Tucked away in the president’s latest budget was a recommendation to delay scheduled cuts in payments to hospitals that treat large numbers of the uninsured patients and therefore provide a disproportionate amount of uncompensated care. The cuts in Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments were enacted under Obamacare, and the call to postpone them constitutes…

To extend health coverage to millions of currently uninsured Americans, the architects of Obamacare relied heavily on the idea that states would open up their already strained Medicaid programs to tens of millions of new people. But expanding Medicaid is risky business. Not only can it lead to lower quality of care for people within the program, it can also risk busting…

Pressure is mounting on Gov. Scott Walker to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act. Obamacare proponents say the expansion is a no-brainer - that the federal government will pick up the tab and bring even more doctors into the struggling health care program for the poor. But this deal is too good to be true. The proposed Medicaid expansion would likely end…

In agreeing to a temporary increase in the debt ceiling, the House attached several conditions. One was a commitment to pass a budget that will balance within 10 years. Meeting that goal is important not only for the country’s fiscal future but also for the future of the country’s health care. Health care entitlements are a major driver of federal spending. In 2011,…

Governor John Kasich now joins the list of governors that are looking to expand their Medicaid programs. In some instances, the logic of such a decision makes sense. Democratic governors have traditionally supported expanding the role of Medicaid. But the decision by Republican governors, such as Governor Jan Brewer (Ariz.), Governor Jack Dalrymple (N.D.), Governor Susana…

Far from coping with the explosive costs of Medicare, the Obama Administration’s latest fiscal cliff offer is laughably inadequate. The proposal remains stubbornly uninformed by the serious thinking of a variety of Medicare experts over the past several years.  These experts—ranging from  the Simpson- Bowles Commission to former CBO Director Alice Rivlin of the…

States are already struggling to pay their Medicaid bills. Why put taxpayers on the hook to pay even more? Medicaid is the single biggest item in state budgets today. It consumes, on average, 23 percent of state dollars spent, pinching funds for other high-priority functions - such as education, transportation and emergency services. Yet expanding Medicaid was a…

States are already struggling to pay their Medicaid bills. Why put taxpayers on the hook to pay even more? Medicaid is the single biggest item in state budgets today. It consumes, on average, 23 percent of state dollars spent, pinching funds for other high-priority functions such as education, transportation and emergency services. Yet expanding Medicaid was a…

Sometimes, messaging eclipses policy. Exhibit A:  JD Kleinke’s New York Times opinion piece--which offers a purely superficial case for why conservatives should support Obamacare. Kleinke’s column—like Obamacare itself—tries to cover up a liberal policy agenda by hijacking conservative principles and terminology.  That proponents of the law must resort to such…

With more than $37 trillion in unfunded obligations and 77 million baby boomers set to enter retirement, Medicare is facing a fiscal and demographic tsunami. Even President Barack Obama has conceded that Medicare will not be there for future retirees unless it is reformed. Rep. Paul Ryan's plan for Medicare is the best way to get the program out of the storm and is far…

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