Health Care News Nov. 1-5

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News
FRIDAY
Citing health overhaul, AARP hikes employee costs
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.
Privacy advocates fear massive fed health database
Several privacy groups have raised alarms over plans by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to build a database that would contain information about the health care claims of millions of Americans.
No Government Shutdown Over Health Care
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that Republicans would not shut down the government in an effort to force President Barack Obama to repeal his health care law.

THURSDAY
Health care costs on the front lines
Looking to push his cost-cutting reforms to new realms, Defense Secretary Robert Gates may set his sights on runaway military health care costs — an area that members of Congress have so far been reluctant to tackle.

WEDNESDAY
Repeal 'Obamacare': GOP will try at least
GOP candidates pledged that their first item of business would be repealing and replacing health care laws passed in March that would insure 30 million Americans without health care coverage.
Republicans to Take On U.S. Health Law, From Taxes to Insurance
Some Senate Democrats will apply pressure on their leaders for changes, seeking bipartisan support for legislation that would scrap the individual mandate and a requirement that most employers provide coverage to workers.

TUESDAY
Reform's future hangs in balance
While the health care reform law isn’t on the ballot today, the results of the midterm elections will have vast implications on the debate over the Democrats’ controversial legislation.
Health Benefits Appear On Rise
Some small businesses are benefiting from portions of the law, which includes a tax credit beginning this year that covers as much as 35% of a company's insurance premiums.

Economist Comments
FRIDAY
Pull the plug on Obamacare
Health care takeover law needs scrapping, not tweaking.

THURSDAY
Seeking a Healthcare Compromise
Revising the health care law would be an opportunity for the new Republican majority to showcase its new ideas. That might endear it to independent, centrist voters, who will hold the key to the 2012 presidential election.

WEDNESDAY
A Primer on the Constitutionality of Health Reform
The legal battle over Obamacare is only beginning, with appeals proceeding all over the country. These cases present the fundamental questions of where government gets its powers, and what the constitutional limits to those powers are.

Blogs
FRIDAY
Get to Work Repealing Obamacare
Businesses suffer higher costs under Obamacare. They are struggling to meet disruptive employer mandates; accommodate new taxes on insurance, drugs, medical devices and investment; and comply with piles of Federal agency regulations and IRS paperwork. These costs will be either passed on to customers or to employees who will face lower wages or lost jobs.
Wishful Thinking about ObamaCare Investigations
If House Republicans hold hearings, sloganeering will give way to detail.  And if House Republicans hold hearings, ObamaCare supporters will finally be able to get their message out — something they were unable to do while they controlled both chambers of Congress and the executive branch.

THURSDAY
Bad News for New Mexico Residents Who Like Their Current Health Plan
Once again, the promise that Americans can keep the health coverage they like under Obamacare has been broken. National Health Insurance, Aetna, John Alden, and Principle have reported that they “need to make adjustments in their business to accommodate the nation’s new federal health care law.”
ObamaCare Takes a Shellacking
It wasn’t just the party of ObamaCare or its champion that took a “shellacking” at the polls yesterday.  The law took a shellacking as well.

WEDNESDAY
The Political Economy of Health Care
For a federal government to spend $3.5 trillion per year and still find itself with this health care crisis is so much more inexcusable than arguing that “society is so rich that we should trade off some efficiency for some equity.”
Now Even Democrats Are Voicing Concern About Obamacare’s Consequences
Savings don’t come from reductions in the cost within the health care system. The new health law will actually drive insurance premiums higher. Instead, “savings” are solely attributable to the taxpayer-funded subsidies. Obamacare won’t make insurance any cheaper—someone else will just be picking up part of the tab.
Is Orszag Proposing Medical Malpractice Reform or Something Else?
Orszag’s approach has more to do with creating stricter mechanisms to enforce physicians’ compliance with evidence-based guidelines than with reforming the tort system to better protect doctors and patients.
Get to Work
The people have spoken. Reckless spending, stifling regulations, ever-rising taxes, endless debt and the looming government takeover of health care have brought this nation to a tipping point. Not surprisingly, the American people have now taken matters into their own hands.

TUESDAY
KIBBE: The cost of 'free' medical care
Somebody, somewhere will be forced to pay for the goodies

MONDAY
Confessions of a Price Controller
The problem for a government price controller is that he can never know when the price structure is ‘right.’ The bias is always to raise prices, not lower them.
If You Like Your Medicare Advantage Plan, You Probably Cannot Keep It
Taking into account those who remain in the less-generous Medicare Advantage program and those pushed out of it completely, our report found substantial regional variations—benefit losses range from a low of $2,780 in Montana to a high of $5,092 in Louisiana.

Reports
WEDNESDAY
GET TO WORK: Repeal Obamacare
Until Congress is able to get the President to sign a law repealing Obamacare, Congress should in the meantime endeavor to withhold funding, block key provisions, and override regulations carrying out Obamacare.