Issue Brief posted May 16, 2013 by Christopher Jacobs
The Taxman Cometh: The IRS’s Role in Implementing Obamacare
The recent admission by the IRS that its employees improperly subjected certain organizations to heightened scrutiny based upon their political affiliation raises troubling questions about the agency’s ability to manage Obamacare in a competent and impartial manner. At a time when doubts are growing about the IRS’s politically biased behavior, Obamacare grants the agency…
Backgrounder posted March 22, 2013 by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Alyene Senger
Medicare’s Rising Costs — and the Urgent Need for Reform
The rising cost of Medicare is placing an increasing burden on current and future taxpayers, as well as exacerbating the poor financial condition of a program on which America’s seniors depend in their retirement. The traditional program’s fee-for-service payment system, in which doctors and hospitals are paid a fixed price for each and every procedure or service that…
Backgrounder posted March 22, 2013 by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Alyene Senger
Medicare’s Outdated Structure—and the Urgent Need for Reform
Traditional Medicare, which liberals once envisioned as the foundation for national health insurance for all ages,[1] is a fee-for-service model rooted in the 1960s. Its outdated structure makes the program fundamentally flawed, as the editors of The Washington Post remarked recently: “Medicare as we know it is not sustainable” and the “ultimate solution” is structural…
Backgrounder posted March 21, 2013 by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Alyene Senger
Medicare’s Demographic Challenge—and the Urgent Need for Reform
Americans should ignore false promises to keep “Medicare as we know it”—the program is already changing. Under the misnamed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, Congress and President Barack Obama have already enacted big reductions in Medicare funding (amounting to $716 billion over the next 10 years[1]), as well as complex new rules governing federal…
Issue Brief posted March 18, 2013 by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
Medicare Drugs: Why Congress Should Reject Government Price Fixing
Senator Patty Murray (D–WA), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, is offering a budget resolution claiming $275 billion in health care savings, though she provides few details.[1] But Senator Amy Klobuchar (D–MN) has introduced legislation (S. 117) that would replace today’s private-sector negotiation of Medicare drug prices with government “negotiation.” This approach…
Issue Brief posted March 11, 2013 by Drew Gonshorowski
The Affordable Care Act Negatively Impacts the Supply of Labor
Labor market distortions are common within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA/Obamacare). Employers are faced with uncertainty at every turn. As observed from the recently released Federal Reserve beige book, this uncertainty restrains hiring.[1]
While substantial attention has been given to the employer side, the employee side also experiences many…
Issue Brief posted March 5, 2013 by Nina Owcharenko
Why the Obamacare Medicaid Expansion Is Bad for Taxpayers and Patients
Medicaid needs reform, not expansion. This federal–state health care program provides health care to over 60 million Americans and consumes a growing portion of state and federal budgets. Research shows a long history of Medicaid enrollees having worse access and outcomes than privately insured individuals.[1] Due in part to low reimbursement, one in three doctors refuses…
Center for Policy Innovation Discussion Paper posted February 6, 2013 by Diane Calmus
The Long-Term Care Financing Crisis
The Obama Administration’s suspension of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act provisions of the Affordable Care Act halted a new federal entitlement program that was fiscally unsound. The repeal of the CLASS Act as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act provides an opportunity for a necessary discussion.
The debate over the CLASS Act…
Issue Brief posted November 1, 2012 by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Rea S. Hederman, Jr., Alyene Senger
Obama’s Medicare Plan: Seniors Will Pay More
Today’s seniors are facing higher Medicare costs. Over the next five years, current law, as amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, also known as “Obamacare”), and President Obama’s budget proposals guarantee higher costs for today’s seniors.
Status Quo Hikes
The 2012 Medicare trustees report says that, over the period 2012 to…
Center for Policy Innovation Research Summary posted October 15, 2012 by Diane Calmus
The Affordable Care Act’s Rulemaking Process: What the Research Shows
Abstract: The rush to issue regulations for implementing the most popular parts of the President’s health insurance bill resulted in eight “economically significant” regulations of remarkably poor quality, according to Jerry Ellig of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and Christopher Conover of Duke University. They detailed major deficiencies in the…
Issue Brief posted September 28, 2012 by Rea S. Hederman, Jr.
Why Medicare Premium Support Would Not Cost Future Beneficiaries $6,400 More
Opponents of Medicare premium support routinely charge that it would cost future retirees $6,400 more annually. In fact, this dollar amount is incorrect, and the charge is erroneous. Such false charges are based on an outdated Congressional Budget Office (CBO) model of House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan’s (R–WI) 2011 budget proposal.
Ryan’s 2012 proposal,…