Passions are high in the national health care debate. Some supporters of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have taken to asserting that hundreds of thousands of “people will die” if it is repealed or significantly altered. These claims do not withstand scrutiny, and those who wish their policy arguments to be taken seriously would be well advised to avoid them.
This summary of the bill in bullet points shows that it is not a repeal of Obamacare, but instead tinkers with the definitions - business as usual in Washington, DC. [...]
President Trump and congressional Republicans have a second chance to take a whack at the Obamacare piñata – and the beauty of it is that this time, Democrats may want to take a swing at it, too. “It” being the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). As soon as the actuary for Medicare/Medicaid Services issues a report – already overdue for 2017 – that the "targets" have been exceeded, the IPAB automatically rises to life – in order to dispense death.
The Republican health care bill passed by the House, which the president enthusiastically supported, would be a step toward the health care model that Australia uses. Unfortunately, health care down under is an expensive mess.
The problems are getting more intense. A new report shows that the whole program is unraveling very quickly. If some dramatic reform is not passed soon, premiums will continue to rise, options will dwindle, and access to health care will effectively shrink and dramatically so. This whole program is a massive failure.
The state governments have intervened haphazardly in the health-care insurance business so pervasively and for so long that the whole setup now dictates a host of requirements that make no sense except as answers to the prayers of special-interest groups and rent seekers.
When you ask or force some other entity that doesn’t love you to pay for your healthcare (or education for that matter) for how long will you suffer under the illusion that you also retain control or that decisions made for you are truly in your best interest?
As the debate on health care rages on, one metric in particular appears to hold an outsized importance for the American people: the number of Americans covered by health insurance.
