Recent Articles

“The work reported here confirms earlier
studies showing that hospitals are able to
extract higher private payments when they
hold more market power. Public policy has
been ambivalent with respect to the ongoing
consolidation within hospital markets. While
antitrust regulatory agencies have challenged
a number of hospital mergers in the past few
decades, these challenges rarely culminated in
decisions to disallow a merger. Now provisions
of the ACA are encouraging further consolidation
of hospitals and physicians, and the final antitrust review regulations from the Department
of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission
have eliminated the proposed mandatory
review of certain prospective ACOs.”

“The healthcare reform law could threaten farmers’ insurance coverage, a group of Senate Democrats said. The law could undermine farmers’ cooperatives, which provide coverage for thousands of farmers and their families. That threat is an ‘unintended, and unwanted’ side effect of the law’s tax credits, Democrats said.”

“Before ObamaCare’s state-based high risk pool program—the pre-existing condition insurance plan (PCIP)—went into effect, critics (including me) warned that enrollment in the program would run high and that as a result the program would go over budget. In California, at least, it turns out that prediction was half wrong. Enrollment in the program is much lower than expected. But program administrators are now worried it might go over budget anyway.”

“Support for President Obama’s healthcare reform law rose slightly over the past month after reaching a low of 34 percent in September, according to the latest Kaiser Health tracking poll. The poll found 44 percent of Americans had a negative view of the law in October, down from a high of 51 percent a month earlier. Support rose slightly to 37 percent. The latest poll confirms that public opinion about the law has had its ups and downs, even as support for the law hasn’t outpolled opposition to it since December of 2010 (they were tied at 41 percent in April 2011).”

“Many people who are patients of Huntsville Hospital’s doctors or facilities have contacted WHNT News 19 about a new, $25 annual fee. Those who’ve emailed us say they do not understand why they are being asked to pay this fee on top of their co-pays… Ingram says President Obama’s Health Care Reform Bill has buried doctors under mountains of new forms. He says that means increased costs to the doctors to hire people to do all that paperwork.”

“The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a challenge to the 2010 health care overhaul law, President Obama’s signature legislative achievement, setting the stage for oral arguments by March and a decision in late June as the 2012 presidential campaign enters its crucial final months… The court scheduled five and a half hours of arguments instead of the usual one, a testament to the importance of the case, and the court’s ruling a few months later will present opportunities and challenges for the presidential contenders as well as for candidates in the battle for control of Congress.”

“Before the ink was dry on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare), the wheels started to fall off. Lawsuits were immediately filed challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate, small businesses wanted the burdensome 1099 requirement immediately repealed, and coalitions were formed to overturn other costly provisions of the law…Thankfully the Supreme Court has decided to take up our case, among others, challenging the individual mandate and whether or not it is ‘severable’ from the rest of the law.”

“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) — the new health reform law — contains financial incentives for the states to establish health insurance exchanges where qualifying individuals and small businesses can purchase subsidized, individual health insurance, starting in 2014.
The structure of the exchange subsidies will encourage low-income workers to congregate in companies that do not provide insurance and high-income employees to work for firms that do provide it.”

“Lawyers on both sides of the lawsuits over President Obama’s healthcare law were caught off guard Monday when the Supreme Court said it would debate whether the law’s Medicaid expansion is constitutional. The high court was widely expected to take up the law’s individual mandate, and to take the case filed by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business. But the court’s decision to also hear the states’ Medicaid challenge came as a surprise to the healthcare law’s critics as well as its supporters.”

“As demand outstrips supply we can expect large increases in waiting time for services and a price war for providers between Medicaid and commercial insurers. Regardless of the administration’s arguments, little in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) addresses this dynamic. Increases in primary care physician fees, funding for Federally Qualified Health Centers, and national health services corps slots don’t build any new physician capacity; they only drive more competition for limited physicians and fuel a price war. It is likely the administration is relying on the Independent Payment Advisory Board and their new premium rate review power over private insurance to try to control prices, but waiting lines and an increased reliance on the emergency room will be a new fact of life.”