Fix Health Care Policy

So Much For Transparency

Though two weeks have passed since Democrats approved a partisan health care bill in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, a complete copy of the final bill as amended in Committee remains unavailable for the public or members of the Senate to review, and the bill’s supporters have yet to release a final estimate of the its costs.

“We need to know what’s in the HELP Committee bill and how much it costs. Democrats passed this bill through Committee more than two weeks ago now. How long will they take to post the final language so the American people can read it?” asked Senator Mike Enzi, (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the HELP Committee.

Enzi led committee Republicans today in requesting a full copy of the bill and a final cost estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Read the complete press release and letter from the office of Senator Mike Enzi.

Tags: Dodd, Enzi, Senate Health Bill, Senate HELP

Which Chart Best Exposes Obamacare’s True Impact on the Deficit?

From the beginning, President Barack Obama promised the American people his health plan would not add to our federal deficit in the long term. Just this past Saturday he again promised the country: “I will not sign on to any health plan that adds to our deficits over the next decade. And by helping improve quality and efficiency, the reforms we make will help bring our deficits under control in the long term.” Problem is the official, independent, nonpartisan scorekeepers for Congressional spending and revenue, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation, keep releasing estimates showing that reality just does not match Obama’s rhetoric.

When the CBO first released their scoring of the House bill, we produced this chart explaining: “by waiting till year 4 of a 10 year forecast, the Democrats are gaming the Congressional Budget Office’s scoring system to hide the true cost of their bill from the American people.” (more…)

Who Will Make Your Health Care “Choices”?

The House health care reform bill would establish a new entity called the Health Choices Administration, headed by a presidential appointee to be called the Health Choices Commissioner. Sounds wonderful, right? A government official whose only job is to make sure you have health care choices, right?

No. If you read the bill – Title I, Subtitle E, Sections 141-143, on pages 41-48 – it turns out that the Health Choices Commissioner’s job is, essentially, to make your health choices for you. (more…)

Obama’s Non Sequitur: An Instant Response to the White House’s Health Insurance Talking Points

President Barack Obama is visiting North Carolina and Virginia today looking to shift the debate away from the massive new spending and government control in his health care plan, and to the “Security You Get” under Obamacare. But if “health insurance consumer protections” are what Obamacare is all about, then why is Congress fighting over massive expansion to Medicaid, the creation of a federal health board, and a public option? If these goals are what the President has in mind, why is Congress doing this other nonsense?

White House talking point #1: No Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions (more…)

Obamacare Does Cut Your Medicare Benefits

Yesterday at his AARP townhall, President Barack Obama claimed: “Nobody is talking about cutting Medicare benefits.” The July 28th Barack Obama needs to talk to the January 11th Barack Obama, who told ABC News:

We’ve got to eliminate programs that don’t work, and I’ll give you an example in the health care area. We are spending a lot of money subsidizing the insurance companies around something called Medicare Advantage, a program that gives them subsidies to accept Medicare recipients but doesn’t necessarily make people on Medicare healthier. And if we eliminate that and other programs, we can potentially save $200 billion out of the health care system.

Over one in five Medicare patients are enrolled in the Medicare Advantage plans that President Obama wants to completely cut. The benefits that over 10.5 million seniors would lose as a result of President Obama’s $200 billion in Medicare Advantage cuts include: (more…)

Tags: Medicare Advantage, Obama Health

In the Green Room: Rep. Camp

Rep. Dave Camp came to Heritage’s weekly bloggers briefing today. He made specific recommendations for health care reform that leaves the individual in charge and actually reduces costs without raising taxes. “80% of Americans have health care, and they don’t want to see it change in a fundamental way,” he said, adding that reform should include 3 things “that get the cost out of health care.” 1. Common-sense liability reform that reduces doctors’ need to practice defensive medicine. 2. Regulatory reform, so small businesses can group together in insurance pools. 3. Strong anti-fraud provisions.

Tags: Dave Camp, health insurance, heritage, regulation, small business, The Bloggers Briefing, tort lawyers

The Senate Doctors Show, Episode 6

Tags: John Barrasso, Senate Doctors Show, Tom Coburn

Do Blue Dogs Want Lower Incomes, Fewer Jobs, and Bad Health Care?

Political scientist Jacob Hacker claims in the Washington Post that the “Blue Dog” Democrats’ opposition to Obama’s “public plan” is not in the interests of their constituents – particularly farmers, ranchers, small business owners, and low- and middle-income workers, who would supposedly benefit from premium assistance and from the cost reductions he claims a Medicare-like public plan for the non-elderly would bring, as well as from the requirement that “all but the smallest of employers make a meaningful contribution to the cost of coverage.”

On the contrary, it is precisely these provisions that would raise health care costs and harm the most economically vulnerable workers and entrepreneurs, while increasing health care costs for everyone. The requirement that “all but the smallest of employers make a meaningful contribution to the cost of coverage” is to be implemented by requiring employers who don’t provide health insurance to pay an 8 percent payroll tax – but the bill specifically states that this tax will NOT be credited toward worker’s premiums, even if they sign up for the public plan. So it won’t do workers any good in terms of providing them with health coverage – plus, as a tax on employment, it will force pay cuts and layoffs on those who can least afford them. It will kill the jobs of middle- and lower-income workers at a time when unemployment is already at historic highs, and do nothing to help those who retain their jobs to pay for health coverage. (more…)

Tags: Jacob Hacker, single-payer health care