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.
The Healthcare Premium Pattern
Even though President Obama promised that premiums for a family would be lower after his first term in office, prices are actually now $3,000 higher.
You Know That New 3.8% Medicare Tax? Double It
IPI's Dr. Merrill Matthews exposes how Democrats are doubling the tax obligation in the new Medicare tax: The wealthy may be paying the new rate of 3.8% now, but everyone else will also be paying some portion of it later.
Difficult Battle Ahead on Health Care
Health insurance premiums could soar in Georgia as more provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act come into effect this year. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, actuary Mark E. Litow and IPI's Merrill Matthews predict that rates could climb 65 percent to 100 percent in states such as Georgia and Tennessee.
Analysts Expect Healthcare Act To Raise Most Americans' Insurance Premiums
IPI's Merrill Matthews and actuary Mark Litow, in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, titled, "ObamaCare's Health-Insurance Sticker Shock," predict that Americans' healthcare insurance premiums will spike this year due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Who Will Pay More For Health Insurance Under Obamacare?
As a consequence of some Obamacare requirements — such as the requirement that health insurers accept everyone who applies, never charge more based on serious medical conditions (modified community rating), and/or start paying for many often-uncovered medical conditions — health-insurance premiums have been going up. But not everyone is equally affected by the increase in premiums.
ObamaCare's Health-Insurance Sticker Shock
Thanks to mandates that take effect in 2014, premiums in individual markets will shoot up. Some may double.
IRS To Employers: Pay ObamaCare 'Shared Responsibility' Or Else
As if the fiscal cliff, debt ceiling, higher taxes and a potential recession weren’t enough to scare employers, the Obama administration has just handed them one more headache: an IRS warning that any efforts to avoid the ObamaCare mandate to provide coverage or pay a penalty will not go unpunished.
Democrats Draw Line on Medicaid Cuts
NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner cites IPI's Dr. Merrill Matthews on why Medicaid needs a complete overhaul. "Although it's better than not having any insurance, it is bad insurance. And I argue that health care coverage for the poor shouldn't necessarily be poor coverage."
Seven Reasons States Should Just Say No To Medicaid Expansion
Since ObamaCare's success will be judged solely by how many uninsured people attain coverage, Democrats are desperately hoping the states will accept the Medicaid expansion being foisted on them by the health care law. But they may be be disappointed, writes IPI's Merrill Matthews.
Is the Government Reducing Medicare Fraud? Who Knows?
ObamaCare gave the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services $77 million to fight Medicare fraud, but CMS has failed to let Congress know how well it’s doing in that fight.
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