-care takeover legislation before the Easter recess at the end of March. This forced lawmakers to hurry their votes on a deeply flawed bill that very few of them had read. Worse, many made false promises to secure final passage.
We’re already seeing ObamaCare’s madness in its first year of implementation, which is why the American people continue to call for defunding, repealing and replacing it with more sensible reforms. Here are a few examples of the mayhem.
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More than half the states — 28 and counting — are challenging the law in court, saying that it violates the constitutional rights of their citizens and the sovereignty of the states. A new study from the Senate Finance and House Energy and Commerce Committees found that as a result of ObamaCare, budget-strapped states face at least $118 billion in unfunded mandates during the first 10 years after the law takes effect.
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Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has handed out nearly 1,000 waivers to allow select companies, unions and states to escape, at least temporarily, some of the burdensome new insurance rules she has created. This is a continuation of the trend of the “Cornhusker Kickback” and the “Louisiana Purchase” that Senate Democrats used to get the law passed in the first place, and that so disgusted the American people.
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Independent experts have shown that the cost of health insurance will rise faster than it would have without the law. The Congressional Budget Office expects the price of a family policy in the individual market to be $2,100 higher by 2016 than it would have been had the law not passed. In at least 20 states, it’s now impossible to buy child-only health insurance because of Ms. Sebelius’s onerous new rules.
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Seniors are at risk of losing access to physicians and medical care. Medicare actuaries say that the cuts built into the law will force as many as 40% of providers to eventually stop seeing Medicare patients or go bankrupt.
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Many thousands of people are already losing the health insurance they have now as companies are exiting markets for individual, small group and Medicare Advantage coverage.
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The former director of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, says that the costs of ObamaCare are set to explode when employers opt to drop coverage and send their workers to the new, federally subsidized health exchanges for coverage. He estimates that this will drive up the cost of the law by $1 trillion or more in the first 10 years.
The list goes on and on. It’s time to stop the ObamaCare madness before it becomes another entrenched entitlement program.
To protect taxpayers and our health sector, Congress can begin by defunding ObamaCare at every opportunity. Next we need a president and a Congress that will vote to repeal the law and start over with sensible reforms. The stakes are high for the capacity of patients and doctors to choose and control their medical choices, and for all Americans’ freedom and prosperity.
If we do this right, in March of 2013, instead of jumping through more of ObamaCare’s hoops, let’s hope we will be able to focus on basketball’s March Madness instead.
Ms. Turner is president of the Galen Institute. Mr. Cortes is executive director of Let Freedom Ring. Ms. Higgins is president and CEO of Independent Women’s Voice.
CLIP OF THE WEEK
Podcast With Grace-Marie Turner: ObamaCare’s Pending Regulations
In this week’s clip, Caleb Brown of the Cato Institute interviews Grace-Marie Turner on the pending regulations in the health law that will force individuals and families out of their existing health plans.
Listen now >>
More video and audio clips are available on the Health Reform Hub >>
GALEN IN THE NEWS
Mitch Daniels Does Not Have an ‘Obamacare Problem’
Grace-Marie Turner
National Review Online: Critical Condition, 03/07/11
Cato’s Michael Cannon is misguided in his criticism of Gov. Mitch Daniels’s Healthy Indiana Plan. HIP could not be more different than the government-controlled entitlement programs created by President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Governor Daniels devised a unique plan to expand health coverage to the uninsured through a Medicaid waiver and a new cigarette tax. But rather than creating a path to dependency, as Cannon charges, HIP creates incentives for people to spend and utilize health services wisely. This is exactly what we want our health care system to do: provide incentives for individual responsibility in using the system and spending health care dollars wisely, and rewarding people who follow sensible rules. If ObamaCare isn’t repealed, HIP will likely have a tombstone saying “R.I.P.,” since it provides far too much consumer choice and individual authority to satisfy Washington regulators.
Read More »
Judge Vinson’s Master Stroke
Grace-Marie Turner
National Review Online: Critical Condition, 03/04/11
U.S. district judge Roger Vinson is a no-nonsense judge who clearly is annoyed with the Obama administration for ignoring his January 31 decision declaring ObamaCare unconstitutional and saying its implementation must be halted. In fact, in a master stroke of jujitsu, Judge Vinson leapfrogged over the administration and said he was going to interpret the administration’s request for him to “clarify” his ruling as a request for a temporary stay of his order. And he gave the administration seven days to appeal his ruling or stop all action to implement the law. If the government fails to file an appeal to his ruling, then all work to implement the law must stop. The judge said his January 31 ruling was “plain and unambiguous” in its intent to bar the administration from moving forward with the law. Judge Vinson’s latest 20-page decision provides a concise summary of his longer 78-page January ruling and is worth your time.
Read More »
ObamaCare’s March Madness
Grace-Marie Turner, Alex Cortes, and Heather R. Higgins
The Wall Street Journal, 03/07/11
See above and also at tinyurl.com/4m4m7gy.
HEALTH REFORM
Higher Costs and the Affordable Care Act: The Case of the Premium Tax
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American Action Forum, 03/09/11
The Road Ahead: Shaping Health Care Strategy in a Post-Reform Environment
Towers Watson/National Business Group on Health, 03/11
What a Difference Two Words Can Make in Health Care
Peter J. Pitts, The Washington Examiner, 03/08/11
The Pressures of Rising Costs on Employer Provided Health Care
Tom Miller, Testimony before the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, 03/10/11
HHS Secretary Sebelius admits to double-counting in Obamacare budget
Amanda Carey, The Daily Caller, 03/04/11
We suffer unhealthy budgets, thanks to Obamacare
Sally C. Pipes, Orange County Register, 03/10/11
Jack Calfee: A Great Economist, A Greater Humanitarian
Christopher DeMuth, The American, 03/08/11
As Health Costs Soar, G.O.P. and Insurers Differ on Cause
Robert Pear, The New York Times, 03/04/11
Cleveland Clinic CEO Cosgrove: Health reform will cost us $174M in 2015
MedCity News, 03/03/11
Experts: Individual mandate might fail
David Nather, Politico, 03/01/11
NFIB Small Business Legal Center Healthcare Lawsuit Fact Pattern: The “Solvency” Myth
NFIB, 03/10/11
Recent Experience In Health Promotion At Johnson & Johnson: Lower Health Spending, Strong Return On Investment
Rachel M. Henke, Ron Z. Goetzel, Janice McHugh, and Fik Isaac, Health Affairs, 03/11
Increased Price Transparency in Health Care — Challenges and Potential Effects
Anna D. Sinaiko, Ph.D., and Meredith B. Rosenthal, Ph.D., The New England Journal of Medicine, 03/09/11
Designing Transparency Systems for Medical Care Prices
David Cutler, Ph.D., and Leemore Dafny, Ph.D., The New England Journal of Medicine, 03/09/11
CONSUMER CHOICE MATTERS® NEWS
Some Medical Practices Move To Monthly Membership Fees For Patients
Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Health News, 03/08/11
MEDICAID
A Solution to the Medicaid Mess
Merrill Matthews, Forbes: Right Directions, 03/09/11
Medicaid Is Worse Than No Coverage at All
Scott Gottlieb, The Wall Street Journal, 03/10/11
STATE ISSUES
Grace-Marie Turner on the Healthy Indiana Plan
Reihan Salam, National Review Online: The Agenda, 03/07/11
Picking on Mitch Daniels
Robert M. Goldberg, The American Spectator: The Right Prescription, 03/10/11
Healthy Indiana Plan: The First Two Years
Carol Irvin, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., 07/15/10
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH SYSTEMS
Canadians Buy U.S. Health Care as Weak Economy Pushes Down Prices
Lisa Priest, The Globe and Mail, 03/04/11
Prognosis: Fewer Canadian Physicians
Fraser Forum, March-April 2011
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
CU Medical School’s conflict of interest policy
Thomas P. Stossel, The Denver Post, 03/09/11
Read more on the Health Reform Hub >>
Events
Doing Health Care Reform the Right Way: Putting the States Back in Charge
Hudson Institute Event
Friday, March 11, 2011
12:00pm – 1:30pm
Washington, DC
Innovation in Healthcare: Perspectives on Access, Delivery and Development
University of California Haas School of Business Conference
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Berkeley, CA
ObamaCare at Year One: The Real March Madness
DeFundIt.org Pizza and Policy Forum
Monday, March 14, 2011
7:00pm – 8:30pm
Washington, DC
This event is co-hosted by the Galen Institute, Independent Women’s Voice, Let Freedom Ring, 60 Plus Association, and Heritage Action.
The Innovation Revolution: How Genetic Testing is Improving Health & the Economy
The Hill Policy Briefing Breakfast
Thursday, March 17, 2011
7:45am – 9:45am
Washington, DC
For more information, contact events@thehill.com.
Why Doctors Need Full Repeal of ObamaCare: Medical Professionals Diagnose the Law’s Side Effects
The Heritage Foundation Event
Monday, March 21, 2011
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Washington, DC
The New Health Care Law: What a Difference a Year Makes
Cato Institute Conference
Monday, March 21, 2011
1:00pm – 5:30pm
Washington, DC
Grace-Marie Turner speaking on the G. Gordon Liddy Show
Nationally Syndicated Radio Broadcast
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
12:00pm ET
Grace-Marie will talk about her new book, co-authored with three health policy experts, Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America. Order your copy today!
Quality Check: Three Unique Approaches for Improving Value in Healthcare
Philips Healthcare Webinar
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
1:30pm – 2:45pm ET