Health Reform Hub Issues

Issues :: Health Care Delivery

Premium Support Can Save Medicare, But Only If Congress Can Just Say No
Joseph Antos

The American Square, 4/19/11


Barack Obama and Paul Ryan agree that Medicare spending is rising too quickly to be sustainable, but their proposals to rein in Medicare are at opposite ends of the policy spectrum. The president argues for toughening government price-setting arrangements through the yet-to-be formed Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). The congressman espouses premium support, which gives seniors a capped subsidy that they can use to purchase a Medicare-approved health plan. One is a top-down approach, relying on the regulatory power and financial leverage of the federal government. The other is a bottom-up approach, relying on health plans to tailor their offerings and trim their costs to attract market share. Read more...

Obamacare Rules Belie Compassion, Care
Donald P. Condit

The Detroit News, 4/19/11


Remember Mary Poppins singing, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down in the most delightful way?" If so, be concerned, because you or your parents are probably on Medicare and the Department of Health and Human Services recently proposed regulations for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that will affect them. The sugar-coated rhetoric from HHS cannot disguise the bad medicine in this part of the Affordable Care Act, which intends to bureaucratically cut as much as $960 million in Medicare spending over three years. This Obamacare prescription threatens patients, the physicians who care for them, and the common good. The only clear winners are the consultants and lawyers busy trying to decipher this 429-page tome. Read more...

ACO Fairy Tale Faces a Rumpelstiltskin Moment 
Michael L. Millenson

Kaiser Health News, 4/19/11


The ACO fairy tale is drawing perilously close to an unhappy ending. The government's long-awaited draft regulations on Accountable Care Organizations have brought a dose of ugly reality to a concept that's always seemed coated with a patina of pixie dust. Unless those regs are substantially changed before the clock strikes Jan. 1, 2012 -- the statutory date for ACO implementation -- Cinderella's going to turn back into a scullery maid and the horse-drawn carriage transporting her to the Health System Transformation Ball will be revealed as nothing more than four mice and a pumpkin. Read more...

The New Health Law: Bad for Doctors, Awful for Patients
Jason Fodeman

Townhall, 4/17/11


While much has been said about the recently passed health care overhaul law and a multitude of cogent arguments have been made as to why the legislation must be repealed, lengthy debates have failed to adequately address how the 2,800 pages will prevent patients from receiving the medical care that they need and want. In fact, in some ways the federal government already hinders the ability of doctors to provide their patients with good care. These trends will no doubt worsen under PPACA. In addition, new regulations and mandates will place unaccountable regulators in between physicians and their patients. Read more...

Transforming Medicare into a Modern Premium Support System: What Americans Should Know
Robert Moffit, PhD, and Kathryn Nix

The Heritage Foundation, 4/15/11


House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R–WI) budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 would transform the Medicare program into a “premium support” system. Under the Ryan approach, the federal government would make a direct financial contribution to Medicare enrollees’ health care coverage, just as it does today for federal workers and retirees in the popular Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the nation’s largest and most successful example of a premium support system. Read more...

ObamaCare: Still a Clear and Present Danger
Grace-Marie Turner

Real Clear Markets, 4/4/11


If only it were actually were true! According to a recent the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, nearly half of Americans believe that ObamaCare either has been repealed or aren't sure. Just over half correctly understand that this government takeover of health care continues unabated. It's not surprising that people are confused. The House voted to repeal the law in January by a large margin, and headlines across the country read, "House votes to Repeal ObamaCare." People have read other headlines that say, "Court declares ObamaCare unconstitutional." And they have read news reports about numerous efforts in the House of Representatives to defund the law. Read more...

The President's Health Care Predicament
James C. Capretta

Kaiser Health News, 3/31/11


Last week marked the one-year anniversary of President Barack Obama's health reform law. It's an appropriate time to take a look back at the events of last year, and what they might mean in 2012 when the president will almost certainly be seeking reelection. In early 2010, after Republican Scott Brown was elected to the Senate from Massachusetts, Obama had no choice -- if he really wanted the health bill enacted -- but to turn its passage into a make-or-break moment for his presidency. Nothing else would have worked. He wasn't winning the public argument over its merits, and wasn't going to. Read more...

Ultrasound at $59,490 Spurs Aetna Outrage in Suit Naming Doctors
Peter Waldman

3/24/11


Aetna Inc. (AET) is suing six New Jersey doctors over medical bills it calls “unconscionable,” including $56,980 for a bedside consultation and $59,490 for an ultrasound that typically costs $74. The lawsuits could help determine what pricing limits insurers can impose on ”out-of-network” physicians who don’t have contracts with health plans that spell out how much a service or procedure can cost. One defendant billed $30,000 for a Caesarean birth, and another raised his fee for seeing a critically ill patient in a hospital to $9,000 in 2008 from $500 the year before, the insurer alleges in the suits. The Caesarean price was more than 10 times the in-network amount Aetna quotes on its website. Read more...

Obamacare: One year later
Dr. Jason Fodeman and Dr. David Gratzer

The Washington Times, 3/22/11


This week marks the one-year anniversary of Obamacare, and there has been no shortage of Washington rhetoric on the goals of the legislation for the occasion: Bending the cost curve. Reducing health insurance premiums. Expanding the number of insured Americans. But as we mark this anniversary, it’s important to note the other agenda that has been missed in the debates of the past two years: reining in our doctors. Look carefully at the legislation signed into law by President Obama last March, and you’ll discover a not-so-subtle campaign to dramatically reshape the doctor-patient relationship. From compensation to autonomy, Obamacare represents something of a war on doctors. Read more...

Wrong, Baby, Wrong
Kathryn Jean Lopez

National Review Online, 3/22/11


ObamaCare Is Wrong for America: That’s the title of a new book out today, from familiar National Review Online authors Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute, James Capretta of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Tom Miller of the American Enterprise Institute, and Robert Moffit of the Heritage Foundation. Here they take questions about the book, the legislation, and the detrimental impact Obamacare will have on the economy, on our health sector, and on our freedom, from National Review Online’s Kathryn Jean Lopez. Read more...