A new study by the RAND Corporation found that while simply removing the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act would result in fewer individuals choosing to buy insurance, it would not produce the so-called premium death spiral predicted by some of the mandate’s strongest supporters. From RAND: According to estimates created using a microsimulation [...]

The ranks of the uninsured continued to grow last year according to Gallup. Their poll found that 17.1 percent of adults did not have health insurance in 2011, which is a significant increase from the 16.4 percent in 2010. From Gallup: The drop in the number of insured people is mainly the result of the [...]

Some Connecticut legislators are seriously looking into creating a Basic Health Plan for people who make between 133 and 200 percent of the federal poverty level, instead of forcing them to use the new private health insurance exchanges. From CT News Junkie: Over the next few months the legislature will have to tackle some tough [...]

Health care policy expert Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, makes the bold prediction in the New York Times that in just eight years the health insurance industry will be extinct in America. He claims it will be replaced by accountable care organizations, or ACOs. Emanuel’s description of how [...]

In addition to the individual mandate being extremely unpopular, opinions about the entire Affordable Care Act have remained negative and been trending downward. The Kaiser Family Foundation poll found 44 percent view the law unfavorably while just 37 percent now view it favorably. From Kaiser: While the trend is very slight and not perfect, looking [...]

Even after almost two years since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the individual mandate continues to be as unpopular as always. An overwhelming 2/3rds of the county holds an unfavorable view of the mandate and the majority thinks the Supreme Court should strike it down. From Kaiser Family Foundation poll: As for the [...]

Since President Obama took office the percentage of uninsured people in America has been steadily raising and has now reached a new high. From Gallup: This rise in the number of uninsured is for the most part not the fault of the Obama administration. It is primarily the result of long term trends, rising health [...]

One thing that really bothers me is the number of people claiming that the Affordable Care Act will bring “universal health care” to the United States. Ryan Lizza’s makes this claim in his defense of President Obama at the end of his long story in the New Yorker, but he simply the most recent example [...]

Despite the administration arguing otherwise before the Supreme Court, there is nothing about health insurances that should makes it special from a legal perspective. While it is true that every market for every product is its own unique snowflake, they are all still snowflakes. Every attempt I’ve seen by defenders of ACA to claim a [...]

If you actually wanted to reduce health care spending you need to reduce how much we are actually paying for health care products and services. Not only do we spend way more than the rest of the industrialized world on administrative costs, we also pay way more for the exact same drugs and treatments. Forcing [...]