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Healthcare in the United States

Going After Medicaid

PaulMay 04, 2011

To hear Republicans tell it, America's governors have all kinds of creative plans for what to do with Medicaid, which is funded jointly by state and federal governments, if only they could be released from Washington's shackles to get all innovative. As Suzy Khimm explains, "Republicans in both houses introduced bills on Tuesday that would eliminate federal regulations that prevent states from trimming their Medicaid rolls or erecting new barriers to enrollment." Now that's how you save money: throwing people off Medicaid, or making it next to impossible for them to get it in the first place. Innovative!

Public Opinion and the "Big Spending" Canard

Mori DinauerApr 29, 2011

I think it's a good rule of thumb to never use public opinion data as evidence that your conception of American politics is the correct one, if only because it's far too tempting and easy to cherry-pick results. This new Kaiser Family Foundation poll [PDF], for instance, has excellent data about how Americans feel about the welfare state, broken down demographically, with generally well-designed questions that help one form a good impression of how the public sees the government's role in this sphere.

Ryan and His Budget Get Major Airtime

Aswini AnburajanApr 06, 2011

An indicator of how powerful Paul Ryan and his budget proposal have become: All three evening newscasts did a separate piece on Paul Ryan last night averaging more than 2 minutes each -- significant in newscasts that are under 28 minutes long.

On the other hand, President Obama came on the air for 15-second soundbites in the three newscasts, in pieces that talked about the overarching issue. Add that to The Wall Street Journal op-ed yesterday and the front page of The New York Times today, and Ryan and his budget have become Gingrich and his contract for America 2.0

Serious Budget Proposals, With Ponies

PaulApr 06, 2011

As you've seen by now, Rep. Paul Ryan is getting lots of praise for being so serious and courageous in offering the Republicans' next budget plan, which includes such serious proposals as turning Medicare into a voucher program. But for something being praised everywhere for being so serious, it's based on some absurd assumptions. I'd like to focus on just one.

When Deficit Hawks Attack (Each Other)

Sarah BabbageApr 06, 2011

Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, chairs of the president’s fiscal commission, have been largely out of the spotlight since the report they produced this fall failed to garner support even within their own group. The plan offered some dramatic and imbalanced suggestions on reducing the deficit, deriving almost 78 percent of its savings from cuts to government spending. Its entitlement-program reforms spared the poorest Americans, but enacted disproportionate cuts on lower-income earners, decreasing Social Security benefits while increasing the retirement age, and also cutting Medicare and Medicaid.

The "Crisis" Trap

Jamelle BouieApr 04, 2011

Matthew Yglesias, by way of the Center for Tax Justice, reminds us that Paul Ryan's original budget "road map" includes a substantial tax hike on 90 percent of Americans. Here is the relevant chart:

ryanplan-1.png

The Conservative Nanny State

Pema LevyApr 01, 2011

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has a plan to save the state’s cash-strapped Medicaid program: Charge $50 to obese people on the plan who fail to make improvements under a weight-loss regimen, and smokers. The proposal is a nice case study in conservative policy-making. Via The Wall Street Journal:

Standing Athwart History, Yelling "Ignore the Polls!"

Mori DinauerMar 04, 2011

There's nothing new in yesterday's NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is strongly supported. So is cutting defense spending and making the rich pay a larger share of tax revenue. Least surprising of all, Americans prefer the federal government do more to combat unemployment than reduce the deficit. Polls like this are an occasion to ask how conservatives confront this inconvenient reality, and the answer is, "not very well."

The Medicaid Costs Are Too Damn High.

Jamelle BouieFeb 28, 2011

State governors are practically begging the federal government for permission to cut hundreds of thousands from their Medicaid rolls. Why? Thanks to the recession, declining revenues, and the rising price of health care, state governments are increasingly unable to bear the burden of Medicaid costs. The Wall Street Journal explains:

About eight million Americans joined the Medicaid rolls between 2007 and 2010, many because they lost jobs. The federal government picks up 57% of states' Medicaid tab, on average. But in July, $26 billion in additional federal Medicaid funding will expire, leaving states to plug a big budget hole.

Opportunities.

Jamelle BouieFeb 18, 2011

Kent Conrad wants to revisit health-care reform:

Unshackled by the need to get reelected, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) suggested Thursday that Democrats reopen the bitter healthcare debate, arguing that the reform law’s provisions could yield opportunities to cut the federal deficit. [...]

“The healthcare accounts, we’re spending one of every six dollars in this economy on healthcare. We’re heading to one of every three,” Conrad said. “There have to be further reform and savings in the healthcare accounts.”

First It's Tyranny, Then It's the Status Quo.

Jamelle BouieFeb 04, 2011

At National Review's Agenda blog, Avik Roy uses Ronald Reagan's famous tirade against Medicare as a way to highlight the Kerrs-Mill Act of 1960, a conservative alternative to Medicare:

You don’t hear much about the Kerr-Mills Act anymore, for a reason. After the enormously consequential election of 1964, which returned Lyndon Johnson to the White House and swept large liberal majorities into Congress, the Kerr-Mills Act was rendered obsolete by the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.

Seniors and Their Socialized Medicine.

Jamelle BouieJan 28, 2011

The House GOP is considering a bill to privatize Medicare, in the same way that I consider what I would do if I had a billion dollars:

Months after they hammered Democrats for cutting Medicare, House Republicans are debating whether to relaunch their quest to privatize the health program for seniors. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is testing support for his idea to replace Medicare with a fixed payment to buy a private medical plan from a menu of coverage options. [...]

Expanding Contraceptive Access for Women on Medicaid.

kayJan 24, 2011

While much of the of the discussion around reproductive rights in the debate over the Affordable Care Act focused on the amendments of Rep. Bart Stupak and Sen. Ben Nelson, anti-choice Democrats who sought to ban or restrict abortion coverage in government-subsidized health insurance plans, there's another element of health-care reform that serves as a win for women's reproductive health.

White House Cowardice on Health Care.

Paul WaldmanJan 05, 2011

We've heard a lot in the last few days about how Democrats have developed a "bring it on" attitude toward Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. They think the debate will allow them to talk about the popular things the law actually does and force Republicans on to the defensive when they charge (accurately) that if they want to repeal the ACA, it means they want to keep open the "donut hole" in Medicare prescription drug coverage (the ACA closes it), allow insurance companies to discriminate against you if you have a pre-existing condition, and so on. Sounds good! But then today we see this:

The "High" Road in Colorado Springs.

Pema LevyOct 08, 2010

Ever since Colorado Springs -- the anti-tax Mecca of the west -- refused to raise taxes to fill its $28 million budget shortfall and instead began cutting services, conservatives and liberals alike have been tuning in to see just how well a city with bare-bones government services could survive. Thus far, one-third of the street lights are off and buses no longer run nights and weekends; public pools, parks, bathrooms, and community centers are closed, and overextended cops log crimes over the phone.

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