America's health care financing and insurance systems need major reform. Policymakers should take decisive steps to move today's bureaucracy driven, heavily regulated third-party payment system to a new patient-centered system of consumer choice and real free-market competition. In such a system, individuals and families would make the key decisions and control the flow of dollars.
As we wait for the Supreme Court to rule on the health reform law’s mandate that all US individuals purchase health insurance, it’s a good time to turn our attention to other core elements of reform that will be debated hotly during this election year and beyond. Read More.
Issues 2012 provides candidates for elected office the ability to quickly identify the key issues of the day and present clear policy recommendations, supported by facts, for addressing them. Read More.
The Heritage Foundation offers a detailed plan to redesign entitlement programs, guarantee assistance to those who need it, and save the American dream for future generations. Read More.
Fulfilling their promise to voters, the U.S House of Representatives has already taken critical steps toward full repeal of Obamacare. But Congress cannot stop at repeal. Read More.
Building on decades of Heritage research, The Case Against Obamacare: A Health Care Policy Series for the 112th Congress examines 15 key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Read More.
Slide 1 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Entitlement spending is the main cause of long-term runaway federal deficits. Medicare is the fastest- growing program due to retiring baby boomers and rising health care costs. …
Slide 10 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Projected Medicare savings from Obamacare don't improve the program. Instead, they pay for other new programs created under the law that aren't even for seniors. By slashing reimbursement rates instead of introducing real reform, the health law jeopardizes seniors'…
Slide 9 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Many believe that seniors pay for their own Medicare benefits, but in fact, current workers finance current enrollee benefits. In addition, most Medicare beneficiaries end up receiving more than what they paid in to the system. …
Slide 3 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Workers' contributions to Medicare aren't set aside for their own retirement— they pay for current beneficiaries. A main cause of Medicare's growing insolvency is that the ratio of workers to beneficiaries is falling. …
Slide 8 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Approximately 88 percent of seniors' Medicare benefits are funded by taxpayers. Medicare Part A is mandatory coverage funded by the payroll tax. But Medicare Parts B and D, which cover outpatient services and prescription drugs, respectively, are voluntary and…
Slide 2 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform The Medicare shortfall is the difference between the money the program brings in and the money it spends on health care benefits. Even assuming that unrealistic cost-containment policies in current law are sustained, by 2040, Medicare's shortfall will account…
Slide 12 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Obamacare makes deep cuts to provider payments to offset the cost of new programs that aren't for seniors. If these deep cuts go into effect, many providers will operate in the red, making it very difficult for seniors to…
Slide 6 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Medicare is consuming more of household income than ever before, a trend that will continue. Absent reform, the situation will soon require either economy-crushing new taxes or painful benefit cuts in the program. …
Slide 5 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform The Medicare trustees are required to base their projections on current law as it is written. These projections rely on unrealistic assumptions, such as Congress allowing staggering provider payment cuts that will harm seniors' access to care. The alternative…
Slide 4 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform The average life expectancy in the United States has increased since Medicare was created, but the program's eligibility age has remained constant at age 65. As a result, seniors collect benefits for almost three times as long compared to…
Abstract: The great and calamitous fiscal trends of our time—dependence on government by an increasing portion of the American population, and soaring debt that threatens the financial integrity of the economy—worsened yet again in 2010 and 2011. The United States has long reached the…
Saving the American Dream is The Heritage Foundation’s plan to fix the debt, cut spending and, above all, restore prosperity. It balances the nation’s budget within a decade—and keeps it balanced. It reduces the debt and cuts government…
Abstract: The hodgepodge of new taxes that have already or will soon take effect as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act may not all show up in the income tax tables, but their huge cost is still very real. This…
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)[1] imposes numerous tax hikes that transfer more than $500 billion over 10 years—and more in the future—from hardworking American families and businesses to Congress for spending on new entitlements and subsidies. In addition, higher tax rates on working and investing…
Abstract: Next week, the Supreme Court will hear challenges to Obamacare (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) centered on the constitutionality of the legislation’s individual mandate and Medicaid expansion. From a legal perspective, the Court’s decision will…
According to surveys, no group of Americans is more skeptical of Obamacare than senior citizens[1]—and with good reason. While bits and pieces of the massive law are designed to appeal to seniors—more taxpayer subsidies for the Medicare drug benefit, for example—much of the financing…
The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) new preventive services guidelines are a disaster for freedom of conscience and a fresh illustration of the political hammerlock “reproductive rights” organizations have on the Obama Administration. Forcing private insurance plans to pay for morally controversial offerings such…
No class of American professionals will be more negatively impacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act than physicians. Third-party payment arrangements already compromise the independence and integrity of the medical profession; Obamacare will reinforce the worst of these features.…
Trampling Religious Liberty The Anti-Conscience Mandate: Under Obamacare, all insurance plans must cover, at no charge, abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives, sterilization, and patient education and counseling for…
Abstract: The heart of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” is an unprecedented mandate that individuals purchase health insurance. The briefs of the parties challenging Obamacare and their supporting amici…
The release of the annual Medicare trustees report in late April, containing as it did a vast array of very bad news, was immediately greeted with valid dire warnings of fiscal disaster.[1] Little noticed, however, were three important bits of good news: the inevitability of imminent action; a…
The House of Representatives recently passed a budget resolution that recommends a Medicaid block grant, which puts Medicaid spending on a budget like other government programs and gives states greater flexibility to manage the program. These are both important changes, but clear policy goals must accompany them to reform Medicaid…
The contrast between competing visions for Medicare’s future has been underscored by the 2012 Medicare trustees report. Conservatives and liberals agree that Medicare is on an unsustainable course; the debate is about changing course and securing a better future. Faced with rapidly rising Medicare costs, President Obama wants to slash…
The recent Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate under Obamacare, requiring nearly all insurance plans to cover abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization, has sparked heated debate across the country. Although proponents of Obamacare have attempted to frame the debate differently, one question remains fundamentally at issue: Can the federal government…
Abstract: One element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the advancement of “comparative effectiveness research” (CER). Intended to compare available treatment options, CER can benefit patients if used for informational purposes only, but it could also be harmful in practice.…
Executive Summary The United States is at a fiscal tipping point—mostly due to the explosive growth in federal entitlement spending, especially on Medicare. The long-term unfunded liability of the Medicare program—promised benefits that are not financed—is almost…
The recent Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate for preventive services under President Obama’s health care law is an unprecedented assault on religious liberty. The mandate forces many religious employers to either contradict their faith by providing and paying for abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization in violation of their deeply…
Abstract: The President’s budget perpetuates a misleading portrayal of the true magnitude of federal spending. This is most clearly evident in the figures for Medicare spending, which the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reports as $480 billion for 2011—$80 billion less than the…
Abstract: On its second anniversary, Obamacare remains unpopular. The provisions currently in effect have fallen short of expectations and disrupted the market, causing even greater uncertainty for the future. Overall, Obamacare has increased government control of Americans’ health care choices and limited consumer choice.…
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama sat down with world leaders at the G8 summit and bragged about his track...…
A month before the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of Obamacare, liberal supporters are...…
President Obama has repeatedly claimed that he is “going to keep on fighting for what matters to middle class families.”...…
The Department of Health and Human Services has inked a $20 million contract with a top public-relations firm to sell...…
Consumer-directed health plans have become increasing popular because of their ability to save consumers money. Breaking...…
Yet another provision of Obamacare is expected to cost taxpayers more than they expected. The House Energy and...…
The contraception mandate has met yet another foe. On Monday, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a complaint against...…
The House Ways and Means Committee just released a report that shows that the most successful companies would save...…
A new study by the Urban Institute reconfirms a vital fact: Medicare’s massive increase in enrollment, largely...…
One of the biggest fears Americans have about Obamacare is who will ultimately control health care decisions: the...…
Senior Research Fellow, Health Policy Studies
Policy Analyst
Director, Center for Health Policy Studies and Preston A. Wells, Jr. Fellow