“The Obama administration said last year that about 85% of enrollees received the subsidy and got an average tax credit of $270 a month.”
The only reason people were willing to buy the overpriced, poor value insurance, was that taxpayers were footing a major portion of the bill. How could our lawmakers have devised such an awful scheme, and then call it “health-care reform?”
A new automated system on the way should alleviate potential problems identified by federal oversight agency
By
STEPHANIE ARMOUR
Jan. 6, 2016 12:00 a.m. ET
The Obama administration wasn’t able to ensure that all tax-credit payments made to insurers under the health law in 2014 were on behalf of consumers who had paid their premiums, according to a federal oversight agency.
However, the agency noted the Obama administration this year is moving to a new automated system that should alleviate potential problems identified in its investigation. The Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General is scheduled to release the report Wednesday.
The findings raise questions about the oversight of tax-credit payments that went to insurers on behalf of consumers who qualified for financial assistance.
Tax credits are a major enticement to low- and moderate-income people who buy insurance on exchanges under the Affordable Care Act because they lower monthly premium costs. After consumers sign up for coverage, they can choose to have the federal government distribute the tax-credit payments to insurers to lower their premiums. Nearly $11 billion in tax credits were paid to insurers in fiscal 2014, according to a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
The Obama administration said last year that about 85% of enrollees received the subsidy and got an average tax credit of $270 a month.
Ridgewood NJ, Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05), a senior member of the House Budget Committee, issued the following statement after the House voted for the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, a budget reconciliation bill which would repeal ObamaCare:
“Many New Jersey families I speak to are suffering from the devastating effects of ObamaCare. People have lost access to their preferred health care and doctors, out-of-pocket costs have increased, premiums have skyrocketed, and some have actually opted to completely forego insurance and instead pay a mandated fine to save money.
“To help these struggling families, today I voted for a budget reconciliation bill that will repeal ObamaCare and relieve our families of the burden placed upon them with this failed health care law. It’s time for President Obama to look at the devastation ObamaCare has caused to hardworking Americans and sign this bill to repeal it.”
The budget reconciliation process eliminates the option of a Senate filibuster and requires the Senate to hold an up or down vote on the bill. Having passed both chambers of Congress, this will be the first time ever that an ObamaCare repeal measure will be presented to the president for his signature or veto.
Click here for a one-page summary of H.R. 3762, the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015. For further information on the FY2016 reconciliation process, click here.
Speaker Paul Ryan told colleagues that a major tax package agreed to by leaders in both chambers will postpone the “Cadillac tax” on expensive healthcare plans and place a two-year moratorium on the medical device tax, two critical sources of revenue for ObamaCare.
By Scott Wong,Mike Lillis and Alexander Bolton – 12/15/15 09:55 PM EST
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced to the House Republican Conference on Tuesday night that leaders have reached a sweeping year-end deal on taxes and funding the government after days of intense negotiations.
The full text of the 2009-page omnibus bill was posted online early Wednesday morning at about 1:30 a.m.
The delayed posting of the omnibus text means that in order to adhere to the so-called “three-day rule,” House GOP leaders will have to wait until Friday to hold a vote on the legislation.
Lawmakers had exited a Tuesday night House GOP conference meeting with the expectation of voting Thursday on the spending package. But Ryan is unlikely to want to waive the self-imposed rule less than two months into his speakership on such a massive bill, meaning the vote will likely slip to Friday.
In the meantime, the House and Senate are expected to easily clear another stopgap measure to keep the government funded through Dec. 22. Current funding expires Wednesday night.
Ryan unveiled the details of the agreement while the political world was fixated on the fifth GOP presidential debate in Las Vegas.
He told colleagues that the spending bill will postpone the “Cadillac tax” on expensive healthcare plans and the tax package will place a two-year moratorium on the medical device tax, two critical sources of revenue for ObamaCare.
One of the myths that always needs bursting is that Big Business hates big government’ regulations, and supposedly prefers small-government Republicans to keep Uncle Sam off its back.
In reality, Big Business loves Big Government because mega-corporations can use their lobbying clout to get subsidies for themselves and regulatory burdens on their rivals.
But it is a basic reality that heavy regulations hurt smaller companies more, even when they are, in theory, applied evenly. Big companies can absorb expenses and compliance costs more easily, they tend to be more adaptable, and they can afford the analytical firepower to find profit opportunities hidden in complex regulatory mazes.
The latest demonstration of the principle is ObamaCare, which is absolutely devastating small insurance companies, and driving those fabled insurance co-ops out of business like lemmings marching off the edge of a cliff… but the biggest of the big players are doing fine.
In fact, as The Economist notes, even though the biggest of the big five companies, UnitedHealthcare, is having serious second thoughts about losing money on the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the share prices of those top five companies – also including Aetna, Humana, Cigna, and Anthem – “have all roughly tripled over the past five years,” as these companies have remained “consistently and highly profitable.” All of them are expected to report record profits over the next few years.
“With the Affordable Care Act crumbling, progressive activists are all but guaranteed to grab the opportunity that this single-payer ballot measure represents. But if Coloradans truly want better health care at a lower cost for more people, they shouldn’t vote for another one-size-fits-all government program. They should vote for proposals—and politicians—that will give patients more choices.”
Make no mistake. The government meddling into private insurance is the essence of ObamaCare–removing competition, mandating coverages that many don’t need, and forcing people to choose from a roster of compliant doctors. The government completely taking over health care will only make things more impersonal and bureaucratic. It SOUNDS compassionate, but will be anything but.
Don’t Let ObamaCare’s Failures Snowball Into Single Payer
Coloradans, hit hard by the law, are being pushed toward a state takeover of their health insurance.
By
NATHAN NASCIMENTO
Dec. 11, 2015 6:25 p.m. ET
Like an avalanche, the Affordable Care Act has swept through the Rocky Mountain State, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. At the end of 2013, 335,000 cancellation notices went out to customers whose plans were now deemed illegal by federal regulators. Nearly 200,000 cancellations for the same reason will come at the end of this year. As for Colorado HealthOP, the state’s co-op, which was the largest insurer on the ObamaCare exchange, it shut down in October, leaving more than 80,000 members without coverage. Huge premium increases loom for the remaining exchange plans: an average of 11.7%, according to the state’s calculation.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that many Coloradans want to abandon ObamaCare and replace it with something new. What’s worrying is that the state’s liberals and progressives have been mobilizing to replace it with a single-payer system, like the ones in Canada or the United Kingdom. On Nov. 9, after more than 100,000 voters had signed a petition in support of the idea, the secretary of state’s office announced that a single-payer proposal will appear on the 2016 ballot. “ColoradoCare,” as it is being called, would replace private insurance with health care funded completely by the government, substituting higher taxes for premiums.
But one state has already tried, and failed, to implement such a scheme. In 2010 Vermont voters elected Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin, who promised to institute single payer in lieu of ObamaCare. Helping design the system were advisers such as Jonathan Gruber,the MIT economist often described as the architect of ObamaCare, and William Hsiao,the Harvard economist who developed the Medicare price controls that are driving up prices around the country.
DECEMBER 11, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Teachers deserve praise; taxpayers deserve a break
To the Editor:
We will try this again as what one hears cannot be generalized due to individualization. Here is my rebuttal to Michael Yannone’s letter in last week’s Ridgewood News:
1. Ridgewood teachers are paid in the upper percentile/s in the U.S. The starter salary accelerates due to various degree/s, and additional credits, etc. Fine; they are appreciated for a job well done and deserved. My point is: this is an expensive benefit paid for by the taxpayer.
2. About 10 to 15 percent of private company employees receive a traditional pension as the teachers. Calculated individually (as all pension), it “significantly exceeds” the corporate-sector pension. Fine, it is earned so enjoy. My point is: this is an expensive benefit paid for by the taxpayer.
3. U.S. companies offer lower-cost healthcare provider plans than the state teacher’s plan/s. Their “premium” plan/s have always been more generous so private company employees married to NJ teachers use the NJ state plan as their primary provider for themselves and their families both before Medicare or with Medicare as their secondary provider. Fine; my point is: this is an expensive benefit paid for by the taxpayer.
4. NJ teachers receive two paid days in November for a teacher convention whether they attend or not. Fine; this is built into their compensation/time calendar. A minimal amount of teachers attend the state convention repeatedly and not the majority. My point is: this was not the intention when this was originated.
5. U.S. companies are diligently saving money by eliminating employee benefits by contracting out work, outsourcing, mergers and down-sizing. Employees in the private sector pay for their annual escalating healthcare costs as do retirees before and with Medicare. My point is: teachers are not getting slighted by having to pay higher healthcare costs; this is the new norm due to Obamacare, designer drugs, and an aging population. This is not a one-time deal.
6. Companies get rid of older workers when they become too expensive unlike education. Fine; thank you for your continued, dedication. It is appreciated due to number of years worked. My point is: this is an expensive benefit paid for by the taxpayer.
7. The NJ taxpayer cannot afford to pay teachers their annual percentage raises along with their escalating healthcare costs as a benefit as was done in the past. Teachers are significantly more highly compensated with their benefit package than non-state, non-unionized workers.
8. NJ is going bankrupt due to pension and other obligations. People are leaving this state and purchasing out-of-state properties and claiming those places as their primary residence so they can eliminate the “choking” taxes of NJ. They then move to those second homes to retire.
9. The New Jersey Education Association and some (not all) of its members have been very vociferous about their hatred for Gov. Christie. I am not his fan but I do feel he did what was a long overdue necessity. He did a “reality check.”
BOE Meets on December 21 at 7:30 p.m.
The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, December 21, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.
The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting may also be viewed on FiOS channel 33, Optimum channel 77 or from computers via the “Live BOE Meeting” tab on the district website.
Click here to view the agenda for the December 7,, 2015 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the minutes of the November 16, 2015 Regular Public Meeting.
11.23.15: Board of Education Writes Letter to the Editor
Click here to read a Letter to the Editor of the Ridgewood News, which was published on November 20, 2015
Democrats gained the political muscle to push the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through Congress on three basic arguments.
First, they argued that the United States had too many uninsured people, with estimates ranging from 30 million to 45 million.
Second, the rise in costs for health care outstripped inflation, and the market required an intervention that would bend the cost curve downward.
Third, Democrats claimed that insurance companies made too much profit and shorted most consumers on care, while those with generous health plans – so-called “Cadillac plans” – drove up utilization rates and costs for everyone else.
The only solution for these ills was a massive government intervention, complete with mandates for all participants in the market, including providers, insurers, and consumers. Once government ran this market, Democrats promised, consumers would see their premiums decrease (by $2,500 a year, according to Barack Obama), insurers would gain access to vast numbers of new consumers who couldn’t get insurance before, and the lifting of cost burdens would spark a job-creation surge that would lift the economy.
Such were the promises of Obamacare five years ago. The reality began looking much different in the fall of 2013, when the first open-enrollment period turned into a disaster. Millions of insurance policies were canceled even though the health care exchanges failed to work properly.
In 2014, premiums spiked, and then in 2015 they exploded again along with deductibles so high that many decided not to be insured at all. Over half of Obamacare’s co-ops collapsed this year, most of them this fall, and now the providers who took their clients may end up stuck with the bills.
“Health care providers could get stuck with unpaid bills in a half dozen states where co-op plans have collapsed,” reports Politico Pro’s Paul Demko. “That’s because there’s no financial backstop in those states if the failed nonprofit startups backed by Obamacare loans run out of money before paying off all of their medical claims.” The failure of the co-op Health Republic Insurance of New York left $165 million in unpaid bills, and a survey showed 64 percent of New York providers waiting for payment. Had a private-sector insurer defaulted in a similar manner, these providers would have been compensated from a guaranty fund set up by the industry.
Obamacare co-ops had no such backstop, and more than 600,000 Americans will have to find insurance that is more expensive or do without.
Still, as bad as the news has been over the past five years, the remaining illusions were shattered by the CBO and the White House itself this week. Obamacare didn’t make much of a dent in the uninsured rate, it has forced costs to rise faster than before, and it will kill millions of jobs that otherwise would be created.
“The labor force is projected to be about 2 million full-time-equivalent workers smaller in 2025 under the ACA than it would have been otherwise,” the CBO concludes in the latest analysis of Obamacare’s impact on the economy. Much of the reason — the CBO puts it at 75 percent — comes from the net increase of effective tax rates on labor, which will incentivize potential workers to stay out of the work force. Democrats claim that this is a feature rather than a bug, as people can choose not to work. However, even with that rose-colored glasses view, it means that the rest of the taxpayers will have to subsidize the health care of those who opt out, whether happily or unhappily.
The depressing impact on job growth is not the only illusion shattered, either. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) published a study on Obamacare’s impact on costs and on reducing the numbers of uninsured — and it fails on both counts. The CBO estimated after the passage of Obamacare that the number of uninsured would drop 19 million by 2014 from a 2010 benchmark. Instead, it has only dropped 12.6 million. As Avik Roy points out at Forbes , the 2010 level of uninsured was artificially high due to the impact of the Great Recession. Using 2008 as a benchmark, the number of uninsured has dropped by only 6.7 million.
DECEMBER 10, 2015, 3:15 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015, 3:20 PM
BY LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck and The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood opened a new front in the widening fight against the state’s largest insurer Thursday, with a lawsuit demanding that Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey halt further advertising of a new, tiered health plan because — by leaving their hospitals out of the preferred tier — it makes them look inferior.
Horizon breached its contract with the hospitals when it announced the new Omnia health plans in September, the lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in Hackensack by the two hospitals and five others said. The insurer was obligated to give the hospitals an opportunity to negotiate participation in the new plans, the suit said.
The Omnia plans, now being advertised widely, group hospitals into two tiers, and will allow patients to pay lower deductibles and co-insurance when they seek care from a preferred, or Tier 1, hospital. The plans are being sold to individuals, small businesses, state government employees and people who buy insurance through the federal Affordable Care Act for coverage starting Jan. 1. Premiums are 12 to 15 percent lower than for other Horizon plans.
“They’re using marketing that is misleading,” said Michael Furey, an attorney with Day Pitney who represents the seven hospital systems suing Horizon, saying that this damages the reputation of his clients. They’re “making the consumer think that somehow the Tier 1 hospitals are superior and the Tier 2 hospitals are inferior,” he said.
Horizon is the largest provider of health insurance in New Jersey, with more than 50 percent of the commercial market. In total, including Medicare, Medicaid, state and federal employee coverage, it provides insurance to 3.8 million people in the state.
In Bergen and Passaic counties, the Tier 1 network includes St. Joseph’s Healthcare System, with hospitals in Wayne and Paterson, and Hackensack University Medical Center and its affiliated hospitals — HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley in Westwood and Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.
Holy Name, Valley, and St. Mary’s General Hospital in Passaic are in Tier 2.
President Obama has been hammered for his failure on ISIS in the wake of the Paris attacks. But there’s at least bitzcelt / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-NDone bright spot for him in that criticism: At least it deflected the spotlight from the unfolding catastrophe that is Obamacare.
Indeed, last month brought arguably the worst news for the program since the healthcare.gov debacle: UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest insurer, announced that it might quit Obamacare’s exchanges next year. Should UnitedHealthcare act on this threat, there may not be enough (red) tape in the desk drawer of even future President Hillary Clinton to put the Obamacare Humpty Dumpty back together again.
United announced during an investor briefing Thursday that it was expecting a whopping $425 million hit on its earnings this year, primarily due to mounting losses on its Obamacare exchange business. “We cannot sustain these losses,” United CEO Stephen Hensley declared. “We can’t really subsidize a marketplace that doesn’t appear at the moment to be sustaining itself.”
Avik Roy, who serves as GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio’s health care advisor, suspects United may just be the first domino to fall. Other commercial insurers, such as Aetna, Anthem, and Cigna, have raised premiums by double digits and still say they can’t make the numbers work in their favor. Hence, they have withdrawn from counties where their losses were particularly acute.
For-profit companies that have shareholders breathing down their necks don’t have much latitude to absorb losses. But even companies that don’t face similar profit-maximizing pressures can’t escape the basic dilemma confronting the industry. For example, state filings of the non-profit Blue Cross Blue Shield show that the company barely broke even in the first half of 2015. In Texas last year, BCBS collected $2.1 billion in premiums and paid out $2.5 billion in claims. If Obamacare’s condition worsens, such companies will have to scale back their participation too.
News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch, in a discursive speech Monday evening, blasted Secretary of State John Kerry and attacked the left for creating an “identity crisis” that he charged has undermined American strength and fostered terrorism around the world.
And he drew a connection between U.S. foreign policy and domestic culture, arguing that “in recent years, there has been far too much institutionalization of grievance and victimhood.”
The Australian-born media mogul, a naturalized U.S. citizen, also touched on the Republican presidential primary, which he said “has articulated a deep distaste for the slow descent of our country.”
“Before delivering my modest message,” Murdoch joked at the outset of his address accepting the Hudson Institute’s Global Leadership Award, “I feel obliged to alert college students, progressive academics and all other deeply sensitive souls that these words may contain phrases and ideas that challenge your prejudices — in other words, I formally declare this room an ‘unsafe space.’”
After a few words of praise for former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who had just introduced him to the hawkish think-tank crowd, Murdoch quickly pivoted to a sweeping indictment of U.S. foreign policy under Barack Obama, though he did not mention the president by name.
“For a U.S. secretary of state to suggest that Islamic terrorists had a ‘rationale’ in slaughtering journalists is one of the low points of recent Western diplomacy and it is indicative of a serious malaise,” Murdoch said, referring to Kerry’s recent mangled attempt to draw a distinction between the assault on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the more recent Paris attacks. “For America to be embarrassed by its exceptionalism is itself exceptional and absolutely unacceptable.” (Kerry quickly walked back those comments, remarking the next day that “such atrocities can never be rationalized, and we can never allow them to be rationalized.”)
The CEO of UnitedHealthCare on Tuesday said he regretted the decision to enter the ObamaCare marketplace last year, which the company says has resulted in millions of dollars in losses.
“It was for us a bad decision,” UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said at an investor’s meeting in New York, according to Bloomberg Business.
UnitedHealth, the country’s largest insurer, announced last month that it would no longer advertise its ObamaCare plans over the next year and may pull out completely in 2016 — a move that sent shockwaves across the healthcare sector.
Hemsley’s remarks double down on his earlier warning that the ObamaCare exchanges remain weaker than expected after two years and that it will take far longer for insurers to profit from the millions of new enrollees.
NOVEMBER 28, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2015, 1:21 AM
BLOOMBERG NEWS |
WIRE SERVICE
Could Americans be losing their holiday spending spirit? More than 20 years of retail sales data suggest it’s a distinct possibility.
U.S. retailers have come to rely on a shopping frenzy toward the end of the year, as the annual gift-giving season compels people to open their wallets. That holiday bump, though, appears to be shrinking.
Last year, December’s share of annual retail sales (excluding gasoline) amounted to 9.9 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That compares with a high point of 10.6 percent in 1993 — a difference worth more than $30 billion. Although the holiday boost tends to fluctuate with economic cycles, the trend is down. Here’s how that looks:
What’s going on? Black Friday could be partly responsible, if retailers have pulled some of the holiday action into November with deep discounts and special opening hours. However, that particular shopping event is on the wane. And even combining sales for November and December doesn’t do much to change the long-term trend.
Another potential explanation is that the kinds of items people buy around the holidays — Xboxes, iPads and the like — have become relatively cheap, because of the efforts of Chinese manufacturers. This would make the dollar value of December’s spending look smaller, even if people were purchasing just as many items. That said, prices on imports from China are higher than they were a decade ago, so maybe not.
There’s also a more troubling possibility: Declining incomes may have left a large portion of Americans less willing to splurge. The median U.S. household income has fallen more than 3 percent over the past decade in inflation-adjusted terms. December’s share of spending tends to suffer when budgets are tighter, as evidenced by the sharp drop during the 2008 recession.
NOVEMBER 27, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Teachers should be ‘thankful’
To the Editor:
As a 33-year resident of Ridgewood, I am perplexed by the dissent of the Ridgewood teachers and their union about their current contract. The teachers are unhappy about paying for the increase in their healthcare costs. Everyone today is paying for their healthcare increases: medical personnel, retirees, and pharmaceutical company employees. The reason healthcare costs are continually rising (and will be in the future) are: Obamacare for the masses, an aging baby boomer population now requiring geriatric, cardiac, cancer, psychiatric, specialty care and designer drugs to help everyone live a longer life. Did the New Jersey Education Association think its Democratic-endorsed, union wishes for a national healthcare program would be absorbed by the public when in fact other municipalities in New Jersey and other states have opposed the taxpayer absorbing this substantial cost? Who did they think would pay for this? Ridgewood taxpayers should not be penalized for their selfish/unrealistic union demands.
New Jersey teacher’s pay ranks second highest in the nation. Teachers in Ridgewood earn a six-figure salary within five years. In addition, master’s degrees, additional credits, tutoring, tutoring for SAT’s allows them to earn additional/substantial monetary compensation. Their annual increases are more generous than some state employees. There shouldn’t be a financial problem for any teacher to absorb the costs as they are earning a 1 percent upper compensation in the United States in education. There are places that are more expensive to live in than Ridgewood. In the past, certain teachers who were unhappy with contract negotiations refused to give recommendations to the seniors for college.
The teachers have job security (unlike the corporate sector), do not face age discrimination, receive 80 percent of their salary in a pension as well as a taxpayer-payer paid two-day vacation in November for a teacher convention. I say “vacation” because I have never met anyone who goes to Atlantic City for the convention but goes to a destination such as Florida.
Unfortunately their healthcare provider, Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield, of the New Jersey Education Association is the most expensive. As a matter of fact, some teacher’s spouses working in corporate America have dropped their corporate health plan (Cigna, Aetna, etc.) coverage because the state employee plan is more lucrative. The taxpayers of NJ are paying for the healthcare benefits of these teacher’s families.
In summary: I think the teachers of Ridgewood and New Jersey should be most “thankful” for the generosity of the Ridgewood taxpayer this Thanksgiving Season and not “thankless.” I sincerely hope the arbitration board will take a firm stand on their role in representing the Ridgewood residents.
We were promised that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would “bend the cost curve down”, and yet health insurance premiums are expected to rise by as much as 60% in 2016. What should be done to solve this dilemma? A common refrain is that since the “free market” has failed, the United States needs a Single Payer healthcare system like Canada’s.
Being a Canadian physician now living in the Minnesota, I assure you that Canada’s healthcare system is not Utopia. In my former life as Medical Director of Diagnostic Imaging for Thunder Bay Regional Hospital in Canada, for a while our wait time for an elective MRI was 13 months and for CT it was seven months. I managed to convince the hospital administration to increase MRI operational hours, and we reduced the wait to 4 months becoming the envy of the province. Doctors from other regions attempted to send us their patients. We said no. We could not accommodate the extra work because we only had one scanner for a radius of about 500 miles because that was all that the government would allow. As payer for the system, it is inevitable that the government controls the system. The incentive is to control costs, not necessarily to care for patients.
The Fraser Institute monitors wait times in Canada. As of 2014, the average wait time for medically necessary specialty care is 18.2 weeks. In the province of New Brunswick, the wait time averages 37.3 weeks. In my hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, where I still own property, the average wait for a newcomer to town to get established with a family doctor is five years, unless you have insider ties to the system.
The standard response by single payer advocates is that Canada’s healthcare system is underfunded. According to the Fraser Institute, the average Canadian family is spending 12,000 dollars per year for health coverage (buried in taxes). According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada per capita healthcare expenses rank sixth highest amongst 192 ranked countries.
Another rejoinder of the single-payer advocates is that “outcomes” are better in Canada. For example, according to the World Health Organization, the average life expectancy in Canada is three years longer than in the US. Many factors affect life expectancy of which the health care system is only one. Racial background is very important. According to 1999 OECD data, an Asian-American male at birth can expect to live 80.9 years, a non-Hispanic white male can expect to live 74.4 years, and an African-American male has a life expectancy of 68.4 years. More homogeneously white, Canada is a less racially diverse country than the US contributing to a higher average life expectancy. According to Sally Pipes of the Pacific Research Institute, when allowing for deaths from violent crime and traffic accidents, Americans are the longest-lived people in the Western world. According to John Goodman in “Lives at Risk”, Americans fare better than any other country when looking at individual disease states such as myocardial infarction and various malignancies.
What happens in the doctor’s office or in the hospital pales in significance to the decisions that people make in their day-to-day lives. For example, Canadians are generally less obese than Americans and there is less gun-related crime. The relationship between health care systems and population outcomes is murky, and so we cannot conflate the efficacy of a health care system with average life expectancy.
Why is it that Canada’s single payer health care system is so constipated with an onslaught of patients waiting interminably for care? There are two basic reasons that are really two sides of the same coin. They are price controls and central planning.
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Education Association are currently in contract talks with the Ridgewood BOE .A state-appointed fact finder in February will try to settle a 10-month contract dispute with the Board of Education .The main point of contention is over how much REA members must contribute to their health insurance premiums .
“Why doesn’t the Ridgewoid BoE just make the teachers buy their own insurance through ACA health exchanges in NJ? Health care benefits are not constitutionally protected in NJ, so this change would hold up in the state Supreme Court and resolve a huge headache (and unlimited future healthcare liability) for both the BoE and Village taxpayers in Ridgewood”, Ridgewood blog reader
Maybe its time to put teachers on Obamacare ,after all the teacher unions supported it and voted for it .Why is it good enough for everyone but not good enough for them? After all didn’t Labor unions use the Supreme Court’s King vs. Burwell ruling as a chance to accuse Obamacare critics of putting lives in jeopardy.
Before the decision, Service Employees International Union warned “~10,000 people a year could die prematurely” if the Supreme Court overturned an Internal Revenue Service rule propping up HealthCare.gov in 34 states.
The NEA, the largest labor union in America, gave Health Care for America Now (HCAN) an organizer of pro Obamacare rallies $1.8 million from 2008 to 2013. AFT, the nation’s third-largest union, gave HCAN $325,000.NEA president Lily Eskelsen Garcia praised the Supreme Court for keeping health insurance “secure” and “affordable” through Obamacare. AFT presidentRandi Weingarten cheered the Court for preventing “a major step backward.”
The NEA website says , “NEA is committed to health reform to ensure that every person in America has quality, affordable health care coverage. Not only is this a moral imperative, it is a key component of controlling spiraling health care costs. Health reform must also guarantee a choice of health care plans and providers through a private health insurance plan, including one that an employee may currently have through their employer, and a public health insurance plan. This choice is a fundamental feature of an American solution for health reform and another critical piece of cost control. Health reform that provides comprehensive benefits to all at an affordable cost guarantees a choice of health plans and rewards quality and innovation as an attainable goal that the public supports.”
