On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) into law. The healthcare reform law is also known as the Affordable Care Act. President Obama and Vice President Biden gave brief remarks during the signing ceremony. Below are some of the statements and promises made by the president to the […]
ObamaCare = Slouching Toward the PIIGS
PIIGS is the acronym for the European countries of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain. These countries represent the most at-risk economies in Europe, particularly after the European sovereign debt crisis in 2009 and 2010. Their fiscal conditions, which include astronomically high debt and large social-welfare states, should be a warning to the United States.
Obama of the Thousand Days
Yes, it’s happened again, twice in a matter of days. The Obama administration has made major changes to Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without Congressional approval. Based on a Galen Institute list of administrative changes to ACA, the first change occurred on April 19, 2011 when a Medicare Advantage “patch” was created to […]
The ObamaCare Python
On February 12, 2014, the Obama Administration released the final regulation for the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer-shared healthcare insurance responsibility provisions. This regulation again delays the employer mandate and changes the healthcare reform law without Congressional approval. But it also contains a provision, which truly demonstrates how pernicious ACA, better known as ObamaCare, is […]
The Article One President Strikes Again
On Monday afternoon the Obama administration issued the final regulation for the implementation of the employer-shared responsibility provisions under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. The regulation again delays the employer mandate to provide health insurance to employees and corresponding fines for non-compliance until 2015 or 2016, depending on the size of the employer. Here’s […]
More Problems with Medicaid Expansion
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, the eligibility for Medicaid program was expanded to nearly all Americans under the age of 65 that are effectively at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level (approximately $32,913 for a family of four.) Prior to Obamacare, Medicaid eligibility was for these mandatory classes: children, pregnant women, very-low income parents, seniors, the blind, and the disabled. Eligibility for these six classes varies by income. (States do have some flexibility in designing and expanding the program.)
Disturbing News on Medicaid from Oregon
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) in 2010 objected to the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid, a “partnership” between state governments and Washington to provide healthcare to the poor, knowing at the time that the price tag would be prohibitive and it would put the federal and local governments in charge of millions of Americans’ […]
In Case You Missed It
Between the three-day holiday weekend and the big snow storm on the east coast, you may have missed this news story from the Jan 17, Wall Street Journal. Titled “Exchanges See Little Progress on the Uninsured” by Christopher Weaver and Anna Wilde Mathews it concerns a survey undertaken by McKinsey & Company of 4,463 consumers between […]
More Transparency for Obamacare
Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Exchange Information Disclosure Act (H.R. 3362) by a bipartisan vote of 259 to 154. This is the second of two bills that bring more transparency to exactly what is happening with respect to security and actual enrollment in the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. I wrote […]
Maryland, My Maryland
On Sunday, January 12, the Washington Post wrote a highly critical article of the Maryland Health Connection, the state’s website for its health insurance exchange. The website has been a disaster since October 1, opening day for all the Obamacare exchanges. On the following Tuesday, the government official in charge of implementing the exchange, the state’s Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown […]