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Friday, February 10, 2012

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
National Journal | Health Spending Grew Just 4.4. Percent in 2011, Study Says
Spending grew 4.4 percent from 2010 to 2011, for a total of $2.71 trillion, the nonprofit Altarum Institute reported. “This represents an increase over the government’s official estimate of spending growth in 2010 (3.9 percent) that was released last month,” the report reads.
National Journal | Kyl Says Hopes Dim for Permanent Doc Fix
Senate Minority Whip John Kyl of Arizona said he’s not hopeful Congress will get a permanent fix to their perennial Medicare payment problem.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
NBER | Take-Up of Public Insurance and Crowd-out of Private Insurance Under Recent CHIP Expansions to Higher Income Children
We analyze the effects of states’ expansions of CHIP eligibility to children in higher income families during 2002-2009 on take-up of public coverage, crowd-out of private coverage, and rates of uninsurance.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
CATO | Under ObamaCare, Anti-Discrimination Law Trumps Religious Liberty
The three-week battle over ObamaCare’s contraceptive-abortifacient ruling isn’t letting up. Catholics for Choice has a full-page ad in this morning’s Washington Post, urging the president to stay firm.
Atlantic | Battle Over California Medicaid Reimbursement Is a Preview of Our Future
It is, of course, absolutely true that you can save a great deal of money by forcing providers to sell things below their cost of goods.  It is not necessarily true that this is a sustainable long-term strategy.