Backgrounder posted August 10, 2011 by John S. Hoff
Accountable Care Organizations: Obamacare’s Magic Bullet Misfires
Abstract: Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are a showpiece of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010. PPACA, known as Obamacare, creates a program in Medicare to stimulate the development of ACOs by making Shared Savings Payments to ACOs if they improve coordination and quality of care and reduce costs. The Obama Administration has published…
WebMemo posted March 16, 2011 by Brian Blase, John S. Hoff
Secretary Sebelius Cannot Fix CLASS
Among Obamacare’s hundreds of pages was tucked a new government-run long-term care program, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Program.[1] CLASS was poorly designed, and actuaries criticized it as being unsustainable well before the passage of Obamacare.[2] It appears from three recent congressional appearances by Health and Human Services (HHS)…
Backgrounder posted February 7, 2011 by John S. Hoff
Broken Promises: How Obamacare Undercuts Existing Health Insurance
Abstract: In response to public opposition to enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), President Obama assured Americans that if they were happy with their current health insurance, nothing in the PPACA would force them to change their coverage. This promise has been broken. Not only does the PPACA itself require changes in existing coverage,…
Backgrounder posted September 10, 2010 by John S. Hoff
Implementing Obamacare: A New Exercise in Old-Fashioned Central Planning
Abstract: Obamacare—the massive health care law passed in March—constitutes the largest expansion of government since the Great Society. Americans have voiced their strong opposition, but the Obama Administration is determined to force-feed the new medicine. The Administration’s vision of health care is based on the premise that the federal government can—and…
Backgrounder posted August 26, 2009 by John S. Hoff
The Public Health Insurance Option: Unfair Competition on a Tilting Field
President Barack Obama is insisting that health care "reform"
include an insurance plan operated by the federal government,
claiming that this "public option" is necessary to provide
competition against the private insurers. Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-NV) has said that the government plan would play a
role like that of the U.S. Post Office, which he…