“Physician Hospitals of America (PHA) has filed a formal notice of appeal in its ongoing battle against growth restrictions in the healthcare reform law that make it nearly impossible for physician-owned hospitals to expand, according to PHA.
PHA and its coplaintiff, Texas Spine and Joint Hospital in Tyler, Texas, are arguing that provisions that prevent new or expanding physician-owned hospitals from qualifying for Medicare are unconstitutional, as well as limit patient access to high-quality hospitals.”
“The White House conveniently failed to notice the program’s problems during the health care debate. But last fall, the president’s own fiscal commission officially called for a total repeal of the program. At this point, even Obama’s top health care officials won’t stand behind the program’s worthless fiscal design. ‘While the law outlined a framework for the CLASS Act,’ Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told members of Congress in February, ‘we determined pretty quickly that it would not meet the requirement that the act be self-sustaining and not rely on taxpayer assistance.’ Whoops!”
“The law’s spending path depends on making providers pay for all the future Medicare shortfalls. But since no one can force health-care providers to show up for work, short of a health-care provider draft this reform ultimately cannot succeed. The House Republican path, on the other hand, would make a sum of money available to each senior to choose among competing private plans—much the way Medicare Advantage provides insurance today for about one out of every four Medicare beneficiaries.”
“One of the key components of ObamaCare, tax subsidies to purchase federally approved health insurance, will substantially increase the number of people who are not paying for government services and thus have a lower incentive to be concerned about record-breaking government spending. These tax subsidies, which take effect in 2014, will also harm the economy by increasing the national deficit and by creating huge marginal tax rates that will discourage productivity for many households. Obamacare’s tax subsidies are one of the primary reasons to repeal Obamacare.”
“This summer the IRS is set to finish writing the rules for one of ObamaCare’s new taxes–its 2.3% levy on medical device companies. Congress should wrest the pen from the taxman’s hand and scrap the tax entirely. Not only will it raise the prices American patients pay for life-saving medical equipment, it will also destroy thousands of high-quality jobs across the country.”
“Comparative effectiveness research could cost the nation trillions of dollars in economic activity and shorten the lives of Americans, concludes a new report from the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.”
“Last month was tax time, and some small businesses filed at last for the health insurance tax credit included in the health reform law. Most will be disappointed. Since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) passed a year ago, its supporters have touted its benefits. Yet, it’s important to remember why the credit does not deserve any lavish praise.”
“This is ObamaCare’s so-called ‘cost-control’: politically motivated handouts that make prescription drugs more expensive while gutting one of the few policy mechanisms that’s proven somewhat successful at restraining the health care spending we’re already stuck with.”
“Monday’s New York Times had another classic entry in the annals of Obamacare. It seems that nursing homes are asking HHS for waivers from Obamacare’s requirement that employers provide health coverage to their workers. Nursing homes, even though they are in the health-care business, often don’t provide insurance to their employees. They can’t afford to.”
“It’s not rocket science: When costs go up, some or all of those additional costs will be shifted to employees. ObamaCare makes it more expensive for many businesses to keep existing health benefits, so employees will end up paying a greater share.”