FixHealthCarePolicy

VIDEO: Small Business Owners Fight Obamacare in Court

Research on the last seven recessions shows that small businesses generate about two out of every three new jobs during the recovery. But this time around the Obama administration has crippled the ability small businesses to lead the way in new hiring with their job killing Obamacare legislation.

Not only does the bill slap small businesses with an employment tax, new tax reporting requirements, and tons of new regulations, but it is also an unconstitutional extension of federal government power. (more…)

Tags: individual mandates, National Federation of Independent, ObamaCare, small business

Another Public Option? How Many Do We Need?

The public option has reared its head once again. Last week, H.R. 5808 was introduced in the House Ways and Means Committee to add a public option to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

The plan would be administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Payment rates for providers would be set at Medicare rates plus 5 percent and would grow according to increasing physicians’ costs. The plan would be required to maintain solvency, so premiums would have to cover benefits offered and administrative costs.

Momentarily setting aside the major drawbacks of a public plan, this legislation isn’t necessary—the PPACA already lays the groundwork for a robust public option. The new law will allow the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which currently oversees federal employees’ health benefits, to administer plans in the exchanges. These plans would be offered by private insurers but run by unelected government officials. (more…)

Tags: limited choice, Medicaid, Medicare, Office of Personnel Management, public option

Robert Moffit Weighs in on ObamaCare at Orange County Register

Robert Moffit, a top health care expert and senior fellow at Heritage, recently stopped by the editorial offices of the Orange County Register in California to discuss the impact we’re already feeling from ObamaCare.

Check out Moffit’s explanation of why ObamaCare is an attack on federalism and what the health reform law will mean for health care services and insurance. See the videos here.

Tags: federalism, health insurance, ObamaCare

New Bill Not Necessary: Public Option Already in Obamacare

Like many federal efforts in Washington, last week’s reintroduction from House Democrats to create a public health insurance option, which would become part of the 2014 insurance exchanges created by Obamacare, is a bureaucratic redundancy. Stuart Butler points out that the health reform law already has its own “public option” through expanded powers to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Calling the House bill a “smokescreen” for the nation’s opposition against a public option, Butler says the real story is in the “OPM alternative.” “Far from being an alternative, it is the fast road to a public plan — as I warned before the legislation passed. Why? Because the ‘alternative’ gives the OPM the power to establish national plans. These are to be private — but in name only.”

With “enormous reserve powers,” the federal government would be able to set premiums that would drive other private health insurers out of the market, leaving Americans with no choice but to enroll in the government-mandated health plan.

Tags: health insurance premiums, ObamaCare, Office of Personnel Management, private insurers, public option

Side Effects: Obamacare Encouraging Insurers to Cut Corners

With or without Obamacare, health insurance costs are on the rise. And that has businesses searching for more affordable options.

One increasingly popular option: health plans covering services provided by a relatively small number of participating doctors and hospitals. These plans are most attractive to small employers, but The New York Times reports, “Large employers, as well, are starting to show some interest, and insurers and consultants expect that, over time, businesses of all sizes will gravitate toward these plans in an effort to cut costs.”

(more…)

Tags: health care costs, insurers, ObamaCare, required benefits package, Side Effects

Side Effects: House Fix Is Just the Beginning to Plugging the Holes in Obamacare

Though Democrats’ health care bill has already been signed into law, work on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is anything but complete. Last Wednesday, the House passed a bill that would make several technical corrections to the health bill hastily passed last March.

The authors of the PPACA never expected the version that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve to become the final version signed into law. But Scott Brown’s election in Massachusetts made it the only possible way Democrats could have passed their desired health care overhaul. Because of the slipshod way in which the legislation was crafted, the Veterans’, Seniors’, and Children’s Health Technical Corrections Act (H.R. 5712) was introduced to fix provisions containing errors or clearly unintentional consequences. This is expected to be the first of many fixes to the health care bill. (more…)

Tags: affiliation agreements, ObamaCare, orphan drugs, Side Effects, teaching hospitals

Obamacare Is Not Entitlement Reform

The United States faces financial collapse due to out-of-control government spending, and entitlement programs have a lot to do with it. Washington has promised more than it could ever possibly deliver.

Medicare in particular puts the government on the hook for $38 trillion in long-term unfunded liabilities, and reform to address this is sorely needed. Change must address not only spending but also the system by which the program operates, which currently encourages inefficient use of health services. This trend has penetrated the health care system at large.

According to the Obama Administration, the health care overhaul passed in March addressed the need for entitlement reform. However, at a recent event hosted by the Galen Institute, expert James Capretta introduced his research that shows that this is not the case. (more…)

Tags: bend cost curve, entitlement reform, financial collapse, Medicare, unfunded liabilities

White House Admits Obamacare’s Individual Mandate is a Tax

Throughout his presidential campaign, then-candidate Barack Obama promised the American people: “If you’re a family that’s making $250,000 a year or less, you will see no increase in your taxes.” After he became President, Barack Obama reiterated that pledge, promising the American people in his September 9th health care press conference: “The middle-class will realize greater security, not higher taxes.” But Obamacare does contain tax hikes. Tons of them. From taxes on tanning beds to taxes on employment and investments, Obamacare is a certified job-killing machine.

None of these taxes touches the lives of every American as closely as the individual mandate to purchase health insurance. For the first time in American history, Obamacare forces all Americans to purchase a product or face sanction from the Internal Revenue Service. This is clearly a tax, as pointed out by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos during a September 20th interview with the President himself. In an exchange that can only be described as “Clintonesque” Stephanopoulos pressed President Obama to admit his individual mandate was a tax. But President Obama refused to acknowledge reality and denied it. Stephanopoulos was forced to read the definition of “tax” straight from Merriam Webster’s Dictionary. But even then Obama refused to come clean: “George, the fact that you looked up Merriam’s Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you’re stretching a little bit right now. … Nobody considers that a tax increase.” Well nobody but President Barack Obama’s Justice Department.

The New York Times confirmed Friday that in preparation for defending constitutionality of the Obamacare individual mandate in court, an Obama Justice Department legal brief argues that the penalty used to enforce the mandate is “a valid exercise” of Congress’s power to impose taxes. Mr. Obama’s own Justice Department further repudiates the President’s earlier statement by noting that the penalty is imposed and collected under the Internal Revenue Code, people must report it on their tax returns, and that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will cost Americans $4 billion a year. Yale Law School professor Jack Balkin told a meeting of progressive activists last month that President Obama “has not been honest with the American people about the nature of this bill. This bill is a tax.”

The fact that the Obama administration and their allies are now admitting the individual mandate is a tax betrays their very real fear that the Supreme Court could find Obamacare’s individual mandate unconstitutional. In the bill itself, Congress identified the Commerce Clause as the source of their authority to force all Americans to buy health insurance. But as our legal team has made eminently clear, the mandate does not purport to regulate or prohibit commerce of any kind. To the contrary, it purports to “regulate”—and penalize—inactivity. If the Supreme Court allows the Obamacare individual mandate to stand, then Congress could do anything it wanted. They could: require us to buy a new Chevy Impala each year to support the government-supported auto industry; require us to buy war bonds to pay for the Iraq and Afghan wars; or force us to eat our vegetables.

But even if the Obama administration is now admitting the individual mandate is a tax, that still does not make the law constitutional. Rather than operating as a tax on income, the mandate is a tax on the person and is, therefore, a capitation tax. Therefore the 16th Amendment’s grant of power to Congress to assess an income tax does not apply. The Constitution does allow Congress to assess a capitation tax, but that requires the tax be assessed evenly based op population. That is not how the Obamacare mandate works. It exempts and carves out far too many exceptions to past muster as a capitation tax. The Obamacare mandate is still unprecedented and unconstitutional.

But perhaps more importantly, what does the episode say about the integrity of the White House? The President went on national television and insisted in unequivocal terms that his individual mandate was not a tax. Now his administration is saying the exact opposite. At what point do the American people lose all faith in this President’s word?

Tags: constitutionality, Individual Mandate, job killer, ObamaCare, taxes

Federal Bailouts of Medicaid Encourage the Unsustainable Status Quo

In the past few months, the Senate has made several attempts to extend the Medicaid bailout included in the stimulus package. States share the cost of Medicaid with the federal government, and because of the influx of new beneficiaries due to increased job loss, the federal government increased the portion of the cost that it would cover.

This was bad policy. Congress should avoid another bailout that would treat low-income Americans inequitably from state to state and further delay reforms to increase the fiscal sustainability of Medicaid.

Recent analysis by Heritage’s Brian Blase shows that when Washington increases Medicaid matching rates, aid is unfairly distributed. Richer states with more lavish Medicaid programs receive more assistance.

According to Blase’s analysis, of Americans living in poverty, 6.6 percent live in New York, yet New York received 15 percent of bailout money in the first stimulus. Conversely, Georgia is home to 3.6 percent of Americans living in poverty but received only 2 percent of federal assistance. (more…)

Tags: entitlement reform, Medicaid, stimulus, unemployment

Side Effects: Obamacare Could Punish Docs for Better Quality Care

“Pay-for-performance” medicine has gained popularity in recent years, and Obamacare makes it a reality for Medicare enrollees. But that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Pay-for-performance allows third parties to pay physicians based on treatment outcomes. In theory, this sounds like a great way to encourage doctors to improve outcomes. But in practice, it’s a bit more complex.

To determine payments, payers must use some sort of yardstick to measure outcomes. Medicare has done this for years. Its hospital and physician quality reporting programs require health care providers to report on government-chosen quality measures or face reduced reimbursement rates. (more…)

Tags: Cleveland Clinic, Medicare, ObamaCare, pay-for-performance, Side Effects