This past Monday evening, I spoke on a panel at Wake Forest University's School of Law on whether North Carolina should expand Medicaid, the medical assistance program originally designed for low-income parents, children, elderly, blind, and disabled. Despite the enthusiastic, overwhelmingly...
Published: Monday, February 1st, 2016 @ 3:28 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Obamacare's failing co-ops (consumer-operated and oriented health plans) simply reinforce the fact that government intervention in health care creates all sorts of problems.
Published: Saturday, January 9th, 2016 @ 6:02 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Medical providers will tell you that about 75 percent of health care can be provided in a primary care setting. Yet rising health insurance premiums and narrower networks are making it a burden for patients to access basic health care.
Published: Thursday, January 7th, 2016 @ 4:48 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Obamacare's third annual enrollment period for health insurance is officially underway. Americans who do not have access to employer-sponsored health insurance, are self-employed, or have been dumped into the individual marketplace by their employers have the opportunity to sign up or renew their...
Published: Wednesday, January 6th, 2016 @ 8:59 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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The excessive amount of government intervention that has been entrenched in our nation's health care system is curiously pushing medical providers to channel this negative energy into positive solutions - ones in which physicians are either scaling back or cutting off their relationships...
Published: Monday, October 26th, 2015 @ 8:45 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Since the World War II era, workers have benefited from a rather large implicit tax subsidy on health coverage provided by their employers. Every dollar an employee spends from earned income is taxed, but every dollar spent on health care is not. Those who purchase health plans on their own lose...
Published: Tuesday, October 20th, 2015 @ 9:37 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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The medical code overkill is now here. After a four-year delay, the US health care system has crossed over to an updated medical diagnosis coding system endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), formally known as the tenth edition of the International Classification of Diseases, or ICD-10.
Published: Sunday, October 18th, 2015 @ 11:51 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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After an 80-day extension costing taxpayers well over $1 million, the North Carolina House and Senate chambers have finally reached a tentative budget agreement with a price tag of roughly $22 billion - a fiscally conservative budget considering that spending increased by only 3.1 percent which...
Published: Sunday, September 20th, 2015 @ 3:44 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Health policy doesn't exactly rank high on the summer reading bucket list. Let's be real - for most people, it's not all that fitting for the beach, and it surely doesn't pair well with red wine during a gossipy book-club meeting.
Published: Tuesday, September 15th, 2015 @ 3:01 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Health care policy decisions usually come as federal dictates, so it's a rare opportunity when state legislators have full authority to grant North Carolinians more freedom over their health care options.
Published: Monday, September 7th, 2015 @ 6:00 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Crafting a politically feasible health care reform that steers away from Obamacare's massive redistribution of health is more than a desirable component for any serious Republican presidential contender's platform. It is a necessity.
Published: Tuesday, August 25th, 2015 @ 7:18 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Legislators involved with the certificate-of-need debate are probably overwhelmed with conflicting studies on whether the regulatory program should stay, be reduced, or go altogether.
Published: Friday, August 21st, 2015 @ 3:38 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Legislators involved with the Certificate of Need (CON) debate are probably overwhelmed with conflicting studies on whether the regulatory program should stay, be reduced, or go altogether.
Published: Monday, August 17th, 2015 @ 4:50 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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At face value, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) granted health insurance companies a pretty sweet deal. People are required to purchase their products under the law's individual mandate.
Published: Thursday, August 13th, 2015 @ 5:42 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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The Affordable Care Act's (ACA) health insurance exchanges are just one mechanism to expand coverage that primarily benefits low-income individual market policyholders and those with pre-existing conditions who cannot afford or access employer-sponsored health insurance.
Published: Tuesday, August 11th, 2015 @ 2:38 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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SCOTUS may have saved Obamacare from having to operate as written, but the landmark decision on King v Burwell has not deterred those on the right side of things from focusing on making health insurance (and more importantly health care) more affordable for more Americans.
Published: Tuesday, July 14th, 2015 @ 6:53 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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It's going to take a while longer for the North Carolina Legislature to pass its two-year budget. Part of the hold up will be finalizing an agreement on reforming the state's certificate of need (CON) law, which requires health systems and medical providers to first obtain a hall pass from the...
Published: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 @ 9:24 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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The prescription for improving North Carolina's Medicaid program has been a repetitive talking point for the past two years. The initial game plan back in April 2013 was for the state to contract with at least three private managed care organizations (MCOs) to take on full risk for managing...
Published: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 @ 9:18 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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It's rate-filing season for health insurance companies, and this week marked the deadline for carriers to disclose and explain any proposed rate increases of ten percent or more for 2016 Obamacare plans sold on the individual market. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina made the cut.
Published: Friday, June 19th, 2015 @ 8:58 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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In just one month, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether health insurance subsidies issued under the Affordable Care Act should be distributed only to insurance companies in state-based exchanges.
Published: Tuesday, May 26th, 2015 @ 5:38 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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The Raleigh Chamber of Commerce recently sponsored a health care breakfast panel with three North Carolina hospital CEOs talking about how competition brings out the best in their health systems. Competition is healthy. Competition is a beautiful thing.
Published: Monday, April 27th, 2015 @ 7:06 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Last Monday, the John Locke Foundation hosted a thoughtful health care forum where three expert panelists offered insight on the status of Kansas, Louisiana, and Florida's Medicaid reforms. Featured speakers included Kansas Lt. Governor Jeff Colyer, a pediatric plastic surgeon and leader of...
Published: Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015 @ 5:35 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Yesterday's front page of the News & Observer features the North Carolina Hospital Association, a free-market lobbyist, and legislators battling over pending legislation that could potentially terminate the state's highly bureaucratic Certificate of Need (CON) law. Senator Tom Apodaca favors...
Published: Tuesday, April 21st, 2015 @ 3:09 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Last week, the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce sponsored a health care breakfast panel where three North Carolina hospital CEOs talked about how competition brings out the best in their health systems. Competition is healthy. Competition is a beautiful thing.
Published: Sunday, April 5th, 2015 @ 11:40 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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It's been a little over one week since the House filed HB 200, which would loosen up the state's Certificate of Need (CON) law - a regulatory burden requiring medical providers to ask permission from the state and their competitors before expanding their businesses.
Published: Tuesday, March 24th, 2015 @ 9:13 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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It looks as if the recent U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in King v. Burwell transpired as expected. While all justices must follow the golden rule that a statute cannot be interpreted in isolation but instead must be read in full context, there were differing opinions as to whether Congress...
Published: Sunday, March 22nd, 2015 @ 10:14 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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This morning, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in King v Burwell, where the plaintiffs are not seeking to challenge Obamacare, but for the federal health law to operate as written.
Published: Monday, March 9th, 2015 @ 5:33 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Obamacare's original second enrollment period to #GetCovered has just about come to a close. (It was supposed to end on Sunday, but the administration announced this week that they will be opening a new special enrollment period during tax season.) The Obama Administration has been chirping...
Published: Friday, February 20th, 2015 @ 7:39 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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While Obamacare continues to flood the health care sector with more taxes and mandates, it's simultaneously driving insurers and health care providers to increase price transparency. Because the law's pricey regulations are either driving employers to push more benefit cost sharing onto employees...
Published: Monday, February 16th, 2015 @ 4:56 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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It's now been one month since Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina went public with its health care cost estimator tool. Regardless of whether you have a BCBS card, anyone can now compare average costs for more than 1,200 procedures in just about any zip code across the state...
Published: Tuesday, February 10th, 2015 @ 9:55 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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The 2015 legislative session has commenced, which means that the House and Senate will be hashing out their differences about how best to reform our state's Medicaid program. The Senate favors a privatization approach, where multiple managed care companies (MCOs) compete for state contracts to...
Published: Sunday, January 25th, 2015 @ 6:31 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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To kick off the New Year, the Cato Institute hosted its 9th annual health policy conference, where I and other attendees were heavily briefed on the status and potential implications of King V Burwell - better known as one of the Obamacare "subsidy lawsuits."
Published: Saturday, January 17th, 2015 @ 5:59 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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It is easy to understand why North Carolina hospitals are adamant about keeping the state's Certificate of Need (CON) regulations locked in the law books. After all, what law better protects their fortresses from potential competitors who could possibly provide more innovative services in less...
Published: Sunday, December 7th, 2014 @ 6:22 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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In previous newsletters, I've discussed how both ends of the political spectrum strive to reform our nation's health care delivery system by following through with the "triple aim" concept of former CMS administrator Dr. Donald Berwick - increase access to care, reduce health care costs, and...
Published: Saturday, November 15th, 2014 @ 5:33 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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