The Real Cost of ObamaCare
Having someone else pay for your medical care is the most expensive way to pay for it because it adds insurer overhead costs to the cost of the actual service. Colorado’s private sector began switching to consumer directed health policies (CDHPs) when they became more widely available in 2003. CDHPs encourage cash pay- ment for inexpensive and predictable care. Health savings accounts (HSA) qualified plans save excess funds in tax-free accounts that accumulate until retirement.
Obamacare Decision Suggests U.S. Malpractice Bill Unconstitutional
Little-noticed amid the commentary on the Supreme Court’s health care decision is the decision’s blow to congressional efforts to federalize medical malpractice law—a potential element of the Republican plan to “replace Obamacare.” Medical malpractice cases, like most areas of civil justice, traditionally are judged by state courts under state law rather than by the national […]
Medicaid Block Grants and Medicaid Performance
Governments at all levels are facing severe fiscal stress, and Medicaid is the largest and fastest growing publicly-funded health program in the United States. State and federal authorities have had little success in controlling Medicaid expenditures with conventional reforms, and changing it from an entitlement program to a block grant program is now under discussion. This Issue Paper explores how transforming Medicaid into a block grant program offers the promise of improving patient care and restraining the growth in program costs.
House Rules Committee: “Violate Your Oath No Matter How You Vote!”
It’s a stunning betrayal of all those hardworking, pro-Constitution Americans who gave U.S. House Republicans their majority. Republicans controlling the House Rules Committee have added sweeping new mandates on the states to a bill repealing part of Obamacare. The result is revised H.R. 5. Just on good government grounds, those two very different items do […]
Colorado's all-payer database poses serious risk, little gain
by Amy Oliver, Linda Gorman Colorado state government, and local foundations and health policy elites, have become so ideologically invested in failed health reform policies that they now see nothing wrong with forcing Colorado citizens to give their medical records to a centralized repository, free from scrutiny by state auditors, open records requests and open […]
Congress, Butt Out! The Constitution Reserves Malpractice Reform for the States
In their zeal to adopt a federal malpractice reform bill to dictate procedures to state courts, many Republicans in Congress are doing precisely what they rightly accuse Democrats of doing: blithely disregarding the Constitution’s clear limits on federal power. Their proposals, once encapsulated in H.R. 5 and then slipped into the Senate Republican “jobs bill,” […]
Control of the state courts—the latest federal takeover target?
[T]his bill . . . is an attack on state courts and on the civil jury system itself.
Is health insurance “Commerce among the States?”
Behind the current constitutional debates over ObamaCare, there is an assumption that Congress has power to regulate health insurance as “Commerce among the States.” However, in various decisions over 150 years, the Supreme Court ruled that “insurance” was not within the Constitution’s definition of “Commerce.” Only a single aberrant Supreme Court case says it is. […]
Amendment 63's Foes Only Want You for Your Body
by Brian Schwartz Should Colorado mandate that each car owner buy a comprehensive lifetime vehicle warranty? By the logic of a common argument against Colorado Amendment 63 and for mandatory medical insurance, the answer is “Yes.” Mandatory insurance treats your body as a means to political ends, rather than respecting your rights as an individual. […]
DC Unions Bankroll Colorado Campaign Against Health Care Choice
By Linda Gorman People who need to spend $100,000 to interpret 90 words of a ballot initiative, that the Blue Book interprets for free, shouldn’t have much credibility when it comes to controlling health care costs. That’s how much the campaign against the health care choice amendment, Amendment 63, spent on fancy campaign consultants. The […]
Amendment 63 vs. The Unlicensed Vampire Alarmists
Does the Colorado Constitution guarantee the rights of violent criminals to be armed in prison or when released on parole? You might think so if you believe criticisms of Amendment 63. Amendment 63 would prohibit the state from forcing you to buy a politician-approved health plan and protect your right to pay for medical care […]
Colorado Amendment 63: Freedom Is Too "Haphazard" for Bell Policy Center
In a recent Denver Post op-ed, Bob Semro of the Bell Policy Center writes that Amendment 63 would “move Colorado to a less protected, more haphazard health care system where people pay directly for services rather than having health insurance.” What Bob Semro called “haphazard” is really personal freedom. The freedom to pay for medical […]
