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.
Report Says Bill Leaves 51 Million Uninsured in 2026
Different Sides See CBO Report Differently
Merrill Matthews, resident scholar at the Institute for Policy Innovation, said Wednesday that "Republicans will think they dodged the bullet with this. They will feel it could have been worse."
CBO: 23 Million Would Lose Health Insurance Under House Health Care Bill
Just ahead of the report's release, the Institute for Policy Innovation issued a statement reacting to yet another health insurer's decision to pull out of Obamacare. "Democrats sold Obamacare as a way to expand access to health insurance and lower the costs. Just the opposite is happening," said Merrill Matthews, IPI resident scholar. "What we are seeing is a collapse of the individual insurance market."
BCBS Kansas City Joins Growing List of Insurers Pulling Out of ACA
Today, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City announced it will join a long and quickly growing list of health insurers that have concluded Democrats and President Obama had no idea how to reform the health insurance system when they imposed the Affordable Care Act on the country.
Publication Examines Health Care 'Price Transparency' Efforts: Widespread Challenges, Selective Solutions
In a new publication, “Selective Transparency: Transparency Efforts Obscure Real Health Care Pricing Issues,” IPI's Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., and CMPI's Peter Pitts examine the challenge consumers face in discovering prices in every sector of the health care system—not just prescription drugs.
Republican Reform of Healthcare Would Be Good For Texans
The AHCA's provisions will lead to lower health insurance premiums while protecting people with preexisting conditions. And should Texas take advantage of the AHCA’s opt-out provision, we could see the return of a functioning individual health insurance market, where individuals have a wide range of affordable coverage options.
Selective Transparency
Calls for more "price transparency" have tended to be selective. But access to prices is a problem throughout the health care system, and many "solutions" do nothing but exacerbate the problem.
Obamacare's Coverage Expansion Isn't What We're Told
Obamacare supporters say it has vastly expanded private health insurance, but new government numbers tell a different story.
Fake News About Obamacare Spurring Job Growth
The New York Times believes that cutting the taxes and government spending by repealing Obamacare would hurt economic growth. In fact, we would likely return to the higher growth levels we never had under President Obama.
Market Watchers: Health Care Repeal Doesn't Address Industry's Top Priority, CSR Payments
The state exemption from the community rating mandate is critical to stabilizing the marketplace, said Merrill Matthews, resident scholar at IPI. "I think it allows states to opt out and create a functioning health insurance market. They are allowing waivers so insurers can risk-rate patients and assess actuarially accurate fair premiums. If they are above the standard (premium rate) they can go into the risk pool."
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