The politics of waivers

Election 2012

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Once again the Obama Administration is issuing waivers from its controversial Obamacare law in order to make it more politically palatable. With high Catholic populations in key swing states, the Obama Administration announced January 20, 2012, that it will give one-year waivers to Catholic and other religious organizations conscientiously opposed to a new regulation that requires employers to offer free contraceptives to their employees—including controversial abortifacient contraceptives. Read more »

Obamacare implementation continues to grind forward

Obamacare is likely to find its way into the national debate continuously throughout 2012 as the Supreme Court takes the constitutionality of the law up, while the regulatory mechanisms for enforcing the law continue to be put into place.

Americans for Limited Government Foundation has put together some key upcoming dates when actions will occur that impact American’s healthcare. Some will get major news media coverage, others will be ignored in the legacy media. But all of these dates represent transformative changes that will change the way the government is involved in healthcare forever. Read more »

Cost of Obamacare Regulations Underestimated by Billions of Dollars

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The Obama Administration underestimated the costs of Obamacare regulations by billions of dollars says the non-partisan Mercatus Center at George Mason University in a working paper it issued on Monday.[1] The study examines eight Obamacare regulations issued in 2010 that became law before public comment was allowed because of the brief timeline Obamacare gave for their implementation. Read more »

Regulation Makes Obamacare Worse Than the Statute Itself

Regulations Sign

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Obamacare is bad as enacted, but now the Obama Administration through its regulatory power is destroying Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), one of the few good things that has happened in health care law in the past decade. Read more »

The Nitty Gritty: State Options for Choosing an EHB Definition

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Under recently issued federal regulatory guidance, states have some say in determining what minimum benefits health plans in the individual, small group, and exchange markets must offer to their beneficiaries. These minimum required benefits are called the Essential Health Benefits (EHB). Read more »

New Regulatory Guidance on EHBs Merely Postpones Health Benefit Nationalization

Tornado Drill Postponed Poster

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Obamacare requires the federal government to define a list of minimum health benefits, called the Essential Health Benefits (EHB), which certain insurers must provide. But with presidential campaign season upon us, the Obama Administration is dodging this controversial decision by passing it off to the states. Read more »

Obamacare: The Un-Affordable Care Act

Washington Post Wonkblog Screenshot

The Affordable Care Act may be anything but Affordable to many Americans if Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post is correct. Recent regulations have interpreted the Act, better known as Obamacare, to measure affordability without taking into consideration whether individuals have families that also need health care. Read more »

Health Exchange Regulation Flunks

Report Card

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F. That’s the grade Obamacare’s Health Insurance Exchanges regulation received from the independent Mercatus Center at George Mason University after receiving only 42% of potential points (25 out of 60) on a regulatory report card the Mercatus Center issued this week. Read more »

Congress’ Obamacare Stock Market Betting

Throw Them All Out, by Peter Schweizer

In his new book, Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and their Friends Get Rich Off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism that would Send the Rest of us to Prison, Peter Schweizer demonstrates the dangers of government control of healthcare from a different angle—the motivations of the congressmen who voted for it.

Schweizer reveals active trading by congressmen of healthcare stocks in the middle of the debate over Obamacare. Read more »

Defining Essential Health Benefits and Defining Away States’ Rights

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With Obamacare, the federal government has been tasked with defining what minimum health benefits health plans must cover. But the result may be to force states to remove their own mandated health benefits. Read more »

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