Viewpoints: The Cost Of Co-Ops Failures; GOP’s Plans For Medicare
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
The Wall Street Journal:
ObamaCare’s Cascading Co-Op Failures
When it passed Congress in 2010, the Affordable Care Act offered substantial financial support to create nonprofit health-insurance plans. Today 11 of the 23 such regional Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans have failed—seven since the beginning of October. They’ve collapsed despite federal startup loans totaling more than $1.1 billion. These loans will likely never be fully repaid, while insurers and consumers will be on the hook for any unpaid claims left behind by failed insurers. (Adrian Smith, 11/2)
The Denver Post:
'Free' Health Care Costs Too Much
Last month, Colorado HealthOP, the state's largest non-profit health insurer, was removed from Colorado's Obamacare exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, because massive ongoing losses have rendered it financially unstable. As of next year, the co-op's 83,000 members will have to find new health coverage, while taxpayers are on the hook for more than $70 million in startup loans. The Denver Post reported earlier this year that Colorado HealthOP, which captured roughly 40 percent of all health insurance enrollments though the state exchange and was its largest carrier, garnered market share with an "aggressive price cut ... but analysts warn the move carries financial risk." (Ross Kaminsky, 10/31)
Health Affairs:
Public Litigation Challenging ACA Persists, But Court Dismisses State Government Challenge
Although Affordable Care Act (ACA) litigation seems unending, virtually all of the ACA lawsuits brought by private individuals have now either come to an end or are in their death throes (an important exception being the contraceptive coverage cases, which may well end up before the Supreme Court this term). Several cases filed by public entities, however, still continue before the courts. The most important of these is undoubtedly House v. Burwell, the case brought by the House of Representatives challenging the legality of funding for the ACA’s cost-sharing reduction payments, which will be heard in federal district court this winter. (Timothy Jost, 11/2)
Real Clear Health:
Douglas Holtz-Eakin: 'We've Created A Competition In Entitlement Programs'
Douglas Holtz-Eakin is the president of the American Action Forum and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. He also served on President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. With the Affordable Care Act's insurance marketplaces beginning their third open enrollment this week, RealClearHealth talked to Holtz-Eakin about what's working, what's not working, what can be done today to address problems with the law, and what should be on the agenda of a new administration in 2017. (11/3)
Modern Healthcare:
GOP Debate, Ryan's Election As House Speaker Tee Up Medicare As A Top Issue
It's now conventional wisdom in the Republican Party that Medicare should be converted into a defined-contribution program to prod seniors into private Medicare plans and cap spending. That makes it likely Republicans will push forward with that model—which they've been advocating in various forms for more than 20 years—if they win the White House and maintain control of Congress in next November's elections. The big question is how much they'll actually do about it—or talk about it—prior to the elections, given Medicare's broad popularity. (Harris Meyer, 11/2)
JAMA:
Getting Serious About Reducing Suicide
Between 2005 and 2012, age-adjusted mortality rates declined for all 10 leading causes of death in the United States—except for suicide. The rate of suicide increased from 10.9 per 100 000 in 2005 to 12.6 per 100 000 in 2012. Suicide accounted for 41 149 deaths in 2013, the latest year for which national data are available. ... What is different about suicide, and why has there been so little progress in preventing it? (Jeffrey W. Swanson, Richard J. Bonnie and Paul S. Appelbaum, 11/2)
