ObamaCare Watch

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ObamaCare Will Mandate Free Coverage of Abortion Drug & Contraception Without Religious Exemption

The Weekly Standard

John McCormack

Fri, 2012-01-20

"We all know there is no such thing as a free lunch, but the Obama administration has decided to move forward with its mandate that private insurance companies must provide 'free' coverage of contraception and sterilization procedures, as well as an abortion pill called 'ella'--which is much friendlier sounding than its 'close chemical relative' RU-486."

CBO: Medicare Cost-Cutting Programs Haven’t Worked

Sam Baker, The Hill

Wed, 2012-01-18

"Programs designed to cut Medicare spending and improve the quality of healthcare have mostly failed, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The findings are a blow to existing Medicare projects as well as a key goal of the healthcare reform law."

Tongue-Depressor Tax Will Harm Jobs, Innovation

Bloomberg

Ramesh Ponnuru

Mon, 2012-01-02

"A year from now, the federal government will start collecting a new tax on medical devices from tongue depressors to imaging machines, thanks to the sweeping health-care overhaul that Democrats enacted in the spring of 2010... Device makers complain that the tax will lead not only to higher prices and layoffs but also to reduced research and development. They also say that when combined with high U.S. corporate-tax rates, the device levy makes relocation to other countries more appealing."

Year Ahead: Health Law Under Attack On All Fronts

Julian Pecquet, The Hill

Sun, 2011-12-18

"President Obama’s healthcare reform law will be under attack on every conceivable front next year. Its first life-or-death experience lies in the hands of the Supreme Court, which could potentially strike down the Affordable Care Act as early as June... Legislation to remove the long-term-care CLASS Act could get through the Senate after the administration declared the program isn’t sustainable. And a House bill to repeal the law’s independent payment advisory board, one of the few provisions to control costs, has at least 12 Democratic co-sponsors."

Indoor Tanning Operators Say They're Getting Burned By Tax

Jackie Crosby, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Fri, 2011-12-16

"The Indoor Tanning Association, an industry group, claims that 14 percent of tanning salons in Minnesota have gone out of business since 2009, a decline from 477 to 419. The group blames the additional burden of a 10 percent tax placed on salons starting July 1, 2010, as part of the health care reform law. The industry continues to press Congress for repeal, saying women-owned businesses are being disproportionately affected and that the tax is being unfairly applied because many health clubs don't have to pay."

Rural State Hospitals Want Obama To Nix Healthcare Law's Special Deal For Massachusetts

Julian Pecquet, The Hill

Fri, 2012-01-20

"Nineteen rural state hospital associations have signed onto a letter urging President Obama to nix the healthcare reform law's special deal for Massachusetts hospitals in his 2013 budget proposal next month. The hospital groups say a provision in the law shifts $367 million annually in Medicare funding from 49 states to the Democratic-led commonwealth. The provision's aim was simply to increase Medicare payments for a single, 15-bed hospital in Nantucket but ended up raising payment rates for the state's 60 urban hospitals by 8 percent."

House Panel Passes Bill To Repeal Healthcare Law’s CLASS Act

Sam Baker, The Hill

Wed, 2012-01-18

"The House Ways and Means Committee voted Wednesday to repeal the healthcare law’s controversial CLASS program, clearing the way for a floor vote next month. Only one committee Democrat — Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) — broke party lines to vote in favor of repeal. Three Democrats voted for repeal when the Energy and Commerce Committee passed the CLASS repeal bill in November."

Patient Groups Seek Delay On ‘Essential Benefit’ Rules

Sam Baker, The Hill

Wed, 2012-01-11

"A broad coalition of patient advocates Wednesday asked the Obama administration to slow down its implementation of a key regulation under the healthcare law. A group of 75 patient organizations asked the Health and Human Services Department to allow more time for public comment on its proposal for defining 'essential health benefits.' The healthcare law directs HHS to define a package of essential benefits that all insurance plans will have to cover beginning in 2014."

Health Care Reform Lawsuit: States File Legal Arguments Against Medicaid Expansion

Jennifer Haberkorn, Politico

Wed, 2012-01-11

"Twenty-six states on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to overturn the health care reform law’s mandatory state expansion of the Medicaid program, a sleeper issue in the health care reform lawsuit that could determine how much leverage the federal government has with the states on any issue. The states, led by Florida, argue that the federal government can’t force them to expand the Medicaid program, which has operated as a partnership between the feds and the states, as part of the 2010 health reform law. They argue that the Medicaid expansion is possibly more coercive than the law’s individual mandate."

Republicans, Economists Urge Supreme Court To Strike Entire Healthcare Law

Sam Baker, The Hill

Fri, 2012-01-06

"More than 100 congressional Republicans signed a brief Friday urging the Supreme Court to strike down the entire healthcare reform law if it finds the law's individual mandate unconstitutional... More than 100 economists, including Nobel laureates, joined a separate brief Friday on the issue of severability. That brief, filed by the American Action Forum, says the cost of the healthcare law would skyrocket without the mandate, making it unlikely that Congress would have passed the law without it."

If Health Spending is Increasing Slower, Why Are Premiums Rising Faster?

John R. Graham, Pacific Research Institute

Mon, 2012-01-23

"A funny thing happened on the way to the so-called health reform promised in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), signed by President Obama on March 23, 2010: Although the cost of health care has increased at a slower rate than in previous years, premiums for health insurance and the share of premiums used for purposes other than paying claims have been increasing faster than in previous years. That’s not exactly what President Obama promised, is it?"

Doctors And Executives Join The Anti-ACA Ranks

Emily Egan, American Action Forum

Mon, 2012-01-23

"Two polls came out last week showing that among two groups deeply entwined with the US healthcare system; there is serious concern over President Obama’s health reform law. Along with previously released Kaiser Family Foundation polling data that showed eroding support among the general public, there is new data that small business owners and physicians are growing quite skeptical about the Affordable Care Act (ACA)."

The Poor Quality of Affordable Care Act Regulations

Christopher J. Conover & Jerry Ellig, Mercatus Center

Mon, 2012-01-09

"Will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) improve the performance of the U.S. health care system? The quality of the major interim final regulations issued under the ACA in 2010 gives three main reasons for pessimism on this score."

MLR Regulation Creates Challenges for Future of Affordable Coverage

Roy Ramthun, HSA Consulting Services LLC

Tue, 2011-12-27

"The final medical loss ratio (MLR) regulations will likely create a vacuum for affordable coverage that cannot be filled by Bronze plans under the state insurance exchanges. If the 'essential benefits' and 'actuarial value' requirements are equally as discriminatory, there will be no affordable options available and the cost of subsidies will skyrocket. As a result, millions of Americans that have policies today that could have qualified as Bronze plans will be forced to change their coverage or drop coverage because they can no longer afford it."

ObamaCare’s Other Unconstitutional Provision

Clint Bolick, The Hoover Institution

Fri, 2011-12-16

"The Goldwater Institute’s lawsuit challenges IPAB’s very existence as an unlawful delegation of congressional power. Although most of the legal challenges to Obamacare have focused on the individual mandate to purchase government-prescribed health insurance, IPAB is no less central to the overall regulatory scheme. Many members of Congress voted for Obamacare only when convinced of the dubious premise that the law would constrain health-care costs. If IPAB is removed, the flimsy cost-containment rationale will disappear as well."

State of the ... Health Care Reform

Robert A. Book, Ph.D.

Forbes

Wed, 2012-01-25

"President Obama’s largest legislative accomplishment to date was the passage of the health care reform law, which has been going into effect in stages, with regulations currently being written for the most substantial changes due to take effect in 2014. So it is odd the President mentioned health care only briefly, and in passing, in his State of the Union address last night. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that the law remains deeply unpopular with a skeptical public, or the fact that despite some provisions 'to increase coverage' have already gone into effect, the percentage of American adults without health coverage has increased to an all-time high of over 17%."

ObamaCare and Religious Freedom

Timothy M. Dolan

The Wall Street Journal

Wed, 2012-01-25

"As a result, all but a few employers will be forced to purchase coverage for contraception, abortion drugs and sterilization services even when they seriously object to them. All who share the cost of health plans that include such services will be forced to pay for them as well. Surely it violates freedom of religion to force religious ministries and citizens to buy health coverage to which they object as a matter of conscience and religious principle."

Inside the ObamaCare Spin Zone

James C. Capretta

National Review Online

Mon, 2012-01-23

"Because, even if one were to accept the White House’s accounting (which one shouldn’t), that would mean that 22 states — roughly 40 percent of the country — are not 'on their way' toward erecting the Obamacare exchanges. Isn’t that a problem? Further, upon closer inspection, it’s clear that many of the 28 states that are supposedly 'on their way' really aren’t 'on their way.' That’s just comical White House spin, in which the truly inconsequential — the acceptance of minor federal grant money, or the setting up of a committee to “study” the question — is elevated into a sure sign that Obamacare is a fait accompli. It’s ridiculous."

ObamaCare Will Mandate Free Coverage of Abortion Drug & Contraception Without Religious Exemption

John McCormack

The Weekly Standard

Fri, 2012-01-20

"We all know there is no such thing as a free lunch, but the Obama administration has decided to move forward with its mandate that private insurance companies must provide 'free' coverage of contraception and sterilization procedures, as well as an abortion pill called 'ella'--which is much friendlier sounding than its 'close chemical relative' RU-486."

Why Doctors Might Be Turning On 'ObamaCare'

Marc Siegel

USA Today

Wed, 2012-01-18

"Doctors are catching on fast to the essential deficiencies of ObamaCare, but so are America's patients. The concern of doctors is reflected among the American people: Support for the law has sunk to 29% in the latest Associated Press poll. Think of ObamaCare as a heavy horse-drawn cart loaded with all of America's patients and best technologies. As the cart gets heavier and heavier, does it make sense that we don't add more horses but instead feed the ones we have less and less while expecting them to pull the additional weight?"

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