tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16054929211794215702025-03-02T13:51:09.055-05:00The Last EmbassyEconomics, Insurance, and the Economics of Insurance.W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.comBlogger1035125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-71211160873776670862018-03-02T10:20:00.001-05:002018-03-02T10:20:23.679-05:00ACA/Obamacare: Unconstitutional Without the Repealed Mandate?
'A coalition of 20 U.S. states sued the federal government on Monday over Obamacare, claiming the law was no longer constitutional after the repeal last year of its requirement that people have health insurance or pay a fine.
Led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, the lawsuit said that without the individual mandate, which was eliminated as partW.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-4775267705323615492018-02-20T05:25:00.000-05:002018-02-20T05:25:09.547-05:00The Forgotten Yet Equally Important Dimension of Healthcare: The Supply Side
"What happens when a company defined by utterly ruthless efficiency
sets its sights on the flabbiest part of the U.S. economy? We shall see,
now that Amazon has announced that it–along with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and the banking behemoth JPMorgan Chase–will be entering the dominion of health care.
“The three of our companies have extraordinary
resources, and W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-22053255461759961802018-01-26T12:13:00.000-05:002018-01-26T12:13:00.633-05:00ACA/Obamacare: Why Were Coverage Gains So Tepid? Why Do So Many Remain Uninsured?
"Friends and foes of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) alike tend to
target the relative effectiveness of the (soon-to-be-repealed)
individual mandate as the key factor behind relatively higher levels of
insurance coverage since the law was enacted in 2010.
ACA supporters might wish that the mandate was much stronger, but
they still claim that its repeal will trigger rising premiums W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-66004322946663347142018-01-22T09:07:00.000-05:002018-01-22T09:07:12.815-05:00ACA/Obamacare: And About that Canadian Health-Care Model
"An Ontario doctor says health-care wait times have reached “insane”
lengths in the province, as one of her patients faces a 4.5-year wait to
see a neurologist.
When Dr. Joy Hataley, a family practice anesthetist in Kingston, Ont.,
recently tried to send a patient to a neurologist at the Kingston
General Hospital, she received a letter from the specialist’s office
telling her that the W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-55790846273014719082017-12-31T10:59:00.000-05:002017-12-31T10:59:15.524-05:00ACA/Obamacare: The Recent Tax Bill and Obamacare
Q: How did "Obamacare" wind up in the tax bill?
A: The Senate version repeals the Affordable Care Act's tax
penalties on people who don't have health insurance. That would
result in government savings from fewer consumers applying for
taxpayer-subsidized coverage, giving GOP tax writers nearly $320
billion over 10 years to help pay for tax cuts.
What's more, repealing the fines would deal a W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-11486986276250525442017-12-08T05:01:00.000-05:002017-12-08T08:38:05.449-05:00ACA/Obamacare: Eliminating the Individual Mandate
“There are powerful reasons to kill ObamaCare's individual mandate to buy health insurance. This regressive tax has fallen primarily on modest earners who face a choice of paying a fine or buying the cheapest $7,000-deductible plan, which may be of little use until long after their finances are in distress.Yet how the individual mandate is eliminated makes all the difference in the world. If W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-41074484953800475162017-11-28T07:35:00.001-05:002017-12-08T08:33:50.644-05:00ACA/Obamacare: Math Quest Edition
"A headline this week in The Hill shocked me: "ObamaCare enrollment strong in third week of sign-ups." The Hill is a serious, well-respected, non-partisan news
source. But any reader taking this headline at face value would be
seriously misled about what is really going on with Obamacare
enrollments during this fifth open enrollment season.
The Hill's reporter correctly notes W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-3019359797734914332017-09-18T12:04:00.000-04:002017-09-18T12:04:19.353-04:00Bernie-Care (Medicaid for All) and the Magical Moment of Cost Effectiveness.
“Robert Frank made the familiar cost-effectiveness case in the New York Times earlier this summer, and, as usual, it left me with more questions than answers. Frank made three points. First, administrative costs are lower in single-payer systems. Second, single-payer systems save money by not having to advertise. Third, the government can use its monopoly on demand to negotiate lower fees paid W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-33493700815798059892017-07-27T08:24:00.000-04:002017-07-27T08:24:50.954-04:00What is the “Skinny Repeal” of ACA/Obamacare?
“There is an alternative, if not a very satisfying one. Republicans seem to be able to achieve near-unity on ending the individual mandate, allowing insurers to offer discounts for younger people, protecting taxpayers from having to subsidize abortion coverage, and giving states some freedom to relax regulations. They should work for legislation that achieves these goals and includes as much W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-91579400453596356462017-07-22T05:03:00.000-04:002017-07-22T05:03:25.067-04:00Health Care Prices, Government Instituted Single Payer Plans and Political Answers to Economic Problems W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-64169216532288289432017-05-25T09:16:00.000-04:002017-05-25T09:16:55.548-04:00ACA/Obamacare: When Saving $2,500 Per Year Really Means Spending $2,928 Per Year
“The Congressional Budget Office score of the American Health Care Act shows that the bill will reduce deficits by $119 billion over the next decade and result in 23 million more people being uninsured by 2026. This leaves the impression that people would be better off if Obamacare were unchanged. But a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services dispels this myth.The DHHS W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-11212911484136051632017-05-12T07:14:00.000-04:002017-05-12T07:14:17.710-04:00ACA/Obamacare: Say Goodbye to Aetna
“Health insurance company Aetna (AET) announced Wednesday it will completely withdraw from the ObamaCare marketplace in 2018, a decision Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price perceived as a sign of continued instability in the health care sector under the Affordable Care Act.”‘“At this time [we] have completely exited the exchanges,” Aetna said in a statement to FOX Business. In April W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-24922791296667210162017-05-12T05:31:00.000-04:002017-05-12T05:31:03.773-04:00The Highly Misused Terms of "Health care", "Medical care" and "Medical insurance".
"Media reports say that 20 million Americans will lose their “health
care” under the Republican plan to replace ObamaCare, as if health care
is like a cellphone, wallet, or item of clothing unintentionally left
somewhere or stolen by someone.
Such confusion about “health care” stems from the misuse of the term
itself. In common usage, the term “health care” is used as a synonym for
“W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-62598882685153820072017-05-11T05:01:00.000-04:002017-05-11T05:01:06.391-04:00An Examination of Healthcare Price and Efficiency: The Third Party Payer Effect W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-37291357894285703522017-05-03T23:17:00.000-04:002017-05-03T23:17:11.057-04:00Certificate-of-Need Laws [CON] and How Restricting Supply Leads to Higher Health-care Prices
“More than four decades ago, Congress passed and President Ford signed the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974. The act withheld federal funds from states that failed to adopt certificate-of-need (CON) laws regulating healthcare facilities. CON laws require healthcare providers wishing to open or expand a healthcare facility to first prove to a regulatory body that W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-69997331878705551072017-04-17T10:17:00.000-04:002017-04-18T05:17:13.264-04:00ACA/Obamacare: Before and After the Waiver of Pre-existing Conditions and the Advent of Community Rating
“As Republicans continue to debate the specifics of their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA or ObamaCare), two provisions have taken center stage: “Guaranteed Issue,” the requirement that insurers offer policies to all applicants, and “Community Rating,” the requirement that they offer all policies at the same price, regardless of risk factors like health, lifestyle, or W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-82814523084036330962017-04-07T07:51:00.000-04:002017-04-07T07:51:21.987-04:00ACA/Obamacare: Cross Subsidy as a Hidden and Inefficient Tax
“But the great puzzle of health care policy: Just why is it, to accommodate this worthy goal, must your and my health care and insurance be so deeply regulated and so thoroughly dysfunctional? As one small example, why does a 20 minute skin check with the resident of my dermatologist generate a phoney baloney bill for over $1000, meaning a cash and carry market for such a simple, elastically W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-72556875168326077602017-03-31T20:47:00.000-04:002017-03-31T20:47:47.257-04:00ACA/Obamacare: The 3 1/2 Page Replacement [S.222] for the 2,700 Page Obamacare Legislation. No way! Way!
“U.S. Senator and physician Rand Paul introduced S. 222, the Obamacare Replacement Act, to provide Congress with a health care plan grounded in broadly supported conservative reforms that is ready for an immediate vote after Obamacare is repealed. Dr. Rand Paul’s proposal would expand access to higher-quality, lower-cost health care for more Americans, regardless of medical history.
The W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-37108594992050511362017-03-27T06:27:00.000-04:002017-03-27T06:27:35.441-04:00ACA/Obamacare: The Alternative Cash-only, No Insurance, Price-displaying Business Model of Health-Care
“How does Clinica Mi Pueblo offer these medial services at the “most affordable prices possible”? Here’s how: the clinic operates on a cash-only basis, with transparent prices that are listed both on the clinic’s website and on the wall at each clinic. Further, the clinic accepts no insurance, and it will not submit insurance claims on patients’ behalf. If patients have insurance, they can W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-2058201491491884072017-03-12T10:44:00.000-04:002017-03-12T10:45:51.806-04:00ACA/Obamacare: Obamacare Reform and the Political Impossibility of Rolling Back Established EntitlementsW.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-65323864190107314442017-03-03T06:04:00.000-05:002017-03-03T06:04:44.059-05:00ACA/Obamacare: Healthcare Supply-Side and The Story of Telemedicine v. The Angels of Mercy
“The goal of health care reform is to provide better health care to everyone at a lower cost, year after year. The solution is not to provide a better third-party-payer system — e.g., health insurance or government-provided health insurance — but instead to allow technological development and entrepreneurship to improve the current business model through groundbreaking innovations that empower W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-87691104833202414562017-02-25T12:31:00.000-05:002017-02-25T12:31:11.285-05:00ACA/Obamacare: So You Think ACA is Too Expensive to Maintain…Try Medicare on for Size
"The Trump Administration has promised to deliver to the American people a healthcare plan that is, in President Trump’s own words, “much less expensive and far better” than Obamacare. But While Obamacare is expected to spend over $900 billion from 2018 to 2027, focusing solely on the Obama administration’s signature achievement ignores bigger fiscal challenges; Namely, the Medicare program.
W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-28542847649658457612017-02-25T06:01:00.000-05:002017-02-25T06:01:11.783-05:00ACA/Obamacare: What Does a Replacement Plan for Obamacare Plan Look Like?
"We believe the American health care system is desperately in need of reform. The Affordable Care Act has failed to achieve its goal of affordable, universal coverage. Instead it has forced people, especially those in middle-income households, to choose from insurance plans with deductibles that are unreasonably high and provider networks that are too narrow to adequately help many afflicted W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-38499343473270454402017-02-25T05:01:00.001-05:002017-02-25T05:01:23.256-05:00ACA/Obamacare: Goodbye Humana, Hello Accelerating Death Spiral
“Health insurance company Humana announced Tuesday that it would leave the ObamaCare market in 2018. The insurer said it would offer plans through 2017, but that the market has not stabilized enough to participate next year. Humana said it was losing money from taking on too many sick people without enough healthy people to balance the pools. The decision came after Humana scaled back W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605492921179421570.post-3531815594322169352017-01-31T07:57:00.000-05:002017-01-31T15:16:35.748-05:00ACA/Obamacare: A Scheme Consolidating Other Schemes
“Unwise public policies have allowed this market [ACA] to become a dumping ground for people who are older and sicker than average. The states were allowed to end their high-risk pools and send their enrollees to the exchanges. The federal government did the same thing with the (Obamacare) risk pool (the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan). Cities and counties are ending their W.E. Heasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00368333904571061995noreply@blogger.com0