Grace-Marie Turner

Step by step, for nearly 70 years, liberals have been marching the United States toward government-controlled health care, and the Schumer-Manchin bill is another giant stride. COVID provided the opening for Congress to enhance and expand Obamacare subsidies for two years, and the bill the House will begin considering this morning would extend them for three more years. So much for a temporary … [Read more...] about Marching toward Socialism

So just to review, the big government tax-and-spending bill—called the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022”—which is on the brink of passing the Senate would: Fuel inflation and increase taxes during a recession; Add $728 billion in federal spending—about a billion a page for the bill; Beef up the IRS with tens of thousands of new agents going after American taxpayers; Decimate research into … [Read more...] about Gangster Negotiations

The tax and spending package that Sen. Joe Manchin now has blessed is even more destructive and inflationary than the first placeholder version. The confiscatory taxes on the pharmaceutical industry are still there, along with big subsidies for Obamacare insurance for middle-income people, big spending on green energy, and new taxes on businesses during a recession—all shockingly bad … [Read more...] about A Much Worse Bill

Well, a “slimmed down” version of Build Back Better may not be a slam dunk after all. The current deal would involve slapping innovation-killing price controls on the pharmaceutical industry to shovel more money into Obamacare.  But new information from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Economic Committee (JCT) could give the key player—West Virginia Sen. Joe … [Read more...] about Fueling inflation with BBB

Extra subsidies for health insurance, which had been boosted during Covid, are set to expire in December, and the political debate over what to do encapsules Washington’s current dilemma. Democrats desperately want to continue extra tax subsidies for people who get coverage through the Obamacare exchanges. Already-inflated health insurance premiums will spike for millions of people when the … [Read more...] about Desperate maneuvering

Our colleagues are doing good and important work to advance health freedom.  A few highlights: The HSA OptionBrian Blase, et alParagon Health InstituteJune 22, 2022 Brian and colleagues explain in this new Paragon paper an “HSA Option” to allow lower-income Americans enrolled in ACA exchanges another way to access their subsidy.  Instead of having all of the … [Read more...] about Important Work 

The strategy of the left is quite transparent in building the case for government-run health care.  They take advantage of every opportunity to drag more and more people into government programs.   But they also produce targeted studies to attempt to besmirch patient-centered, free-market options. AEI Senior Fellow Tom Miller writes about another case in point: … [Read more...] about More Junk Science 

Many of the problems in our health sector result from misguided, even if well-intended, laws that lead to mountains of rules and regulations that distort a functional health sector.  Washington forces doctors, hospitals, and others to follow its dictates rather than respond to the needs of the American people for quality, affordable care and coverage.   Case in point: Senate … [Read more...] about How Washington makes it worse