The Republican Party has an ACA problem. The ACA is deficit reducing. Most of that was because it raised taxes on upper income families and cut back Medicare reimbursement rates for Medicare Advantage. The Republicans are ideologically indifferent to cutting back Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates especially as Medicare Advantage has continued to grow in popularity so …
Tax Policy
HSAs, tax deductions and help for those who don’t need it
Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are going to be a big component of whatever passes as Republican health policy over the next couple of years. An HSA is a tax advantaged savings account that can be used to pay for out of pocket expenses and premiums. They are initiated and contribution eligible when the owner is …
HSAs, tax deductions and help for those who don’t need itPost + Comments (16)
Repeal and Delay with the Norquist problem
Right now, the current Republican plan is Repeal and Delay as the NY Times reports: Republicans in Congress plan to move almost immediately next month to repeal the Affordable Care Act, as President-elect Donald J. Trump promised. But they also are likely to delay the effective date so that they have several years to phase …
Repeal and Delay with the Norquist problemPost + Comments (57)
Double D’s and Subsidies
I always like to look at the 12-DD box on my W-2. friendly reminder: 100% of the employer sponsored market is subsidized, and has mostly higher premiums https://t.co/eQ4MgLdMFX — Seth Trueger (@MDaware) September 6, 2016 This box tells me how much my employer sponsored insurance (ESI) actually costs between premiums and Health Savings Account (HSA) …
Federalizing Medicaid funding
#Oklahoma #Medicaid agency announces 25% provider rate cuts https://t.co/HgISSTpHiC — Jessica Kahn (@JessPKahn) April 1, 2016 And another story from Oklahoma: Facing a $1.3 billion budget hole, the Oklahoma House has passed legislation that would cut 111,000 Oklahomans from Medicaid. House members on Wednesday passed the bill 65-34 mostly along partisan lines and sent it …
What’s a couple trillion among friends
Turns out Bernie overestimated revenue from his single-payer offsets, falling $3T+ short: https://t.co/RKsoIcFpoz pic.twitter.com/bAn2q9H58H — Loren Adler (@LorenAdler) February 3, 2016 The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget ran the numbers on the Sanders’ healthcare plan and its financing and depending on the assumptions, the Sanders plan is either $3 trillion dollars short over 10 …
Less stupid fucking in Maryland
At least that is the the public health take-away of a recent study analyzing the public health impacts of an increase in the alcohol tax in Maryland. The Baltimore Sun: Maryland recorded 7,400 cases of the bacterial infection in 2010, when alcohol, like other goods, was taxed at 6 percent. But two years later, with …