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American Thinker, September 25, 2014 An analysis by Bloomberg Government has found that the start up costs for Obamacare "are far greater than anything publicly discussed." The report shows that the total cost has exceeded $73 billion dollars, with $2 billion alone - and counting - spent on the Obamacare website, healthcare.gov. Health care analyst Peter Gosselin: "Whether policymakers and … [Read more...] about Rick Moran: Obamacare price tag since 2010: $73 billion and couting

The Weekly Standard, September 22, 2014 Obamacare—or at least the version of it that the president and his advisers currently think they can get away with putting into place—has been upending arrangements and reshuffling the deck in the health system since the beginning of the year. That’s when the new insurance rules, subsidies, and optional state Medicaid expansions went into effect. The … [Read more...] about Jame C. Capretta and Yuval Levin in The Weekly Standard: Getting There

The Washington Times, August 21, 2014 Research published last week in the British Medical Journal Open provides interesting insight into the cause of rising health care costs. Analysis of the study raises concerns that Obamacare could ultimately bend the cost curve up. The University of California at San Francisco research studied variations in the average charges of 10 commonly ordered … [Read more...] about Jason D. Fodeman: Choosing a $10 medical test over a $10,000 one

U.S. Chamber of Commerce, August 19, 2014 Obamacare puts employers in a bind, two New York Federal Reserve surveys show. Employers’ health care costs continue to rise, and the health care law is driving them to hire more part-time labor, CNBC reports. Continue Reading... … [Read more...] about Sean Hackbarth: New York Federal Reserve: Higher Health Costs, More Part-Time Workers from Obamacare

ebri.org Notes, April, 2014 In 2001, a handful of employers started offering health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs)—a then-new type of health plan. The most prevalent HRA-plan design then had a deductible of at least $1,000 for employee-only coverage along with a tax-preferred account that could be tapped by workers and their families to pay out-of-pocket health care expenses. The Medicare … [Read more...] about Characteristics of the Population With Consumer-Driven and High-Deductible Health Plans, 2005–2013 by Paul Fronstin, Ph.D., in Employee Benefit Research Institute Notes

ebri.org Notes, April, 2014 The labor-force participation rate for those ages 55 and older rose throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, when it began to level off but with a small increase following the 2007–2008 economic downturn. For those ages 55–64, the upward trend was driven almost exclusively by the increased labor-force participation of women, whereas the male participation rate was … [Read more...] about Labor-force Participation Rates of the Population Ages 55 and Older, 2013, by Craig Copeland, Ph.D., in Employee Benefit Research Institute Notes

National Review, July 15, 2014 As Obamacare, beset with calamities, enters its fourth year, the cerulean-blue state of Vermont is well into its fourth year of preparing to astonish America by installing Canadian-style single-payer health care. To understand the political dynamics of this plan, it’s necessary to go back to the 2010 election for governor. After eight able years at the helm, … [Read more...] about John McLaughry in National Review Online: The First Single-Payer Domino

Forbes, July 10, 2014 Most state legislative sessions have come to a close, but this hasn’t stopped Medicaid debates across the country from raging on. In 2014, just one state, New Hampshire, has implemented ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion.  The failure of ObamaCare advocates to convince more states may explain the dearth of reporting on this issue from a mainstream media that often seems … [Read more...] about Josh Archambault, Jonathan Ingram and Christie Herrera in Forbes: Intervention: Will North Carolina Clean Up its Medicaid Program?