Many attribute the big jump in 2018 Obamacare premiums to the Trump Administration’s decision to terminate government payments to insurance companies, known as cost-sharing-reduction (CSR) subsidies. Galen Institute Senior Fellow Doug Badger reports in a paper published today by The Heritage Foundation that premiums increased by double digits even for Obamacare policies that were not affected … [Read more...] about How Lawmakers Should Deal with Obamacare Cost-Sharing-Reduction Payments
ObamaCare
Obamacare’s Individual Mandate Is Repealing Itself
The Senate this week is expected to vote on a tax bill that includes a controversial provision to repeal Obamacare’s tax penalty on the uninsured. Democrats and some conservative policy analysts fret that if Congress scuttles the so-called individual mandate, insurance premiums will rise. The reverse may be closer to the truth: Premiums for Obamacare policies next year will be so high that … [Read more...] about Obamacare’s Individual Mandate Is Repealing Itself
Obamacare Is Uninsuring the Insured
The law expanded coverage among the poor at the expense of coverage among the middle class. The number of people with individual health-insurance coverage is shrinking. Despite $146 billion in federal subsidies to low-income households and well-capitalized insurers, 2.6 million fewer people had individual policies in March 2017 than in March 2016, a drop of nearly 15 percent. The most … [Read more...] about Obamacare Is Uninsuring the Insured
The Deadline to Kill the Death Panel
If the House acts fast, it can abolish a bad ObamaCare provision. All eyes are on the Senate as it debates what to do about ObamaCare. But the House has a last chance this week to abolish one of the law’s most dangerous creations: a board with sweeping, unchecked power to ration care. The Independent Payment Advisory Board—what critics call the death panel—would be an unelected, unaccountable … [Read more...] about The Deadline to Kill the Death Panel
Senate Obamacare Debate Is About Money, Not Compassion
A new government report explains why Republicans, after nine years of opposing Obamacare, are having such a hard time repealing it. The answer: It’s pretty much about the money. It’s not about providing Medicaid coverage to low-income adults. Some moderate Republicans who profess concern for the needy are actually trying to shift more of the cost of providing them Medicaid coverage from their … [Read more...] about Senate Obamacare Debate Is About Money, Not Compassion