ObamaCare Watch

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Health-Insurance Exchanges Are Falling Behind Schedule

Louise Radnofsky & Sarah Needleman, The Wall Street Journal

Wed, 2013-06-19

"Government officials have missed several deadlines in setting up new health-insurance exchanges for small businesses and consumers—a key part of the federal health overhaul—and there is a risk they won't be ready to open on time in October, Congress's watchdog arm said. The Government Accountability Office said federal and state health officials still have major work to complete, offering its most cautious comments to date about the Obama administration's ability to bring the centerpiece of its signature law to fruition."

Obamacare’s Big Question: What’s It Going To Cost Me?

Tony Pugh, McClatchy

Mon, 2013-06-17

"Those two coverage areas – the individual and small group markets – face the biggest rule and cost changes next year, when the main provisions of the Affordable Care Act finally kick in. Early rate proposals around the country are a mix of steep hikes and modest increases."

ObamaCare Bait and Switch

The Wall Street Journal

Editorial

Tue, 2013-06-04

"The Affordable Care Act was sold as a tool to lower health costs. In case you missed it, the claim is right there in the law's title. The new Democratic position is that the entitlement will do the opposite but never mind, which is at least more honest. But we wonder how long this new candor will last. If the public reacts badly to these higher premiums, the authors of ObamaCare will soon be back to blaming insurance companies and Republicans."

Employers Eye Bare-Bones Health Plans Under New Law

Christopher Weaver & Anna Wilde Mathews, The Wall Street Journal

Mon, 2013-05-20

"Employers are increasingly recognizing they may be able to avoid certain penalties under the federal health law by offering very limited plans that can lack key benefits such as hospital coverage. Benefits advisers and insurance brokers—bucking a commonly held expectation that the law would broadly enrich benefits—are pitching these low-benefit plans around the country. They cover minimal requirements such as preventive services, but often little more."

Oregon Study Throws a Stop Sign in Front of ObamaCare’s Medicaid Expansion

Cato@Liberty

Michael Cannon

Wed, 2013-05-01

"There is no way to spin these results as anything but a rebuke to those who are pushing states to expand Medicaid. The Obama administration has been trying to convince states to throw more than a trillion additional taxpayer dollars at Medicaid by participating in the expansion, when the best-designed research available cannot find any evidence that it improves the physical health of enrollees."

GOP Wins Big In Northwest Florida House District In First Vote Since Rejecting Medicaid Expansion

Michael Van Sickler, The Miami Herald

Fri, 2013-06-14

"Florida Democrats hoping the fight over Medicaid expansion and the sequester would win them support with those who depend on federal funding won’t find much encouragement in Tuesday’s special election for House District 2. In the first referendum since House Republicans bypassed more than $50 billion in federal aid for health care, Mike Hill, a 55-year-old tea party Republican insurance agent, won 57.9 percent of the vote in a Northwest Florida district that has an economy dominated by hospitals as well as the military -- which is weathering a sequester deal rife with budget cuts forced by congressional Republicans."

Small-Business Exchanges Draw Few Insurers

Jason Millman, Politico

Fri, 2013-06-14

"Obamacare’s new insurance marketplaces for small businesses, which have already stumbled before getting out of the gate, are facing another pressing question just months before millions can sign up for benefits: What happens if insurers don’t show up to sell? Early looks at insurance offerings on the Obamacare exchanges show that insurers aren’t exactly signing up in droves to sell on the new Small Business Health Option Program exchanges."

Coverage May Be Unaffordable For Low-Wage Workers

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, The Associated Press

Thu, 2013-06-13

"It's called the Affordable Care Act, but President Barack Obama's health care law may turn out to be unaffordable for many low-wage workers, including employees at big chain restaurants, retail stores and hotels. That might seem strange since the law requires medium-sized and large employers to offer 'affordable' coverage or face fines."

Employers Fear Obamacare Will Hike Health Costs

Kathy Kristof, CBS MoneyWatch

Wed, 2013-06-12

"Obamacare may cost more than experts previously thought, according to a survey of 900 employers released Wednesday. As companies scramble to prepare for a wave of new health care rules that go into effect next year, an increasing number have become pessimistic about the cost, according to Mercer, a benefits consulting firm. Roughly one in five employers (19 percent) now expect that health care costs will rise by more than 5 percent as the result of the law."

Medical Students’ Prognosis Unclear With ‘Obamacare’; Many Don’t Understand Law

Valerie Richardson, The Washington Times

Tue, 2013-06-11

"The bottom line: Thousands of newly minted MDs may be unable to find work as doctors while wrestling with enormous student loans. The median debt for medical students in 2012 was $170,000, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. 'We’re looking at the reality of medical students in 2016 graduating and having no residency programs available,' said Christiane Mitchell, AAMC director of federal affairs. 'If you can’t guarantee residencies, then our best and brightest may look elsewhere.'"

Cost Estimates for a PPACA Replacement Plan

James C. Capretta & Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American Action Forum

Thu, 2013-04-18

"Nevertheless, there is merit to continued evaluation of full-scale alternatives to the PPACA. One common defense of the law is that there has been no competing alternative, which is not true. But there is virtue to continuing to develop and refine as many alternatives as may be proposed. Toward that end, this short paper outlines one practical, conservative approach to replacing the law with a market-based reform plan."

The Affordable Care Act At 3: Big Cost Burden, Big Consumer Impact

Sam Batkins, American Action Forum

Mon, 2013-03-25

"As the Affordable Care Act (ACA) celebrates its third anniversary, the law has already imposed $21 billion in private-sector burdens, $9.8 billion in unfunded state liabilities, and 111 million paperwork burden hours. When the American Action Forum (AAF) reviewed the law’s regulatory impact last year, the ACA had imposed a combined cost of $12.4 billion and 50 million hours, meaning in the last year the administration has more than doubled the cost of implementation and added 21 million compliance hours."

50 Vetoes: How States Can Stop the Obama Health Care Law

Michael Cannon, The Cato Institute

Thu, 2013-03-21

"Despite surviving a number of threats, President Obama’s health care law remains harmful, unstable, and unpopular. It also remains vulnerable to repeal, largely because Congress and the Supreme Court have granted each state the power to veto major provisions of the law before they take effect in 2014."

‘Not One Dime’: Health Care Law Projected to Add $6.2 Trillion to U.S. Deficit

Christopher Connover, American Enterprise Insitute

Thu, 2013-03-14

"It turns out President Obama was right when he said his health care law wouldn't add one dime to the federal deficit.1 Figures from the Government Accountability Office suggest that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will in fact add 62 trillion dimes over the next 75 years."

Unnecessary Regulations that Increase Prescription Drug Costs

Devon Herrick, National Center for Policy Analysis

Thu, 2013-03-07

"Most health plans provide some prescription drug benefits. Drug coverage will become more prevalent as more uninsured families gain health insurance as a result of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)... As drug coverage has become widespread, so have calls to impose additional regulations on drug plans and the firms that manage them. In the guise of protecting consumers, there are frequent calls for state and federal lawmakers to enact laws that hamper efficient management of prescription drug benefits. These efforts are short-sighted."

A Chronic Disease

Ramesh Ponnuru

National Review

Mon, 2013-06-17

"Conservatives and Republicans in Washington — activists, strategists, politicians — are increasingly embracing a theory about Obamacare: It’s going to collapse of its own weight, and its failure could yield a sharp right turn in the 2014 and 2016 elections. That theory is probably wrong, and dangerously so. To be rid of Obamacare, Republicans will have to do more than just wait for it to go away — and more than they have done so far."

Obamacare Insurance Exchanges Creating Roadblocks To Enrollment While Wasting Millions In Taxpayer Money?

Rick Unger

Forbes.com

Fri, 2013-06-14

"Whatever the reason for the reluctance of the state created exchanges to include private business participants, the end result is that taxpayers will spend millions of dollars unnecessarily while fewer people are likely to be enrolled in qualified health insurance programs—and that is just wrong."

Expanding Medicaid coverage is not a cure-all

Roberta Capp

The Washington Post

Fri, 2013-06-14

"If all states implement the Affordable Care Act, 18 million more people will be enrolled in Medicaid by the end of 2016. Even if some states opt out, the program is poised for a huge expansion. But having insurance does not guarantee access to health care. Policymakers need to explore and reduce the barriers Medicaid patients face as millions join an already overburdened system."

Obamacare's Rate Shock Hits The Buckeye State

Philip Klein

The Washington Examiner

Wed, 2013-06-12

"Ohio Department of Insurance officials announced last week that average premiums in the Buckeye state would soar 88 percent once President Obama's health care law kicks in. The news added fuel to an already raging debate over Obamacare's effect on insurance costs. Ohio's insurance department disclosed that a total of 14 insurance companies had proposed rates on 214 plans to be offered through the federally run insurance exchange set to open on Oct. 1 and begin providing benefits in January."

Obamacare Will Bring Britain's Health-Care Problems To U.S.

Cal Thomas

The Columbus Dispatch

Fri, 2013-06-07

"For years I have been writing about the failures of the United Kingdom’s National Health Service as a warning for what the Affordable Care Act will do to health care here in the U.S. London’s Daily Mail has chronicled the problems with the NHS, which include declining quality of care and availability of services coupled with increased costs. This is what is in store for us, if Congress does not repeal Obamacare."

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