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.
The health care system needs reform, but not the types of changes enacted under the new health care law. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act moves the health care system in the wrong direction. Read More.
Abstract: The introduction of the bipartisan Wyden–Ryan premium support plan for Medicare ensures that reform of the government’s largest health entitlement program will continue to be a major topic of debate in 2012. With premium support, the federal government moves away from running a… Read more
Abstract: “Premium support” proposals to reform the Medicare program have a long and bipartisan history. The basic idea, which would provide beneficiaries with a financial contribution to purchase Medicare coverage, has been developed and refined over more than 15 years. While versions differ in… Read more
Abstract: Medicare reform is inevitable because its demands on the federal budget are unsustainable. The question is whether Congress will extend the premium support model to the rest of Medicare or pursue a radical approach that … Read more
The recent proposal by Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) and Senator Ron Wyden (D–OR) showcases the growing, and bipartisan, agreement that premium support is the path forward for saving Medicare.[1] Premium support is a financing arrangement where the government makes a defined contribution to the health plan of an… Read more
Abstract: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued final regulations for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The outcome is disappointing: There are marginal changes only; the final regulations retain the same flawed structure set out in… Read more
The much-awaited release of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s (PCORI) priorities and research agenda lacks specifics and fails to answer concerns that its research findings will ultimately be used to limit treatment options. The PCORI was created in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)… Read more
We Need Medicare Reform, but Not Obamacare Obamacare Ends Traditional Medicare, but the Wrong Way: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed that the health law… Read more
Abstract: In March 2012, two years after the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the Supreme Court will hear challenges to the federal health care legislation. One issue the court will take up is whether the PPACA’s Medicaid expansion constitutes… Read more
Abstract: The current trend of rapidly rising health care costs is unsustainable. Many proposed reforms to curb spending rely on some type of rationing imposed by an unaccountable government body. A better alternative would be to allow individual consumers to make their own decisions… Read more
Abstract: Beginning in the 1990s, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made significant progress in reviewing applications for new drugs and medical devices in a timely manner, but under the most recent reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), the review process… Read more
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the health care bill signed into law by President Obama in March, will overhaul the current health insurance system by enforcing mandates on individuals and businesses, expanding Medicaid, and introducing new taxes and fines to help pay for the increased… Read more
The Administration’s health policy agenda—embodied in Congress’s two giant health care bills (H.R.3590 and H.R.4872)—is now law. The justification for the new law’s burdensome taxes, unprecedented mandates, deficit spending, and stifling government regulation is that millions of Americans will now be insured. But the real impact Obamacare will have… Read more
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.… Read more
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… Read more
Private-sector job creation initially recovered from the recession at a normal rate, leading to predictions last year of a “Recovery Summer.” Since April 2010, however, net private-sector job creation has stalled. Within two months of the passage of Obamacare, the job market stopped improving. This suggests that businesses are not… Read more
Revised and updated September 16, 2009 Millions Will Lose Their Current Insurance. Period. End of Story: President Obama wants Americans to believe they can keep their insurance if they like, but research from the government, private research firms, and think tanks show this is not the case. The economic incentives plus a government-run health… Read more
Abstract: Fifty years ago, America began a grand experiment by transferring to the federal government the fiscal responsibility for individuals with mental illnesses. During that half-century, it has become increasingly clear that the experiment has been a costly failure, both in terms of human… Read more
In this week's Heritage in Focus, expert Bob Moffit discusses how Obamacare ends Medicare as we know it. Click here to...… Read more
Medicare is in dire need of reform. This week's chart illustrates why the entitlement program is the largest driver of...… Read more
Today, the Supreme Court released the oral argument schedule for the consolidated Obamacare challenges. The Court...… Read more
Support for Obamacare sunk to 29 percent in the latest Associated Press poll. The widespread dissatisfaction with...… Read more
Congressman Paul Ryan (R–WI) and Senator Ron Wyden (D–OR) have proposed a new bipartisan framework for structural...… Read more
Medicare faces a dismal future that could threaten its very existence. In two recent papers, Stuart Butler, Ph.D., and...… Read more
Even without Obamacare, the United States faces rising health care costs and an economy struggling to recover from the...… Read more
A lot of news was made this week when the National Federation of Independent Business filed a petition to the Supreme...… Read more
Yesterday, Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) shared his outlook for repealing and replacing Obamacare. Ryan pointed out...… Read more
Click here to join the online chat on Obamacare. We are joined by Health Policy Analyst Kate Nix. She is taking your...… Read more
Distinguished Fellow and Director, Center for Policy Innovation
Senior Research Fellow, Health Policy Studies
Policy Analyst
Director, Health Policy Studies