Health care reform did not come cheap. States already struggling to find the funds to cover the cost of Medicaid expansion, haven’t even scratched the surface of the unfunded mandates and liabilities that lie ahead. On Friday states must decide whether to aid the Department of Health and Human Services in the set up of [...]
- Apr21
State Health Care Funds Drained by New Federal Health Care Law
According to a Kaiser Health News report: “The new health care law could shift billions of dollars from cash-strapped states to the federal government by changing the way Medicaid prescription drug rebates are treated, according to state and industry officials and an examination of Medicaid spending data.” Democrats included a provision in the health care [...]
- Apr20
The Unfortunate Reality of Government to the Rescue
Most of us are still struggling to figure out when exactly we are going to see the benefits of the 2009 government Stimulus package. Economic recovery and job creation are starting to sound like broken promises to a state like North Carolina which has had one of the most consistently high unemployment rates in the [...]
- Apr09
Forcing Consumers to Buy and Producers to Sell
A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it … gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman. Capitalism and Freedom (1962). Most Americans are [...]
- Apr08
Unabated Unemployment
The national unemployment rate is hovering at 10 percent, while in North Carolina, according to the latest report by the state’s Employment Security Commission (NCESC), statewide unemployment reached 11.8 percent in February. These numbers highlight a troubling trend – a consistently high and increasing rate of unemployment. Since the economic downturn, North Carolina has experienced [...]
- Mar31
Patient, Doctor, and Government – Who Decides?
What is comparative effectiveness research and how will it affect the future of America’s health care? Did you know… Government funding for comparative effectiveness research has increased nearly seven-fold in the last two years? North Carolina will receive more than $30 million dollars this year for comparative effectiveness research? The North Carolina Legislature has already [...]
- Mar24
Chain Restaurants Counting Calories
The health care bill that was signed into law earlier this week doesn’t exactly stop at health care. Now the government wants to kick it up a notch, by controlling the food we eat and the restaurants where we get it. Buried deep within the health care legislation is a seemingly innocuous regulation that that [...]
- Mar17
Backroom Dealing on Health Care Far From Over
We’ve all heard plenty about some of the backroom deals being discussed in Congress to secure votes for health care legislation – the Cornhusker Kickback for Nebraska, the Louisiana Purchase – just to name a few. Voters made aware? Issue resolved? Not even. After some strong words about removing all special deals from the legislation, [...]
- Mar16
Is it Frightening or Sad? – Awaiting the Health Care Outcome
Grappling for ways to ram the health care overhaul bill through Congress, Democratic leadership is now considering a tactic known as the “self-executing rule” to pass the legislation. The rule also known as “deem and pass” would be used to vote on fixes to the Senate bill – which would effectively sidestep the need for [...]
- Feb24
President’s New Health Care Plan Creates Poor Starting Point for Bipartisanship
The Health Care Summit kicks off tomorrow and President Obama already unveiled his new health care proposal earlier this week. The Summit is meant to be bipartisan meeting between Republicans and Democrats and an opportunity to find common ground and share reform ideas. That sounds lovely. However it will certainly be difficult to find any [...]
- 1Feb24
Looming Payment Cuts to Medicare Physicians
On March 1st Medicare payments to doctors are scheduled to be cut by at least 21 percent. The reasoning is that cutting provider costs will contain Medicare spending and provide a clear and veritable means to fund expensive health care reforms being proposed by President Obama and the Democratic majority. Even though these types of [...]
- Feb23
The “Jobs Governor” Didn’t Get the Memo
According to Alan Reynolds, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, the federal stimulus actually added about 2 percentage points to the unemployment rate. The jobs the stimulus was claimed to have created or saved can be mostly attributed to extending unemployment benefits and bolstering government programs such as Social Security and Medicaid. Additionally the 4th [...]
- Feb23
The DMV, Where Tax Dollars Go to Die
The model of government inefficiency? Yes, and here’s why: The State Division of Motor Vehicles will not renew a vehicle registration if the vehicle has not been inspected first. In fact, if you try to make a payment to renew your registration it won’t be accepted. Most people in North Carolina still renew their vehicle [...]
- Feb03
States Stand Strong Against Federally Imposed Mandates
Federal health care legislation may be stunted, but states are not taking any chances. More and more states are proposing legislation set to counter any government imposed health insurance mandate on individuals or businesses. Less than a month ago 25 states had drafted some form of counter health care legislation. North Carolina’s version: the Health [...]
- Feb03
North Carolina’s Medicaid Program Sinking the State’s Budget
North Carolina’s Medicaid system is in a deep financial hole, a story that is gaining wide coverage (see recent article in Business Week). The state is over budget on Medicaid by more than $250 million, putting legislators in a serious bind, as the program was budgeted to cut more than $500 million in services this [...]
- Feb02
NC Past the Limit on Debt
N&O reports the state’s annual Debt Affordability Study released today finds that North Carolina can only borrow $9 million dollars a year and remain within guidelines that maintain debt at 4 percent of the state’s budget. To put this into perspective $9 million dollars amounts to less than 1 percent of the $1.7 billion in [...]
- Jan27
Marriage Penalty for Health Care
The Heartland Institute reports that a penalty included in both the House and Senate health care bills could result in premium increases to low and middle income married couples of up to $2,000. Those couples whose combined income exceeds 400 percent of the federal poverty level will receive limited subsidies and have no caps on [...]
- Jan27
Economics for the Next Generation
The Mercatus Center and George Mason University Professor Russ Roberts along with filmmaker John Papola have created a rap video about the economic crisis – Fear the Boom and Bust. How does one convey the importance of the battle of ideas that have steered economic policy for decades? More importantly, how do we make it [...]
- Jan19
North Carolina Stepping Up to the Plate on Healthcare
Individual mandates are one of the centerpieces of the Democratic reform plan as well as one of the most highly contended parts of the legislation. Half of the Nation’s states are standing up to government imposed health insurance mandates, and now so is North Carolina. Under the Dome reports, North Carolina House Minority Leader Rep. [...]
- Jan18
Obamacare – At What Cost?
It seems as if the Obama administration is willing to do just about anything to get their health reform bill through Congress. The entire legislative process seems to be quickly degrading into a startling number of out-of-control bribes and closed-door negotiations. Most notably in the last few weeks: the “Louisiana Purchase” to win the support [...]