The wide adoption of market-based healthcare plans like health savings accounts (HSAs) could significantly lower U.S. healthcare costs in the short run, according to a new study from RAND Corp. The question remains whether the plans' cutbacks in care would lead to poorer health and higher costs later, study authors said. The RAND study was the most comprehensive to date looking at … [Read more...] about The Hill: Study — Market-driven plans could lower healthcare costs
More and more Democrats now worry sweeping law may hurt them at polls
Rep. Barney Frank has led a parade of Democrats in renouncing the passage of the Affordable Care Act, suggesting the far-reaching law may be a net deficit for the party on Election Day. "I think we paid a terrible price for health care," the Massachusetts Democrat recently told reporters. "I would not have pushed it as hard." He said President Obama should have seen the election of … [Read more...] about More and more Democrats now worry sweeping law may hurt them at polls
Merrill Matthews: Explaining the (Temporary?) Decline in Health Care Spending
The news is good: The growth in health care spending declined in 2009 and 2010, to just under 4 percent in both years. The bad news is that President Obama’s health care law, if it survives the U.S. Supreme Court and the “repeal and replace” effort, will essentially negate a primary reason for the decline, taking us right back to unsustainable health care spending — and opening the door for even … [Read more...] about Merrill Matthews: Explaining the (Temporary?) Decline in Health Care Spending
Ways and Means Report: Why ObamaCare Will Force Americans to Lose the Health Care Coverage They Have and Like
Today, in a new report prepared for Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI), data from America’s Fortune 100 companies show they could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year under the new health care law by simply terminating health insurance for their workers and dumping these employees into taxpayer-funded health care exchanges. More than 70 percent of America’s Fortune 100 … [Read more...] about Ways and Means Report: Why ObamaCare Will Force Americans to Lose the Health Care Coverage They Have and Like
HSAs also work for lower-income individuals
Kaiser Health News, in conjunction with the PBS News Hour, has an article on “Quick Facts About High-Deductible Health Plans.” It is refreshing to see coverage of this increasingly popular form of health coverage. America's Health Insurance Plans reports that enrollment reached more than 11.4 million in January 2011, up from 10 million in January 2010. While most of the article provides … [Read more...] about HSAs also work for lower-income individuals
Avik Roy: How George W. Bush Would Have Replaced Obamacare
In January of 2007, George W. Bush was entering the final stretch of his two-term presidency. Bush, however, chose not to ride off simply into the sunset. Instead, he put forth a comprehensive plan to reform the private health insurance market. It’s long-forgotten now, because Democrats had just regained control of Congress, and these newly-empowered legislators pronounced the Bush plan “dead on … [Read more...] about Avik Roy: How George W. Bush Would Have Replaced Obamacare
Jim Capretta: The 2009–2010 Slowdown in Health Spending
Newly reported official estimates from the actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) show nationwide health spending rose just 3.8 percent in 2009 and 3.9 percent in 2010 — the slowest rates of growth in five decades. The average rate of annual spending growth from 1997 to 2008 was 6.9 percent. Naturally, speculation has started — as in this story from this past … [Read more...] about Jim Capretta: The 2009–2010 Slowdown in Health Spending
Scott Gottlieb: Toss gran in an HMO
If you like your doctor, you can keep her — unless you’re poor or disabled. The latest installment of ObamaCare is a scheme that’s uprooting the elderly poor and disabled who get care under Medicare and herding many into state-run Medicaid plans. All of these folks are dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid; they are low-income people who are elderly or have disabilities. But it’s … [Read more...] about Scott Gottlieb: Toss gran in an HMO