Small businesses that reimburse employees for the cost of premiums for individual health insurance policies or pay their health costs directly will be fined up to $36,500 a year per employee under a new Internal Revenue Service regulation that takes effect July 1, 2015. According to the notice, an employer arrangement that reimburses or pays for employee individual health premiums is considered … [Read more...] about Small Businesses Threatened With $36,500 IRS Fines For Helping Employees With Health Costs
ObamaCare Co-ops: Cause Célèbre or Costly Conundrum?
Overview The Affordable Care Act created a new kind of “cooperative” health insurance arrangement heralded by supporters of health reform. The co-ops were founded on the idealistic belief that community members could band together to create health insurance companies that would be member-driven, service-oriented, and would not have to answer to shareholders or turn a profit. But the 23 co-ops … [Read more...] about ObamaCare Co-ops: Cause Célèbre or Costly Conundrum?
King Consequences Go Far Beyond Subsidies
While most of the reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision in King v. Burwell has centered on the political victory for the president and the various winners and losers from the decision itself, a more far-reaching consequence has received much less notice. The legal dispute hinged around whether a law means what it says, or means what someone reading later – say, an admistration official – thinks … [Read more...] about King Consequences Go Far Beyond Subsidies
King v Burwell Could Turn On A Surprising Legal Twist
A guest post on The Washington Post’s Volokh Conspiracy blog has Washington buzzing about a possible outcome of the Supreme Court decision on King v Burwell. James Blumstein, University professor of constitutional law and health law and policy at Vanderbilt Law School and director of the Vanderbilt Health Policy Center, explains in his article, “Why the procedural posture of King v. Burwell … [Read more...] about King v Burwell Could Turn On A Surprising Legal Twist
The Cynical Political Double-Cross Of Young Americans
Young people today have been “disinherited” from America’s promise of economic opportunity because of profligate government spending and the endless expansion of the welfare state. That is the premise of the important and highly-relevant new book, Disinherited: How Washington is Betraying America’s Young, by Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Jared Meyer of the Manhattan Institute. “Politicians in … [Read more...] about The Cynical Political Double-Cross Of Young Americans
Another ObamaCare Dream Goes Bust
The Affordable Care Act created a new kind of “cooperative” heralded by supporters of health reform. These Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans, chartered and regulated by the states, would compete with for-profit health-insurance companies and were meant to appease disgruntled advocates of a single-payer and “public option” model for the nation’s health-care system. All but one of the co-ops … [Read more...] about Another ObamaCare Dream Goes Bust
Conservative Think Tank: 10 Countries With Universal Health Care Have Freer Economies Than The U.S.
(Originally published January 27, 2015) Many American conservatives oppose universal health insurance because they see it as fundamentally antithetical to a free society. “If we persevere in our quixotic quest for a fetishized medical equality we will sacrifice personal freedom as its price,” wrote a guest editorialist in the ]Wall Street Journal in 2009. But according to the Heritage … [Read more...] about Conservative Think Tank: 10 Countries With Universal Health Care Have Freer Economies Than The U.S.
Obamacare Is Proof That We Need Choices and Affordability
The Affordable Care Act has proved the need for health reform, but it also has proved the need for significant changes to the law to reflect Americans’ demand for more choices of more affordable health coverage. Despite the president’s claims, most Americans are seeing much higher costs for health insurance. They want secure coverage and access to care that meets their needs and the needs of their … [Read more...] about Obamacare Is Proof That We Need Choices and Affordability