News
National Journal | Maine Health Care Bill Set for Senate Vote Next Week
The Maine health care legislation proposed by House Republicans would open the insurance market so that companies in other New England states, except Vermont, could sell plans in Maine. It would repeal state law that prohibits insurers from requiring policyholders to travel to hospitals in other parts of the state; it would also allow companies to charge policyholders based on age, place of residence, occupation, and whether they smoke.
Politico | Big Medicare overhaul? Don’t count on it
Here are four scenarios for how the budget talks could affect the health care entitlement programs, and the odds that they’ll happen, on a scale of 1 to 5:
Econ Comments
Fiscal Times | How IPAB Will Change Medicare
The Independent Payment Advisory Board was created by the 2010 health care law. Last month, in releasing his deficit-reduction plan, President Barack Obama called for increasing the panel's authority, saying it was critical to controlling the costs of Medicare, estimated at $524 billion in fiscal 2010. Republicans and some Democrats have denounced IPAB, saying it will be made up of unelected bureaucrats who will wind up rationing care to Medicare beneficiaries.
Blogs
Cato@Liberty | When Fighting ObamaCare, the Pen is Mightier…
Because the challenge to Obamacare is the most important constitutional question in many decades, and because the case will have substantial ramifications for the health of our citizens as well as the health of our system of supposedly limited government, Cato is breaking protocol (we usually just get involved at the Supreme Court level) and filing amicus briefs in nearly every circuit in which a challenge is being made, at nearly every stage of litigation. Next week, we will also be filing in the Eleventh Circuit.
Reports
Heritage Foundation | Solving the National Medicaid Crisis
"On April 15, the House of Representatives passed a budget that addresses the Medicaid crisis. In contrast, the White House fails to appreciate the Medicaid crisis and instead relies on Medicaid to cover upwards of 20 million more people beginning in 2014.
