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… Read more
Abstract: If implemented as enacted, Obamacare will impose significant new Medicaid costs on states and constitute a major federal usurpation of long-standing state authority in regulating private insurance. This will be expensive and disruptive for those Americans who rely on individual or employer-based insurance… Read more
Reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) will take on new and heightened importance early next year, some of which will reflect on how the congressional leaders manage their respective chambers as well as deal with the low-income children the program was designed to serve. This much is clear: Congress cannot deliver last… Read more
Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has put forth an ambitious health care plan.[1] The plan proposes: Expanding eligibility for existing public programs, including both Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP); Creating a National Health Insurance Exchange to serve as a federal… Read more
Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has unveiled an ambitious health care plan that is comprehensive in scope, sparse in detail, and therefore uncertain in its cost and savings estimates. His proposals focus on three stated objectives: offering affordable, comprehensive, and portable coverage; containing spiraling health care costs and improving quality of care; and promoting… Read more
Congress may soon return to reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Extension of the popular program should have been a simple, quick, and bipartisan victory last year, but policy took a back seat to politics and raw emotion, leaving confusion even among proponents on both sides of the aisle. There was little… Read more
In the coming weeks, Congress may once again debate the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). By doing so, congressional leaders would have an opportunity to take a fresh approach to this issue and avoid the serious flaws in last year's legislation. Extension of the popular program last year should have been… Read more
As President Ronald Reagan reminded the American people in his 1981 inaugural address, the U.S. Constitution separates government powers so that the voters can hold government officials accountable. Government power is separated both horizontally among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches and vertically among the federal, state, and local… Read more
President George W. Bush's fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget proposal for Medicaid is consistent with the Administration's overall efforts to address the growing entitlement crisis. These efforts are weakened, however, by the proposal for a dramatic increase in funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Congress should embrace the President's proposals for Medicaid… Read more
While Washington has been deadlocked over reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), many governors and state policymakers have actively supported Congress not only reauthorizing the program but expanding it further to include uninsured children in families with incomes between 200 percent and 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). State lawmakers tend… Read more
Members of Congress seeking to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover children from wealthier families are exploring new ways to pay for it. The Senate Finance Committee generally has agreed to reauthorize SCHIP for five years with a $35 billion expansion funded by an increase in the federal tobacco tax by… Read more
This year's expected reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has sparked congressional interest in expanding the program. On this issue, Members of Congress should follow some simple advice: When in a hole, put down the shovel and stop digging. The federal government already spends one-fifth of all tax revenues on healthcare entitlements, namely… Read more
Health care coverage for children is important. Without it, children suffer and society pays. One study reports that 54 percent of children without coverage have not received any well-child visits and 31 percent have not seen a doctor in the past year, compared to only 26 percent and 9 percent, respectively, for children with insurance… Read more
There is a deepening crisis in America's hospital emergency rooms. More and more patients are showing up for care without the ability to pay for it. The burden on taxpayers and private insurance policy holders is increasing, and doctors and nurses are often overworked… Read more
The House and Senate recently passed bills to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that will soon be reconciled in conference. Both bills rely on increasing the federal tobacco tax-by 45 cents in the House bill and 61 cents in the Senate bill-to fund SCHIP expansions. An increase in the federal tobacco tax… Read more
A path-breaking 1996 paper by economists David Cutler and Jonathan Gruber provided quantitative support for the idea that expansions of public health care programs often have little "bang for the buck" in terms of reducing the ranks of the uninsured.[1] While some benefits will flow to those who are uninsured,… Read more
Conservatives should beware of policies that simply meet a budget target number without considering whether the...… Read more
In the wake of the White House’s health care summit, reconciliation is still seen as the likely route that...… Read more
Media reports that Obamacare is near death are premature. And, if the past is any guide, flat out wrong. It is possible...… Read more
On the campaign trail, then Senator Obama set a course for universal coverage of children through the State Children’s...… Read more
Speaker Pelosi’s mammoth health legislation, H.R. 3962, includes the largest Medicaid expansion in history, adding as...… Read more
Now that the Baucus Plan has been introduced as actual legislative language, it is clear more time is necessary to have...… Read more
Speaking to a celebrity studded fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in Beverly Hills last night, President...… Read more
It took President Barack Obama all of 15 days to break one of his most fundamental campaign promises. Even in these...… Read more
State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is the federal-state welfare program to provide health insurance for...… Read more
Efforts in Congress to fast-track passage of an economic stimulus package and expansion of the children’s health care...… Read more