December was a time for regrouping. The election was not a referendum on ObamaCare — for all the reasons Grace-Marie Turner explains in her Forbes piece — yet we find that resistance is as strong as ever to the high costs, massive new spending, and mandates the law brings.
The battlefront now moves to the states and to efforts in Congress to delay, defund, dismantle and do strict oversight of the law. Already this year, the CLASS Act (“a Ponzi scheme of the first order, the kind of thing that Bernie Madoff would have been proud of”) has been repealed in the Fiscal Cliff legislation. We are providing policy guidance for public officials, including numerous leaders in the states, to chart a new path to solve the very real problems in our health sector and put doctors and patients, not government bureaucrats, in charge of decisions.
Publications
Grace-Marie’s commentary, “ObamaCare: Pain 2.0,” forecasts the sticker shock that will hit when people see the price tag for their ObamaCare insurance. The article was published by the New York Post.
Forbes magazine published Grace-Marie’s commentary on grassroots opposition to implementation of the health law, “A resistance movement rises up against ObamaCare.”
Grace-Marie’s column on Forbes.com featured an article on “In the fight at the fiscal cliff, don't throw the valuables over the side.”
The Heartlander published our commentary on “ObamaCare battlefront shifts to the states.”
We published two posts to the Galen blog: “Yes, you can!” and “More reasons for states to say ‘No’ to ObamaCare exchanges.”
Galen in the News
Grace-Marie talked about health exchanges, implementation of the health law, and other health policy issues on several nationally syndicated radio programs in December, including Istook Live, Real Wealth Weekly, and City on a Hill. She was also interviewed about state resistance to ObamaCare on Atlanta’s Butler on Business.
Speeches
Grace-Marie spoke about the health policy landscape to new members of Congress at a New Members Orientation hosted by The Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, and attended a dinner in honor of the new freshmen featuring Steve Forbes.
We connected with members of our Pro Patient Network during a conference call hosted by Southwest Ohio Liberty Leaders about implementation of ObamaCare.
Events and Meetings
Our December State Leaders Call featured guest speakers Jim Capretta of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Tom Miller of the American Enterprise Institute. They spoke to the group about state and federal health exchanges and Medicaid expansion.
Grace-Marie participated in a Liberty Fund Colloquium on “Liberty and Healthcare: Compatibility in the Twenty-first Century?” in San Diego, California.
Grace-Marie facilitated a meeting of the Health Policy Consensus Group and a number of meetings on Capitol Hill to discuss the rocky road to implementing ObamaCare.
She also participated in a briefing on “bio-similars” about the challenges in duplicating biologic pharmaceuticals.
The Galen Institute hosted its annual meeting of the Board of Trustees on December 17 and celebrated the Christmas season at a party with Consensus Group colleagues.
Grace-Marie attended a reception hosted by members of Congress honoring Chairman Dan Lungren for his eighteen years of service to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Grace-Marie attended the Kemp Leadership Awards Dinner in Washington, DC, featuring speeches by Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Marco Rubio.
We attended several additional meetings in December to discuss new initiatives and health policy ideas with government officials, industry leaders, member associations, and other think tanks.