Galen Institute

Highlights: April 2014

Impact 

The president is trying hard to create a positive narrative about his signature health law, but the American people are seeing for themselves the negative impact it is having. They feel less secure with their health coverage, they are frustrated with increases in premiums and deductibles, and are angry over limited access to the doctors and hospitals they prefer. They want real solutions.  Read on for highlights of our activities in April to educate the American people and the media about why ObamaCare isn’t working and what we should be doing instead.

Publications

Forbes published our columns:

National Review Online published our posts:

In addition, we posted an updated commentary to the Galen Blog:

Galen in the News

Galen continued to be quite active on TV and radio during the month of April as the deadline for signing up for ObamaCare was extended.  Grace-Marie provided commentary with TV interviews on:

Fox Business News Stuart Varney, Varney & Co: “Survey: Health-care premiums rising 11% for individuals”

ABC6 “On Your Side” Reporter Chris Vanocur interviewed Grace-Marie Turner for “Policy Critics Dispute ‘7 Million’ Enrolled in Obamacare”

Newsmax TV, The Steve Malzberg Show: “Galen Institute’s Turner: Hillary ‘Delusional’ About Time at State,” and “Galen Institute’s Turner: ACA Is Obama’s Biggest Failure” and “A discussion of the political impact of ObamaCare” and “Grace-Marie Turner discusses whether ObamaCare can be repealed or replaced”

Arise TV Network, Arise Xchange with Andrew Schmertz: “GOP Budget Plan proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan”

The Galen Institute was also on radio interviews around the country, including:

In other news:

Galen’s blog is cited in a research paper written by Robert Moffit, Ph.D.  He is The Heritage Foundation’s Senior Fellow at the Center for Health Policy Studies and the paper is entitled, “Four Years of ObamaCare: Early Warnings Come True.”

In addition, we were cited or mentioned in numerous blogs and publications including The Townhall Tipsheet, “65 percent say IRS should not enforce ObamaCare,” The Columbus Dispatch, “Sebelius exits, but ills linger,” and Mainstreet.com, “ObamaCare holds off pressure on small businesses until2016,” to name a few.
Speeches, Meetings and Events

  • Grace-Marie attended the 2014 Annual Leadership Conference of The Heritage Foundation.  She participated in a panel session which also featured Dr. Tom Price, U.S. Representative, and Nina Owcharenko, director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at Heritage.  The panel was titled, “If you like this session, you can keep it – real health care solutions as ObamaCare Unravels.”
  • Grace-Marie met with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and the staff of America Next to hear the details of the governor’s newly released health reform plan.  The meeting was held at the offices of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC, and also became the starting point for our State Leaders Call this month.
  • Grace-Marie met with Reps. Steve Scalise and Dr. Phil Roe, of the Republican Study Committee,  to discuss moving forward with a free-market health reform plan.
  • Grace-Marie organized and attended several meetings involving challenges to implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the decisions made by the president in making significant changes to the law without proper legislative approval.
  • We organized a meeting to discuss with colleagues changes to the tax treatment of health insurance.
  • We facilitated our monthly State Leaders call, which is jointly hosted by Galen Institute, the Institute for Policy Innovation, and the State Policy Network.  Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal joined the call as our guest.  He described his new “Freedom and Empowerment Health Reform Plan.”  The plan, released through Gov. Jindal’s new think tank, America Next, was described as the “prescription for conservative consumer-focused health reform.” He gave an overview of the plan and then responded to 25 minutes of participant questions. It was a robust and lively discussion.
  • Galen Institute helped organize our monthly Health Care 101 Policy Series for Capitol Hill staffers, “Challenging ObamaCare in the Courts.” It is jointly sponsored by the Galen Institute, The Heritage Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute.  The discussion featured Thomas P. Miller, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel with Alliance for Defending Freedom, discussing court cases challenging the implementation of the Affordable Care Act that are making their way through the courts and which could have serious consequences for the future of the health overhaul law.
  • Grace-Marie attended a Commonwealth Republican Woman’s Club meeting where the keynote speaker was Loren Spivak, founder of Free Market Warrior.  He spoke about how to attain free markets and freedom through conservative principles.  Grace-Marie also attended Spivak’s weekend seminar on “Economic Literacy” in Old Town, Alexandria.
  • We attended a seminar at the American Enterprise Institute which examined if there might be a better way to pay for and deliver long term care in America.  Dr. Joe Antos of AEI moderated a discussion with panelists Bruce Chernoff, SCAN Foundation and Commission on Long-Term Care; Judy Feder, Georgetown University and Commission on Long-Term Care;  John Jones, State University of New York;  Anne Tumlinson, Avalere Health; and Mark Warshawsky, AEI and Commission on Long-Term Care.
  • Grace-Marie attended the 67th Annual Horatio Algier Awards ceremony and dinner in Washington, DC. The awards are presented to prominent leaders who have demonstrated courage, fortitude, and character in personal and professional success.  The ceremony began at the U.S. Supreme Court building.
  • Grace-Marie attended the 2014 PhRMA Annual Meeting at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.  Topics included “Challenges and opportunities in the policy operating environment,” and Communicating the value of the biopharmaceutical sector.”
  • We attended the monthly meeting of the Repeal Coalition on Capitol Hill.
  • We attended an AEI seminar “ObamaCare’s rocky start and uncertain future.”  Panelists included James Capretta, Ethics and Public Policy Center and AEI, Timothy Jost, Washington and Lee University, and Mark Pauly, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The luncheon speaker was Robert Laszewski of Health Policy and Strategy Associates.  Since open enrollment ended, a discussion was held on the ACA’s first year with a look ahead to 2015 and beyond.

We continued to meet with Members of Congress and staff on ideas for health policy initiatives, and we participated in numerous other meetings and conference calls about ObamaCare.