Focus on Health

Focus on Health

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On February 1, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College published an issue brief describing a little-know provision of the Affordable Care Act that improves the availability and affordability of long-term care insurance.

On January 28, the Department of Health and Human Services posted a report on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on health insurance premiums.

A January 27 Gallup poll found that 26.6 percent of the population is obese. Obesity rates were highest for Blacks and the poor, lowest for Asians and the wealthy.

On January 26, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on the economic impact of the Affordable Care Act. Among the witnesses were Council of Economic Advisers chairman Austan Goolsbee and former Congressional Budget Office director Doug Holtz-Eakin. That same day, the House Budget Committee held a hearing on the same subject.

Also on January 26, 272 economists signed a letter opposing repeal of the Affordable Care Act, as House Republicans have voted to do.

A January 25 Kaiser poll found that while opposition to the Affordable Care Act remains high, many of its individual provisions are very popular.

On January 20, legal scholars Joseph Bankman and Daniel Kessler, and economists John Cogan and Glenn Hubbard, posted a draft paper on reforming the exclusion for employer-provided health insurance.

Also on January 20, a CBS News/New York Times poll found that only 40 percent of people favor repealing the Affordable Care Act, as Republicans are attempting to do, while 48 percent think it should be kept. And of those who favor repeal, only half would repeal all of it; the rest would keep some parts.

On January 19, the American Action Forum, a Republican group, published a study supporting repeal of the Affordable Care Act, citing its negative impact on jobs and the deficit.

A January 18 Zogby poll found that while a majority of people favor repealing the Affordable Care Act, a majority also believe the Republican effort to do so is a gimmick that will fail.

On January 13, the Congressional Research Service published a report on upcoming rules and regulations pursuant to the Affordable Care Act.

On January 11, Brian Galle of Boston College law school posted an article, forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal, supporting the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

Also on January 11, the CRS published a report on how private health insurance premiums are set.

I last posted items on this topic on January 20.

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. 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, Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006).  

Bruce Bartlett’s columns focus on the intersection of politics and economics. The author of seven books, he worked in government for many years and was senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House.