Key Senate Republican committee chairman Orrin Hatch (UT), John Barrasso (WY), and Lamar Alexander (TN) have an op-ed in the Washington Post today saying they have a plan if millions of Americans lose their Obamacare subsidies this summer. First, I have no idea how the Court will rule, likely in late June. While it is hard for me to see Chief Justice John Roberts voting to strike a major blow to
Category: health policies
Obamacare is "Working a Little Better Than We Expected"––Judge for Yourself
Here is what President Obama said in a recent video, "The Affordable Care Act is working. It’s working a little better than we expected." On Tuesday, the administration announced that 11.4 million people signed up for Obamacare in the second open enrollment. That number is higher than the number that will ultimately pay for their coverage and complete the enrollment. Even after they complete
A Detailed Analysis of the Republican Alternative to Obamacare
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton along with Senate Finance Chairman Orin Hatch and Senator Richard Burr have outlined what is, at least for now, the Republican alternative to Obamacare. Republicans will now argue they have a better health insurance reform plan and that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced by it––particularly if the Supreme Court plunges the new health law into
Rethink "Repeal and Replace" and Consumer Friendly Obamacare Fixes – Two Op-Eds in USA Today
I have no doubt Republicans will insist on proposing their own complex plan to reform the health insurance system that will include repealing and replacing Obamacare. But I think it is going to get them into more political trouble than it’s worth. Here’s the first of my two of op-eds in Thursday’s USA Today: Rethink "Repeal and Replace" Of course that begs a question, Just what should we do
Connie Lloyd Scholarship Application
We are now accepting applications for the Connie Lloyd Scholarship. The purpose of the fund is to provide a $2000 scholarship to a student in the Health Policy and Management Department. The recipient of the scholarship shall have a program of study that includes course work, outreach, or internships focused on women and health. read more
Will Tax Season Be Obamacare’s Next Big Challenge? Is There Really an Individual Mandate?
Will tax-filing season be the next reason for consumers to complain about the new health law? Come tax time, will the Obama administration really enforce the individual health insurance mandate? The IRS is out with a 21-page publication––Publication 5187––describing what taxpayers need to know about Obamacare in order to file their 2014 taxes. On page six you will find this: So, if the
The Single-Payer Health Insurance Failure in Vermont
For 25 years I’ve been saying that I wished a little state like Vermont would implement a single-payer Canadian-style health insurance system––"Medicare For All." My argument has always been that such a small and limited experiment would give us the opportunity to see the ideological arguments for such a system play out in the face of fiscal reality and the stakeholders fighting it out in the
The Letter You Never Want to Get on Christmas Eve
I was reading the December 18th issue of Inside Health Insurance Exchanges and came across an article entitled, "New Kids on the Block Come Out Swinging; Co-Ops Lower Rates for Many Health Plans." The gist of the article had to do with the success a number of Obamacare insurance co-ops have had in charging lower rates and getting lots of market share by "[underpricing] more established players
How Many People Have Enrolled So Far in Obamacare’s Second Open Enrollment?
Undoubtedly I will hear that question many times in the coming weeks. The answer is that this enrollment process is so screwed up we will have no earthly idea how many new people have enrolled and how many 2014 enrollees remained on the program until at least April 2015. Let me try to illustrate. Let’s say George is now enrolled in Obamacare. He is happy to have subsidized and guaranteed
Is the Administration Low-Balling Their 2015 Obamacare Enrollment Estimate?
Well, with an estimate of only 9 million to 9.9 million, apparently they are. But I will suggest the focus should not be on anybody’s estimate for 2015 but rather on how many people need to enroll in Obamacare to make it sustainable. A few points: The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that when Obamacare launched in 2014, 17.2 million people were eligible for subsidies. The only place you can
Supreme Court Takes the Obamacare Subsidy Case–Justices Will Rule Before July 1
In a Wow moment, the Supreme Court announced Friday that they will take one of the four pending "Halbig" cases––specifically King v. Burwell. The issue is over whether the new health law actually authorizes the payment of premium subsidies in the 37 states that will rely upon the federal government to run their exchange in 2015. This effort is being made on a number of fronts but has been