Monday, April 16, 2012

What You Missed Over the Easter Recess

Just in case you were out of town for some or all of the prior two-week recess, here’s a quick rundown of the major events in health care that took place over the break…

Shocker: Obamacare Will Increase the Deficit:  Medicare public trustee Chuck Blahous released a report last week explaining how, after taking into account Medicare double-counting and other unrealistic assumptions, Obamacare will likely increase the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars.  The White House’s response to the report noted favorable scores from the Congressional Budget Office – even though CBO itself admitted that the major savings assumptions in the law were unrealistic and unlikely to be sustained over the long term.  It’s also worth noting that Democrats’ claims Obamacare will reduce the deficit come from the same party that said the CLASS Act would be solvent for 75 years – which turned out to be a slight over-estimate, as the program was killed as unsustainable before it ever even got off the ground.

Another Obamacare Flop:  The Administration attempted to trumpet its latest round of accountable care organization (ACO) participants as a remarkable achievement.  However, as National Journal pointed out, the number of participating hospital and doctor groups (59 total) is less than one-fourth of the 270 ACOs the Administration predicted would participate last October – indicating that many providers remain reluctant to embrace the Administration’s top-down, government-centric approach to “controlling” health costs.

Thanks to Obamacare, You Can’t Spell Insurance without I-R-S:  The Hill reported that the Internal Revenue Service is in the process of receiving approximately half a billion dollars from a government “slush fund” to implement provisions of Obamacare.  This development comes after liberals derided Republican claims that Obamacare could result in the hiring of thousands of new IRS employees.  Moreover, the “slush fund” transfers come outside of the usual appropriations process, thus leading to a lack of accountability regarding this new funding, as Ways and Means Committee Chairman Camp pointed out in a letter to the IRS.

Liberal Advocate Admits Medicaid Stigmatizes the Poor…  One analyst at a liberal advocacy group told the Salt Lake City Tribune last week that “Medicaid and SCHIP already have a negative connotation in the community.”  A study by the Manhattan Institute bolstered this claim, as it quantified how Medicaid patients suffer from longer wait times and poorer health outcomes.  According to a recent report by the Medicare actuary, Obamacare will ensnare 25.9 million more Americans in a program that even liberals admit stigmatizes the poor.

…As Conservatives Show a Way to Reform the Program:  Even as liberals admitted that the current Medicaid program carries negative connotations, an editorial in the Wall Street Journal illustrated how the program can be enhanced through state flexibility, thereby improving care for patients and saving money as well.  The editorial highlighted a December study by non-partisan analysts at the Lewin Group on Rhode Island’s global compact waiver.  According to Lewin, the flexibility afforded Rhode Island’s Medicaid program “had a positive impact on controlling Medicaid expenditures,” and when it comes to disabled beneficiaries “reduced expenditures for this population while at the same time generally resulting in improved access to physician services.”  The contrast between flexibility yielding success in Rhode Island and Washington’s top-down mandates is stark – at a time when states face budget deficits totaling a collective $175 billion, Obamacare is imposing new unfunded mandates of at least $118 billion, thus undermining rather than supporting efforts like Rhode Island’s success story.

New Polls Confirm Obamacare’s Unpopularity:  A new poll of physicians under 40 showed their disapproval of the health care law – more than twice as many young doctors thought the law would have negative effects (49%) compared to positive outcomes (23%), and Obamacare (along with its myriad regulations) was the number one reason 57% of young physicians were pessimistic about the future of American health care.  A separate Fox News poll found that two-thirds of Americans believe the Supreme Court should strike down all of Obamacare (42%) or its unpopular individual mandate (24%).  The Fox poll also found that a majority (56%) of Americans believe President Obama was trying to intimidate the Supreme Court through his “unprecedented” attack on the Court (which fact-checkers debunked as being wildly inaccurate).

Read the Bill and It Won’t Pass:  A majority (55%) of Americans also told last week’s Fox poll they did not believe Obamacare would have passed if every Member of Congress actually read the bill before voting on it.  Recall that multiple Democrats publicly stated that reading the bill was a waste of time, because “we have to make judgments very fast,” and because “we hire experts” to read the bill instead.

Freedom under Renovations; Omen for SCOTUS’ Consideration of Obamacare?  According to the Architect of the Capitol’s office, workers began renovations on the statue of Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace above the Capitol on April 2.  The restoration and cleaning work is scheduled to be completed by mid-May.  Some may find the timing of this work ironic, as the renovations began the week after Supreme Court arguments on Obamacare, and will be completed by the expected June ruling.  Here’s hoping that Freedom is restored – both literally and metaphorically – later this spring.