Posts Tagged ‘health care’
Friday, January 4th, 2019
Welcome to the first LinkSwarm of 2019! If things seem a little thin, I worked most of the week and threw a New Year’s Eve gathering, so things are a little discombobulated right now. Hopefully next week I’ll be back in the groove faster than you can say “Antidisestablishmentarianism.”
“Jobs Blowout: December Payrolls Soar By 312K As Wages Jump Most Since 2009.”
More on that jobs report:
Democratic Party “charity” in action:
The caucus of black New York state lawmakers runs a charity whose stated mission is to empower “African American and Latino youth through education and leadership initiatives” by “providing opportunity to higher education” — but it hasn’t given a single scholarship to needy youth in two years, according to a New York Post investigation.
The group collects money from companies like AT&T, the Real Estate Board of New York, Time Warner Cable and CableVision, telling them in promotional materials that they are “changing lives, one scholarship at a time.”
The group — called the Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, Inc. — instead spent $500,000 in the 2015 – 2016 fiscal year on items like food, limousines and rap music, the Post found.
The politicians refused to divulge the charity’s 2017 tax filing to the Post despite federal requirements that charities do so upon request.
Its main activity is holding and selling tickets to an elaborate party each year intended to raise money for its stated mission of providing scholarships for youth. But year after year, essentially all the money simply seems to go to festivities.
(Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
President Trump’s Iran sanctions are destroying their economy. “In the fallout, the Iranian rial has lost more than a quarter of its value against the dollar, sending the prices of food and other basic commodities soaring.” (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
Former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson says that the newspaper is indeed obviously biased against President Trump.
She also says publisher Arthur Sulzberger “drafted a letter ‘all but apologizing’ to the Chinese government for a tough investigative story about corruption in the country.”
“Over a decade, police investigated more than 520 cases of juvenile sexual assault and abuse in Chicago’s public schools.” (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
“Stoneman Douglas commission calls for arming teachers.
Related: I think I missed this is 2018:
AKA “the resource officer who infamously failed to confront the Parkland shooter.”
“A California congressman is introducing articles of impeachment against President Trump on Thursday — the first day of the new Democratic majority in the House.” Because evidently they learned nothing from the Clinton impeachment…
A Democrat also filed a bill to eliminate the Electoral College. Priorities.
Apple iPhone phishing scams are getting cleverer at fooling people.
Speaking of Apple, their stock just lost the value equivalent to Facebook’s market cap after announcing they would miss iPhone targets.
Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher dead at 87.
Cracked takes on health care sacred cows. Worth a read. (Hat tip: Ashe Schow on Twitter.)
UT makes Campus Reform’s top five crazy stories list.
Outgoing Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill disses incoming House Democrat and “shiny thing” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
“State Rep.-elect Mayes Middleton has filed priority legislation, House Bill 281, to end tax-funded lobbying.” Good.
Convicted felon and Democratic state representative Ron Reynolds released from prison just in time for the legislative session.
Facebook temporarily bans Billy Graham’s son for having the unmitigated gall to say that men and women are biologically different…back in 2016.
The Babylon Bee takes on Mitt Romney’s criticisms of President Trump. You know, I’m getting the impression here that the Bee is not a big fan of Mormon doctrine…
Tags:Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Apple Computer, Arthur Sulzberger, Austin, Chicago, Claire McCaskill, Crime, Democrats, Donald Trump, economy, Electoral College, Foreign Policy, Guns, health care, Herb Kelleher, impeachment, Iran, Jihad, Jill Abramson, jobs, LinkSwarm, Mayes Middleton, Media Watch, Mitt Romney, New York, New York Times, rape, Ron Reynolds, Scott Israel, Southwest Airlines, Texas, University of Texas
Posted in Austin, Crime, Democrats, Guns, Jihad, Media Watch, Texas | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 8th, 2017
I just got off a conference call with the Texas Public Policy Foundation on the House GOP ObamaCare replacement discussed yesterday. Here are some brief notes from the call:
Chris Jacobs:
Only one mandate repealed, retains the rest and maintains federal control over health care.
The current bill doesn’t limit Medicaid expansion the way the 2015 bill did.
Federal subsidies for insurers remain.
The bill actually increases federal control of health care.
Conservatives need people to stand up for actual repeal of ObamaCare.
Dr. Deane Waldman:
The GOP treatment plan doesn’t address why the patient is actually sick.
The problem is federal control of the health care system.
It’s not repeal and replace, it’s mend and expand.
Need control at the state level.
Chip Roy:
Fundamentally not a repeal of ObamaCare.
Maintains the medicaid expansion to able-bodied adults.
Maintains the preventative and contraception mandate.
Maintains the incentive to drive more people into Medicaid.
I asked a followup question of Chris Jacobs about the preventative and contraception mandate. He said it’s left entirely in place. While that mandate can be eliminated administratively by HHS Secretary Tom Price, Democrats could reinstitute it by the same method in the future.
Chip Roy: This bill fundamentally embraces all that is wrong with ObamaCare.
Tags:American Health Care Act, Chip Roy, Chris Jacobs, Dr. Deane Waldman, health care, Medicaid, ObamaCare, Texas Public Policy Foundation
Posted in ObamaCare | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 7th, 2017
House Republicans have finally produced the long-awaited ObamaCare replacement bill.
Chris Jacobs of the Texas Public Policy Foundation took a look at the plan and was distinctly unimpressed:
The bill falls far short of making good on the promise to fully repeal Obamacare and fails to fundamentally change federal control over supply and demand of healthcare.
This plan fails to repeal most of the costly mandates and insurance regulations driving up premiums and deductibles.
This plan replaces Obamacare’s subsidy scheme with a new costly federal entitlement in the form of a refundable tax credit.
This plan leaves significant portions of the flawed and costly Medicaid expansion intact by delaying the freeze on Medicaid enrollment, maintaining the expansion of the program to the able bodied, and providing a pathway for non-expansion states to accept enhanced federal dollars.
Congress should be focused on policy solutions that respect states, patients, doctors, and families by lowering costs, increasing quality of care, and providing greater choice and competition in healthcare while empowering states. This plan does not live up to those benchmarks and continues many of the flawed solutions first promulgated under Obamacare.
This doesn’t sound good:
Some conservatives may note the significant changes in the program when compared to the leaked discussion draft — let alone the program’s initial variation, proposed by House Republicans in their alternative to Obamacare in 2009. These changes have turned the program’s focus increasingly towards “stabilizing markets,” and subsidizing health insurers to incentivize continued participation in insurance markets. Some conservatives therefore may be concerned that this program amounts to a $100 billion bailout fund for insurers — one that could infringe upon state sovereignty.
This sounds pretty heinous as well:
Continuous Coverage: Requires insurers, beginning after the 2018 open enrollment period (i.e., open enrollment for 2019, or special enrollment periods during the 2018 plan year), to increase premiums for individuals without continuous health insurance coverage. The premium could increase by 30 percent for individuals who have a coverage gap of more than 63 days during the previous 12 months. Insurers could maintain the 30 percent premium increase for a 12 month period. Requires individuals to show proof of continuous coverage, and requires insurers to provide said proof in the form of certificates. Some conservatives may be concerned that this provision maintains the federal intrusion over insurance markets exacerbated by Obamacare, rather than devolving insurance regulation back to the states.
There are good things in the bill: It zeroes out penalties from the insurance mandate, repeals a host of ObamaCare taxes, and defunds Planned Parenthood. But it leaves in place the structure of federal interference in health insurance. That’s a huge disappointment, considering that pretty much every House Republican ran for election on a platform of full repeal of ObamaCare.
They can do better.
(Note: I’m also not seeing language that makes good on President Trump’s joint address promise to allow health insurance sales across state lines. I’m waiting to hear back Jacobs to see if I missed that.)
Edited to add: Just after I published this I got a reply:
Tags:American Health Care Act, Chris Jacobs, health care, ObamaCare, Republicans, Texas Public Policy Foundation
Posted in ObamaCare, Republicans | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, April 20th, 2016
This is one of those bad new/good news things:
I write this from the hospital. Seems I have lung cancer.
My doctors tell me my growth was caught early and I’ll be fine. Soon I will barely notice that a fifth of my lung is gone. I believe them. After all, I’m at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. U.S. News & World Report ranked it No. 1 in New York. I get excellent medical care here.
Cancer sucks, catching it early doesn’t. But it being Stossel, he has some observations on the process:
But as a consumer reporter, I have to say, the hospital’s customer service stinks. Doctors keep me waiting for hours, and no one bothers to call or email to say, “I’m running late.” Few doctors give out their email address. Patients can’t communicate using modern technology.
I get X-rays, EKG tests, echocardiograms, blood tests. Are all needed? I doubt it. But no one discusses that with me or mentions the cost. Why would they? The patient rarely pays directly. Government or insurance companies pay.
And ObamaCare hasn’t made it any better.
Customer service is sclerotic because hospitals are largely socialist bureaucracies. Instead of answering to consumers, which forces businesses to be nimble, hospitals report to government, lawyers and insurance companies.
Whenever there’s a mistake, politicians impose new rules: the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act paperwork, patient rights regulations, new layers of bureaucracy…
Snip.
Leftists say the solution to such problems is government health care. But did they not notice what happened at Veterans Affairs? Bureaucrats let veterans die, waiting for care. When the scandal was exposed, they didn’t stop. USA Today reports that the abuse continues. Sometimes the VA’s suicide hotline goes to voicemail.
Patients will have a better experience only when more of us spend our own money for care. That’s what makes markets work.
Tags:health care, John Stossel, Obama Scandals, ObamaCare, Veterans Administration
Posted in Obama Scandals, ObamaCare | No Comments »
Thursday, February 19th, 2015
Time for another Texas vs. California roundup:
U.S. bankruptcy judge presiding over the Stockton case says pensions are not sacred and can be cut in bankruptcy. “CalPERS has bullied its way about in this case with an iron fist insisting that it and the municipal pensions it services are inviolable. The bully may have an iron fist, but it also turns out to have a glass jaw.”
Public employee pensions: Stealing from the young and poor to give to the old and rich. (Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.)
California’s entrepreneurs still think the business climate sucks. “In the 2014 survey, 63.5 percent called the small business climate poor, with just 10 saying it’s good. This year 60 percent still consider the business climate poor with 16.5 percent finding it good.”
By contrast, low oil prices won’t torpedo Texas’ economy. “Texas’ economy today is more resilient to oil price fluctuations thanks to industrial diversification and pro-growth policies.”
California’s combined capital gains tax rate is the third highest. Not third highest in the U.S., third highest in the world, lower only than Denmark and France.
How environmentalists made California’s drought worse.
Two unions are on different sides of a proposed sale of six struggling Catholic hospitals to a private company.
Defense contractor “Advantage SCI, LLC announced today that the company will relocate its headquarters to Alexandria, Virginia (Fairfax County in Old Town Alexandria) from El Segundo, California, after recognizing the high costs related to worker’s compensation, liability, and taxes that plague businesses in California.”
Coffee roaster Farmers Brothers is leaving California for either Oklahoma or Texas.
More on the Farmer Brothers relocation. “After surviving depressions, recessions, earthquakes and wars, Farmer Brothers is leaving California, finally driven out by high taxes and oppressive regulations.”
California Democrats file bills to force the state to get 50% of its energy from renewable energy by 2030. They’re basically putting up yet another big red sign to manufacturers: “We’ll make it impossibly expensive for you to do business here.”
Why health care in California is less affordable than elsewhere.
The mess that is California’s homeowner earthquake insurance.
California property owners aren’t wild about being forced to sell their land for the high speed rail boondoggle.
Arlene Wohlgemuth on why Texas should avoid the siren song of Medicare expansion. (Also, best wishes to her for a speedy recovery from her motorcycle accident.)
California’s top lifeguard pulls in a cool $236,859 in total compensation. (Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.)
“Lewd yoga dentist filed for bankruptcy.” A San Diego dentist, which is my pretext for including it here, but really, how could I not link a headline like that?
Tags:Arlene Wohlgemuth, California, CalPERs, Democrats, Energy Policy, environmentalism, health care, high speed rail, oil industry, pension crisis, Regulation, Texas, unions, Welfare State
Posted in Democrats, Regulation, Texas, unions, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
For years, the federal government, doctors and nutritionists have treated dietary fat as Public Enemy #1, despite scanty science of a link between fat intake and obesity. Meanwhile, the same people were talking up carbohydrates as a perfectly healthy food choice at the same time when, by an amazing coincidence, Uncle Sam was dishing up tens of billions of dollars in corn and grain agribusiness subsidies.In effect, saying no to meat and fat meant saying yes to high fructose corn syrup.
So a significant portion of Americans start cutting back on fat and loading up the carbs. Then, a little while later, that ungrateful little heretic, Dr. Robert Atkins, has the insolence to point out “Hey, obesity is up, not down, and diabetes is going through the roof. Maybe fat isn’t evil, and maybe too many carbohydrates can make you fat.” The condemnation of the Government Medical Complex was swift and merciless, and only increased in vitriol when he came out with a diet that actually helped people lose weight.
Now comes word that it’s all been one big fat lie. (Preceding pun blatantly stolen from Gary Taubes’ ground-breaking New York Times Atkins story from 2002.) Very large and rigorous scientific studies increasing show no link between dietary fat and obesity.
But don’t expect a significant change in federal government diet guidelines anytime soon, since the Atkins diet is still politically incorrect among the “meat is evil” religious environmentalist crowd, which make up a disproportionate share of our ruling elite. Big government means never having to admit you were wrong…
Tags:agribusiness subsidies, Atkins, diet, health care, high fructose corn syrup
Posted in Regulation, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
Here’s a quick roundup of ObamaCare news and views from over the weekend:
- Pelosi’s version of ObamaCare passes the house…barely.
- Jobs? Who needs them? “The promise of health care reform was not what got Democrats elected. Voters tossed Republicans on their fannies for ruining the economy, not because they didn’t enact wildly expensive social programs….Democrats have learned nothing from history. During the Great Depression, each time the economy showed a spark, President Franklin Roosevelt snuffed it out with another tax increase or regulatory burden.”
- Blue Dog Democrats who voted for ObamaCare.
- Analysis of the ObamaCare bill passed by the Hosue: “The King James version of the Bible runs more than 600 pages and is crammed with celestial regulations. Newton’s Principia Mathematica distilled many of the rules of physics in a mere 974 pages. Neither have anything on Nancy Pelosi’s new fiendishly entertaining health-care opus, which tops 1,900 pages…. the word “regulation” appears 181 times. “Tax” is there 214 times. “Fees,” 103 times. As we all know, nothing says “affordability” like higher taxes and fees. The word “shall” – as in “must” or “required to” – appears over 3,000 times.”
- Interesting (and lengthy) essay suggesting that maybe calling every person who protests ObamaCare or bigger government a racist isn’t a smart move on the part of liberals.
- NRO’s Critical Condition: Democrats hope for passage of ObamaCare “largely hinge on successfully hiding two plain facts from the voters: One, the House Republicans and the Congressional Budget Office have now shown that a bill costing $61 billion can lower Americans’ insurance premiums, while bills costing $1.7 trillion cannot (and instead would raise them substantially). Two, the Democrats’ plans would be paid for only if they follow through on plans to siphon hundreds of billions of dollars out of already-barely-solvent Medicare, and to do so just in time for the baby boomers’ retirement. ”
On to the Senate…
Tags:Democrats, health care, ObamaCare
Posted in ObamaCare | No Comments »
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
Well, let’s see what’s been going on in the world of ObamaCare:
- 10,000 rally in DC against ObamaCare.
- Charles Krauthammer: “If you are a conservative Democrat and you see the great swing between ’08 and ’09, you know that this idea that you can ride the coattails of Obama — [that] there was a great realignment last year — is false, and they are now extremely exposed.”
- Dick Morris and Eileen McGann are even blunter: “Are the elections of 2009 precursors of the same kind of massive partisan upheaval in Congress that we experienced in 1994? The historical data says yes, they are….For the House to pass Obama’s healthcare bill five days after so huge a repudiation of the Democratic Party and its program is breathtaking in its arrogance. Voters all over America will get the point: The congressional Democrats don’t give a damn what the voters think.”
- Karl Rove also sees the results as disasterous for Democrats: “Tuesday’s elections should put a scare into red state Democrats—and a few blue state ones, too….Looking ahead, the bad news for Democrats is that the legislation that helped lead to the collapse of support for their party on Tuesday could yet inflict more pain on those foolish enough to support it. The health-care bill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to vote on this week could sink an entire fleet of Democratic boats in 2010….Tuesday’s results were the first sign that voters are revolting against runaway spending and government expansion. But Democrat likely ain’t seen nothin’ yet if they try to ram through health-care reform.”
- Displaying her keen, Zapp Brannigan-esque sense of strategy and timing, Nancy Pelosi cries “Onward into the machine gun fire!”
- But she’d rather see it fail than give up taxpayer funding for abortion.
- The Reid and Pelosi bills are going to cost more than projected. A whole lot more.
- The Heritage Foundation takes a gander at Pelosi’s version of ObamaCare and finds it lays out the foundation for a “complete government take over of the health care sector of our economy.”
- The Wall Street Journal calls it “Worst. Bill. Ever.” (Actually, they just say worst since the New Deal; after all, the infamy isn’t quite the same as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. However, as bad as it is, I’m not sure the results of ObamaCare be quite as baleful as the Economic Opportunity Act enacted as part of LBJ’s Great Society programs that helped bring up us intergenerational welfare dependency and the destruction of the black family structure in America.)
- Shockingly, there is a health care reform plan that the Congressional Budget Office says will reduce premiums and cut deficits. So when does that one get a vote? Answer: Never. That’s the Republican plan
(Hat tips to Instapundit, Real Clear Politics, and The Corner, among others…)
Tags:Charles Krauthammer, Dick Morris, Elections, health care, Karl Rove, ObamaCare
Posted in Elections, ObamaCare | No Comments »