News
National Journal | Survey: Americans Say Health Care Reform Isn't Working... Yet
Respondents were split on the question being most debated in the courts – whether Americans should be required to have health insurance – and believed media reports of the issue are distorted and misleading.
National Journal | Obama Says Medicare Needs Saving
President Obama conceded that his signature health reform law did not fix Medicare in a congressional address Thursday night, calling on his Democratic colleagues to allow “modest adjustments” to ensure Medicare exists for future Americans.
Politico | Could Obama bill bleed health jobs?
Health care providers are warning that President Barack Obama’s new jobs plan could actually siphon jobs from one of the few industries still hiring — because the only way to pay for it would be to make deeper cuts in the health care entitlement programs.
Reports
NBER | Do Hospitals Cross Subsidize?
Cross-subsidies are often considered the principal mechanism through which hospitals provide unprofitable care. Yet, hospitals’ reliance on and extent of cross-subsidization are difficult to establish. We exploit entry by cardiac specialty hospitals as an exogenous shock to incumbent hospitals’ profitability and in turn to their ability to cross-subsidize unprofitable services.
Heritage Foundation | Congress Should Not Undermine What Works in the Medicare Drug Benefit
Over the past several years, one small corner of America’s vast entitlement superstructure—the Medicare drug benefit—has been working well, satisfying program participants, and holding cost growth to a bare minimum. This is unheard of in the entitlement arena, where cost overruns are the norm.
