The Affordable Care Act of Washington, D.C., lovingly known as Obamacare, was born on March 23, 2010 and after a long illness, left this Earth on November 8, 2016. Beloved policy of President Barack Obama, it is also survived by Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and former-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). After a long illness and being […]
Some Good News on Drug Prices
We have read a lot about high drug prices in the news lately and how politicians, including presidential candidates former-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have called for the government to “negotiate” drug prices. But the government doesn’t negotiate drug prices. Instead, they use price controls to lower costs, which distorts the marketplace […]
Obamacare’s Sky-High 2017 Rates are Finally Announced
Reports have been popping up since the summer that the 2017 premium rates for Obamacare would be increasing – by a lot. In addition, for more than a year, insurers have been announcing they will no longer participate in many of the Obamacare exchanges. On Monday, and just 16 days prior to the election, the […]
The Cover Oregon Debacle
On September 15, 2016, and with little hubbub beyond the state’s borders, Oregon and Oracle, the prime vendor for the state’s Obamacare’s online marketplace exchange “Cover Oregon,” announced they had reached a settlement in a lawsuit. The dispute revolved around who was at fault for the website’s colossal failure. While the state had been asking more than $6 billion in damages, it will receive $100 million in goods, services, and cash.
A Cure for Electoral Depression: Focus Final 2016 Presidential Debate on Policy Solutions
In a recent poll, a sizable portion of young Americans said they would rather vote for a giant meteor to strike the Earth over either of the two presidential candidates. There might be a reason for such a dark and depressing result. The first two presidential debates have utterly failed to discuss important issues facing the nation with any depth, choosing to focus on shenanigans instead of substance.
Morning Joe Is Wrong: Medicare Does Negotiate Drug Prices
Today on the Morning Joe Show, a false narrative was perpetuated: Medicare does not negotiate drug prices. The show’s eponymous host, Joe Scarborough, called for free-marketers to call Congress and demand that the government negotiate Medicare drug prices. Joe needs to supervise his producers’ research better. The free market is very much involved in negotiating […]
President Clinton Did Not Say What You Think He Said
There’s been a lot of hoopla about former-President Bill Clinton’s recent criticism of Obamacare and the news media is playing some of the more juicer tidbits. So you’ve got this crazy system where all of a sudden, 25 million more people have health care and then the people that are out there busting it […]
Clinton/Trump Round 2: Taxpayers Deserve a Policy Debate
Before the first Presidential debate on September 27, 2016, CAGW proposed policy questions that would enlighten taxpayers as to where each candidate stands on critical government waste issues facing the nation. Unfortunately, the debate utterly failed to discuss any of these issues with any depth, choosing to focus on shenanigans instead of substance. Hillary Clinton […]
It’s Getting Rockier for Obamacare in Tennessee
Citizens Against Government Waste’s August WasteWatcher discussed how many states were seeing large health insurance rate increases in the Affordable Care Act’s (Obamacare) exchanges. In the state of Tennessee, Cigna and Humana revised their original premium rate increase request from an average of 23 percent to 46 percent and an average of 29 percent to […]
Farewell CO-OP Number 17
In an August 3, 2016 NJBiz article, the headline blared “N.J. rules helped guide Health Republic to success as Obamacare co-op!” The article goes on to praise the fact that Health Republic was “one of the seven health insurance co-ops still standing” and that its stability had a lot to do with the fact that “New Jersey’s 1992 health care reform laws were similar to the current Affordable Care Act, and allowed both insurers and actuaries to draw from prior experience to create health plans and pricing.” The article contends that New Jersey’s CO-OP is a great success story.