Fix Health Care Policy

The outlook for seniors’ Medicare Advantage (MA) plans is grim under the new health care law. Though seniors’ premiums will drop 1 percent in the new year, this will be the exception to the rule over the next decade.

Medicare Advantage is a popular alternative to traditional fee-for-service, allowing seniors to choose their health plan from among participating private plans. If seniors choose a plan that is less expensive than the benchmark price, they receive a rebate that can be used to add extra benefits, such as dental or vision care, or to reduce co-payments or premiums.

The new law, however, will lower the benchmark price set for MA plans. In a recent letter, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Chief Actuary Richard Foster explains that changes made by the new law “are expected to reduce MA rebates to plans and thereby result in less generous benefit packages.” For seniors who wish to keep their current plans, out-of-pocket costs will increase. Foster writes, “Prior to this legislation, the average annual MA rebate was estimated to grow from $1,093 in 2010 to $1,580 in 2019. Under the new provisions, the average MA rebate is expected to decline from its current level to $43 in 2019.” (more…)

Tags: CMS, MA rebate, Medicare Advantage, Obamacare cuts

On October 23, 2009, a reporter asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?” Speaker Pelosi shook her head dismissing the question: “Are you serious? Are you serious?” Pressed for a more substantive response later, Pelosi’s press spokesman admonished the reporter: “You can put this on the record. That is not a serious question. That is not a serious question.”

Yesterday, Roger Vinson, senior federal judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, found it to be a very serious question indeed. Judge Vinson characterized the Obama Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the constitutional challenge to Obamacare brought by 16 state attorneys general, four governors, two private citizens and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) as “not even a close call.” Addressing the Obama administration’s claim that Congress had the authority to enact Obamacare pursuant to the Commerce Clause, Judge Vinson wrote:

“The individual mandate applies across the board. People have no choice and there is no way to avoid it. Those who fall under the individual mandate either comply with it, or they are penalized. It is not based on an activity that they make the choice to undertake. Rather, it is based solely on citizenship and on being alive. As the nonpartisan CBO concluded sixteen years ago (when the individual mandate was considered, but not pursued during the 1994 national healthcare reform efforts): ‘A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.’”

(more…)

Tags: Commerce Clause, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Individual Mandate, Intolerable Act, repeal Obamacare, states' lawsuit

A recent letter from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reveals how Obamacare will erode patients’ access to certain preventive services.

The new health care law requires insurers to cover all preventive measures rated “A” or “B” by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) with zero cost-sharing. Otherwise, “a plan or issuer has the discretion to either cover or not cover additional preventive services not recommended by the USPSTF,” according to the CRS letter. (more…)

Tags: controversial recommendations, HHS, mammograms, ObamaCare, preventive services, Side Effects, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

Since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, states and individuals have been on the offensive against the new law and many are following in the footsteps of Virginia and Florida.

Obamacare is now being challenged by 20 different lawsuits with 21 different states as plaintiffs, but it is difficult to find all the different court documents and key arguments for the ongoing cases. The Independent Women’s Forum, a nonprofit group supporting limited government and economic freedom, has just launched a new Web site that will track the numerous ongoing court cases against Obamacare. Healthcarelawsuits.org provides easy access to the facts behind the different legal challenges to Obamacare. Obamacare is being fought on all sides, with states leading the legal battle. (more…)

Tags: Florida, Individual Mandate, interactive map, lawsuits, ObamaCare, repeal, Virginia

On September 30th, Janet Adamy reported for The Wall Street Journal that McDonald’s was considering canceling its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless new Obamacare regulations were waived. The White House pushed back hard with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Jessica Santillo claiming: “This story is wrong. The new law provides significant flexibility to maintain coverage for workers.” But this Tuesday we learned that Adamy was correct. According to Bloomberg News McDonald’s had sought, and eventually won, a waiver from the upcoming Obamacare regulations. This allows them to continue providing health insurance coverage to 115,000 workers. In fact, McDonald’s workers were just some of the over 1 million of Americans who were spared losing their current health care coverage thanks to one-year waivers from the Obama HHS.

The White House effort to discredit reports that Obamacare is forcing companies to consider dropping health care coverage comes on the heels of a letter HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sent to the nation’s health insurers threatening to exclude them from the yet to be implemented Obamacare health exchanges. The letter warned there “will be zero tolerance” for “falsely blaming premium increases” on Obamacare. And who would determine if premium increases were or were not due to Obamacare? The Obama administration of course. When it comes to the health care sector, Obamacare has turned Secretary Sebelius into judge, jury, and executioner. And we are just beginning to witness the scope of Obamacare’s bureaucratic powers. (more…)

Tags: Galen Institute, Hillsdale College, McDonald's, Obamacare waiver, redistribute wealth, zero tolerance

Obamacare has struck again. Last week, 3M announced plans to drop health benefits for retirees, citing the new law’s impact as a contributor in its decision.

In 2013, 3M retirees who qualify for Medicare will lose their current employer-sponsored health benefits, and instead receive a health reimbursement account (HRA) with which to buy a Medicare plan.

In 2015, this policy will extend to all 3M retirees. Those who do not qualify for Medicare will be able to use their HRA to purchase a health plan in the new federally mandated insurance exchanges. (more…)

Tags: 3M, employee retirement benefits, health reimbursement accounts, Medicare, ObamaCare, Side Effects

President Obama and his supporters have said that one of the major benefits of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would be a drop in health insurance premiums. But a new Hewitt Associates study shows that insurance costs will continue to rise for 2011.

The study projects an 8.8 percent average premium increase for employers, compared with a 6.9 percent rate jump in 2010. Additionally, employee contributions toward health coverage are expected to soar by $2,209, or 22.5 percent. This is up 12.4 percent from 2010, when employees contributed $1,966, the study said. (more…)

Tags: employee contributions, health care costs, Hewitt Associates, premium increase, Side Effects

President Barack Obama’s promise that “if you like it you can keep it” may be this generation’s “read my lips—no new taxes,” claim. New Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick recently said “Medicare Advantage remains strong and a robust option for millions of seniors who choose to enroll or stay in a participating plan today and in the future.” But seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans offered through one Massachusetts insurer are about to find out otherwise.

Harvard Pilgrim, the state’s second largest insurance company, plans to cancel its Medicare Advantage plan by 2011, forcing 22,000 seniors, who may very well like their current coverage just fine, to find another option. For many, this could mean enrolling in traditional Medicare and Harvard Pilgrim’s Medicare Supplemental plan, which offers similar benefits but at a higher expense. (more…)

Tags: CMS Director Donald Berwick, Harvard Pilgrim, Medicare Advantage, Obamacare false promises, Side Effects

Small business is the backbone of our economy. They create new jobs, employ half of the private sector workforce, and represent 99.9% of the businesses in this country. In recent years, small businesses have created 7 out of every 10 private sector jobs. In tough economic times, the government should do everything in its power to help small businesses, not burden them with new regulations and higher taxes. In order to jumpstart this economy, we must empower small businesses and give them the resources they need to create jobs and help put America back to work again.

First, we need to make things easy for small businesses. Right now they are drowning in mindless paperwork required by the government for some unknown purpose. And, unfortunately, it’s only getting worse. Take for instance the new health care law. It imposes $569 billion in new and higher taxes on businesses and individuals and includes a provision that would require a small business to file a 1099 form for any purchase over $600. This new government mandate has nothing to do with health coverage, it only imposes yet another hurdle and pile of paperwork for already over-regulated small business owners. A better alternative to the new health care law would be to empower our small businesses to band together to purchase health insurance for their employees so that they have more choices and access to more affordable options. (more…)

Tags: 1099 form requirements, Rep. Hal Rogers, small business, tax burden