Michelle La Voie wants health insurance, but as a single mom making $38,000 a year and supporting two teenagers, she's not sure she can afford it -- even with a subsidy through the federal health law known as Obamacare. When enrollment in new online insurance markets begins next month, La Voie will likely qualify for a subsidy to buy private insurance, but would still have to pay $191 a month, … [Read more...] about Julie Appleby: Some Say Obamacare’s ‘Affordable’ Coverage Isn’t Affordable For Them
Avik Roy: Not Affordable Care Act: Opposing view
In most states, premiums will increase. Imagine that Congress passed a law requiring all cars sold in America to use hybrid engines. If you're concerned about our consumption of fossil fuels, such a law might sound great. However, as anyone who has shopped for a car knows, hybrid cars are much more expensive than conventional ones. OUR VIEW: Affordable care in 7 days ObamaCare is doing … [Read more...] about Avik Roy: Not Affordable Care Act: Opposing view
Obamacare Workers Offering Help Also Threaten Identity Theft
by Grace-Marie Turner A blockbuster report by the House Oversight Committee staff shows the threats Americans will face when an army of ObamaCare workers begins to fan the country to enroll people in the new health insurance exchanges. The detailed report by the Republican staff of Rep. Darrell Issa’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also exposes new layers of lawlessness in … [Read more...] about Obamacare Workers Offering Help Also Threaten Identity Theft
Making Progress on LTC
By Grace-Marie Turner The long-term care program – the CLASS Act – contained in ObamaCare was repealed earlier this year after Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she was unable to find a way to make the program financially solvent. But when Congress repealed the program, it created a commission charged with developing recommendations for a new plan. On Thursday, … [Read more...] about Making Progress on LTC
James Capretta: More Good News as the Medicare Drug Benefit Approaches Ten Years
As the political back and forth over Obamacare intensified this summer, it largely went overlooked that the Medicare prescription drug benefit continues to outperform expectations. In July, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the average premium for the drug benefit in 2014 would be just $31. That’s remarkable given that the average premium had held steady at $30 in … [Read more...] about James Capretta: More Good News as the Medicare Drug Benefit Approaches Ten Years
John Fund: Congress’s Exemption from Obamacare
Prostitution. Bribery. Blackmail. Thuggery. Hypocrisy. Those were just some of the incendiary words thrown around the U.S. Senate last week, and that doesn’t count what people said in private. The Senate may still have a reputation as a genteel club, but lawmakers seemed to abandon rules of decorum completely last week in arguments about whether Congress should be treated like the rest of … [Read more...] about John Fund: Congress’s Exemption from Obamacare
Obamacare Chess Game
by Grace-Marie Turner The internecine battles over defunding Obamacare consumed far too much of the August recess, but the House is back with a plan that could put this conflict to rest and get conservatives back on the same side in fighting the destructive health law. The Heritage Foundation and its sister organization, Heritage Action, are demanding legislation that, as Heritage’s website … [Read more...] about Obamacare Chess Game
Beware the Power of ObamaCare Exchanges
The focus on health exchanges so far has been on the challenges administrators are having in creating the massive bureaucracy and infrastructure to deliver hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies. But once that is done, watch out. An article by Brookings Institution economist Henry Aaron and Kevin Lucia, a board member of the Washington, D.C., health exchange, explains that once … [Read more...] about Beware the Power of ObamaCare Exchanges