One signature consequence, perhaps the leading consequence, of last night’s electoral victory for Democrats is that the implementation of Obamacare will now proceed unfettered. At least at the federal level. But as we’ve noted for many months, the law’s facility will rise or fall on the willingness of the states to carry it out. After [...]

The need to offer a substitute to placate those desiring a public option created this Frankenstein monster, which was admittedly not well thought-out. Those who did it ended up with the worst of all possible worlds; no public option supporter really even knew about these multi-state plans, and they have the potential to disrupt the exchanges and cause a race to the bottom.

Medicaid spending slowed down in 2012 and similar slowing is expected for 2013. However, it’s being accomplished through precisely the same program that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan endorse for the program – by effectively taking beneficiaries off the rolls. The data comes from the respected Kaiser Family Foundation, and their annual survey of all [...]

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has created a Power Point presentation about Bowles-Simpson, the recommendations of the two leaders of the deficit commission. And this offers a window into Tea Party preferences for the fiscal slope and deficit deals. This is actually the key swing bloc in Congress; with President Obama on board with a [...]

The Finance Minister for Greece, Yannis Stournaras, claims that the country will be given more time by its international creditors to reach deficit targets, smoothing out the level of austerity required in the near term. But he might want to tell his international creditors about it. Greece had been asking for two more years to [...]

As I’ve said before, the domestic policy area where the candidates truly differ in both their positions and their actions is clearly on Medicaid. Barack Obama signed a signature law that expands Medicaid to 16 million additional beneficiaries from current law; Mitt Romney would turn Medicaid into a block grant, eliminating the ability for the [...]

Throughout the election campaign, when the two competitors talk about social insurance programs, they usually confine it to Social Security and Medicare, and really just Medicare. And it’s true that the Romney-Ryan plan for a voucher program instead of traditional Medicare would lead to higher premiums for most seniors. But the planned growth rates for [...]

The importance of what was not discussed in last night’s debate cannot be overstated. But the post-debate analysis will be tempered by whether the Romney campaign can hold on through the newfound tradition of fact-checking that will follow in the next couple days. Already one issue has been brought up. There was a lengthy but [...]

A new report offers a puncture to the myth that American health spending springs from overtreatment. This theory goes that doctors prescribe too much medical care for various ailments, with the most expensive instrument in the doctor’s office being a pen. As a result, the cost of care rises to unsustainable levels. If we change [...]

Last year, I went to the Los Angeles Sports Arena to witness a massive free medical clinic for thousands of low-income residents. I was impressed by the focus on enrolling patients for continuing care, either through coverage programs within the city or community health centers. The health clinic has returned to LA this week, and [...]

This is my This is my favorite scientific study of the year so far, even if it falls under the category of “scientific studies we didn’t need.” It turns out that the myth of high-stress positions of power is unfounded. Our lords of industry, our masters of the universe get along just fine. And if [...]