A federal judge is expected to rule soon on whether Obamacare’s individual mandate is constitutional without a tax penalty to enforce it, and if it is not, whether the rest of Obamacare’s provisions (including its insurance regulations) are no longer operative. If the judge rules against Obamacare, as many predict, brace yourself for a...
In an important paper the Galen Institute is releasing today, Senior Fellow Doug Badger examines the role that employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) plays in the larger U.S. health sector and offers considerations for policymakers contemplating replacing ESI with government-financed coverage. In “Replacing Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance with Government-Financed Coverage: Considerations for Policymakers,” Badger examines the history...
By Grace-Marie Turner— The Trump administration continues to work overtime to lower prescription drug costs for consumers. In response, some pharmaceutical companies have announced rollbacks of price increases, cuts in prices, price freezes, or other ways to improve affordability for patients. In the latest example, Amgen, a leading biologics company, is stepping forward to...
By Doug Badger — A proposal to repeal Obamacare entitlements and replace them with grants to states would reduce premiums for individual coverage by as much as 32 percent, according to an analysis by the Center for Health and Economy. The Health Care Choices Proposal also would modestly reduce the deficit, increase the number of people with private health...
By Grace-Marie Turner & Doug Badger — A few states have found a key to undoing some of Obamacare’s damage to their individual health insurance markets by redirecting some federal funding to help sick people. These states are providing separate assistance to those with the highest health costs, thereby reducing premiums and increasing enrollment for healthy...
by Doug Badger & Edmund Haislmaier— Obamacare’s rigid and centralized federal regulation of the nongroup market is failing. Premiums have risen, choices have contracted, and enrollment in individual policies continues to fall. Section 1332 of the Obamacare statute provides states with very limited authority to escape Obamacare’s mandates and test new approaches to undoing some...