The March of Liberal Confusion Continues

The California Legislature recently passed a measure prohibiting health insurers from increasing rates without prior approval. Liberals and "consumer advocates" cheered the move, but only because they don't seem to grasp the simple concept that insurance premiums are reflective of healthcare costs. Controlling rate increases does absolutely nothing to restrain increasing healthcare costs; however, it does increase the risk of adverse selection within the insurance pool.

Obamacare At Most Unfavorable Level Yet

Obamacare is still widely unpopular, even in the most Democratically skewed polls.

Maybe We Don't Have to be So "Bold" After All

By a 52 to 12 split, Oklahomans consider themselves "conservative" rather than "liberal."

If that is the case, shouldn't Oklahoma's legislative leaders and governor be pursuing much more aggressively conservative health policies? Oklahomans don't like Obamacare -- even going so far as to pass a Constitutional amendment last November to prevent the law from being implemented here -- and our leaders have responded by rejecting federal dollars to implement Obamacare health insurance exchanges and by filing a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the law.

But Oklahomans don't like expanded government either, so why do legislative policies in Oklahoma bend toward expanding welfare programs like Medicaid?

It's time for Oklahoma's leaders to do what they were elected to do: represent the values of their constituents. Oklahoma desparately needs Medicaid reform. In the past, I've implored legislative leaders to be bold to implement real cost restraining Medicaid reforms, but how bold do you have to be when almost everyone supports you?

Obamacare's Long-Term Care Ponzi Scheme

The Community Living Assistance Services and Support Program, also known as the "CLASS Act," is a new long-term care entitlement program enacted under Obamacare. The Act is essentially government-run long-term care insurance. Participants voluntarily pay premiums, which the government began collecting in January. By most accounts, the plan is going to be an absolute disaster. As former Heritage Foundation policy analyst Brian Blase noted, "actuaries who have analyzed CLASS believe it is poorly designed and will lead to an overabundance of unhealthy and disabled individuals in the risk pool. This adverse selection problem will likely cause either spiraling premium increases for enrollees or a taxpayer-financed bailout. The deficit commission appointed by President Barack Obama has recommended that CLASS be either revamped or repealed."

Even Democrat Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) called The CLASS Act "a Ponzi scheme of the first order, the kind of thing that Bernie Madoff would have been proud of." A group of moderate Democrat Senators wrote to Sen. Harry Reid asking him to not implement the CLASS Act.

Reason's Peter Suderman has another breakdown of the Act here.

5 Days, 5 Obamacare Failures

Chris Jacobs at the Senate Republican Policy Committee notes that over the past week, multiple reports have shown how Obamacare has not lived up to its promises, delivering higher premiums, more spending, and new mandates on job creators.

Paul Ryan's Path to Prosperity

U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) is out with two new videos. The first lays out our nation's massive debt load and how his proposed budget would restrain costs and stimulate real economic growth. The second shows how his budget would reform our broken Medicare system.

Docs Order Tests to Limit Liability First, Treat Patients Second

Overconsumption of healthcare services is the primary driver of escalating healthcare spending. But what contributes to overconsumption? The third-party payment system of employer sponsored insurance is the single biggest factor, but defensive medicine ── where a physician orders unnecessary tests or prescribes unnecessary treatments to limit his or her own malpractice liability ── plays a significant role as well. A new survey of emergency room physicians recently found the number one reason doctors order many tests is to protect themselves from lawsuits.

Medicare Loses Four Times as Much as Most Profitable Insurers Make

It was no secret the Obama Administration demonized "greedy" health insurers that make "record profits" to sell Obamacare. Nevermind that health insurers have about a three percent profit margin (ranking 86th among all industries in 2009). But even if we all agreed that health insurers are "too profitable" (whatever that means), shouldn't liberals clean their own house first? In 2010, the nation's ten largest health insurers made a combined profit of $12.7 billion. That same year, Medicare lost at least $48 billion (and probably much more) to waste, fraud and abuse.

Cutting Medicaid Not So Painful

The Cato Institute's Michael Cannon says cutting Medicaid won't be nearly as painful as some seem to think.

Ten Myths About Congressman Paul Ryan's Medicare Reform Plan

The Heritage Foundation breaks through the rhetoric and lays out the facts about Congressman Paul Ryan's Medicare reform plan.

Is the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Attempting to Influence the 2012 Presidential Election?

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has requested parties to both the Liberty University and Virginia lawsuits seeking to overturn Obamacare to file supplemental briefs explaining how application of the “Anti-Injunction Act” would affect each case. The Anti-Injunction Act is a tax statute that prohibits a claim against the government until after the tax has been implemented and the parties have standing to sue, which would not take place under Obamacare until 2014 when the individual mandate kicks in. If the Fourth Circuit Court applies the Act, it would likely dismiss the cases until the parties have standing in 2014. The randomly selected three-judge panel assigned to the cases are a Bill Clinton appointee and two Barack Obama appointees. No surprise, they appear to siding with the federal government’s argument that the individual mandate is constitutional because it falls within the government’s power to tax. Neither the federal government nor the plaintiffs have to this point raised the applicability of the Anti-Injunction Act to the claim, meaning the Court appears to be unilaterally trying to push back adjudication of the lawsuits until after the Presidential election in 2012.

ReformMedicaid.org

A fantastic new website - www.reformmedicaid.org - by the Heartland Institute's Ben Domenech is up and running. This will be a great resource for policymakers and interested citizens on why and how to reform Medicaid.

Oklahomans Support Health Care Interstate Compact

A plurality of Oklahomans support the Health Care Interstate Compact bill that was recently signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin, while an overwhelming majority of Oklahomans believe Obamacare will be bad for the nation.

The Case Against Obamacare

The Heritage Foundation has a terrific series of policy papers that every state lawmaker should read. The Case Against Obamacare examines 15 of the most onerous provisions of the federal healthcare law and explains how they will harm consumers, businesses, doctors, insurers and the states.

Oklahoma's Projected Medicaid Expenditure Growth Under Obamacare Staggering

The expansion of Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – also known as “Obamacare” – that will expand eligibility to everyone with an income up to 138 percent (133 percent plus a 5 percent income disregard) of the federal poverty level (FPL) will have a devastating impact on the state budget, according to new research released by OCPA today. Our research projects the expansion will increase Medicaid enrollment to 36 percent of the population by 2023 and will add an additional $11.4 billion to state program expenditures during the first 10 years (2014-23) after the law goes into effect.

Even without Obamacare, state spending on Oklahoma’s Medicaid program is projected to rise far beyond sustainable limits. State Medicaid expenditures have grown 169 percent since 2000, with the state spending approximately $1.1 billion on the program in 2010; this historical growth trend suggests the state’s share of program funding will be approximately $2 billion by 2014 and will be $32.3 billion between 2014-23, even without accounting for the expansion required under the health reform law. Total state spending on Medicaid under the Obamacare expansion is projected to be $43.7 billion between 2014-23.

State expenditure growth for Medicaid is already unsustainable; Obamacare will almost certainly bring the state to the brink of fiscal ruin.

The Myth of Uncompensated Care

The "problem" of uncompensated care - where an uninsured person obtains health services and cannot or does not pay - was the primary justification for Obamacare. These "free riders," as they are known, are driving up health costs, Obamacare proponents say. Unfortunately, this "problem" is greatly overstated. For a few rational takes on uncompensated care, check out the National Center for Policy Analysis' John Goodman here, Forbes' Avik Roy here and the Cato Institute's Michael Cannon here.

Oklahoma's Medicaid Expenditure Growth Unsustainable

Oklahoma’s Medicaid program – known as SoonerCare − is growing at a staggering rate, making the program nearly unsustainable.

According to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority’s FY-2010 Annual Report, total program expenditures grew 165 percent between 2000 and 2010, while the state’s share of expenditures grew 169 percent during the same time span. By contrast, the state’s gross state product (GSP) – one measure of economic growth − grew only 63 percent during roughly the same period (2000-08), according to the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. The rapid growth in Medicaid expenditures crowds out state expenditures in other areas, such as transportation and education. In other words, every dollar the state spends on Medicaid is a dollar that cannot be either returned to the taxpayer or spent on other programs. In fact, during the same time period (2000-10), state appropriations for common education increased only 37 percent, while state appropriations for transportation decreased by nearly 40 percent.

And, of course, this expenditure growth doesn’t even take into account the massive expansion of Medicaid as required by Obamacare in 2014, when the program will be opened to all citizens with incomes up to 138 percent (133 percent plus a 5 percent income disregard) of the federal poverty level (FPL). Oklahoma needs flexibility to make real cost saving reforms to our Medicaid program−but flexibility can only come through federal relief. Now is the time for Oklahoma’s governor, legislative leaders, executive branch leaders and congressional delegation to lead an unrelenting effort to obtain federal waivers that will allow the state to make much-needed reforms before this program bankrupts the state.

Congressional Republicans Seek Medicaid Flexibility for States

Republicans are pushing to eliminate the "maintenance of effort" clause in Obamacare, which prohibits states from reducing eligibility standards within their Medicaid programs until Obamacare takes effect in 2014. Removing the MOE would give states more flexibility to contain rising expenditures within their Medicaid programs.

Congressman Ryan's Budget Seeks Solutions to Healthcare Crisis

Over at Kaiser Health News, Cato's Michael Cannon shows how Congressman Paul Ryan's budget proposal could tackle the deficits created by Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid.

Medicare Vouchers

The Weekly Standard promotes vouchers for Medicare.

No Obamacare Insurance Exchanges for Louisiana

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has joined Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and Florida Gov. Rick Scott in refusing to implement state-based Obamacare exchanges.

Should Your State Set Up an Insurance Exchange?

John Graham at the Free American Health Care blog makes a compelling argument against states implementing state-based insurance exchanges. Over at OCPA's InterAlia blog, I offer a few thoughts on insurance exchanges and the use of federal Obamacare dollars to implement them.

Obamacare One Year Later

On the one year anniversary of the implementation of Obamacare, conservatives are out in force detailing how the measure is no better for consumers, small businesses and states than it was when passed a year ago -- and is actually probably worse now that we know what was in the bill.