For all of the quality care it delivers, the U.S. health care system is one of the most dysfunctional sectors of the U.S. economy. The government spends nearly 50 cents of every dollar spent on health care, most consumers are almost entirely insulated from the cost of their decisions, and employers decide what kind of health insurance their employees get.
But while the U.S. health care system begs for reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act only exacerbates all of the current problems, promising to devolve into a price-controlled system rationed and micromanaged by bureaucrats.
IPI believes there are much better options: reform the tax treatment of health insurance; remove the state and federal mandates and regulations that make coverage more expensive; pass medical liability reform; and promote policies that create value-conscious shoppers in the health care marketplace.
Republicans Put Forward Obamacare Replacement
Republicans put forward a new alternative to Obamacare on Wednesday that seeks to expand coverage, increase the options for buying insurance, and equalize the tax treatment of insurance bought on the individual market. Merrill Matthews at the Institute for Policy Innovation said some parts of the bill are a good idea, while others will not have much of an impact.
Thank President Obama for the Country's Newfound Interest in the Constitution
Our “constitutional scholar” in the White House has done more than anyone to reignite popular interest in the freedoms and limits outlined in the U.S. Constitution—though not exactly in the way President Obama might have hoped.
Does the President Want ObamaCare Death Panels for Higher Education?
President Obama has identified yet another sector of the economy in dire need of government help: higher education. And it seems he wants to use ObamaCare as the model for improving education quality and lowering cost. The one teensy-weensy problem is that ObamaCare will do neither.
Ending Republican Blunders Over ObamaCare
Leading scholars on the right, such as John Goodman of the National Center for Policy Analysis, Peter Ferrara of the Heartland Institute and Merrill Mathews of the Institute for Policy Innovation, have been working for years to try to get the Republicans thinking and acting correctly about health care reform.
ObamaCare Targeted by Pruitt
Oklahoma stands as the last, best hope for defunding President Obama's health care legislation. State Attorney General Scott Pruitt has filed suit against the federal government alleging that the Obama administration plans to violate the clear wording of Obamacare.
President Bush's Medical Procedure Demonstrates the Threat of ObamaCare
Doctors often disagree on the right course of treatment for a given patient, so how will some panel in Washington know what’s best?
Gaming ObamaCare's Health Insurance Mandate For Fun And Profit
President Obama says the mandate to have health coverage is essential to making ObamaCare work; but it will be very easy for most of the uninsured to game the penalty and so never be “punished” for not having coverage.
New Ground: ALEC Conference Moves Forward on CDA, Considers Health IT, Data Privacy
ALEC wants to provide ideas of how legislators can act next, said task force private-sector Chairman Bartlett Cleland, IPI policy counsel. "It is critically important for the future of healthcare that state legislators start understanding what they can do and start to act, so we can drive down healthcare costs and get healthcare to more people."
Shocker: New Survey Finds Nearly Every Federal Employee Rejects ObamaCare
Apparently when President Obama promised, “If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period,” he was only referring to federal employees and himself. This kind of hypocrisy goes a long way toward explaining why the American people have become so cynical about politics.
Obama Needs to Know Why Small Businesses Will Hire and Invest Next Year
A survey of small businesses say they plan to hire and invest next year, but it’s not because of something President Obama did, but what he didn’t do.