Grace-Marie Turner was invited to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee during a hearing entitled “Delivering Better Health Care Value to Consumers: The First Three Years of the Medical Loss Ratio.” In her testimony, she explained key problems and distortions created by the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR), which specifies that health plans must spend at least 80% of premium dollars on medical … [Read more...] about Testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee: The first three years of the medical loss ratio
Carl Hulse: Ex-Senators on Both Sides of Aisle Join Forces on Health Care
The New York Times, May 20, 2014 As a Republican senator, Trent Lott was among those who successfully dug in against the Clinton-era health overhaul. Tom Daschle, then the Senate Democratic leader, fought Republicans on their prescription drug plan. John B. Breaux, a centrist Democrat who led a blue-ribbon Medicare commission, often found himself at odds with both parties. Now these three … [Read more...] about Carl Hulse: Ex-Senators on Both Sides of Aisle Join Forces on Health Care
Indiana’s Innovative Medicaid Expansion Idea Could Chart A Path For Major Reform Going Forward
By: Grace-Marie Turner I have been a huge fan of the popular Healthy Indiana Plan since it was conceived by former Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2008 as a way to expand sensible health coverage to uninsured Hoosiers. Daniels’ successor, Gov. Mike Pence, is unveiling his own 2.0 version of the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) during a talk at the American Enterprise Institute today, but the plan already is … [Read more...] about Indiana’s Innovative Medicaid Expansion Idea Could Chart A Path For Major Reform Going Forward
Peter Pitts: Federal funds should go to medicine-makers
Chicago Tribune, May 11, 2014 Is more federal funding for the National Institutes of Health the best bang for the buck when it comes to using precious tax dollars to advance public health? No. The NIH budget is about $30 billion. But what does that buy? Where do discoveries that advance public health really come from? Some do come from NIH-funded research — but not nearly the … [Read more...] about Peter Pitts: Federal funds should go to medicine-makers
Varney & Co.: Time to say goodbye to the ObamaCare employer mandate?
Grace-Marie joins Stuart Varney on Fox Business to discuss the latest congressional plans to do away with the employer mandate provision of ObamaCare. Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com … [Read more...] about Varney & Co.: Time to say goodbye to the ObamaCare employer mandate?
Obamacare’s Latest Broken Promise: It’s Raising Taxes on the Middle Class
By Grace-Marie Turner and Tyler Hartsfield When the president said in his first inaugural address that middle-income Americans “will not see your taxes increased a single dime,” most still believed in his supreme powers to solve the nation’s toughest problems, including health reform, that had so thwarted his predecessors. We now know that the total hit to the U.S. economy from Obamacare … [Read more...] about Obamacare’s Latest Broken Promise: It’s Raising Taxes on the Middle Class
James Capretta: How Many People Will Pay The Individual Mandate Tax For 2014?
e21, May 7, 2014 The most important, and uncertain, provision of Obamacare remains the individual mandate. Obamacare’s authors believed it was crucial to the viability of the law to impose a new obligation on U.S. citizens and legal residents to enroll in government-approved health insurance. This new obligation was to be enforced by a penalty on the non-compliant, collected through the … [Read more...] about James Capretta: How Many People Will Pay The Individual Mandate Tax For 2014?
Tom Miller: Debate Over How To Replace Obamacare Comes to a Fork In the Tax Code
Real Clear Markets, May 7, 2014 When Capitol Hill Republicans and other conservative health policy analysts focus on developing viable "replacement" alternatives to Obamacare, they usually start with changing how the tax code subsidizes purchases of health insurance coverage. The two main proposals would expand the benefits of the current tax exclusion for employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) … [Read more...] about Tom Miller: Debate Over How To Replace Obamacare Comes to a Fork In the Tax Code