tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18451837035682538712026-04-05T02:53:20.164-04:00A Health Care Reform Blog––Bob Laszewski's review of the latest developments in federal health policy, health care reform, and marketplace activities in the health care financing business. ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comBlogger869125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-44963662559648600802021-03-01T14:03:00.000-05:002021-03-01T14:03:59.935-05:00

Contained inside the Democrats' $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill is a political time bomb for Republicans.Included in the bill's long list of stimulus spending is a provision that delivers on President Biden's promise to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.Obamacare's big failure has been what it did not do to help––and actually hurt––middle class buyers of individual health

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-10197617613109063682021-01-20T12:27:00.000-05:002021-01-20T12:27:53.243-05:00

After four years of the Trump administration's undermining of The Affordable Care Act/Obamacare, what can we expect over the next few months from the new administration?On the regulatory side, not as much as you might expect.During the campaign Biden talked about building on the law's success in covering the people it has covered––primarily through the Medicaid expansion and for lower income

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-51715928764603801862021-01-08T15:12:00.008-05:002021-01-30T13:12:59.414-05:00

Wednesday was maybe the most disheartening and embarrassing days in history for all of us as Americans. But, in the end, it was a day to be proud of.In 1787, Ben Franklin was walking out of Independence Hall after the Constitutional Convention, when he was asked, “Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?”Franklin responded: “A republic, if you can keep it.”We kept it. Within hours of

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-82342416001152478702020-12-10T10:20:00.007-05:002020-12-10T23:19:31.979-05:00

Since it's been a long time since we've had it, I thought you would appreciate seeing this: 

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-57022876710990675502020-11-24T10:48:00.003-05:002021-01-30T13:13:45.470-05:00

I've been doing health policy for thirty years. I arguably know something about health insurance.For the life of me, I can't figure out what Kelly Loeffler is proposing under her health plan––particularly when it comes to current protections for preexisting conditions.  In 2017, Republicans proposed a plan that would have arguably given states the ability to reverse Obamacare's protections

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-86670815240289715772020-11-10T12:30:00.004-05:002021-01-30T13:14:28.884-05:00

After hearing the Supreme Court's oral arguments this morning over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), I can double down on my prediction the Court will not wreck Obamacare. If the conservative justices don't buy the plaintiff arguments, their attempts to destroy Obamacare will fail. Just two of the conservatives siding with the three remaining liberals would be

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-61757670213277328082020-11-09T17:24:00.004-05:002020-11-10T17:57:17.750-05:00

This is an update of an article originally posted in September.With the Supreme Court due to hear arguments this week on a case brought by a number of Republican state attorneys general that could throw out the entire health care law, and with conservatives now having a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court, there is great concern among ACA/Obamacare supporters that this could well mean the end of

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-22968862358747099372020-11-07T14:07:00.004-05:002020-11-09T17:26:04.187-05:00

Biden has won. Presuming the North Carolina and Alaska Senate seats remain in Republican hands,  the Senate will come out no better for Democrats than a 50-50 tie with Vice President-elect Harris being the tiebreaker. And, if Republicans win at least one of the two Georgia run-off Senate races, the Republicans will maintain control and the Democrats will not have the votes to move any

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-44095558058777613372020-09-24T17:23:00.003-04:002020-10-28T13:00:14.329-04:00

For more than twenty years we debated ways to protect people from preexisting conditions limitations in health insurance. We finally got those protections when the Congress passed, and the President signed (and the Supreme Court upheld), the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.So, after twenty years of national public policy debate and hard-fought Congressional and Presidential approval, how does

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-14291343033460959982020-09-23T13:02:00.003-04:002020-10-28T12:58:04.931-04:00

Now that it appears certain that the Republicans will approve a new Supreme Court justice in the coming weeks, there is great concern among Obamacare supporters that this could well mean the end of Obamacare.That concern is being amplified in the hyper partisan environment in the ramp-up to the election––it makes for good scare tactics.The Obamacare case currently before the court deals with the

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-57581654946746577922020-09-08T10:47:00.002-04:002020-10-28T12:59:09.291-04:00

IF the Democrats capture the White House, keep the House and take over the Senate the Biden health care outline stands a good chance of being enacted. The Biden health care proposal directly takes on the big things that haven't worked in Obamacare.Here are the things that are most broken in Obamacare: The individual health insurance premiums and deductibles are, and have from the beginning of

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-42489644604643674592020-08-24T16:54:00.001-04:002020-09-10T14:20:20.097-04:00

President Trump recently signed two executive orders directly related to prescription drug prices in the U.S.One order would allow the "reimportation" of prescription drugs from Canada. This longstanding idea would allow U.S. pharmacies and drug wholesalers the ability to pay generally much lower prices for their prescription drugs by getting them from Canadian suppliers who benefit from

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-65912933972010831852020-08-15T14:18:00.001-04:002020-08-31T11:17:46.581-04:00

Kamala Harris has had some notable difficulty with the health care issue.At a Democratic debate in June 2019, the candidates were asked, "Who here would abolish [employer-provided] health insurance in favor of a government-run plan?'Harris enthusiastically raised her hand––joined over the two evenings of the debate by Sanders, Warren, and de Blasio. Not a surprise since she had already signed on

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-20450293016353006692020-08-09T11:22:00.003-04:002020-08-31T11:16:26.267-04:00

President Trump said over the weekend, "If I'm victorious on November 3rd, I plan to forgive these [payroll taxes for Social Security] and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax." Currently, employers and employees split the 12.4% payroll tax on the first $137,700 of 2020 earnings and also split the 2.9% Medicare tax on all earnings. The self-employed pay the entire tax.Trump not only wants to

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-68706317369554978202020-08-07T13:21:00.003-04:002020-08-31T11:10:02.483-04:00

The Covid pandemic has led to extraordinary government spending.I have no doubt that it is necessary in order to avoid not only further economic collapse but massive suffering. Sure, there are some people making more in unemployment benefits than they made working and have spent the summer partying at the beach and ignoring social distancing rules.Remember, the $600 a week additional unemployment

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-33968363102099096982020-04-22T10:56:00.001-04:002020-08-31T11:09:02.816-04:00

Are any of the world's governments and drug companies ready to give a billion or more injections in 2021? Anyone who believes that our economy will be able to fully open up before a vaccine is not only developed but deployed is dreaming. Will you take a vacation without being vaccinated? Sit at a bar? Attend a business meeting or convention? Go to a movie? After watching our federal government

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-62698325422854605192020-04-03T13:20:00.000-04:002020-04-03T13:20:33.192-04:00

Dr. David Price, an ICU physician at Weill Cornell Medical Center on the front lines in New York City, held an informal briefing for his friends and family on his experiences and recommendations for regular people. It is the most comprehensive and practical primer on the epidemic that I have seen and I highly recommend it to you. You can access it here.

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-23277993615524196572020-03-29T12:16:00.001-04:002020-03-29T12:37:57.749-04:00

I sense that the discussion on where we go next, among those who truly know what they are talking about, is centering on a phased approach that responsibly balances both medical safety and reopening of our economy. My last post directed you to David Katz's op-ed which generally outlined such an approach. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) now has a more lengthy paper authored by a number

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-51658368603688420292020-03-23T15:57:00.000-04:002020-03-26T09:45:40.793-04:00

What America lacks right now is a plan as we veer into one reaction to this pandemic after another. I am not an epidemiologist so I offer no professional opinion on just what that plan should be. But, if you haven't yet read the op-ed in the NY Times by David Katz of Yale University, you should. An excerpt: The data from South Korea, where tracking the coronavirus has been by far the best to

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-10003400102564422512020-03-10T17:06:00.001-04:002020-03-16T23:20:14.452-04:00

As I have watched the Trump administration fumble the ball on getting mass coronavirus testing available to communities, I am reminded of the way the Obama administration fumbled their own ball during the Obamacare launch in 2013: Repeated statements on how well things were going in the face of facts that did not match their rhetoric. Not having a handle on what could go wrong and what did go

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-13826593141512508982020-02-24T15:56:00.000-05:002020-02-25T21:09:48.042-05:00

A few months ago, Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg founded a news site. There are tons of those. This is different and worthy of your time. In their own words: We’re trying to do something different.  We believe there’s an under-served market for substantive, fact-driven reporting and commentary on politics, policy and culture—informed by conservative principles. We’re offering

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Readers of this blog know that no one has been more critical of Obamacare's flaws––particularly over the impact the program has had on middle class consumers in the individual health insurance market. And, readers already know that no one has been more supportive of the Medicaid expansion from the very beginning. Now, the Trump administration wants to give states the option to abolish the

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-5057142534269118822020-02-10T19:19:00.001-05:002020-02-11T19:37:35.337-05:00

Guest Post By:  Jeffrey Hogan Northeast Regional Manager  Rogers Benefit Group Few states have done as much as Massachusetts (MA) over the last 30 years to lower healthcare costs, improve quality and outcomes and, in general, to innovate.         Last week the MA Health Policy Commission issued its 2019 Annual Health Care Cost Trends Report documenting wins,

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-21337717755547042302020-02-05T15:44:00.000-05:002020-02-11T19:41:06.207-05:00

For many years I have followed Allan Baumgarten's detailed health care market reports. His latest covers the state of Florida and provides what I am sure is a representative sample of what is happening across the country. A few excerpts: Continued consolidation by health insurers and hospitals systems combined with coverage expansion has improved profits for both. Profits for Florida HMOs

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1845183703568253871.post-4872032047620440292020-02-05T14:58:00.002-05:002020-02-05T14:59:30.284-05:00

This from the Washington Post: About 6 in 10 Democrats at the Iowa caucuses on Monday reported that they support eliminating private health insurance as part of establishing a single-payer health-care system, according to preliminary poll results, suggesting that most of the party’s voters agree with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on the divisive issue.  Only these voters can reelect

ROBERT LASZEWSKIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14761287683359098177noreply@blogger.com