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What Are the Arguments Against ObamaCare These Days, Exactly?: Focus - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

I understand the argument that ObamaCare would be a policy disaster: it seemed wrong at the time, but I would have given a one-in-twenty chance that we would be sorry we passed ObamaCare because something would go badly wrong with the implementation and the subsequent market structure. But nobody sane makes such claims that it is a loser as a policy–that it is causing medical cost inflation or disrupting marketplaces–any more. But what is the anti-ObamaCare argument now? Is it really just that it is in some invisible way a “job killer”, just as the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing policies are “inflation bringers”?
#ObamaCare - equitablegrowth.org

Afternoon Must-Read: Tim Jost: Another Perspective on King v. Burwell - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

The phrase ‘Exchange established by the State’ in fact appears ten times in the ACA…. As a condition of having a state Medicaid program… a state must, as of January 1, 2014 have in place procedures for enrolling in Medicaid and CHIP eligible individuals who are identified through an ‘Exchange established by the State.’… As a condition of approval of a state CHIP program, HHS must… review the benefits offered… by qualified health plans through an ‘Exchange established by the State’ and certify that they are least comparable…. So how can we avoid shutting down the Medicaid and CHIP programs, and destroying the individual insurance markets in two thirds of the states? It is simple. The court should read carefully all of the provisions of the law relevant to the federal exchange and premium tax credits so as to achieve a ‘harmonious whole,’ the way the court has often said statutes should be read…
#ObamaCare #Tim-Jost #King-v-Burwell - equitablegrowth.org

Evening Must-Read: Janet Currie: Obamacare and Long-Term Competitiveness - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

the federal government will have recouped at least 56 cents for each dollar spent on childhood health care…. Better public health care among low-income children in the 1980s and 1990s resulted in higher graduation rates from high school and college for these kids…
#Economic-Growth #ObamaCare #Janet-Currie #Public-Health - equitablegrowth.org

What Is the Interaction of the Supreme Court's Forthcoming King v. Burwell Decision with Health Policy? Is There an Interaction?: Focus - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

For the first time, we have a clue as to what Republican plans are for what to do with respect to health policy in the event of an anti-government Supreme Court decision in King v. Burwell. And the Republican plan of Nebraska Senator Ben Sass is the same as the Democratic plan–override the Supreme Court, with the difference being that the Democratic override would be permanent, while Sass is only proposing a temporary override. For now.
#ObamaCare #Partisanship - equitablegrowth.org

Nobody Has Any Business Citing the Heritage Foundation. For Anything. Nobody. Live from La Farine (Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality...)

Have I mentioned that no matter what else Jonathan Chait writes, we love him for things like this? Jonathan Chait: Obamacare-Hater Stephen Moore Can’t Find Single True Fact: "Obamacare has increased enrollment in its health care exchanges... ...to more than 11 million, and the conservative response to the law’s demonstrable success at carrying out its goals has been fascinating to behold. Measured by volume, the right-wing backlash has diminished severely, as great roaring waves of furious anger have given way to irregular ripples of discontent. But measured by its content, very little has changed.... To take a typical example, here is Stephen Moore, "chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, making his case", such as it is, that Obamacare has failed to meet its cost targets. Perhaps the most revealing aspect of Moore’s column is the fact that, five years after its passage, the chief economist of the most influential conservative think tank in the United States lacks even a passing familiarity with it....
#ObamaCare #Jonathan-Chait #Heritage-Foundation - bradford-delong.com

Morning Must-Read: Matthew Buettgens et al.: Health Care Spending by Those Becoming Uninsured if the Supreme Court Finds for the Plaintiff in King v. Burwell - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Matthew Buettgens et al.: Health Care Spending by Those Becoming Uninsured if the Supreme Court Finds for the Plaintiff in King v. Burwell: “We estimate that there would be 8.2 million more uninsured people… …if the court rules in favor of the plaintiff, including 6.3 million people losing tax credits for Marketplace coverage, 1.2 million people purchasing nongroup coverage without tax credits and 445,000 enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), all of whom would become uninsured…. Under the current law, these 8.2 million people will spend an estimated $27.1 billion on health care in 2016, with $11.1 billion spent on hospital care, $4.5 billion for physician services, $5.3 billion for prescription drugs and $6.2 billion for other health care. If these people became uninsured, they would spend $5.3 billion on their own care; another $12.0 billion in uncompensated care for this population would be provided if governments continue to fund such care at historic rates and health care providers continue to make in-kind contributions to the uninsured at the same rates as they have in the past…. This significant decrease in expenditures and the rise in the demand for uncompensated care would adversely affect both the amount of health care received by those losing coverage and health care providers’ revenues. This is particularly true for hospitals because the ACA reduces Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments, which are historical sources of funding for uncompensated hospital care…
#ObamaCare #Matthew-Buettgens - equitablegrowth.org

Trying to Understand the Current State of Health-Care Debate. And Failing...: Focus - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Can someone point me to something Stuart Butler has written in the past three years that has turned out to be correct? I mean, it seems to be blinkered, partisan, wrong–and obviously wrong at the time, both in its analysis of the political forces and of the policy substance. Am I wrong? Take a look: Stuart Butler (2012): End of the Threat to Obamacare? Not at All: “The core elements of the ACA remain very much in play… …[because of] the continuing problems with the federal budget deficit and the national debt and the worrying long-term weakness of the economy…. 2013… a year for buyer’s remorse in Congress and around the country…. Employers[‘]… concerns about mandatory benefits are slowing their hiring… lower-wage employers are moving towards hiring part-time employees to avoid the ACA’s penalties. These patterns will only grow…. The possibility of larger-than-expected enrollment in health insurance exchanges will sharply increase the budget costs… force Congress to reopen key ACA coverage provisions…. It’s also hard to imagine the expansion of Medicaid proceeding as planned… even the short-term prospect of Washington picking up expanded Medicaid costs is not likely to prevent a strong pushback by states…. The prospects for serious Medicare reform are actually on the rise. The Ryan version of premium support…. Obama’s initial large lead as the best defender of Medicare slid to just 5 points by the election…. Romney… won the senior vote…. Relying on the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) of experts in health care economics and the health care system to crack down on physicians and hospitals is hardly going to make the ACA more popular among seniors…
#Dialogue #ObamaCare #Stuart-Butler - equitablegrowth.org

Why Do I Feel That the Congressional Leaders Are Playing Kabuki Theatre?; Focus - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Why Do I Feel That the Congressional Leaders Are Playing Kabuki Theatre?; Focus by Brad DeLong Posted on February 6, 2015 at 9:15 am Share jQuery(document).ready(function($) { $('#9101-share-twitter').sharrre({ share: { twitter: true }, enableHover: false, enableTracking: true, template: ' ', buttons: { twitter: {via: 'equitablegrowth'}}, click: function(api, options){ api.simulateClick(); api.openPopup('twitter'); } }); $('#9101-share-facebook').sharrre({ share: { facebook: true }, enableHover: false, enableTracking: true, template: ' ', click: function(api, options){ api.simulateClick(); api.openPopup('facebook'); } }); $('#9101-share-google-plus').sharrre({ share: { googlePlus: true }, enableHover: false, enableTracking: true, template: ' ', urlCurl: '', click: function(api, options){ api.simulateClick(); api.openPopup('googlePlus'); } });}); I am left with a lot of questions: If Senator Richard Burr does not see a path to passing an ObamaCare replacement this year, why make a splash with a proposal that is not a bill rather than simply scheduling hearings? If Richard Burr thinks that the Burr-Coburn-Hatch proposal from last year was unfairly rejected by his Republican colleagues and that they should take another look at it, why put Burr-Hatch-Upton forward as if it were brand-new–as if it were not a reboot of last year’s Burr-Coburn-Hatch? And why does Peter Sullivan of The Hill not tell his readers that BHU is a reboot of BCH–if, that is, he has the slightest desire at all to be in the trusted-information-intermediary business? And even if he doesn’t want to be in the trusted-information-intermediary business, why does it please Burr to have The Hill’s readers thinking that this is something that Burr has come up with in the last two months, rather than a line of approach that he has been thinking bout, tweaking, and trying to get right for years? As far as legislative-process and coalition-assembly is concerned, this looks like Kabuki. More, it looks like Dingbat Kabuki–the motives of the performers seem, to me, to be incomprehensible. And I have worked in the U.S. Treasury. I have not just seen the sausage being made but actually done some sausage-making myself.
#ObamaCare #Richard-Burr #The-Hill - equitablegrowth.org