For all of the quality care it delivers, the U.S. health care system is one of the most dysfunctional sectors of the U.S. economy. The government spends nearly 50 cents of every dollar spent on health care, most consumers are almost entirely insulated from the cost of their decisions, and employers decide what kind of health insurance their employees get.
But while the U.S. health care system begs for reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act only exacerbates all of the current problems, promising to devolve into a price-controlled system rationed and micromanaged by bureaucrats.
IPI believes there are much better options: reform the tax treatment of health insurance; remove the state and federal mandates and regulations that make coverage more expensive; pass medical liability reform; and promote policies that create value-conscious shoppers in the health care marketplace.
'You Dingbats Can't Go Home Until You Do Your Job'
If the GOP leadership were to postpone or cancel the August recess, members of Congress would have time--and a lot more pressure--to accomplish what they promised they'd do.
Ted Cruz & Mike Lee Have An Rx
To be clear, this is not the free-market approach that many of us would like, but neither the House nor the Senate has enough votes to return health insurance to a free market, said Merrill Matthews. What Cruz is trying to do is create a situation where the vast majority of people in the individual health-insurance market would have a wide range of affordable health-insurance options — just like they used to before Obamacare.”
More Competition And Perhaps Lower Prices Coming To The Drug Industry
Trump administration officials have drafted a presidential executive order intended to address the cost of and access to prescription drugs. That’s good news, because the left plans to make drug costs and access one of its major political bludgeons.
If Lawmakers Had Stuck to Original ACA 'Repeal,' Bill Would be Law, Market Observers Say
If Republican lawmakers had stuck to their first strategy of immediately repealing the Affordable Care Act without worrying about a replacement that bill would probably be law by now, said Institute for Policy Innovation resident scholar Merrill Matthews.
Now Supporting Immediate ACA Repeal, Would Have Been Better If Rand Paul Had Never Opposed GOP's Original Plan
Failing to gain the votes needed to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Donald Trump and some Senate Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), are today calling for a return to the original Republican strategy of passing repeal legislation immediately, and then put together a replacement bill, perhaps in August.
ObamaCare Entices People to 'Game the System'
The Senate may come to terms on a healthcare bill, but one observer warns it won't stop the collapse of the individual health insurance market.
Senate Adds Waiting Period to ACA Replacement Bill
The individual mandate has not been effective in convincing healthy people to buy insurance, especially if they don't qualify for subsidies, or have smaller subsidies, experts agree.
"I was never optimistic that was going to work," said Merrill Matthews. "My statement is most major legislation starts out asking what's good policy and ends up asking what's good politics," he said. "We're at the what's good politics now."
The Senate Healthcare Bill Is Just 'Obamacare Lite'
IPI says that the Senate Republicans’ Health Care Bill Won't Stop the Collapse of the Individual Health Insurance Market. It may be the GOP is willing to sacrifice the individual market in order to achieve the bill’s other important reforms, says IPI's Dr Merrill Mathews in Forbes. The risk is that premiums continue to rise and insurers flee and Democrats, the media and maybe even the public say the Republicans’ “free market” approach didn’t work, so let’s move on to a government-run, single-payer health care system.
GOP May Sacrifice Individual Health Insurance For Broader Reforms
It may be the GOP is willing to sacrifice the individual market in order to achieve the bill’s other important reforms. The risk is that premiums continue to rise and insurers flee and Democrats, the media and maybe even the public say the Republicans’ “free market” approach didn’t work, so let’s move on to a government-run, single-payer health care system.
Senate Health Care Bill Would Guarantee CSR Payments for Two Years
The combination of keeping the guaranteed issue and preventing medical underwriting would make the Senate version actuarially unsound, said IPI's Dr. Merrill Matthews.
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