Health

All articles about health insurance or related to health insurance from Consumer Insurance Guide

Idaho Halts Implementation of Obamacare Exchange

By Kenneth Artz, The Heartland Institute
Idaho Halts Implementation of Obamacare Exchange

A state-run health insurance exchange was supposed to be the most important topic Idaho lawmakers would consider when they began their 2012 legislative session. But as the session drew to a close at the end of March, exchange establishment never even received a legislative hearing. President Obama’s health care law called for the implementation of a health insurance exchange in every state by 2014. Given that Idaho could tap into $20.3 million in a taxpayer…

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States That Chose to Implement Obamacare Could Face Upheaval

By Benjamin Domenech, The Heartland Institute
States That Chose to Implement Obamacare Could Face Upheaval

Today brings the latest report from Politico regarding the concerns of states that chose to implement President Barack Obama’s health care law. The major concern: If the Supreme Court rules against the mandate alone, these states could be caught at a major competitive disadvantage. The expected response? Intense pressure from insurers to pass state-level individual mandates: A Supreme Court ruling striking down the federal mandate wouldn’t take away states’ power to enact one. The challenge…

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Uninsured? Universal health care might be the answer

By Emily Capdevielle
Uninsured? Universal health care might be the answer

  Why Should You Care About Obamacare? 1. Individuals suffering from pre-existing conditions will no longer be denied insurance.  The law prevents individual health insurers from excluding children with pre-existing conditions from being covered by their family policy. Insurers will not be required to take the same steps for adults until January 1, 2014. In the mean time, Obama’s health care law provides coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions through a temporary national high-risk pool….

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Why Medicare’s Pilot Programs Failed

By John C. Goodman, The Heartland Institute
Why Medicare’s Pilot Programs Failed

The failure of Medicare’s demonstration projects to reduce the costs of care has been the subject of much disappointment in the health policy world. Recall that these are critical to President Obama’s challenge “To find out what works and then go do it.” If nothing works, the fallback weapon in Obamacare is to reduce fees paid to doctors and hospitals. Yet the Medicare actuaries tell us squeezing the providers in this way will put one…

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Don Berwick: Giving Patients More Control Over Health Spending “Vicious Idea”

By Benjamin Domenech, The Heartland Institute
Don Berwick: Giving Patients More Control Over Health Spending “Vicious Idea”

It didn’t take long for Don Berwick, the controversial former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Obama, to start being honest again about his anti-market views once he left the administration. In a forum with health care policy expert Jim Capretta, Berwick reacted strongly to the idea that patients should be given price signals for health care costs or have a greater say in how that money is spent: Dr….

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Critical Drug Shortages Reaching Crisis

By Consumer Insurance Guide Staff
Critical Drug Shortages Reaching Crisis

By Ashley Bateman, The Heartland Institute A rise in shortages of key drugs is reaching crisis level for many patients nationwide as demand outpaces supply. Legislation has been introduced in Congress to address the issue, but questions remain as to whether the bill would address the real drivers of shortages. Cancer, Behavior Drugs Hardest Hit The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) lists more than 200 drugs on its current drug shortages bulletin; the list…

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Illinois Medicaid Squeeze Could Hike Everyone’s Hospital Bills

By Andrew Thomason, The Heartland Institute
Illinois Medicaid Squeeze Could Hike Everyone’s Hospital Bills

The average Illinois household could be facing higher hospital bills under Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s $33.8 billion proposed budget, which decreases how much the state compensates providers treating patients on Medicaid. Quinn’s office said under normal circumstances Medicaid spending should jump by $2.7 billion. But spending on the state’s human services budget, which includes Medicaid, is slated to grow by less than necessary for that, 2.7 percent, from $14.3 in fiscal 2012 to $14.7 billion….

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Is President Obama’s Law Keeping Unemployment High?

By Loren Heal, The Heartland Institute
Is President Obama’s Law Keeping Unemployment High?

Two years after President Obama signed it into law, there is evidence the slow economic recovery could be partly due to his namesake health care law. According to analyses conducted by the Heritage Foundation and others, the passage of President Obama’s law correlates with a dramatic slowdown in the economic recovery and in private sector hiring. Prior to the law’s passage in April 2010, private sector job creation had improved by 67,600 jobs per month…

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Job-related health insurance coverage on the decline

By Consumer Insurance Guide Staff
Job-related health insurance coverage on the decline

The number of employer-sponsored healthcare plans has been on the decline for years as fewer companies are offering it and a declining number of employees are taking it. According a recent study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), the percentage of workers with health insurance coverage has been declining since 1997, mostly because of companies that have dropped their coverage. Other reasons include the out-of-pocket costs for the employees or coverage from another source,…

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Battle Over Contraception Mandate Continues

By April Gregory, The Heartland Institute
Battle Over Contraception Mandate Continues

The controversy of the mandate announced by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requiring all employers providing insurance to cover the costs of contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs has begun to move to the courts. Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, notes several groups and multiple state attorneys general have filed or joined lawsuits against the mandate. “This is not an issue about contraceptives. This is an issue of religious…

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