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Dale Russakoff - NYT's The New Old Age
The
National Council on Aging has released a poll showing that a majority
of senior citizens are uninformed about the impact of the federal health
care law on Medicare and Medicaid benefits. The national survey of 636
men and women ages 65 and over, conducted by Harris Interactive for the
council, were unaware that the new law gradually increases prescription
drug coverage, does not cut basic Medicare benefits in the future, and
provides for an annual wellness visit to a doctor paid for by Medicare.Texas Plays Along With Health Care Law, Despite Suit to Stop It
Ashby Jones - WSJ's Law Blog
The
NYT takes a look on Wednesday at an interesting dynamic playing out in
a number of states. It's this: states have to live under the federal
health care law that they've sued to stop. In Austin, Texas, for
instance, legislative hearings and agency planning sessions on the new
law are going forward. Meanwhile, Texas governor Rick Perry has vowed to
fight "on every front available" against a law that he, the NYT points
out, characterizes as "socialism on American soil." Writes the NYT's
Kevin Sack: "Bureaucrats apply for federal grants and collaborate with
the Obama administration at the same time that Attorney General Greg
Abbott (pictured) strategizes to eviscerate the law in court."Obamacare Complexity vs Free Market Simplicity
Daniel J. Mitchell - Cato @ Liberty
Free
markets are characterized by voluntary exchange between buyers and
sellers. Mapping that relationship is absurdly simply, as this image
indicates. Indeed, the only reason I even bothered to include that image
was for purposes of comparison. Here is a new flowchart prepared for
the Joint Economic Committee showing the healthcare system under
Obamacare.Congressional candidate in DC to serve Democrats with Obamacare complaint
Alex Pappas - The Daily Caller
A
Tennessee constitutional lawyer running for Congress is flying to
Washington D.C. today to make an attempt at personally serving top
Democrats with a class action lawsuit against President Obama's health
care bill. Van Irion says he's planning on doing everything he can to
personally serve a complaint and motion for a preliminary injunction on
President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid and Attorney General Eric Holder. The preliminary injunction
is the first motion of its type to be filed and seeks to immediately bar
the government from enforcing any aspect of the health care reform bill
passed last March.ObamaCare's stealth assault on small business
David Frum - The Week
Small
business owners face a world of troubles these days: a weak economy,
impending healthcare mandates, the prospect of higher taxes. But one
concern you hear about more and more is a huge new expansion in their
IRS reporting requirements -- a paperwork nightmare that will commence in
2012. I got an earful on the subject after a recent speech to a group
of employers in a small vacation town. They owned shops, a garage,
restaurants. They did all their own bookkeeping at nights and on
weekends. They did not enjoy it, but they were used to it. But now, they
feared their lives were about to be consumed by a new bureaucracy.Dewhurst: New federal health care law will bust Texas' budget
Todd Gillman - Dallas News
Lt.
Gov. David Dewhurst warned this morning that the new federal health
care legislation will bust Texas' budget - saddling state taxpayers with
$27 billion in extra costs over the next decade. "That's an astounding
number for us," Dewhurst told the Texas State Society over breakfast,
including a half-dozen members of Congress. "We're on the hook for all
those folks we've been trying to get to sign up for Medicaid." Doubling
the state's Medicaid rolls, he said, will mean that health care claims
an ever-bigger share of the state budget. And that segment has already
grown from one-quarter of the budget to one-third in the last seven
years. Challenging the Legality of Obamacare
Lance David - Human Events
The
U.S. Citizens Association in May fired a shot across the bow of
President Obama's unconstitutional healthcare takeover by filing a
lawsuit in federal court to overturn the bill signed into law in March.
Unlike the lawsuits filed by various states' attorneys general, this
lawsuit by the Ohio-based conservative organization was filed on behalf
of our 23,000 members. Our lawsuit is not a case of politicians suing
one another. To our knowledge our lawsuit is the first of its kind and
has the best chance of success because we will not be bought off and we
certainly won't back down from threats.Facing Steep Odds, 128 House Democrats Revive the Public Option
Sahil Kapur - The Washington Independent
Four
months after President Barack Obama enacted the Affordable Care And
Patient Protection Act, House Democrats have revived a top liberal
priority that was eliminated from the sweeping health care law in the
latter stages of a grueling year-long debate: the public option. Armed
with a new line of attack aimed at soothing deficit fears, Democratic
Reps. Lynn Woolsey (Calif.), Jan Schakowsky (Ill.) and Pete Stark
(Calif.) last Thursday unveiled a bill that would offer consumers the
choice of a "robust" government-run insurance plan alongside the private
plans in the law's exchanges. The Congressional Budget Office projects
that the bill, which has gained 128 co-sponsors, will reduce the federal
deficit by $68 billion between 2014 and 2020. Obamacare and Medicaid
John Dunn - The Heartland Institute
The
key to understanding how the massive Obamacare bill will affect health
care across the nation is to understand how it will expand and change
the role of Medicaid. Medicaid illustrates clearly how every expansion
of government into healthcare inevitably squeezes out the private
sector. The evident goal of such actions is to transform what was once
an important private activity into one managed and run by government,
with taxpayer-funded physicians working in government-controlled
hospitals and nursing homes. States Seek Using Obamacare to Cover Abortions
Rep. Doug Lamborn - Human Events
As
states roll out their newly mandated high-risk pools under Obamacare, a
troubling trend is emerging. Pennsylvania and Maryland initially
announced on their websites that their plans would cover elective
abortions. Additionally, New Mexico posted a draft summary of its
high-risk pool services that listed elective abortion as a part of its
covered services. Americans Cut Back on Visits to Doctor
Avery Johnson, Jonathan D. Rockoff and Anna Wilde Mathews - Wall Street Journal
Insured
Americans are using fewer medical services, raising questions about
whether patients are consuming less health care as they pick up a
greater share of the costs. The drop in usage is showing up as
health-care companies report financial results. Insurers, lab-testing
companies, hospitals and doctor-billing concerns say that patient
visits, drug prescriptions and procedures were down in the second
quarter from year-ago levels. "People just aren't using health-care like
they have," said Wayne DeVeydt, WellPoint Inc.'s chief financial
officer, in an interview Wednesday. "Utilization is lower than we
expected, and it's unusual."Healthcare reform worries dog WellPoint and Aetna
Lewis Krauskopf - Reuters
WellPoint
Inc (WLP.N) and Aetna Inc (AET.N), two of the largest U.S. health
insurers, failed to provide investors with a clear view on profits in
2011 as they wait for details on the country's healthcare reform. Shares
of the two companies slid on Wednesday and weighed on industry peers
despite the fact that both posted strong quarterly earnings and raised
their 2010 forecasts.One in five Californians say they need mental health care
Shari Roan - Los Angeles Times
Almost 5 million California adults say they
could use help with a mental or emotional problem, according to a survey
released Wednesday by researchers at UCLA. About 1 million of them meet
the criteria for "serious psychological distress." However, only one in
three people who perceive a need for mental health services or are in
serious distress have seen a professional for treatment, the survey
found.
| Latest Polling |
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Rasmussen Reports July 26, 2010 58 percent of voters favor repealing Obamacare |