January 28, 2010
Health Care and Medical Malpractice Reform: The Necessity of Reform in the Current Debate
By the Honorable John Cornyn and Edwin Meese III
(Heritage Lecture #1142)
All victims of medical malpractice should have access to the courts for the compensation that they are entitled to under our laws, but state laws ...

January 27, 2010
How Health Care Reform Will Affect Young Adults
By Rea S. Hederman, Jr., and Paul L. Winfree
(Center for Data Analysis Report #10-02)
Both of the current House and Senate health care bills disproportionately burden younger, healthier Americans with higher insurance premiums. To ensure that these young people ...

January 22, 2010
Squeezing out Private Health Plans
By Robert A. Book, Ph.D., and Kathryn Nix
(WebMemo #2774)
The Senate health care bill opens the door to the complete elimination of people's ability to choose private health plans

January 21, 2010
The Public Health Plan Reincarnated: New-and Troubling-Powers for OPM
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Kathryn Nix
(Backgrounder #2364)
The U.S. Senate's much-discussed Christmas Eve vote on health care reform has not received the attention it deserves on certain crucial details concerning the replacement ...

January 20, 2010
The New Federal Wedding Tax: How Obamacare Would Dramatically Penalize Marriage
By Robert Rector
(WebMemo #2767)
Under the Senate bill, married couples would be taxed to provide discriminatory benefits to couples who cohabit, divorce, or never marry.

January 14, 2010
The Real Budgetary Impact of the House and Senate Health Bills
By James C. Capretta
(WebMemo #2756)
A closer look at the health care bills indicates that both spending and the federal debt will go up much more than advertised by the ...

January 14, 2010
Expanding Medicaid: The Real Costs to the States
By Edmund F. Haislmaier
(WebMemo #2757)
The Medicaid expansion provisions in the health care bills would impose significant costs on state government budgets and state taxpayers.

January 11, 2010
The House-Passed Health Care Plan Revisited: Employer Mandate Penalties on Small Firms
By John L. Ligon
(WebMemo #2753)
The House-passed health care bill would create a strong disincentive for small firms to increase compensation or hire additional employees.

January 5, 2010
Medicaid Expansion Ignores States' Fiscal Crises
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2744)
Congress's health care bills would force more people to enroll in Medicaid--and the states would be left to pick up the tab.

December 22, 2009
The House and Senate Health Care Bills: The Key Differences
By Nina Owcharenko and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2740)
The giant House and Senate health care bills reflect a faith in federal government control over the financing and delivery of Americans' health care.

December 18, 2009
An Analysis of the Senate Democrats' Health Care Bill
By the Staff of the Center for Health Policy and the Staff of the Center for Data Analysis
(Backgrounder #2353)
The Senate health care bill would impose $406.2 billion in new taxes; cost $2.5 trillion over the first 10 years; stifle patient choice by transferring ...

December 17, 2009
Employment Discrimination in the Senate Health Care Bill
By Robert A. Book, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2737)
The Senate health care bill would encourage companies to engage in some new and repulsive forms of employment discrimination.

December 15, 2009
Entitlement Reform Should Precede Health Care Expansion
By James C. Capretta
(WebMemo #2734)
If Congress and the President choose to empower an independent commission to tackle this immense problem, they must give it the authority to do it ...

December 11, 2009
The Senate Health Care Bill's "Firewall" Creates Disparate Subsidies
By James C. Capretta
(WebMemo #2730)
Key assumptions in CBO's cost estimate of the Senate health care bill--especially the viability of the so-called "firewall"--will never hold up over time.

December 9, 2009
Why the Personal Mandate to Buy Health Insurance Is Unprecedented and Unconstitutional
By Randy Barnett, Nathaniel Stewart, and Todd Gaziano
(Legal Memorandum #49)
An individual mandate to enter into a contract with or buy a particular product from a private party is literally unprecedented, not just in scope ...

December 9, 2009
The Senate Health Bill: Cost of the Insurance Premium Tax to Individuals and Families
By Edmund F. Haislmaier
(Backgrounder #2350)
The Senate health insurance premium tax would impose new costs on Americans who already have coverage while deferring for years the even larger amounts that ...

December 3, 2009
How the Senate Health Bill Punishes Businesses That Hire Low-Income Workers
By Robert A. Book, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2716)
The net result of the Senate health care bill would be higher unemployment for low- and moderate-income families and higher health insurance costs for their ...

December 1, 2009
Medicaid Meltdown: Dropping Medicaid Could Save States $1 Trillion
By Dennis G. Smith and Edmund F. Haislmaier
(WebMemo #2712)
If the health care bill passes, states will likely take the rational and reasoned approach of simply ending their participation in Medicaid.

November 23, 2009
Providing Health Care for Illegal Immigrants: Understanding the House Health Care Bill
By Robert Rector
(Backgrounder #2345)
H.R. 3962 would deliberately permit illegal aliens to participate in both the government health insurance exchange and the public option insurance program. Moreover, the President ...

November 20, 2009
Taxes Proposed to Pay for Health Care Reform
By Curtis S. Dubay
(WebMemo #2706)
The U.S. Senate's proposal for a government-run hostile takeover of the entire U.S. health care system includes a barrage of higher taxes.

November 20, 2009
High-Income Surtax: How Not to Pay for Health Care
By Karen A. Campbell, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2707)
Congress is proposing a surtax on high-income individuals to help pay for health care reform that would burden the economy and slow its recovery from ...

November 16, 2009
The Legislative Trigger and the Public Health Care Option
By Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2700)
While the trigger idea may seem like a reasonable compromise, it is unworkable and would actually slow down or undermine creative solutions to coverage gaps ...

November 13, 2009
How the Medicare "Doc Fix" Would Add to the Long-Term Medicare Debt
By Andrew J. Rettenmaier and Thomas R. Saving
(WebMemo #2695)
The House will soon take up legislation to "fix" the Medicare physician payment update formula. The likely result: huge new costs on taxpayers.

November 9, 2009
Government-Run Health Care Even Without the Public Option
By Robert A. Book, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2686)
The reforms under consideration in Congress would impose such rigid control on private health plans that it amounts to a government-run health care system.

November 6, 2009
Pelosi Health Care Plan: Who Pays the Surtax?
By Rea S. Hederman, Jr., and Guinevere Nell
(WebMemo #2687)
The Pelosi health care plan relies on a large surtax that would gradually encompass all American taxpayers, much like the dreaded Alternative Minimum Tax does. ...

November 6, 2009
A Closer Look at the House Democrats' Health Care Bill
By the Staff of the Center for Health Policy Studies and the Staff of the Center for Data Analysis
(WebMemo #2684)
A Closer Look at the House Democrats' Health Care Bill

November 5, 2009
Union Contracts of Health Care Workers Would Inflate Health Care Costs
By James Sherk
(WebMemo #2681)
Widespread unionization of the health care sector would make a government-run "public plan" much more expensive than currently advertised.

November 5, 2009
Doing Health Care Reform Right: The Empowering Patients First Act
By Greg D'Angelo and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2682)
The Empowering Patients First Act could accomplish needed reforms while minimizing Washington's role in health care.

November 5, 2009
The Pelosi Health Care Plan: Employer Mandate Penalties on Small Businesses
By John L. Ligon
(WebMemo #2683)
The Pelosi health care reform plan would create an employer penalty system that would apply to small businesses--even those with 25 or fewer workers.

November 4, 2009
Federalization of Medicaid: Health Reform Bill Would Reduce State Authority
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2678)
But under H.R. 3962, the ability of states to run Medicaid and SCHIP to reflect state variations and preferences would be substantially diminished.

November 2, 2009
How Many Americans Could End Up on the Public Health Plan? A Look at the Estimates
By Greg D’Angelo
(Backgrounder #2334)
Congress will soon vote on massive health care legislation -- and on the amount of power the federal government will have over the entire U.S. ...

November 2, 2009
Health Care Reform and the Threat to the Dollar
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2674)
Health care reform as currently constructed will either weaken the economy or balloon the deficit while it weakens the economy.

November 2, 2009
New Health Care House Bill Has Plenty of New Taxes
By Rea S. Hederman, Jr.
(WebMemo #2675)
The new House health care bill still contains painful tax increases that will affect more and more Americans every year.

October 30, 2009
The Wrong Medicare Advantage Reform: Cutting Benefits, Limiting Choices, and Increasing Costs
By James C. Capretta and Robert A. Book, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2671)
The Medicare Advantage program reforms currently being considered by Congress would lead toward a system of less choice, less accountability, and eventually lower-quality health care ...

October 30, 2009
Medicaid Funding of Abortion: Setting the Record Straight
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2672)
Unless a specific prohibition on abortion funding is included in the final health care bill, the government will end up funding the procedure.

October 29, 2009
Tax on High-End Health Insurance Policies Takes the Low Road
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2667)
The Joint Tax Committee recently shed important new light on the proposed "Cadillac excise tax" contained in the Senate Finance Committee’s health care bill.

October 28, 2009
Health Care Reform: Rational Alternatives to the Congressional Leadership Bills
By Greg D’Angelo and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D
(WebMemo #2666)
Three major bills sponsored by congressional Republicans contain promising conservative approaches to health care reform.

October 21, 2009
Health Care Bills' Medicaid Expansion: How States Can Lose the Battle Behind Closed Doors
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2661)
The President wants federal taxpayers to pick up a greater share of the cost of the Medicaid expansion.

October 21, 2009
Why Congress Wants to Force More Americans into Medicaid
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2662)
Congress's response to Medicaid's problems is not to fix them but rather to add another 14 million people to the program.

October 19, 2009
Baucus Health Insurance Excise Tax Misses the Mark
By Curtis S. Dubay
(WebMemo #2654)
The Baucus plan's excise tax on "Cadillac" health insurance plans would fall mostly on low- and middle-income workers.

October 16, 2009
The End of Federalism: How Obamacare Will Impact States
By heritage.org
(Fact Sheet #42)
The bills before Congress would place an unprecedented amount of power in the hands of the federal government to determine health insurance rules and benefits. ...

October 15, 2009
Adding Insult to Injury: The Baucus Health Plan Imposes New Taxes on the Sick
By Robert A. Book, Ph.D., Guinevere L. Nell, and Paul L. Winfree
(WebMemo #2651)
The Baucus health care plan would harm those it should help and help those who need help the least.

October 15, 2009
The Baucus Medicaid Provisions: The Senate’s Massive Welfare Expansion
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2652)
Expanding Medicaid is not reform. Adding more people to a flawed system would only compound the problem.

October 13, 2009
Preserving Freedom and Federalism: What's at Stake for Americans in the Health Care Debate
By Thomas C. Feeney
(Backgrounder #2327)
"Federalism" is no outdated concept. The founding fathers of the American Republic are the authors of a brilliant design of the distribution of political power ...

October 9, 2009
Congress's Health Care Reform Bills: The Unknown Costs
By Greg D'Angelo
(WebMemo #2646)
The CBO should produce a comprehensive assessment of the health care reform proposals--similar to the one produced during the Clinton era--before any legislation moves forward. ...

October 7, 2009
Congress Breaks Obama Promise on Government Role in Health Care
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2644)
A government "takeover" in the form of greater government control over health care financing and the practice of medicine is inevitable.

October 5, 2009
The Baucus Bill: Medicare Advantage and Medicare Savings Lost to Medicare Reform
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2641)
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) is proposing major changes to the Medicare program under the America's Healthy Future Act of 2009.

September 25, 2009
Baucus Plan Increases Out-of-Pocket Costs for Many Families
By Rea S. Hederman, Jr., and Paul L. Winfree
(WebMemo #2628)
The mandates in Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus's health care reform bill will hurt individuals, families, and businesses.

September 25, 2009
The Baucus Health Bill: A Medicare Physician Payment Shell Game
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2629)
For all of the bold talk of reform, the Baucus health bill is just another flawed, big-government solution.

September 25, 2009
The Baucus Individual Health Insurance Mandate: Taxing Low-Income and Moderate-Income Workers
By Robert A. Book, Ph.D., Guinevere Nell, and Paul L. Winfree
(Backgrounder #2325)
The individual mandate in the Baucus health care plan would impose punitively high, regressive taxes on low-income and moderate-income working families. Its penalties and additional ...

September 24, 2009
Congress's Health Care Bills Would Increase Spending and Federal Budget Deficits
By Brian M. Riedl
(Backgrounder #2324)
Both the House health care reform bill (H.R. 3200) and the bill authored by Senator Baucus would increase government spending by hundreds of billions of ...

September 23, 2009
Current Health Insurance Reform Proposals vs. Real Reform and Economic Growth
By Karen A. Campbell
(Backgrounder #2321)
Current proposals for health care reform would exacerbate existing problems in the U.S. health care system and weaken the economy. In particular, the proposed surtax ...

September 23, 2009
Going Out of Business: How ObamaCare will Hurt American Businesses
By heritage.org
(Fact Sheet #40)
The House and Senate draft proposals for health care reform include employer mandates that require employers to pay higher taxes if they do not offer ...

September 21, 2009
Sound Health Care Reform for a Sound Economy: A Response to the CEA Report
By Robert A. Book, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2318)
The President's Council of Economic Advis­ers correctly notes that fixing several problems with the American health care system would produce substantial economic benefits. However, the ...

September 18, 2009
The Max Tax: Baucus Health Bill Is More of the Same
By heritage.org
(Fact Sheet #37)
A public plan disguised as a co-op, individual and employer mandates, massive federal regulation over insurance and benefits, and massive Medicaid expansion--the Baucus bill has ...

September 18, 2009
Reconciliation 101: A "Nuclear" Abuse of Power
By heritage.org
(Fact Sheet #38)
Reconciliation was created to streamline Senate rules to make it easier for lawmakers to achieve the spending and tax levels in the budget resolution. It ...

September 17, 2009
The Baucus Health Bill: A First Look
By the Staff of the Center for Health Policy
(WebMemo #2619)
The Baucus bill still contains the most objectionable features of the liberal health policy agenda.

September 15, 2009
President Obama's Medical Liability Reform Proposal: No Silver Bullet
By Randolph W. Pate
(WebMemo #2614)
In an apparent concession to Republicans on health care reform,
President Obama broached the topic of medical liability reform Wednesday
night in his health care ...

September 4, 2009
Why Organized Labor Supports Government Health Care
By James Sherk
(WebMemo #2605)
Unions strongly support health care reform and have made supporting a "public plan" that would lead to a government-run single-payer system their top priority.

September 4, 2009
House Health Care Bill Will Hurt Small Businesses: A Reply to My Critics
By D. Mark Wilson
(WebMemo #2606)
Policymakers need to know that the costs and benefits of an employer mandate will not be equally borne by firms and employees.

August 28, 2009
Five Major Faults with the Health Care Bills
By Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #2599)
Current efforts by Congress to “reform” the health care system are centered on several flawed policy initiatives that will transfer more power and decisions to ...

August 28, 2009
Economics of Play-or-Pay Mandates in Health Care Reform Bills
By D. Mark Wilson
(Backgrounder #2312)
The play-or-pay mandates in the health care reform bills, which require employers to offer health insurance to their workers or pay a tax to the ...

August 7, 2009
Health Care Reform in West Virginia: A Lesson from the States
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2582)
West Virginia has experimented with Medicaid reform and has learned a lot about what those reforms accomplished.

August 5, 2009
Kerry's Excise Tax on "Gold-Plated" Health Insurance Policies
By Edmund F. Haislmaier
(WebMemo #2578)
Senator John Kerry has suggested a new excise tax on "gold-plated" health insurance policies. But this is not the right way to go.

July 30, 2009
Obamacare: Top 10 Reasons It's Wrong for America
By heritage.org
(Fact Sheet #36)
President Obama said: "They're going to have to give up paying for things that don't make them healthier...If there's a blue pill and a red ...

July 30, 2009
A Federal Health Insurance Exchange Combined with a Public Plan: The House and Senate Bills
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2304)
While the national health insurance exchange advocated by President Obama and congressional leaders is sometimes described as a nationwide pool of health insurance providers, its ...

July 29, 2009
State Health Reform: The Significance of Utah Health Insurance Reforms
By Edmund F. Haislmaier
(WebMemo #2569)
Utah will soon offer a working model of how states can design and implement a consumer-centered health insurance market that leverages existing resources with minimal ...

July 24, 2009
Illusions of Cost Control in Public Health Care Plans
By Robert A. Book
(Backgrounder #2301)
The available evidence does not indicate that a public plan modeled on Medicare could provide health care comparable to that offered by existing private plans, ...

July 24, 2009
New Taxpayer Subsidies: The Impact of the House and Senate Health Bills
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2564)
Under the House and Senate bills, taxpayers are going to pay more for health insurance.

July 24, 2009
Compromising the Doctor-Patient Relationship: The Impact of the House Health Care Bill
By John O’Shea, M.D.
(WebMemo #2563)
A growing number of physicians believe that H.R. 3200 is likely to make matters worse.

July 23, 2009
Micromanaging Americans' Health Insurance: The Impact of House and Senate Bills
By Edmund F. Haislmaier
(WebMemo #2558)
Both the pending House health care bill and Senate HELP Committee bill include provisions that would, if enacted, result in sweeping, complex, and highly discretionary ...

July 23, 2009
Undercutting State Authority: The Impact of the House and Senate Health Bills
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2559)
The states are being invited into a shaky bargain that trades dollars for control over the administration of Medicaid.

July 23, 2009
Senator Kerry's Tax on Health Insurance Companies Would Hit Everyone with Insurance
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2561)
Taxing health insurance companies is a bad, backdoor alternative to the more sensible, more transparent policy of capping the exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance.

July 23, 2009
House Bill to Hit Small Businesses with Surtax
By Rea S. Hederman, Jr.
(WebMemo #2556)
The large tax increases proposed by House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) would harm over a million small businesses, making them less likely ...

July 21, 2009
Employer Health Care Mandates: Taxing Low-Income Workers to Pay for Health Care
By James Sherk and Robert A. Book, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2552)
Congressional rhetoric to the contrary, much of the burden of paying for an employer mandate will fall on ordinary Americans, and lower-income workers will be ...

July 21, 2009
Medicaid Expansion: The Impact of the House and Senate Health Bills
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2554)
Further expansion of Medicaid would create new inequities among individuals, even within families.

July 15, 2009
Income Tax Surtax Should Not Fund Government Health Care Expansion
By Brian M. Riedl and Curtis S. Dubay
(WebMemo #2544)
Congress is reportedly considering raising taxes by at least $540 billion over 10 years to fund President Obama's health care initiative through a "surtax" on ...

July 15, 2009
Understanding CBO Health Cost Estimates
By Donald B. Marron
(Backgrounder #2298)
Congressional Budget Office analyses often rely on sophisticated economic modeling and are usually framed in ways that match the specific, sometimes arcane, requirements of the ...

July 1, 2009
The House Health Care Bill: A Blueprint for Federal Control
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2515)
The incentives built into the House bill would guarantee that millions of Americans would lose their private coverage, regardless of their personal preferences.

July 1, 2009
Senate "Free Rider" Penalties: Taxing the Poor to Pay for Health Care
By Robert A. Book, Ph.D. and Edmund F. Haislmaier
(WebMemo #2516)
Congress's mad scramble to turn health care buzzwords and bumper stickers into legislation last week careened off in yet another direction.

July 1, 2009
How to Design a Tax Cap in Health Care Reform
By Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2517)
The Obama Administration and congressional Democrats have recently opened the door to a change in the tax treatment of employer-sponsored health benefits as part of ...

July 1, 2009
How Reforms to the Tax Treatment of Health Insurance Benefit the Middle Class
By Greg D’Angelo, Rea S. Hederman, Jr., and Paul L. Winfree
(WebMemo #2518)
Health reform proposals recently introduced in Congress--such as the Patients' Choice Act of 2009--seek to replace the current income tax exclusion with a fairer, flatter ...

June 30, 2009
Statement on the Tri-Committee Draft Proposal for Health Care Reform
By Robert E. Moffit Ph.D.
(Testimony )
The Committee is considering ambitious and comprehensive legislation. It covers an enormous range of policy items and issues.

June 25, 2009
Medicare Administrative Costs Are Higher, Not Lower, Than for Private Insurance
By Robert A. Book, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2505)
Many advocates of a public health plan claim that Medicare has lower administrative costs than private insurance. However, on a per-person basis Medicare's administrative costs ...

June 25, 2009
Health Information Technology: The Case for a Sound Federal Policy
By Tevi Troy, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2289)
As part of the stimulus bill, Congress is set to spend $20 billion to encourage doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic health records (EHRs). A ...

June 25, 2009
Health Insurance Co-ops: How Congress Could Adopt the Right Design
By Edmund F. Haislmaier
(Backgrounder #2290)
Consumer-owned cooperative, or mutual, health insurers could increase consumer control and choice in health insurance. Member-owned mutual health insurers would return any profits or surplus ...

June 19, 2009
Obama's Health Care Agenda: How it Will Hurt American Families
By heritage.org
(Fact Sheet #33)
Instead of empowering parents, President Obama's health care plan will chip away at the fundamental rights parents have in key health care decisions for their ...

June 15, 2009
Obama's Health Care Reform: What Will It Do to Seniors?
By heritage.org
(Fact Sheet #31)
Some of the projected savings for financing Obama's health agenda, including the creation of a new public plan, would come by squeezing savings out of ...

June 15, 2009
Obama's Health Care Reform: The Demise of Federalism
By heritage.org
(Fact Sheet #32)
Instead of the top-down approach of a federal health care reform, federal policymakers should embrace the principles of federalism and allow states to develop innovative ...

June 15, 2009
Conservative Principles of Health Care Reform: The Road Ahead
By the Honorable Michael B. Enzi
(Heritage Lecture #1124)
Obama health care plan, Expanded health insurance coverage should give every American access to affordable, high-quality health insurance. Patient-focused care provides the highest quality and ...

June 12, 2009
Why the Kennedy Health Bill Would Wreck Bipartisan Reform
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2481)
The Affordable Health Choices Act is a setback for bipartisan health care reform.

June 12, 2009
A New Public Health Plan: How Congressional Details Will Impact Doctors and Patients
By Greg D’Angelo
(WebMemo #2482)
Many in Congress are looking to Medicare as a model for a new public health plan, yet millions of Americans would lose the private coverage ...

May 28, 2009
State Employee Health Care as a "Public Plan"
By Robert E. Moffit Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2461)
The President says that Congress can create a “level playing field” nationwide to ensure a fair competition between the newly created public plan and private ...

May 21, 2009
The Public Health Care Plan: What Seems to Be the Problem?
By heritage.org
(Fact Sheet #29)
It's impossible to believe that Congress and the Administration could resist setting rules - and interpreting those rules - in favor of their own public ...

May 15, 2009
The Obama Health Agenda: Impact on the States
By Dennis G. Smith
(WebMemo #2445)
The President's proposal for a Medicaid expansion and a public program expansion would be a step backward.

May 15, 2009
A Principled Path to Rational Health Care Reform
By Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #2448)
The health care policies outlined by President Obama during his campaign would centralize control over the health care system in Washington. There is a much ...

May 13, 2009
Time to Get Serious (Again) About Medicare Reform
By Greg D'Angelo and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2441)
The Medicare Trustees Report shows that reform of the program is of urgent necessity.

May 6, 2009
Coverage Issues in Health Reform
By Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D.
(Testimony )
There is broad agreement on the broad goals of health reform.  We all want to achieve significant progress this year towards the vision of an ...

May 5, 2009
Why a New Public Plan Will Not Improve American Health Care
By Walton J. Francis
(Backgrounder #2267)
The real reason why a number of policy analysts and politicians favor a public health plan is because they see it as a way to ...

April 24, 2009
The Real Price of a Public Health Plan: Less Innovation and Lower Quality
By Dennis G. Smith
(Backgrounder #2263)
Most Americans value their current private health insurance, desire choices in health coverage, and are wary of government plans. Key supporters of a new government ...

April 3, 2009
Single Payer: Why Government-Run Health Care Will Harm Both Patients and Doctors
By Robert A. Book, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2381)
The key issue in the emerging national health care debate is the role of the federal government: A concentration of government power over health care ...

March 25, 2009
Issues in Health Insurance Market Reform
By Edmund F. Haislmaier
(Testimony )
Mr. Chairman, Representative Deal, and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify before you today on some of the key issues ...

March 25, 2009
The President's Budget And Medicare
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph. D.
(Testimony )
President Barack Obama has outlined an ambitious and far-reaching health care agenda, including major changes in the Medicare program. It should be noted that even ...

March 25, 2009
The Role of Long-Term Care in Health Reform
By Dennis G. Smith
(Testimony )
Long-term care is an important but all too often overlooked component of health care reform.  The great challenges we face because of population changes between ...

March 16, 2009
Health Care Reform: Changing the Tax Treatment of Health Insurance
By Greg D'Angelo and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2344)
A proposal that gradually phases out the current income tax exclusion while phasing in a more equitable and efficient system is essential to achieving serious ...

February 27, 2009
The Obama Health Care Budget: Hopeful Savings and Costly Change
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Nina Owcharenko, and Dennis Smith
(WebMemo #2314)
President Obama's health care budget proposal is large but surprisingly unimaginative.

February 12, 2009
Note to Congress: Expanding Health Care Entitlements Is Bad Policy
By Dennis G. Smith
(Backgrounder #2240)
Entitlement reform, lowering the cost of both public and private health insurance, and expanding private insurance coverage should be accomplished simultaneously, allowing for a smooth ...

February 4, 2009
Comparative Effectiveness in Health Care Reform: Lessons from Abroad
By Helen Evans, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2239)
President Obama’s proposed Institute for Comparative Effectiveness would mean more government control of private medical decisions. It is clear from the British experience and other ...

February 4, 2009
The Stimulus Bill: Why the Senate Must Fix the Health Care Provisions
By Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #2267)
Liberals in Congress, under the guise of emergency economic stimulus legislation, are attempting to push forward their radical health care agenda.

January 7, 2009
Key Questions for Senator Tom Daschle, Nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2192)
The United States Senate will soon render its advice and consent to the nomination of former Senator Tom Daschle (D–SD) as the new secretary of ...

December 22, 2008
How a Public Health Plan Will Erode Private Care
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2224)
President-elect Obama's rationale for a new public health plan is that it would give Americans who are not enrolled in employment-based health insurance coverage, or ...

December 5, 2008
Employer-Based Health Insurance: Why Congress Should Cap Tax Benefits Consistently
By Jason Roffenbender
(Backgrounder #2214)
Too many Americans do not fully understand how the health insurance they receive through their employer is financed. Formal premium payments to health insurance companies ...

December 4, 2008
The Concept of a Federal Health Board: Learning from Britain's Experience
By Jeet Guram and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2154)
Tom Daschle, President-elect Barack Obama's pick for secretary of health and human services, has recently been advocating the creation of an independent "Federal Health Board." ...

December 4, 2008
How a Federal Health Board Will Cancel Private Coverage and Care
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2155)
President-elect Barack Obama,Senator Max Baucus, and former Senator Thomas Daschle (D-SD)—Obama’s choice for Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—have outlined policy ...

December 3, 2008
Ensuring Access to Affordable Health Insurance: A Memo to President-elect Obama
By Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(Special Report #27)
President-elect Obama, during the campaign you pledged to build a health care system in which Americans can be as-sured of access to affordable health insurance. ...

November 14, 2008
The Baucus Health Reform Plan: A Starting Point for Serious Discussion
By Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2132)
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) has just unveiled a comprehensive health plan. This is a welcome development in that it puts some flesh on ...

October 24, 2008
The Obama Health Care Plan: A Closer Look at Cost and Coverage
By Greg D'Angelo and Paul Winfree
(WebMemo #2114)
Barack Obama's health care plan would reduce the number of uninsured, but it would not control costs in any significant way. In fact, it would ...

October 15, 2008
The Obama Health Care Plan: More Power to Washington
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(Backgrounder #2197)
Senator Barack Obama's health care plan is laden with new regulations and government authority that would leave Americans with even less control of their health ...

August 14, 2008
Government as "Competitor": The Latest Prescription for Government Control of Health Care
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2024)
Proponents of government competition in a "national health insurance exchange" claim that it would enhance personal choice and health plan competition. That is highly unlikely. ...