Obamacare has invented a dangerous new way to hide federal spending, including more than $100 billion designed to look like tax cuts. In defiance of standard United States government accounting practices (and the government’s standard definitions of terms), Obamacare labels its direct outlays to insurance companies “tax credits” (not outlays)—even though they don’t actually cut…
DetailsThe fate of the Obama administration’s significant investments in biomedical research will end up in the hands of either a candidate with a long, wonky track record on health and medicine — with mixed results — or the candidate whose views are an almost complete mystery. Clinton “really knows what’s going on and is a…
DetailsMaryland’s health cooperative filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block the federal government from requiring it to pay more than $22 million in fees for a program designed to cover insurance company shortfalls. The lawsuit by Evergreen Health Cooperative Inc. is the latest twist in the saga of health insurance co-ops set up under the…
DetailsAbout 1,000 health care economists from around the country descend on Philadelphia this week for the biennial conference of the American Society of Health Economists. Think of it as Woodstock for health geeks who will, over several days, present nearly 550 papers covering insurance, hospital mergers and a host of other issues. Of all those,…
DetailsCalifornia Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law allowing unauthorized immigrants to buy health insurance on a state exchange created under the U.S. Affordable Care Act, making the state the first in the country to offer that kind of coverage. The law lets the state request a waiver from the federal government that will…
DetailsRepublican Obamacare replacement plans released so far would change the federal tax code to mitigate the cost of health insurance for individuals and families. The Sessions-Cassidy legislation would provide a universal health insurance tax credit (UHITC) of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for married couples filing jointly, plus $1,500 per qualifying dependent. A plan Price…
DetailsMany people contend that we should not worry about the premium rate shock because the ACA insulates most people from gross premiums. The oft-repeated idea is that the ACA basically requires only that people pay a percentage of their income in premiums. So, unless income goes up, a person’s net premium stays the same. Reporters, pundits…
DetailsThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday trotted out insurance executives who have found success selling health plans to individuals via the online insurance exchanges, a key part of the Affordable Care Act. The conference, held in Washington and live-streamed to journalists and others, gave industry executives an opportunity to outline their…
DetailsMillions of people who pay the full cost of their health insurance will face the sting of rising premiums next year, with no financial help from government subsidies. Renewal notices bearing the bad news will go out this fall, just as the presidential election is in the homestretch. “I don’t know if I could swallow…
DetailsThe number of part-time workers in jobs for economic reasons shot up by 468,000, apart from the 458,000 that left the workforce altogether. Slack work or business conditions accounted for 181,000 of these jobs, while another 77,000 could only find part-time work. Analysts at Goldman Sachs have noticed this trend for some time, and put…
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