Affordable Care Act

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

An anecdote from the front line of Obamacare implementation

Michael R. Strain | May 21, 2013, 10:04 am

What do people mean when they say that the government is not nearly as good as the market at allocating scarce resources? A story from today’s New York Times offers an anecdote from Obamacare: The Obama administration said Monday that … read more >

Politics and Public Opinion

What you may have missed in the polls: Small business and Obamacare, pessimism in Europe

Karlyn Bowman and Andrew Rugg | May 17, 2013, 8:56 am

Small businessmen sour on ACA: In a survey of 603 small business owners, 48% of them said that the Affordable Care Act will be bad for their businesses. Thirty-nine percent said the law will have no impact while 9% said … read more >

Economics, U.S. Economy

Poll: 41% of small businesses are holding off on hiring because of Obamacare

Michael R. Strain | May 14, 2013, 9:31 am

Gallup surveyed 603 small-business owners last month. The topic was Obamacare. The results are in. Forty-eight percent think that Obamacare will be “bad for your business.” Nine percent think it will be good for their business; 39 percent think it … read more >

Politics and Public Opinion, Polls

The polls this week: Obamacare, the sequester, and immigration

Karlyn Bowman and Andrew Rugg | May 3, 2013, 8:46 am

Support for Obamacare reaches a new low, a majority of Americans are confused by the sequester, and support for a path to citizenship declines. read more >

Economics, Health Care, Pethokoukis

The time traveler’s health care plan

James Pethokoukis | March 11, 2013, 12:47 pm

In The Time Travelers’s Wife, a genetic anomaly gives characters an uncontrollable ability to journey back-and-forth through the decades. If this mutation were real, the Affordable Care Act would almost certainly compel insurance companies to cover it. After all, Obamacare itself … read more >

Economics, Entitlements, Pethokoukis

Did the Obama administration just bail out a bunch of GOP governors on Medicaid expansion?

James Pethokoukis | February 28, 2013, 10:42 am

Health and Human Services has given Arkansas permission to take federal dollars for Medicaid expansion and use the money to buy private coverage through the new PPACA healthcare exchanges. Avik Roy thinks the decision “moves us one step closer to … read more >

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore (Flickr) (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Society and Culture

Rick Scott’s Medicaid decision confirms AEI scholar Michael Greve’s concerns about contemporary federalism

Spencer Cowan | February 22, 2013, 11:51 am

Florida Governor Rick Scott’s announcement that he will expand the Sunshine State’s Medicaid program this week confirms what AEI scholar Michael Greve has long declared: America has a federalism problem—one that cannot be solved, as many conservatives insist, by simply … read more >

Economics, Health Care

5 ways to improve Obamacare

Henrik Temp | February 21, 2013, 2:16 pm

The Affordable Care Act (ACA, commonly known as Obamacare) is here to stay, as commentators from the left and right are acknowledging. But just because it can’t be fully repealed doesn’t mean that it can’t be significantly improved. read more >

Economics, Health Care, Pethokoukis

Is the way to fix Obamacare … more Obamacare?

James Pethokoukis | February 20, 2013, 4:23 pm

Democrats from President Harry Truman onward have pushed for government-provided health insurance. And they thought their moment had arrived with the election of Barack Obama as president and huge Democratic majorities in Congress. It didn’t quite happen the way they … read more >

Economics, Pethokoukis

The terrible little tax inside Obama’s health care reform law

James Pethokoukis | February 19, 2013, 11:22 am

Perhaps never has a more harmful and deceptively named tax received so little attention. The 2010 health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act, included a whopping 3.8 percentage point tax hike on interest, dividends, capital gains, and passive business income received … read more >

The Uses of Scandal
One of the greatest uses of scandal is to vividly demonstrate what new laws are needed and to create the political conditions to get them enacted. […]
Lean In… to Government?
Sheryl Sandberg's runaway best-selling book Lean In has managed to offend both the Left and the Right. Sandberg touts female hard-headedness, yet also calls for an elaborate government- and employer-supplied support system for women. […]
Are American Voters Racist?
Racial prejudice plays a very small role in American politics, but a highly disciplined sense of self-interest on the part of one group may play a very large role in the way the federal government functions. […]
The Perpetual Passion for Paper
Paper is becoming less important in some respects, but its strengths — prestige, utility, permanence, and security — are more essential than ever. […]