A Wake-Up Call, Indeed
Last week, Standard and Poor’s warned the British government that it could lose its triple-A rating for sovereign debt if large budget deficits persist in coming years, as currently projected. S&P...
View ArticleWishful Thinking, Not a Plan
OMB director Peter Orszag continues to talk as if the Obama administration has presented a credible plan to control health-care costs in their push for expanded coverage. Today, in a new post at OMB’s...
View ArticleThere's No Doubt Now
Those outside groups and interested parties who have held their fire in the health-care debate while waiting for the details to emerge -- well, there really is no excuse now. Everyone should know what...
View ArticleIt's Getting Less Inevitable by the Day
The administration and Democrats in Congress have been trying to cultivate the impression in the media that passage of an Obama-style, sweeping health-care reform bill is all but inevitable -- the only...
View ArticleCBO and the Kennedy-Dodd Bill
The more that is learned about the emerging Democratic reform plans, the less likely they are to pass. Last evening, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its first cost-estimate for one of...
View ArticleWhen the Government Runs Health Insurance
President Obama’s announcement on Saturday that he was proposing an additional $313 billion in Medicare and Medicaid cuts over ten years -- on top of the $309 billion in his 2010 budget -- is...
View ArticleThe Baucus Plan Is Obamacare Too
It is a foregone conclusion that the bill now getting marked up in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) is not going anywhere. Even the president and his advisers are...
View ArticleThe President Tries to Change His Health-Care Tune
At his press conference today, President Obama scrambled to “clarify” his promise to Americans on health care. It won’t work. For months now, going all the way back to the early days of the 2008...
View ArticleMaking It Up As They Go
President Obama and his chief of staff have said that the only non-negotiable principle in the health-care debate is success, by which they seem to mean passage by Congress of something. From their...
View ArticleThe Baucus Plan's Penalties on Work
Late last week, Sen. Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, tried to jump start the push for a sweeping health-care bill by letting it be known that he has made progress toward a...
View ArticleRushing Headlong Toward a Crisis
President Obama has made passage of an expensive new entitlement to health insurance his top legislative priority this year even as it has become abundantly clear that his fiscal policy is driving the...
View ArticleSenate Democrats Opt for Regressive Mandates
President Obama and his congressional allies greeted the Congressional Budget Office’s latest estimates of the Kennedy-Dodd legislation with great enthusiasm. The cost had come down, we were told, even...
View ArticleLet the Unraveling Begin
The Obama administration has been desperately trying to create a sense of momentum around their health-care push, which is why they are touting the latest “deal” with hospital associations so heavily....
View ArticleNot Reform, and Not Change Either
The Obama administration began the year promising fundamental reforms in health-care to “bend the cost-curve” with painless “delivery-system reform.” Peter Orszag, the Obama administration’s budget...
View ArticleNot Reform, and Not Change Either
The Obama administration began the year promising fundamental reforms in health-care to “bend the cost-curve” with painless “delivery-system reform.” Peter Orszag, the Obama administration’s budget...
View ArticleThe President's Reckless and False Health-Care Claim
It’s now a clear pattern. When the president senses his position is vulnerable to a factual criticism, he asserts emphatically that the opposite is true — without ever providing evidence to back up his...
View ArticleThe President's Reckless and False Health-Care Claim
It’s now a clear pattern. When the president senses his position is vulnerable to a factual criticism, he asserts emphatically that the opposite is true -- without ever providing evidence to back up...
View ArticleSenate Democrats Opt for Regressive Mandates
President Obama and his congressional allies greeted the Congressional Budget Office’s latest estimates of the Kennedy-Dodd legislation with great enthusiasm. The cost had come down, we were told, even...
View ArticleOn the Fly Audacity
Yesterday, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) did everyone a favor and spoke some serious truth to power: The health-care bills under consideration in Congress will make our...
View ArticleWho Would Pay the Kerry-Baucus-Obama Tax on Insurance?
The desperate search continues. Shortly after the July 4th congressional recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively killed the idea of placing a cap the amount of employer-paid premiums...
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