From: WSJ
The Obama Administration is handing out waivers far and wide for its health-care bill, but behind the scenes the bureaucracy is grinding ahead writing new regulations. The latest example is the rule for Accountable Care Organizations that are supposed to be the crown jewel of cost-saving reform. One problem: The draft rule is so awful that even the models for it say they won’t participate.
From: Evansville Courrier & Press
by PHIL ROE AND LARRY BUCSHON
As doctors, we’ve seen personally how the rising costs of health care can place even greater strain on individuals, families and employers.
Year after year the cost of care goes up, leading some patients to neglect the treatments or care they need simply because they cannot afford it.
Employers often face the difficult reality of maintaining coverage for their employees or cutting back their payrolls. Taxpayers, at the state and federal levels, are forced to pay more to fund government health care programs intended to serve those in need.
From: The Enterprise Blog
By Thomas P. Miller
Television viewers of a certain age will recall a recurring circus manipulation act on their small screens, most notably on the Ed Sullivan show of the 1960s. It involved a person frantically spinning more and more plates and other flat objects on poles, without them ever falling off.
From: Reason
Peter Suderman
The New York Daily News reports that one health insurance company is now charging $3,319 each month for an individual premium. Another insurer is charging $8,463 each month for a family plan. Meanwhile, of the 13 HMOs serving New York City in 2004, just seven remain, and the number of people purchasing their own insurance has dropped from roughly 100,000 ten years ago to 13,335. The state’s health insurance market, according to insurers and state officials, has fallen into an “adverse selection death spiral”: rising premiums push out younger and healthier customers at the margins, which leads to a smaller, more expensive insurance pool, which pushes out even more of the young and healthy customers and so on and so forth.
The thirtieth anniversary of OMB’s regulatory review office, OIRA-the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, was celebrated on Friday, May 20th. The event was sponsored by Susan Dudley, a former OIRA Administrator, who presently heads the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center.
Virtually all former Administrators and Deputy Administrators made presentations, including Jim Tozzi, the first Deputy Administrator of OIRA.
The Bureau of National Affairs Reports:
“Jim Tozzi, the first deputy administrator of OIRA, said the institution gives a protective shield against the wholesale dismantling of regulatory agencies, which play an integral role in society.