What If The President Had Changed His Priorities? A Pre-Election Analysis From An Alternate Universe
Many politicos say the current political landscape would be very different if President Obama would have shifted his legislative priorities to put the economy in front of health reform. But would it really?
Changes Wrought By Health Reform? Well, Maybe Not
The Obama administration has issued McDonald’s (among others) a waiver on some regulations in the health law. But that hasn’t stopped the McDonald’s story from becoming propaganda in the campaign to discredit and, eventually, repeal health care reform.
Returning To The Argument: Can Health Reform Reduce Costs?
Health reform critics cite recent developments regarding insurance premium cost increases as proof that their suspicions about the overhaul were on target. But are they right? Don’t be so sure.
GOP ‘Repeal And Replace’ Strategy Lacks Merit
Although far from perfect, the health reform law promises a lot of benefits — to individuals and to the country as a whole. Can Republicans make the case that Americans would be better off without these benefits?
As Reform Improves The Overall Market, Inefficient Insurers Could Take Hits
The whole point of the nation’s conversation about health reform has been to find ways to spend differently so that the result is a higher quality, more humane health care system.
Medicaid Cutbacks Not The Same As Private Insurance Rescission
States don’t have the money to sustain Medicaid expansions during hard economic times, forcing them to make cuts. This is terrible. But to compare Medicaid cutbacks to private insurer rescission is grossly misleading.
Why The Health Reform Repealers Are Wrong
This column is a collaboration between KHN and The New Republic . The effort to repeal health care reform, all in one fell swoop, seems to be stalling. Instead, the opponents of reform are trying to dismantle it piece by piece. The latest effort came last week, when a group of Republicans in the Senate […]
When Bad News About Health Reform Isn’t Bad
This column is a collaboration between KHN and The New Republic. The weekend’s newspapers included a pair of headlines about health care reform. And they were probably not the kind that reform advocates like to see. One was in the Boston Globe: “Firms Cancel Health Coverage.” According to the article, a number of small businesses […]
Back To The Future: CBO Budget Predictions and Health Reform
A new CBO report highlights the importance of future lawmakers’ willingness to go through with cuts called for in the new health care law.
Even With The ‘Grandfather Clause’ Protection, Change Is Coming To Most Health Plans
Insurance plans have a history of frequently changing
Controversy erupted this week after the director of the Congressional Budget Office said the new health overhaul law won’t significantly reduce government speding on health care and a New York Times story critiqued Dartmouth research on health spending.
London Fog: Berwick and Britain’s NHS
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, said he was “alarmed” by Berwick’s admiration of the NHS. Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona and Pat Roberts of Kansas say Berwick advocates the “rationing” of care. Of course, as Berwick pointed out, our system already rations care by income and medical status. Apparently this is not so alarming to McConnell and the rest of the GOP.
Sensible public policy shouldn’t ask people to reduce that health care bill by bargaining with their doctors over prices and using things (as one Republican U.S. Senate candidate recently suggested) like chickens to pay for care. It should prevent that kind of financial exposure in the first place.
Report From Michigan: What State Residents Stand To Gain From Health Reform
State officials leading the nullification campaign talk a lot about what their citizens stand to lose as the Affordable Care Act takes effect. But the real loss will be if, somehow, the opposite were to happen–and the people living in those states were left dealing with the same dysfunctional health care system that exists today.
Why The Vote Changes The Health Care Debate Forever
Health care reform promises to shift the middle ground between government and market, modestly, but in a way that will have far-reaching effects.
How Blue Cross Became Part Of A Dysfunctional Health Care System
If the Democrats get their way, Blue Cross companies will have to change their business model, so that they act a bit more like the Blue Cross plans of old–the ones that helped schoolteachers, not stockholders.
Malpractice Reform: A Test Case for Bipartisanship At The Health Summit
Republicans and Democrats should come together on one bipartisan issue at Thursday’s health care ‘summit’: medical malpractice reform.
Yes, Let’s Talk About Those Republican Ideas
For most of last year, Republicans spent their time attacking Democratic plans for reform, rather than describing their own. But now they’ve put a plan on the table. Showcasing that plan–and comparing it to what the Democrats have proposed–might help clarify a few things.
The Bipartisan Trap – And How Democrats Fell Into It
Every special interest knew that the Democrats had a razor-thin margin for success–and that gave them maximum leverage. They understood early on that, by trying in good faith to reach deals with Republicans and conservatives, Democrats were falling into a trap–the one that’s ensnaring them now.
Transparency and Sausage Making
Compared to George W. Bush’s administration, President Obama has made significant gains in legislative transparency.
