September 14, 2010
I had a piece in The Daily Caller yesterday with Robert A. Book of the Heritage Foundation, discussing payment cuts to the Medicare Advantage program that will occur under the new health care law: President Barack Obama has repeatedly promised Americans that if they like their current health insurance plans, they will get to keep...
September 2, 2010
Here’s a puzzle: Critics say Medicare Advantage plans — the private insurance options offered to beneficiaries — are inefficient and costly. But those same critics oppose vouchers for Medicare — even though that would set up a direct competition between the private plans and the traditional fee-for-service...
September 1, 2010
As November approaches, Obamacare’s defenders are quite plainly desperate. They see public opinion solidly against them, and a devastating election fast approaching. Their latest gambit to protect what was jammed through Congress in March is to claim that repeal would be so costly to the federal budget that it would be impossible...
August 12, 2010
Megan McArdle did everyone a favor this past week by very carefully pointing out that Paul Krugman’s over-the-top attack on Congressman Paul Ryan and his “Roadmap” was based primarily on bad information that could have been easily checked and corrected with some minimal effort. You’d think Krugman might take a...
August 11, 2010
I have an op-ed in USA Today on the effect of health care reform on costs: A big reason the new law is ineffective in constraining costs is that it doesn’t fundamentally reform Medicare, particularly the program’s dominant “fee-for-service” reimbursement option. That model covers over 75% of Medicare enrollees, or...
August 10, 2010
“Law Will Extend Medicare Fund, Report Says,” was the New York Times headline. “Medicare Funds to Last 12 Years Longer Than Earlier Forecast, Report Says,” was the similar take of the Washington Post. Those two stories were upbeat summaries of what the latest report on Medicare’s long-term financial outlook...
August 4, 2010
And so we have finally arrived at the heart of the matter. In recent days, Peter Orszag, the now-former Director of the Office of Management and Budget (he left the position at the end of last week), and Ezra Klein, the like-minded liberal blogger for the Washington Post, have weighed in — again — on Rep. Paul Ryan’s...
August 2, 2010
Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued what it is calling a “report” on the supposed improvements to Medicare passed as part of Obamacare. The first thing to note here is that this so-called “report” isn’t really a report at all. It provides no new information. By all rights, it...
July 30, 2010
It’s been a bad stretch for the Democratic majority in Congress. Their polling numbers have been going from bad to worse. The White House press secretary has openly speculated that House Democrats could lose their majority in November. Nasty disputes between Democratic congressional leaders and the White House staff...
July 30, 2010
[Co-authored with Thomas Miller of the American Enterprise Institute] Earlier this month, the Obama administration launched the latest version of high-risk pools, as authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The new pools are off to a stumbling start – behind schedule, facing resistance...