Healthcare
2/14/2011 | Economy, Healthcare
CBO: Obamacare Will Kill 800,000 Jobs Over Decade
CNS News
On the same day that House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was chiding House Republicans over job creation, the director of the Congressional Budget Office was testifying in the House Budget Committee that the health-care law President Barack Obama signed last year will kill about 800,000 American jobs over the next decade.
CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf was responding to a question from Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) regarding an August report from the CBO.
“We do estimate, as you said, that the household employment will be about 160 million by the end of the decade and half a percent of that is 800,000,” said Elmendorf. “That means that if the reduction in the labor used was workers working the average number of hours in the economy and earning the average wage, then there would be a reduction of 800,000 workers.”
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2/4/2011 | Healthcare
House Prepares Investigation of Obamacare Waivers
CNS News
The Republican congressman leading the investigation into the Obama administration’s decision to grant more than 700 waivers to the new health care law is questioning whether the law could be effective if so many waivers are needed.
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) also noted the high percentage of Obama-supporting labor unions that received waivers -- which exempt them from a provision in the new health care law that bans annual limits on what insurance plans will pay for medical coverage.
“The American people repeatedly have been told that the new health care law is an effective and responsible plan for overhauling the nation’s health care system,” Rep. Stearns told CNSNews.com in a statement. “Yet, if the law is so good, why are so many waivers to the law being granted?”
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1/27/2011 | Economy, Healthcare
Medicare Official Doubts Health Care Law Savings
Associated Press
Two of the central promises of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law are unlikely to be fulfilled, Medicare's independent economic expert told Congress on Wednesday.
The landmark legislation probably won't hold costs down, and it won't let everybody keep their current health insurance if they like it, Chief Actuary Richard Foster told the House Budget Committee. His office is responsible for independent long-range cost estimates.
Foster's assessment came a day after Obama in his State of the Union message told lawmakers that he's open to improvements in the law, but unwilling to rehash the health care debate of the past two years. Republicans want to repeal the landmark legislation that provides coverage to more than 30 million people now uninsured, but lack the votes.
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1/26/2011 | Healthcare
Obama Takes a ‘Mend-Not-End’ Approach to New Health Care Law
CNS News
Republicans believe the Senate should vote on a bill repealing the $1 trillion health care law enacted last year, even though President Barack Obama has shown a willingness to work with Republicans to tweak it.
In his State of the Union address Tuesday, Obama said he was open to improving the law but also said he opposed “re-fighting the battles of the last two years.”
“Now, I have heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about our new health care law,” Obama said, prompting laughter. “So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making (health) care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you.
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1/24/2011 | Healthcare
hree SEIU Locals--Including Chicago Chapter--Waived From Obamacare Requirement
CNS News
Three local chapters of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), whose political action committee spent $27 million supporting Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, have received temporary waivers from a provision in the Obamacare law.
The three SEIU chapters include the Local 25 in Obama’s hometown of Chicago.
The waivers allow health insurance plans to limit how much they will spend on a policy holder’s medical coverage for a given year. Under the new health care law, however, such annual limits are phased out by the year 2014. (Under HHS regulations, annual limits can be no less than $750,000 for 2011, no less than $1.25 million in 2012 and no less than $2 million in 2013.)
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1/21/2011 | Economy, Healthcare
Yes, We Need Health Care Reform – But Not This Law, Critics Say After Repeal Vote
CNS News
While the Obama administration warns about rising costs and insurance company “discrimination” if the Democrats’ health care law is repealed, critics of the new law say that’s not the point.
Most Americans agree the nation’s health care system needs reforming, said a conservative civil liberties group. But the big-government approach, with its mandate that everyone must buy insurance, is not the way to go about it, a number of critics said in statements released after the House voted to repeal “Obamacare.”
"A clear majority of members in the House -- as well as most Americans -- understand that health care reform must happen, but the pro-abortion, government-run ObamaCare falls short in so many areas,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ. “This repeal vote emphasizes a legislative commitment to derail ObamaCare -- whether it's through the repeal process or, as some are advocating, by defunding the law.”
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1/17/2011 | Healthcare
British Government Plans Major Health Care Reform
Associated Press
Prime Minister David Cameron says his government will make fundamental changes to Britain's state-run health care system -- but critics warn the reforms could undermine one of the country's most vital institutions.
Cameron says he will save money and cut red tape by giving control over management to family practitioners rather than bureaucrats.
He said Monday that standards of care in Britain have fallen behind other European countries.
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1/4/2011 | Healthcare
House GOP Health Care Repeal Could Pick Up a Few Dem Votes
Fox News
Only a few moderate or conservative Democrats remain left in the House of Representatives come opening day on Wednesday, but expect at least a chunk of them to vote in favor of the Republican plan to repeal the health care law.
As one of its first act in the new Congress, the Republican majority is calling up the law for repeal. Text of the repeal bill is already online for Americans to read and a vote is expected on Jan. 12.
Several moderate and conservative Democrats contacted by Fox News on Monday night said they wanted to first evaluate the Republican proposal hitting the House floor before deciding how they might vote.
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12/17/2010 | Healthcare
White House to Hold Private Meetings on Health Care Law
CNS News
Republicans are criticizing the White House for quietly inviting “industry stakeholders” to a meeting on Friday with Medicare chief Donald Berwick – the first of several private meetings on implementing the new health care law, The Hill newspaper reported.
"We are kicking off a series of White House meetings between senior administration officials and healthcare providers to exchange ideas on areas in need of attention," the invitation reportedly said. "We invite you (or a representative) and your organization to join us."
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12/14/2010 | Healthcare
Obama's Health-Care Law Ruled Unconstitutional Over Insurance Requirement
Bloomberg
The Obama administration’s health- care overhaul unconstitutionally requires Americans to maintain a minimum level of health insurance, a federal judge ruled, striking down the linchpin of the plan.
U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in Richmond, Virginia, said yesterday that the mandate on individuals in President Barack Obama’s health-care legislation goes beyond Congress’s powers to regulate interstate commerce. Hudson severed the issue of the mandate, which is set to become effective in 2014, and didn’t address other provisions such as expanding Medicaid.
“At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance -- or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage -- it’s about an individual’s right to choose to participate,” wrote Hudson, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002.
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11/5/2010 | Healthcare
Citing health overhaul, AARP hikes employee costs
Associated Press
AARP's endorsement helped secure passage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Now the seniors' lobby is telling its employees their insurance costs will rise partly as a result of the law.
In an e-mail to employees, AARP says health care premiums will increase by 8 percent to 13 percent next year because of rapidly rising medical costs.
And AARP adds that it's changing copayments and deductibles to avoid a 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans that takes effect in 2018 under the law. Aerospace giant Boeing also has cited the tax in asking its workers to pay more. Shifting costs to employees lowers the value of a health care plan and acts like an escape hatch from the tax.
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10/25/2010 | Healthcare
Employers Looking at Health Insurance Options As New Law Raises Costs
Associated Press
The new health care law wasn't supposed to undercut employer plans that have provided most people in the U.S. with coverage for generations.
But last week a leading manufacturer told workers their costs will jump partly because of the law. Also, a Democratic governor laid out a scheme for employers to get out of health care by shifting workers into taxpayer-subsidized insurance markets that open in 2014.
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10/22/2010 | Healthcare
Americans Split on Health Care Repeal, Poll Shows
Associated Press
First it was President Barack Obama's health care overhaul that divided the nation. Now it's the Republican cry for repeal.
An Associated Press-GfK poll found likely voters evenly split on whether the law should be scrapped or retooled to make even bigger changes in the way Americans get their health care.
Tea party enthusiasm for repeal has failed to catch on with other groups, the poll found, which may be a problem for Republicans vowing to strike down Obama's signature accomplishment if they gain control of Congress in the Nov. 2 elections.
Among likely voters, 36 percent said they want to revise the law so it does more to change the health care system. A nearly identical share -- 37 percent -- said they want to repeal it completely.
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10/20/2010 | Governmental Control, Healthcare
Virginia AG Cuccinelli: Challenge to Federal Health Care Law Is About ‘Liberty’ and Containing Federal Power
CNS News
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says his state’s challenge to the Democrats' new health care law is about defending liberty from a federal government that has overstepped its constitutional bounds.
Cuccinelli, who spoke Monday following oral arguments in federal district court in Richmond, Va., said the reason the federal government has never before enacted such a sweeping law was that “everybody, up to now” recognized that doing so was clearly unconstitutional.
“The reason there’s never been a law like this – in all of history – is because everybody up to now in this country has recognized that this would be unconstitutional, all the Congresses and presidents before this one,” said Cuccinelli, a Republican.
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10/12/2010 | Healthcare
What's Happening To Your Health Plan?
Wall Street Journal
It's open-enrollment season, the annual rite of fall when health-care costs hit home for most people.
Companies typically allow employees to elect their benefit packages once a year. Making this season especially tricky: the health-care overhaul, which is leading to confusion—and sticker shock—for many employers and workers alike.
For the first time in years, your benefits could well be getting more lavish—but they could cost more, too.
Companies are scrambling to comply with early provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, such as a requirement that plans cover dependent children up to the age of 26. Many employees will be able to count on their companies paying all their bills for preventative care, and plans must eliminate lifetime limits on coverage.
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9/14/2010 | Healthcare, Taxes
Senate Fails to Repeal Tax Provision in Health Law
Associated Press
The Senate has failed to repeal a tax provision of the new health care law that even the White House isn't happy with.
Tucked into the law is a requirement that businesses file tax forms called 1099s for every vendor that sells them more than $600 in goods. Business groups say it would create a paperwork nightmare for more than 40 million companies.
The procedural vote was defeated 46-52 and came on an amendment by Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., that would have repealed the reporting provision. But it fell short of a required 60-vote majority. Lawmakers have been unable to agree on how to fill a $19 billion revenue gap from repealing the requirement.
The rule goes into effect in 2012.
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8/27/2010 | Healthcare, Taxes
States Press Workers on Health Care
Wall Street Journal
As state and local governments push to get employees to pick up more health care costs, some employees are pushing back.
On Thursday, a Michigan judge heard arguments in two of three lawsuits filed by public-school unions and retirees who opposed a new law that for the first time required them to contribute toward their health-care benefits.
Michigan is among several states struggling with record budget deficits that want employees to take on a greater share of the burden of ballooning health-benefits costs.
The states' search for financial options come amid a growing awareness of the gap in benefit contributions between public and private employees. A handful of states have made changes this year, including Kentucky, Connecticut and Texas, and they join a growing number of governments that have cut health benefits in recent years without major challenges.
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7/27/2010 | Economy, Healthcare
Opposition Mounts Against ObamaCare Tax Provision
OneNewsNow
Business advocates are hoping Congress scraps a tax provision in the health care overhaul law that they say is overly burdensome to smaller companies.
So far, Senate and House Republicans have pushed for repeal of this specific provision of the health care bill. Even Democrats asked that the Internal Revenue Service move cautiously in enforcement of the provision.
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7/26/2010 | Healthcare
Britain Plans to Decentralize Health Care
New York Times
Perhaps the only consistent thing about Britain’s socialized health care system is that it is in a perpetual state of flux, its structure constantly changing as governments search for the elusive formula that will deliver the best care for the cheapest price while costs and demand escalate.
Even as the new coalition government said it would make enormous cuts in the public sector, it initially promised to leave health care alone. But in one of its most surprising moves so far, it has done the opposite, proposing what would be the most radical reorganization of the National Health Service, as the system is called, since its inception in 1948.
Practical details of the plan are still sketchy. But its aim is clear: to shift control of England’s $160 billion annual health budget from a centralized bureaucracy to doctors at the local level. Under the plan, $100 billion to $125 billion a year would be meted out to general practitioners, who would use the money to buy services from hospitals and other health care providers.
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7/22/2010 | Healthcare, Governmental Control
Obama's Electronic Health Records Czar: HIV Status and Abortions Need Not be Included
CNS News
Dr. David Blumenthal, the Obama administration's National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said on Tuesday that patients can choose to omit procedures such as abortions and positive HIV tests from the electronic health records (EHR) that every American is supposed to have by 2014 under the terms of the economic stimulus law that President Barack Obama signed last year.
Blumenthal's office, a subdivision of the Department of Health and Human Services, was created by the stimulus law specifically to generate the standards and regulations that will govern the federally mandated use of EHRs.
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