News
WSJ | Medicare Proposes Coverage of Prostate-Cancer Drug
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed covering Dendreon Corp.'s prostate cancer drug Provenge, meaning that the federal government will likely continue paying for the treatment.
NationalJournal | New Health Rules Can Save $960 Million, HHS Says
New organizations that will shape U.S. health care will save Medicare between $500 million and $960 million in the first three years, the Health and Human Services Department said on Thursday.
Econ Comments
WSJ | Fiscal Health Hinges on Containing Costs of Care
President Barack Obama is trying to protect the expansion of Medicaid built into his health-care law. Governors from both parties are trying to slow rising costs of Medicaid, which accounts for an average of 22% of state spending. House Republican budget point person Paul Ryan is trying to reduce future federal spending on Medicaid by converting it into block grants to the states.
Cato Institute | Costs of Health Care Reform Becoming More Apparent
It will cost more than advertised. The Congressional Budget Office officially "scored" the health care bill as costing $950 billion. However, those numbers do not reveal the new law's true cost. For example, CBO's estimates do not include roughly $115 billion in implementation costs, such as the cost of hiring new IRS agents to enforce the individual mandate.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | HHS Official Acknowledges Incentives for Employers to Dump Coverage Under Obamacare
One major concern of Obamacare is its huge incentive for businesses to dump employer-sponsored coverage. Recently, the Obama Administration acknowledged that this is likely, though it did so in an attempt to portray it as a positive outcome of its signature legislation.
Cato@Liberty | ObamaCare Implementation Meets Resistance in More States
Republican governors Rick Scott (FL), Sean Parnell (AK), and Bobby Jindal (LA) have flatly refused to implement ObamaCare. Efforts to create an ObamaCare health insurance "Exchange" are meeting resistance in other states too.
