Health Care
Instead of a ‘Public Option’, We Need a ‘Personal Option’
Originally published at RealClearHealth Health care is a mess—and our political leaders aren’t helping. Presidential candidates only offer vague ideas to address our health care problems. From former President…
Read More: Instead of a ‘Public Option’, We Need a ‘Personal Option’Under Obamacare, Pennsylvania families have been forced to pay more for health care, and more than 800,000 Pennsylvania adults have received taxpayer-funded health coverage through a broken Medicaid system. Without Congressional action, states are unable to carry the full burden of Obamacare on their own. However, state policymakers can focus their own reform efforts on giving patients more control over health care and restoring Medicaid as a safety-net program. Access to health care should be measured, not by the number of those with insurance, but by the ability of individuals to independently secure the affordable, reliable care they deserve.
Health Care
Pennsylvania proposes to cheat Medicaid
Michael Cannon writes that the Rendell administration’s plan to tax Philly and Pittsburgh hospitals, but give them higher reimbursements from Medicaid is a great plan … for Pennsylvania.
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Obama v. McCain on Health Care
Cato Daily Podcast with Michael Tanner on the differences between McCain and Obama – and the constrast of market-based reform vs. expansion of government – on health care.
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RendellCare: What Would Jesus Do?
Remember the passage in the Bible where Jesus called upon the Roman Empire to provide universal, government-run health insurance? What! There’s no such passage? Perhaps someone should point that…
Commentary
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Semonizing on RendellCare
Morning Call article and Post-Gazette piece on the planned “CAP Sunday” and campaign to use sermons to promote RendellCare. (HT: GrassrootsPA) I’ve written on Jesus and…
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Wal-Mart can be good for your health
Salon.com article on the growth of retail clinics in providing low-cost health care services – and the opposition from entrenched special interests.
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The “Cost of the Uninsured”
Many proposals for “universal health care”, including RendellCare, claim that there will be savings by eliminating what everyone pays on “costs for the uninsured”, or uncompensated care.But a new…
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Health Insurance Mandate Update
Wall Street Journal op-ed by CAHI researchers on the cost of the 1,961 health insurance mandates. A health-insurance “mandate” is a legislative requirement that an insurance company or…
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Cover A Few Pennsylvanians update
A few weeks ago, we put out some quick facts about the few Pennsylvanians that would be covered by “Cover All Pennsylvanians.” Based on the new Governor’s budget, we…
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Rendell still pushing RendellCare
Within the last few weeks, three state health care proposals fundamentally similar to Governor Rendell’s “Cover All Pennsylvanians” added to my “bad ideas pile” California legislators overwhelming rejected…
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Equity and Health Care
Wall Street Journal editorial looks at reforming health care through the tax code. That is, giving individuals the same tax benefits in buying health insurance as employers, along with…
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Maine’s Failed Health Reforms
Greg Scandlen weighs in on the failure of Maine’s Dirigo Care program: 1. After 20 months of operation only 11,000 were enrolled in DirigoChoice (out of a total…
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“Cover All Pennsylvanians” Covers Very Few
Governor Rendell’s proposed “Cover All Pennsylvanians” claims to provide health insurance for an Administration-estimated 800,000 currently uninsured Pennsylvania adults at a cost of $1 billion dollars in just four years.
Fact Sheet
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Health Care Reform: Diagnose, Then Prescribe
Following the latest Census Bureau report that 47 million Americans are without health insurance, the talking heads and newspaper editorial boards are renewing their call for “something to…
Commentary
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The Pension and Healthcare Non-Crisis
Despite the well-documented unfunded liabilities in Pennsylvania’s largest public employee pension plans (PSERS and SERS), the response from Harrisburg to the coming fiscal crisis ranges from denial to paralysis. Following…
Commentary
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Governor Rendell’s Healthcare Misdiagnosis
As healthcare costs continue to rise faster than consumers’ ability to pay, it is clear that we need to alter how we pay for healthcare. Recently, Governor Rendell unveiled a…
Commentary
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CF Responds to Democratic Party Chairman on RendellCare
TJ RooneyDemocratic State Committee300 North 2nd Street8th FloorHarrisburg, PA 17101 Dear TJ: I am writing in response to your personal letter to me (which I have…
Press Release
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Treating the Symptom Rather than the Cause
Governor Rendell wants to expand health insurance to 767,000 uninsured Pennsylvanians by increasing taxes on employers and tobacco users, to name just a few. The full costs have yet to…
Commentary
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What Is Consumer-Directed Health Care?
In the wake of expanding government-run health care in PA, here is a primer on Consumer-Driven Health Care Reform by John Goodman (of NCPA, not The Big Lebowski)…
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Senate passes version of “Cover All Kids”
Patriot News Update on the PA Senate’s passage of their version “Cover All Kids.” The specifics require a higher proportion of costs for families over 235% of the federal…
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Shrink the Legislature to 8
The House Democratic Leadership Letter – from Bill DeWeese (Minority Leader) and Mike Veon (Minority Whip) calls upon the General Assembly to pass “Cover All Kids” because they (DeWese…
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Strong Rhetoric for Socialized Medicine
Governor Rendell’s Weekly Letter along with a Press Release demands legislators pass of his “Cover All Kids” proposal. His rhetoric is powerful (read Lowman Henry’s admission that…
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