Daily Archives: September 18, 2017

Kaiser’s tracking poll in July found 53 percent in favor of having all Americans get their health insurance from the government; 43 percent were against that. Opposition climbed to 60 percent when people were asked to consider that such a plan would call for higher taxes for many.

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A true single-payer health care system would mean the discontinuation of employer-sponsored health insurance. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ new single-payer proposal proceeds along these lines, making it unlawful for employers to duplicate the offerings of the new single-payer system once that system is fully phased in. However, a truly single-payer framework is not the only approach policymakers could take.

Dr. Tevi Troy, author of the paper and CEO of the American Health Policy Institute, says, “The federal government would be taking on the responsibility of providing health care to all Americans, a change so drastic with consequences ultimately so uncertain that it seems unlikely to win a majority of votes in Congress, especially considering how politically unfeasible it has proven on a much smaller scale even in very liberal states like Vermont.”

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New Mexico Health Connections, a not-for-profit insurance co-op funded through the Affordable Care Act, is a month overdue in filing its second-quarter financial paperwork. And the co-op’s most recent documents, as well as federal ACA documents, show potentially large financial problems that could force New Mexico to shut the company down. This could be another potential black eye for the ACA’s co-op program, in which 19 of 23 companies have already gone under.

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Like the Better Care Reconciliation Act, Graham-Cassidy would repeal Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates. Both bills increase annual contributions to health savings accounts. Both bills phase down state-based Medicaid provider taxes that states use to game the federal government into giving them more money than they’re supposed to get. Both bills allow states the ability to frequently cull their Medicaid rolls of ineligible recipients—something they can’t do today.

The bill would institute a per-capita allotment for the legacy Medicaid program that is quite similar to the one in the BCRA. This per-capita approach is essential to ensuring that Medicaid is fiscally sustainable in the future. Both bills allow states to institute work requirements for Medicaid.

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