Health Reform Hub Issues

Issues :: Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP

Gazing Into CBO’s Budget and Health Care Crystal Ball 
James C. Capretta

Kaiser Health News, 07/29/10



CBO’s latest projections again make it clear that the nation is rushing headlong toward a fiscal crisis, and the health law does nothing to head it off. Read more...

Poll: Seniors know little about reform law
UPI, 07/28/10

Only 22 percent of U.S. seniors age 65 and older say the Affordable Health Care Act would not cut their basic Medicare benefits, a survey indicates. The survey for the National Council on Aging found 42 percent of the seniors say -- incorrectly -- that healthcare reform will cut their basic Medicare benefits, while 37 percent say they did not know. Read more...

Ready for the Next Trillion-Dollar Bailout?
Brian Riedl

National Review Online: Critical Condition, 07/27/10

Obamacare has been rightly blasted as fiscally responsible, yet few have noticed what may be Obamacare’s largest ticking entitlement time-bomb: the CLASS Act. My new op-ed on the subject is here, and my new report, co-written with Jim Capretta, is here.

The Growing Battle Over Berwick
Hal Scherz

RealClearPolitics, 07/27/10

...the Obama administration's recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick as Medicare czar continued stirring controversy, with Senate Republicans "spoiling for a fight" and "escalating the conflict" according to the Washington Examiner's Byron York. Read more...

New health official faces hostility in Senate
Robert Pear

New York Times, 07/26/10



...two weeks after taking office, Dr Berwick is still struggling to tamp down a furor over past statements in which he discussed the rationing of health care and expressed affection for the British health care system. Read more...

The public deserves a hearing for a Medicare appointee
Washington Post, 07/23/10

...President Obama's hurry [to appoint Berwick] would have been more understandable had he not waited for more than a year to select an administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Read more...

Medicaid Reform in One Easy Step
Avik Roy

National Review Online: Critical Condition, 07/22/10

...The growth of per-beneficiary expenditures is not only well above conventional inflation, but also health care inflation. Read more...

The CLASS Act: Repeal Now, or Face Permanent Taxpayer Bailout Later
James C. Cparetta and Brian Riedl

Heritage Foundation, 07/22/10

Obamacare’s proclaimed budgetary discipline rests on unlikely assumptions and budget gimmicks—none worse than the CLASS Act, a national long-term-care insurance program. Read more...

Berwick battle escalates: GOP introduces resolution calling recess appointment ‘abuse of power’
Byron York

Washington Examiner, 07/22/10



Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts has just introduced an amendment calling for the Senate to declare the recess appointment of Medicare and Medicaid chief Donald Berwick “an abuse of power.” Read more...

Overspending on Multisource Drugs in Medicaid
Alex Brill

American Enterprise Institute, 07/21/10

This report analyzes a large subset of 2009 Medicaid drug data from the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and identifies multi-source drugs (ie, products for which there are brand and generic versions) for which there are significant sales of more costly brand products. Read more...