Multiple federal investigations are probing the $2 billion Obamacare co-op loan program at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Washington Examiner has learned. Investigators from two separate offices within HHS's Office of Inspector General are looking closely at the co-op program being fast-tracked under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka … [Read more...] about Richard Pollock: Obamacare co-ops are focus of four federal investigations
Some youths unlikely to pay for ObamaCare Coverage
Virtually all Americans will be required to have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act starting in 2014, and President Barack Obama especially wants young, healthy people to sign up. About two-thirds of the uninsured are younger than 40. They use fewer health services, and their premiums are needed to help keep insurance costs down for everyone else. Yet the incentive structures in … [Read more...] about Some youths unlikely to pay for ObamaCare Coverage
Stuart Taylor: Obamacare’s Slush Fund Fuels A Broader Lobbying Controversy
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
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
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