On April 15, the House of Representatives passed a budget that addresses the Medicaid crisis. Introduced by Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R–WI), it repeals Obamacare and its costly Medicaid expansion and puts Medicaid on a more fiscally sustainable path. Ryan’s Medicaid reform ends the open-ended federal reimbursement of state… Read more

Among Obamacare’s hundreds of pages was tucked a new government-run long-term care program, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Program.[1] CLASS was poorly designed, and actuaries criticized it as being unsustainable well before the passage of Obamacare.[2] It appears from three recent congressional appearances… Read more

Along with the exploding costs of public-sector benefit packages, managing Medicaid is the greatest challenge confronting the nation’s governors and state legislative bodies. About 16 percent of the nation’s population is currently enrolled in Medicaid, the joint federal–state program for certain categories of mostly poor individuals. State budgets are stressed… Read more

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)[1] offers subsidies for most individuals who purchase insurance in the newly created health insurance exchanges—a premium assistance subsidy and a cost-sharing subsidy. These subsidies are the most expensive component of the overhaul, costing over $460 billion by 2019. Perhaps even… Read more

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)[1] created a new entitlement program, the Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) Program, to provide assistance for individuals who have difficulty with activities of daily living[2] and need long-term care (LTC) services.[3] … Read more

One of the central goals of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)[1] was to increase the number of individuals with health insurance coverage. To encourage employers to offer coverage, the new law creates a tax penalty on firms with more than 50 workers that fail to… Read more

Roughly half of the anticipated gains in insurance coverage from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)[1] are achieved through a massive expansion of Medicaid, the joint federal–state health insurance program for the poor. The Medicaid program, with its soaring price tag and dubious level of care… Read more

Obamacare increases enrollment in the troubled Medicaid program by over 20 million persons. However, providers are already limiting the amount of Medicaid patients they accept because of low payment rates. To entice providers to accept more Medicaid recipients, Obamacare requires that states—with federal dollars—raise primary care physician (PCP) payment rates… Read more