A November 18 Gallup poll found that those who believe it is the federal government’s responsibility to ensure that all Americans have health coverage has fallen to 47 percent from 69 percent in 2006.
Also on November 18, the journal Health Affairs published an article comparing the health insurance systems in the U.S. and 10 other countries.
A November 17 Gallup poll found that more people are concerned about access to health care than its cost.
Also on November 17, former Clinton OMB director Alice Rivlin and Republican Rep. Paul Ryan posted a joint plan to save Medicare and Medicaid by converting the former into a voucher program and the latter into a state allotment with increased state flexibility. That same day, the Congressional Budget Office released a study of the plan.
On November 15, the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services issued a report which found that 1 in 7 hospitalized Medicare patients were harmed by hospital procedures and almost half were preventable.
In a November 12 commentary, Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt noted that it was the Reagan administration that first imposed de facto price controls on Medicare providers.
A November 9 survey by Mercer found few employers planning to drop health coverage for their employees as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
A November 9 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found an increase in the number of Americans without health insurance.
A November 8 poll from Kaiser found that half of voters who say they want to repeal the Affordable Care Act also want to keep many of its key provisions.
In a November 5 commentary, Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt was skeptical that increased competition among health insurance companies will do much to reduce health insurance costs.
On November 4, the Department of Health and Human Services published a study showing that the Affordable Care Act will save the average Medicare beneficiary $3,500 in prescription costs over the next 10 years.
On September 22, Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett posted a paper arguing that the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.
I last posted items on this topic on November 5.
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian and columnist who focuses on the intersection between politics and economics. He blogs daily and writes a weekly column at The Fiscal Times. Read his most recent column here. Bartlett has written for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate, and his work is informed by many years in government, including as a senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He is the author of seven books including the New York Times best-seller, Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006).
