“The House voted Friday to block funding for the health care law in several ways – starting the countdown to the defunding clash with Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama.
As expected, it approved Rep. Denny Rehberg’s amendment to the continuing resolution, which bans all payments to ‘any employee, officer, contractor, or grantee of any department or agency’ to implement the law.”
“The United States became the most powerful and prosperous nation in the history of the world not through central planning and bureaucracy but because our Founders chose a different course: freedom, limited government, state and local leadership, and private-sector innovation. That formula will work in health care, and absent the repeal or overturning of last year’s law, it starts with the delegation of powers to states.”
“Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell said he won’t implement the federal health-care overhaul after a judge in Florida struck down the law as unconstitutional… Mr. Parnell, who sought the advice of his attorney general amid concerns implementing the law would violate his oath of office, told the Juneau Chamber of Commerce the state would pursue lawful, market-based solutions to making insurance affordable and accessible to Alaskans.”
“Few have been discussing the fact that last year’s health care law will increase gross federal debt and thus accelerate the speed at which we will approach the statutory debt limit in the future. As elected officials wrestle with these two contentious issues (health care and the debt limit) it seems reasonable to set a minimum policy goal that last year’s health care law be modified so that it at least not worsen the statutory debt outlook.”
“These taxes and fees are less important than the implications of the law’s gargantuan reordering of the pharmaceutical marketplace. Over the long term, Obamacare will cause a significant degradation of the private-sector market for pharmaceuticals, a market that has been the best in the world.”
“What made people especially angry was that I argued that ObamaCare had made our fiscal problems worse–yes, even if its deficit-reduction measures all worked, a proposition of which I am deeply skeptical. That’s because ObamaCare used up all the most obvious and politically feasible cuts in Medicare–and when that proved insufficient, some that weren’t obvious or politically feasible, like requiring every small business owner in the land to issue 1099s to people they bought supplies from.”
“The Obama administration envisions accountable care organizations (ACOs) as the drivers of health care innovation, but such innovation has historically come from entrepreneurs in the private sector.
ACOs offer financial incentives to cut costs, but this means restricting patient choice and limiting the use of some expensive care.
The ACO concept is not new. Similar ideas have been tried before, but they failed because they were unable to control costs or manage medical risk.”
“To consider what the expansion of Medicaid under ObamaCare might do to the states, take a look at Massachusetts and Tennessee. In 2006, Massachusetts overhauled its entire health-care system, including a significant expansion of Medicaid. This expansion is costing the state far more than expected. Gov. Deval Patrick approved a record-setting $9.6 billion to cover its share of Medicaid costs last July. It wasn’t enough. He’s already gone back to the legislature twice, adding almost $600 million in additional funds.”
“The Obama Administration’s healthcare proposals continue to rob Peter to pay Paul with dangerous
consequences for the America’s healthcare system. First, the President failed to address the Medicare
physician reimbursement problem with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Now the
President is proposing a two year doc fix that shifts care access problems from the elderly to the poor,
undermines drug innovation, and further relies on unproven cost savings that will likely just add to the
federal budget deficit.”
“The Obama administration health department office tasked with selling the healthcare reform law is looking to quadruple its budget while almost doubling the size of its staff. Under the Department of Health and Human Services’ fiscal 2012 budget request, the assistant secretary for public affairs’ office would get a bump from $4.8 million to $19.9 million in fiscal 2012. Meanwhile, the office would grow from 24 to 46 full-time equivalent employees.”