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In his new book, AEI's Joe Antos  explains the structure and financing of Medicare, the program's problems and proposed solutions for reform. Excerpt: “Premium support” is on everyone’s lips, but more often as a badge of fidelity to a political party than as part of a serious discussion about Medicare’s impending crisis and what to do about it. Members of the Democratic Party typically say … [Read more...] about Saving Medicare: A market cure for an ailing program

The post-election rollout of the Obama administration's plans to implement insurance exchanges in time for January 2014 enrollment has met substantial state government opposition, raised more questions than answers, and flashed warning signs of a train wreck ahead. A 33 states - a clear majority - still are not fully on board with running their own exchanges to comply with the dictates of the … [Read more...] about Tom Miller: Governors should let U.S. build its flawed-system and then duck consumers’ flak

2013 will be a crucial year in the implementation of Obamacare, and a central focus of the Obama administration.  Thus far, the Obama administration’s emphasis has been on standing up the program’s basic edifice for the long run rather than making sure it rolls out smoothly. Once erected, the law’s dictates will transform the underlying architecture of the American health care system – perhaps … [Read more...] about Scott Gottlieb, Tevi Troy, Paul Howard: Obamacare starts in 2013, as should plans to reform it

AEI's Tom Miller challenges health economist Austin Frakt who wrote in a recent JAMA Forum article that the penalties in ObamaCare are high enough to get people to comply with the individual mandate. Many others have argued that the initial penalty of $95 a year in the Affordable Care Act is insufficient to get people to purchase a $5,000 health insurance policy, especially when people know other … [Read more...] about Massachusetts Apples – and Oranges

Employees at larger companies are getting some eye-opening news when they open their W-2 statements from their employers listing their 2012 income. The health overhaul law required employers to report information on the total cost of employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. “To some, it will be a surprise, perhaps even a shock,” Robert Pear reports in a New York Times piece, “To Open Eyes, … [Read more...] about Eye-popping Costs for Employer Provided Health Insurance

Health policy experts Jim Capretta and Jeff Anderson have a detailed game plan for battling ObamaCare over the next four years in a new piece for The Weekly Standard, “Delay, Repeal, Replace. The Obamacare fight has just begun.” They explain: Obamacare...is a fight conservatives couldn’t walk away from even if they wanted to, because health policy is absolutely central to the struggle over the … [Read more...] about A Wise and Workable Strategy for Replacing ObamaCare

One of the most transformative aspects of Obamacare is that it conscripts state governments for the purpose of providing subsidized health insurance to their residents. Most red states have done their best to refuse, by declining to expand their Medicaid programs, and by passing up the opportunity to set up state-based insurance exchanges, through which Obamacare’s subsidies would flow. But a … [Read more...] about Avik Roy: How a GOP Governor Walked Arizona into Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion Trap

Health insurance premiums will increase as much as 100% because of ObamaCare over the next year, with states that have been most responsible in regulating insurance being hit the hardest, according to health policy experts Merrill Matthews and Mark Litow. Their article in The Wall Street Journal entitled “ObamaCare's Health-Insurance Sticker Shock” explains that “congressional Democrats who … [Read more...] about Why health costs are rising