Tag: Healthcare

Poll: Most Americans Don’t Want Medicare for All Once They Understand Costs

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by Bethany Blankley   Most Americans oppose a Medicare for All program once they understand what it means and how much it would cost, a Health Tracking poll conducted by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) reveals. The poll found that a majority of people – 56 percent – favor a Medicare for All (M4A) single-payer healthcare system when no details about how much it would cost are provided. A larger majority, 77 percent, expressed support for incremental changes to the health care system like allowing for the option of a Medicare buy-in program for adults between ages 50 and 64. Slightly less, 75 percent, support Medicaid buy-in plans for individuals who don’t have health coverage through their employer. Both the Medicare and Medicaid buy-in plans received 69 and 64 percent support from Republicans, respectively. These numbers drop dramatically when respondents are given information on what implementing M4A would cost. When asked if support for M4A included the requirement to eliminate all private health insurance and increase taxes, only 37 percent of respondents supported it. When asked if implementing M4A would directly cause some medical treatments and tests to be delayed, only 26 percent approved. The greatest criticism of…

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Arizona’s Rep. Andy Biggs Drops Bill to End Tax Deduction for Abortions

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by Rachel del Guidice   An Arizona congressman plans to introduce a bill Wednesday that would end a tax deduction for abortions. “For years, the pro-abortion movement has marketed abortion as a form of reproductive health care,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said in a statement provided to The Daily Signal. “But it’s time for us to be honest with ourselves – health care is primarily a restorative function, one that helps our bodies heal from a disease or ailment. Under no circumstances should health care include the intentional taking of a life. The ‘Abortion Is Not Health Care Act’ is a small step towards ending the federal government’s treatment of abortion as a ‘healing medical practice,’” he added. The legislation, according to Biggs’ office, would not allow taxpayers to count abortion costs toward tax-deductible medical expenses under the federal tax code. According to IRS.gov, taxpayers may deduct medical expenses if they exceed 7.5% of their adjusted gross income. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] “One of the fundamental duties of the federal government is to protect the life of all citizens, beginning at conception. Despite…

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U.S. Rep. Green Introduces Bill to Allow States to Pilot Programs in Which Medicaid Recipients Use Swipe Card to Make Medical Purchases

Jason M. Reynolds

  U.S. Rep. Dr. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) on Tuesday introduced a bill to give Medicaid recipients more choice and power in their healthcare decisions. The Medicaid Improvement and State Flexibility Act would authorize states to begin pilot programs giving Medicaid recipients a “swipe card” with dollars on it designated for medical purchases, Green said in a press release. What is not spent from the card is returned to the holder at year’s end in the form of an Earned Income Tax Credit. Coupled with a catastrophic insurance plan, this ensures Medicaid recipients a safety net while at the same time introducing competition into the healthcare market that will improve the quality of care and drive down costs, the congressman said. “The Republican solution to our country’s healthcare crisis is more choice and better care,” Green said. “We need to move forward and utilize the power of markets to fix our broken system and help those in need. I hope Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle recognize the need for patient choice and join this effort.” Green introduced his bill as House Democrats are promoting legislation to protect parts of the Affordable Care Act and lower prescription drug…

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Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis Set to Sign Cost-Reducing Drug Importation Bill

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by Evie Fordham   Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appears set to sign a bill creating a program to import prescription drugs from Canada after the Republican-backed legislation passed the state Senate. The bill passed the GOP-controlled Florida House 93-22 on April 11, reported The Associated Press. The Washington Examiner characterized the legislation as a move to lock down “the gray vote.” It passed in the state Senate 27-13 on Monday morning. “The United States pays more for prescription drugs than anywhere else in the world,” DeSantis said after the bill’s passage in the state House. “In Florida, we can change that by employing safe, common sense solutions such as importing FDA approved prescription drugs from Canada.” Opponents of the bill have called the policy socialist and point out that only one other state, Vermont, has taken steps toward a similar program, although it faces federal hurdles. “For starters it is one of [Independent Vermont Sen.] Bernie Sanders’ ideas,” Grover Norquist of conservative group Americans for Tax Reform said April 22. “The rest of the world has damaged their ability to invent new drugs. We invent the drugs. Then they put price controls on them. And some politicians in Florida want to bring those price controls into Florida, a…

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Commentary: Ignore Medicare for All Advocates’ Claims on Life Expectancy in US.

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by Robert Moffit   Ponder this: If self-styled “progressives” in Congress impose total government control over health care, will ordinary Americans enjoy a longer life span? Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chief sponsor of the Senate “Medicare for All” bill (S. 1804), often reminds us that the United States spends roughly twice as much per capita on health care as most other economically advanced countries, but American life expectancy is lower than that of almost all these high-income nations. Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., lead sponsors of the House’s Medicare for All bill (H.R. 1384) say, “The quality of our health care is much worse than [that of] other industrialized countries. The life expectancy in the U.S. is lower than other nations, while our infant mortality is much higher.” These are misleading generalizations. In fact, American medical outcomes for the most serious conditions—for example, lower mortality from heart attacks and strokes, as well as survival rates from a variety of cancers—are generally superior to those of other advanced countries. America’s high level of investment in advanced medical technologies, including innovative drug therapies, has improved medical outcomes and has directly contributed to longer life expectancy among our senior citizens.…

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Report: Ohioans Enrolled in Obamacare Had 20 Percent of Medical Claims Denied Despite Coverage

Andrew Shirley

A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation has found that, from 2015-2017, 20% of all claims made by individuals covered under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, have been denied. This has led to thousands of patients going “out of pocket” to cover expensive procedures or putting themselves at risk by not getting the procedures performed at all. The report analyzed “transparency data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to examine claims denials and appeals among issuers offering individual market coverage on healthcare.gov from 2015-2017.” In 2017, 19% of all health claims filed were rejected. When a claim is rejected, an individual has a right to appeal the decision. However, less than one half of a percent of individuals choose to do so. Of the few that do file an appeal, only 14% are overturned. Depending on the insurer, claim denial rates ranged from 1% to 45%. Due to transparency limitations by insurers, there is little data to suggest why the claims were denied: Issuers use standardized reason codes for claims adjustments and denials; without this information, one cannot distinguish claims denied for reasons of medical necessity, for example, from those denied due to an incorrect…

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Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown Blasts Trump on Obamacare Repeal, Calls on Governor and Attorney General to ‘Do More’

Andrew Shirley

Monday, Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown and Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein, in a joint press conference at PrimaryOne Health in Ohio, pledged to oppose President Trump’s recent efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), nicknamed “Obamacare.” As previously reported, the court case Texas v. Azar ruled that the ACA was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court had previously ruled that the Individual Mandate component of the law was “unconstitutional under the Interstate Commerce Clause, but could fairly be read as an exercise of Congress’ Tax Power,” but upheld the bulk of the law. From this, Texas Federal District Court Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that because the mandate was unconstitutional, the ACA is, by default, unconstitutional. For several months, the ruling has sat pending with the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In late March, the Department of Justice, at the behest of President Trump sent a letter to the court, stating that they agreed with the Fifth Circuit Court’s ruling and, “Because the United States is not urging that any portion of the district court’s judgment be reversed, the government intends to file a brief on the appellees’ schedule.” Should the court affirm this ruling, the ACA could be overturned within the year. On August…

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Trump Continues to Hammer Health Care Messaging, Ropes Four Senators Into His Fight

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by Evie Fordham   President Donald Trump continued with criticism of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and touted four Republican senators he said will fix the ACA, colloquially known as Obamacare, in a tweet Monday. “The cost of ObamaCare is far too high for our great citizens. The deductibles, in many cases way over $7000, make it almost worthless or unusable. Good things are going to happen!” Trump wrote on Twitter. He also tagged the Twitter accounts for Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, John Barrasso of Wyoming and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. The cost of ObamaCare is far too high for our great citizens. The deductibles, in many cases way over $7000, make it almost worthless or unusable. Good things are going to happen! @SenRickScott @senatemajldr @SenJohnBarrasso @SenBillCassidy — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2019 It’s not the first time Trump has made this claim. His administration made news March 25 when the Department of Justice announced it sided with a December 2018 district court ruling that found the ACA violated the Constitution. Trump had tweeted that “[t]he DEDUCTIBLE which comes with ObamaCare is so high that it is practically not even useable” on Dec. 17.…

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Healthy Tennessee Launches Challenge to Encourage High School Students to Educate Peers on Opioid Abuse Dangers

Jason M. Reynolds

A new program is inviting Tennessee high school students to create action plans to educate their peers and loved ones about the dangers of opioid abuse and campaign to stay drug-free. Healthy Tennessee and Franklin Mayor Ken Moore will host a press conference at the Franklin City Hall on Wednesday (1 p.m.) to announce the launch of the Healthy Tennessee Challenge. “We’re excited for the opportunity to hear the ideas and solutions of our state’s young people, said Dr. Manny Sethi of Healthy Tennessee. “We believe these bright and energetic minds hold many of the answers to defeating the scourge of opioid addiction and we want to reward them for leading the charge.” Winners of the Healthy Tennessee Challenge will be chosen from East, Middle and West Tennessee and rewarded a $2,000 prize to implement their plan, according to a press release. Healthy Tennessee holds free health screenings, health care symposiums, and provides health care prevention tips and information on nutrition. Over the past eight years, Healthy Tennessee has worked with Fortune 500 companies, universities and community leaders to make Tennessee a healthier place to live, work and raise a family. More information is online here. Sethi spoke about Healthy Tennessee, the…

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Tennessee House Republicans Introduce Series of Bills to Empower Patients, Reduce Healthcare Costs, Promote Free Market

Jason M. Reynolds

State House Republicans on Thursday introduced a free-market plan that focuses on patients, nicknamed CARE, to transform healthcare in Tennessee, especially rural areas. The Tennessee House Republicans press release is available here. The legislative package is composed of 11 bills throughout the session, which the state GOP caucus said will “reshape healthcare in Tennessee through Consumerism, increasing Access, improving Rural health systems, and Empowering patients to ensure individuals and families to make all medical decisions, instead of insurance companies or the government.” The CARE Plan will generate price transparency and increased data on prices, Republicans said. A claims database will provide consumers with information to allow them to save money and improve the healthcare system’s performance. Other benefits include streamlining of billing, promotion of competition, better drug prices, use of telemedicine and more. The plan will help people even if they have pre-existing conditions, Republicans said. The move by Tennessee Republicans comes days after North Carolina’s state legislators introduced a bill to address healthcare costs, Forbes said. The publication said: Earlier this week Republican legislators who hold majorities in the North Carolina House and Senate introduced Senate Bill 86, the Small Business Healthcare Act, legislation introduced by Senators Dan Bishop…

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Former Congressman Jim Renacci Set to Launch ‘Ohio’s Future Foundation,’ a Non-Profit Focused on ‘Ohio First’ Policies

Andrew Shirley

Former Congressman Jim Renacci, of Ohio’s 16th district, has announced that he will chair a new organization aimed at advancing Ohio forward. The group is called Ohio’s Future Foundation. Their goal, according to their announcement package is to launch “large scale and highly targeted voter education and advocacy campaign(s)” that are intended to marshall public support for their key goals; “vocational education, energy growth advocacy, municipal income tax reform, healthcare reform, and infrastructure funding.” These issues, though diverse, are all key areas that are desperately underserved in Ohio. Skilled labor represents some of the most well paying and secure jobs in America that don’t require a college education. However, after years of diminishing vocational training in k-12 education (in favor of focusing on college attendance), there is a well documented “Skilled Labor Gap” in America. In states like Ohio, that skilled labor gap hits the hardest. Many state industry leaders feel note that a lack of skilled labor os one of the leading causes of Ohio’s failure to keep up with the economic growth of the country. Ohio’s Future Foundation aims to counter this with a twofold approach. Their first aim is to remove the stigma often associated with vocational training, presumably through a…

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Tennessee Star Report EXCLUSIVE: State Rep. Robin Smith Discusses a Tennessee ‘Consumer Friendly’ Healthcare Standard

Julie Carr

On Thursday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy chatted with Tennessee State Representative and brand new committee chairman, Robin Smith about how the Democrats continue to obstruct, distract, and delay by challenging her State Rep victory. Further on in the segment, Smith touched upon the issue of redistricting and a solution to Tennessee’s healthcare issues by devising some sort of healthcare standard that will allow a more affordable cost to consumers coupled with choices. Gill: As the Tennessee legislature kicks off, not in earnest, on Monday after the inauguration of Governor Bill Lee on Saturday. One of those who’s going to be participating in the inaugural events and watching with great attention is former state party chair of the state of Tennessee, Robin Smith, now State Representative Robin Smith from down in the Chattanooga area. And she’s also a brand new committee chairman and will focus on how we deal with the issues that effect the health insurance, well healthcare of the people of Tennessee. And Robin good to have you with us. Smith: Good morning…

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The Tennessee Star Report Talks with Dr. Manny Sethi About ‘My Healthy Tennessee’

Julie Carr

On Monday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy chatted with My Healthy Tennessee founder and Tennessee native, Dr. Manny Sethi, about his non-for profit community based health care fairs.  The men discussed the current situation for Tennessee’s healthcare, it’s fiscal downfall, and accountability of patients. Sethi stressed throughout the segment that there was a great need to “re-think” the current healthcare delivery standard. Gill: Everybody’s had their new year’s resolution’s now at play for a week or so. You know the gyms have been packed. By next week you’ll be able to shoot a canon in the gym and not hit anybody. But everybody starts the new year with a commitment to you know better fitness, better nutrition, better health. And we just thought we would at least help you go into yet one more week of trying to stick to that commitment. Dr. Manny Sethi has launched a website, MyHealthyTennessee.com, it’s a non-profit that he and his wife, Maya founded in 2011 to promote healthier living, healthier lifestyles. They’ve done dozens of health fairs…

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Dr. Carol M. Swain Commentary: Congress’s Role in Creating America’s Healthcare Crisis

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by Dr. Carol M. Swain   In 2017, President-elect Donald Trump sent pharmaceutical stocks into a nosedive by speaking an important truth. Drug companies, he said, are “getting away with murder” with their pricing of lifesaving drugs. True to his word, the president, since his election, has pushed for needed reforms  aimed at lowering the costs of prescription drugs. On this matter, the president and socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) agree: Americans are paying too much for drugs, medical supplies, and equipment. The president and Sanders would like to see U.S. prices aligned with other nations’ lower prices. I recently attended a meeting in Washington of health care professionals, where the attendees were mostly physicians and other citizens, including pastors and health care workers, concerned about the high cost of drugs and the effect that drug shortages have on their patients and congregants. The meeting was racially and politically diverse. Of great concern was the life-threatening situations people are placed in when making decisions about whether to purchase their medicine or pay the rent or house note. As informed as I am on many issues, this was an area of ignorance for me. I had never heard of legalized drug kickbacks and relationships between hospitals, facilities,…

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Dr. Carol M. Swan Commentary: Congress’s Role in Creating America’s Healthcare Crisis

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by Dr. Carol M. Swain   In 2017, President-elect Donald Trump sent pharmaceutical stocks into a nosedive by speaking an important truth. Drug companies, he said, are “getting away with murder” with their pricing of lifesaving drugs. True to his word, the president, since his election, has pushed for needed reforms  aimed at lowering the costs of prescription drugs. On this matter, the president and socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) agree: Americans are paying too much for drugs, medical supplies, and equipment. The president and Sanders would like to see U.S. prices aligned with other nations’ lower prices. I recently attended a meeting in Washington of health care professionals, where the attendees were mostly physicians and other citizens, including pastors and health care workers, concerned about the high cost of drugs and the effect that drug shortages have on their patients and congregants. The meeting was racially and politically diverse. Of great concern was the life-threatening situations people are placed in when making decisions about whether to purchase their medicine or pay the rent or house note. As informed as I am on many issues, this was an area of ignorance for me. I had never heard of legalized drug kickbacks and relationships between hospitals, facilities,…

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Commentary: Healthcare Will Follow the Dangerous Politicization of Big Tech

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by Tho Bishop   As tech executives continue to be grilled in front of Congress, the growing Bernie Sanders-wing of the Democratic Party is preparing to push its misnamed “Medicare for All” into the political mainstream after its political gains in the midterms. While these two stories seem to have very little in common, it’s not difficult to imagine a not-so-distant future where the two are dangerously connected. After all, so long as the scope of government grows, the continued politicization of all aspect of life will follow – the inevitable consequences of which could be quite horrific. The State’s Shadow over Silicon Valley First let’s consider some of the overlooked causes behind the increased censorship from Silicon Valley. While Republican politicians relish in collecting cheap soundbites railing against the censorship practices of widely despised tech executives, few are willing to point out the obvious influence of government in Big Tech’s growing hostility to free speech. For example, just recently Facebook announced it was following the lead of Tumblr by cracking down on “sexualized content” on its platform. While both decisions were widely ridiculed by users and pundits alike, largely ignored was the role that recent Congressional laws aimed at…

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Minnesota House Democrats Set to Introduce a Package of 10 Bills

Andrew Shirley

Minnesota Democratic House Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman (D-Brooklyn Park) announced Wednesday that democratic legislators are preparing to introduce a package of 10 bills as early as next month. The new congressional session will begin January 8 and the Speaker plans to introduce the package the next day. While the specific bills have yet to be revealed, they are said to reflect the “Minnesota Values Plan,” an updated version of the “Minnesota Values Project.” In early 2017, the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party announced the Minnesota Values Project. The initiative was structured around 4 objectives: All Minnesotans deserve access to affordable, quality health care, All Minnesotans deserve the education and job training needed to get a good-paying job, All Minnesota kids deserve a world-class education, All Minnesotans deserve the opportunity to be safe, healthy, and successful. These points translated into 11 separate bills proposed that year: HF 92: Expand MinnesotaCare to everyone — letting Minnesotans take advantage of affordable, high-quality care that is currently unavailable in the private market, HF 2949: Implement discounts that go directly to consumers instead of giving handouts to the insurance companies, HF 2839: Repeal for-profit HMOs that are exploding the cost of care in Minnesota, HF 2931: Require non-profit HMO dollars to…

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SHOCK: Medical Students’ Surgical Abilities Declining Rapidly in a Growing Digital Age

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by Annie Holmquist   Whether it’s for something as serious as cancer or as routine as a kidney stone, no one likes to hear that they have to go under the surgical knife. But such unhappy news is often lightened once a patient has the chance to talk to the surgeon and realize that he is in good, capable hands. Unfortunately, those good, capable, surgery-performing hands may be an increasing rarity in the years ahead. According to Roger Kneebone, a London professor of surgical education, the last several years have seen a decided change in the abilities of medical students: they are having greater difficulty working with their hands. As Kneebone explains to The Guardian, this decline is directly related to the decline of hobbies and school activities which force children to work with their hands: People are no longer getting the same exposure to making and doing [things] when they are at home, when they are school, as they used to. Kneebone goes on to imply that skills learned in shop class, home economics, or other more extra-curricular courses have been thrown out of school with unforeseen consequences: We are talking about the ability to do things with your hands, with tools, cutting…

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Dr. Mark Green Commentary: Liability Reform a Major Area for Healthcare Savings

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by State Senator Dr. Mark Green (R-Clarksville)   In my third and final op-ed on the healthcare crisis facing America, I’ll discuss the last major problem causing the crisis as well as a solution to address it. You can read part one here, and part two here. Liability reform is a major area for saving billions of dollars. No one wants to be sued, causing doctors to go crazy ordering CAT scans and labs to make certain that if we are called to the witness stand, we can say we did everything we could. Frivolous lawsuits and exorbitant awards are costing providers and their insurance companies millions of dollars in insurance premiums. Those costs are then passed onto the patients in increased healthcare costs, and thus, increased insurance premiums. In some states, like Florida, three lawsuits and you lose your license. In a recent poll of emergency physicians, 65% said that they could save over $500 per 8-hour shift by decreasing unnecessary tests as a part of their defensive practice. Another 16% felt they could save between $200 and $500 dollars. I ran a level 2 trauma center that saw 75,000 patients a year. If we assume a conservative savings…

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Dr. Mark Green Commentary: ‘Cost Shifting’ Is a Major Contributor to the Healthcare Crisis Today

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Mark Green FRC endorsement

by State Senator Dr. Mark Green (R-Clarksville)   The healthcare crisis in America is rightly one of the top issues on voters’ minds this election cycle. Unfortunately, missing from all the political rhetoric from most candidates is what is actually causing it. This is my second article in a three-part series where I seek to address the root cause of the crisis. You can read the first part here. In addition to having the wrong incentives, the second problem affecting our healthcare system is the effect on health insurance and other payers when government sets the price so low. When Medicare and Medicaid say they will only pay X for this procedure, and X is substantially below the market equilibrium price, one of two things happens: Either providers stop supplying that service at the set price, or they increase the price charged to others–a process called cost shifting. The effect of cost shifting has devastated the health insurance industry. As the government pays less, physicians and hospitals raise the price for others, which leads to increased cost of care for those with health insurance. This increase is then in turn passed to their customers in increased cost. As the cost…

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Mark Green Commentary: To Solve the American Healthcare Crisis We Must Correctly Incentivise Care

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by State Senator Dr. Mark Green (R-Clarksville)   There has a been a lot of discussion lately about the healthcare crisis in America. Unfortunately, largely missing in that discussion is a real diagnosis of the problem–and thus, also missing is a real solution. If the diagnosis is cardiac disease, and you treat the person for cancer, you’re probably doing more harm than good. Having been an emergency medicine physician, CEO of a large ER staffing company, and cancer survivor, I’ve been on both sides of the stethoscope and have seen the problems firsthand. Most Americans want to help the poor and the elderly to have access to quality healthcare. No one argues that the current system is working. Yet, Obamacare and the prevailing attempts to fix it all fall prey to the same underlying principles, which led to our current healthcare crisis. There are three major issues with the current healthcare system in America: The first is inherent in the basic human response to incentives. The second is the impact of government price fixing and its impact on health insurance. And, lastly, defensive medicine is adding costs to those who ultimately pay the price for everyone’s health program. I’ll address…

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Letter to the Editor: The Way to Lower Healthcare Costs Is to Support and Elect Candidates Who Will Apply Free Market Principles

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doc nurse senior patient

Dear Tennessee Star, During the U.S. Senate debate I was glad to see Congressman Marsha Blackburn speak out against single payer healthcare. Being in the healthcare industry professionally since 1980 and now as a health consultant focused on health care legislation and helping companies and individuals navigate health care costs, pricing and affordability and keeping legislators informed from the provider perspective of the hindrances to care as a result of government intrusion – I know that single payer health care has disastrous implications. Obamacare has taken us in the wrong direction since 2010 – limiting access to plans, skyrocketing double digit cost increases each year, a diminishing individual marketplace, disappearing insurance plans and greatly reducing provider choice – it has been in direct contradiction to the two promises given to the American Healthcare consumer – If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, and it will reduce the costs to consumers. It is unfortunate that many mainstream Democrats are taking a bad idea and setting the stage to make matters much worse. Now many Democrats support Senator Bernie Sanders’ proposal to nationalize our health care system via single payer – also known as “Medicare for All.” In reality,…

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Congress Can Slash the Cost of Health Care Premiums by as Much as a Third

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by Doug Badger   A proposal to repeal Obamacare entitlements and replace them with grants to states would reduce premiums for individual coverage by as much as 32 percent, according to an analysis by the Center for Health and Economy. The Health Care Choices Proposal also would modestly reduce the deficit, increase the number of people with private health insurance, and cut Medicaid spending, according to Center for Health and Economy. The proposal, the product of national and state think tanks, policy analysts, and others in the conservative community, embarks on a new path to empower consumers and return authority to the states to provide people with better and more affordable health coverage options. The Center for Health and Economy developed the study, at the commissioning of The Heritage Foundation, by applying its independent model to the published Health Care Choices Proposal. Unlike previous Obamacare replacement proposals, which the Congressional Budget Office forecasts would increase the number of uninsured by 20 million or more, coverage would dip by less than 1 million under the proposal in 2028, and enrollment would hold steady earlier. The proposal’s consumer-centered policies also would induce changes in consumer behavior that would reduce health care consumption and lead to greater medical productivity,…

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Bredesen’s Socialized Healthcare Plan Endangers Insurance, Medicare, Ad Says

Jason M. Reynolds

Senate Leadership Fund on Tuesday launched a new advertising campaign discussing U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen’s support of single-payer health care, saying it “threatens our healthcare.” The $1.2 million buy will run statewide on a combination of broadcast and cable television, radio and digital.  It is available to watch here. Bredesen, a former Tennessee governor, is running for the Senate seat being vacated by U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). His opponent is U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07). “Multimillionaire Phil Bredesen is dropping a fortune on ads portraying himself as a moderate, but his plan for a government takeover of health care would give Bernie Sanders palpitations,” said Senate Leadership Fund Spokesman Chris Pack. “Bredesen just isn’t the moderate he wants Tennessee voters to believe he is.” The ad brings attention to Bredesen’s book, “Fresh Medicine,” calling for socialized healthcare. The ad points out “Even the liberal Los Angeles Times called it ‘radical stuff,’” referring to a March 3, 2011 book review by David Lazarus for the newspaper. Also, the ad says Bredesen’s plan would eliminate employer-sponsored health insurance, “making you dependent on the government.” The plan would eliminate Medicare “as we know it, jeopardizing seniors’ care.” The ad ends with this…

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Deputy UN Chief: Fight Against Tuberculosis Drastically Underfunded

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chest x-ray

Tuberculosis (TB) is a vicious epidemic that is drastically underfunded. That was the takeaway message from the first high-level meeting focused on the infectious disease at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Amina Mohammad, U.N. deputy secretary-general, said the disease is fueled by poverty, inequality, migration and conflict, and that an additional $13 billion per year is needed to get the disease under control. Last year, tuberculosis killed more people than any other communicable disease — more than 1.3 million men, women and children. The World Health Organization estimates that the 10 million people who become newly infected each year live mostly in poor countries with limited access to health care. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the WHO, told the assembly that partnership is vital to end the disease. He said the WHO is committed to working with every country, partner and community to get the job done. The WHO plans to lead U.N. efforts to support governments and other partners in order to drive a faster response to TB. Most people can be cured with a six-month treatment program. But as world leaders told the assembly, medication is expensive, and the stigma associated with TB interferes with…

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Debbie Stabenow On Single-Payer Health Care: ‘Let’s Get In Office’ So We Can Pass It

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Obamacare

by Evie Fordham   Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow appeared to show support for a single-payer health care system, in a video that surfaced Sunday. “There’s no way it is going to go anywhere with Republicans in office, so let’s get in office,” the senator responded when an unknown individual asked Stabenow about supporting a single-payer bill. Stabenow’s campaign webpage on health care mentions lowering prescription drug prices, women’s reproductive rights and support for a universal, but not single-payer, health care system. “Sen. Stabenow supports a government takeover of health care that would cost $2 trillion dollars per year and add trillions to the national debt,” Stabenow’s GOP challenger John James said in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Stabenow wants to impose a single-payer, government-run system that would hurt Michigan families and stifle economic growth.” James’ campaign website focuses on giving families “choice” when it comes to health care. TheDCNF reached out to Stabenow’s office but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Stabenow has called attention to her health care record throughout her campaign, but the James campaign dinged her for spreading the false claim that “if you like your health plan, you can keep it” during the early days of…

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Blackburn, Bredesen Trade Barbs in Senate Debate

Jason M. Reynolds
Phil Bredesen, Marsha Blackburn

U.S. Senate candidates Rep. Marsha Blackburn and former Governor Phil Bredesen traded barbs in a debate at Cumberland University Tuesday. U.S. Representative Blackburn (R-TN-07) called Bredesen out on a number of issues at the debate at the university in Lebanon, from allegedly covering up sexual harassment in the state’s executive office to being financially dependent on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The video archive is available here:   The debate was sponsored by NewsChannel 5, The Tennessean, Nashville Public Television, the League of Women Voters and Cumberland University.  NewsChannel 5 anchor Rhori Johnston and David Plazas, opinion engagement editor at The Tennessean, were co-moderators. Blackburn reminded viewers that Bredesen is “bought and paid for” by Schumer, who recruited the former governor to run for the Senate and has financed his campaign. Schumer’s PAC donated $10,000 to Bredesen’s campaign earlier this year, and the Schumer aligned Senate Majority PAC has already booked more than $2 million in ads in Tennessee, The Tennessee Star previously reported. The candidates were asked if they would vote for Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. Bredesen said what both parties are doing “disgusts me” and repeated previous claims the nomination is a circus. He said he wanted…

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Hospitals’ Secret Contracts With Insurers Are Keeping Health Care Expensive: Report

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by Evie Fordham   Hospital systems are making secret contracts with insurers that are keeping health care costs high, a Wall Street Journal report revealed, prompting alternative health care advocates to point out the flawed nature of the U.S. health care system. “Health care is the only industry I can think of where technology is used as an excuse for price to go up and productivity to go down because of these perverse incentives,” The Health Rosetta founder Dave Chase told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The perverse incentives at a high level are generally, either directly or indirectly, the worse job [the hospitals] do, the more they get paid.” TheWSJ’s Tuesday report detailed “dozens of contracts with terms that limit how insurers design plans” so they cannot exclude powerful hospital systems, which when included in health plans can drive up costs for employers and employees. These secret contracts often include clauses that mandate insurers steer consumers away from less costly health care providers or give hospitals the ability to “mask” their prices, according to TheWSJ. If plans did not include these more costly health care systems, they could be up to 10 percent cheaper, the report stated. Some major health…

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Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Says Jeremy Durham Has Standing to Proceed in His Fight for Insurance Benefits; Overturns Dismissal of His Case

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Jeremy Durham

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a trial court dismissal of former Tennessee State Representative Jeremy Durham’s case against the Tennessee Commerce and Insurance Commissioner, the Director of Legislative Administration and the State Treasurer and Ordered the case to proceed on its merits. The Tennessee Star noted last week that a ruling was likely imminent. In 2016 Connie Ridley, Director of Legislative Administration for the Tennessee General Assembly, specifically confirmed that State Representative Jeremy Durham was entitled to retain his health insurance benefits even if removed from the Legislature. Nevertheless, the State of Tennessee subsequently terminated his health insurance access after he was expelled in a vote of the State House in Special Session. Durham’s lawsuit seeks to reverse what he and his lawyers have termed an “unlawful” termination of his vested health insurance benefits. The case was dismissed by the trial court for “lack of standing.” Unlike other former lawmakers who have been convicted of felonies and retained their health insurance benefits, Durham has never been charged with nor convicted of any crime. Nor was any complaint ever filed by any alleged “victim.” As noted by the Tennessean, former Sens. Ward Crutchfield (D-Chattanooga) and Roscoe Dixon (D-Memphis)…

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Commentary: With His Return to the Senate, Does Arizona’s Jon Kyl Bring with Him Another Chance to Repeal Obamacare?

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Jon Kyl

by Robert Romano   Former Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) has been appointed by Arizona Republican Governor Doug Ducey to replace the late John McCain. With the new appointment comes a new opportunity for Republicans to complete one of their key 2016 campaign promises: To repeal and replace Obamacare before the 2018 midterms. In 2017, despite promising to do so if elected and working for months on end, Congressional Republicans failed to pass legislation that would do away with the 2010 health care law signed into law by former President Barack Obama. One piece of legislation to repeal key elements of the law failed by one vote in the Senate, the so-called “skinny” repeal. One of the missing votes was McCain’s whose rejection came as a shock to many observers. Other legislation by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) failed later in Sept. 2017 with Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and again, McCain, opposed. Since that time, Republicans lost the Alabama Senate seat, trimming their majority to a slim 51 to 49. If there were any vote to repeal and replace Obamacare on budget reconciliation, Republicans could only afford to lose one senator. Senator Kyl could be a different story…

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Open Borders Bring a Higher Risk of Disease

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by Walter Williams   The Immigration and Nationality Act mandates that all immigrants and refugees undergo a medical screening examination to determine whether they have an inadmissible health condition. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has technical instructions for medical examination of prospective immigrants in their home countries before they are permitted to enter the U.S. They are screened for communicable and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis, polio, measles, mumps, and HIV. They are also tested for syphilis, gonorrhea, and other sexually transmitted diseases. The CDC also has medical screening guidelines for refugees. These screenings are usually performed 30 to 90 days after refugees arrive in the United States. But what about people who enter our country illegally? The CDC specifically cites the possibility of the cross-border movement of HIV, measles, pertussis, rubella, rabies, hepatitis A, influenza, tuberculosis, shigellosis, and syphilis. Chris Cabrera, a Border Patrol agent in South Texas, warned: “What’s coming over into the U.S. could harm everyone. We are starting to see scabies, chickenpox, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, and different viruses.” Some of the youngsters illegally entering our country are known to be carrying lice and suffering from various illnesses. Because there have been…

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How Medicare’s Private Plans Surpass the Traditional Program

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doc nurse senior patient

by Dr. Kevin Pham and Robert E. Moffit   Medicare Advantage, a system of competing private health plans, is surpassing the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program in delivering high quality, cost-effective medical care for senior and disabled citizens. The prominent research firm Avalere recently published a major study showing that Medicare Advantage generally outperformed traditional Medicare. This was especially so in caring for the most challenging patients who suffer from chronic conditions and complicated medical problems. Major structural differences between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage largely account for the differences in performance. Traditional Medicare, enacted in 1965, pays doctors and other medical professionals on a fee-for-service basis, meaning that the government reimburses medical professionals a specific fee for every one of thousands of services provided to Medicare patients. After almost two futile decades of trying to control costs, in the 1980s Congress overhauled hospital and physician payment. In 1989, Congress created a new physician payment system in which the government would reimburse Medicare doctors based on a calculation of the putative value of individual medical services—including the resources and time required to provide them—and capping the payment. This bizarre reimbursement formula, plus subsequent payment updates, proved faulty. Medical stakeholders compromise the entire process because they also are involved in setting the prices of Medicare’s services and continuously fight to evaluate their own services higher, leading to questionable fee schedules, confusion, and inefficiency. For years, traditional Medicare’s payment system generated perverse incentives, allowing hospitals, for example, to overtreat their patients, delivering more care and more services, more reimbursements, and higher revenues. Congress created Medicare Advantage in 2003 as…

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Attorney General Sessions Announces Charges For 601 People In Largest Health Care Fraud Bust In History

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by Steve Birr   Federal officials are charging 601 people, including more than 100 medical workers, for fueling opioid addiction in the largest bust of health care fraud in U.S. history. The Department of Justice revealed the charges Thursday, which were brought as part of an annual effort to dismantle schemes across the country involved in scamming health care programs. The takedown included the arrest of 76 doctors, 23 pharmacists, 19 nurses and several hundred others involved in prescribing and distributing massive quantities of opioid medications, resulting in more than $2 billion in fraudulent costs to federal health care programs and insurers, reports NBC News. In one example, the owner of a Texas-based pharmacy chain and two co-conspirators filled scripts for more than 1 million oxycodone and hydrocodone pills, which were subsequently transferred to couriers for sale on the street. “Much of this fraud is related to our ongoing opioid crisis—which is the deadliest drug epidemic in American history,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “Some of our most trusted medical professionals look at their patients—vulnerable people suffering from addiction—and they see dollar signs.” The Department of Justice under Sessions is making progress in the fight against both smugglers and medical providers taking…

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Advances in Exoskeleton Technology Could Help Some Walk Again

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EksoBionics exoskeleton

An accident, a stroke, or a disease can leave someone paralyzed and unable to walk. That happens to more than 15 million people around the world each year. But new technological advances and physical therapy could help some of them walk again. Among the most promising is the use of robotic exoskeletons, like one made by Ekso Bionics. It looks a bit like a backpack that straps on the user’s back and around the midsection. Robotic ‘legs’ complete with foot panels extend from either side of the pack and wrap around the patient’s legs. A video game-style controller attaches to the pack with a long cord. “I’m going to be a robot!” Lindsey Stoefen has been doing physical therapy with the exoskeleton for an hour a day, as she works to recover from the rare disorder that put her in a wheelchair in October. The 17-year-old athlete climbed into a specially designed exoskeleton for the first time in late April, after becoming an in-patient at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Chicago. She recalls being nervous. “I was like ‘Dang, I’m going to be a robot!’ I was scared at first. I was like, ‘Am I going to like it? Will I be okay?’ And…

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Another Government-Run Website Is Failing, and It’s Not HealthCare.gov

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Medicare plan finder

by Joel White   Another government website is shortchanging consumers with inaccurate information, enrollment details presented in confusing Washington-speak, the unavailability of human support, and no easy way to search for doctors covered under your plan. No, I’m not talking about HealthCare.gov—though its shortcomings are well-documented—but rather, its older, clumsier twin, the Medicare Plan Finder. We all remember the disastrous 2013 launch of Obamacare’s online portal, in which a grand total of six people enrolled in coverage on the first day, because the web tool was associated with a highly polarizing law that had been enacted three years earlier. Yet, when the Medicare Plan Finder—the federal government’s online tool to help Medicare beneficiaries and others obtain information about, and make decisions on, coverage options in fee-for-service and Medicare Parts C and D—launched at the height of the dot-com age, no one blinked. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more  ] The dirty little secret is that the Medicare Plan Finder deserves the same stringent oversight HealthCare.gov received and more, because its shortcomings are even more far-reaching. For all the media hype and congressional handwringing, most Americans still bypass…

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Supreme Silence In Longrunning Immigrant Abortion Controversy May be Coming to an End

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by Kevin Daley   After six months, the U.S. Supreme Court has not acted on a Justice Department request to vacate a lower court order requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to facilitate an abortion for an illegal alien and punish ACLU lawyers for allegedly unethical behavior. The Court’s protracted silence in the matter is somewhat unusual, suggesting the justices are divided as to how the case should proceed. The case, Azar v. Garza, was occasioned in October 2017, when an undocumented teen in federal custody, known in court papers only as Jane Doe, learned she was pregnant and asked authorities to terminate her pregnancy. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services refused, claiming it had no obligation to facilitate abortions for minors in their care. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concluded the government’s actions imposed an undue burden on abortion access, in violation to the Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. ACLU lawyers immediately moved to schedule an abortion, which occurred on Oct. 25, before the administration could appeal to the Supreme Court. In a remarkable filing to the justices, the Justice Department claimed ACLU lawyers deliberately misled them as to the timing…

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Our Approach to Severe Mental Illness Endangers Everyone

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by Jarrett Stepman   Americans pour billions of their taxpayer dollars into treating mental illness, but the spending isn’t addressing the real crisis. Though most media coverage focuses on gun control after shootings take place, few reports pay attention to the increasing problem of untreated, severe mental illness. As The Daily Signal previously reported, a massive deinstitutionalization of mentally ill people occurred in the past half-century. [RELATED:  How Better Treatment of the Mentally Ill Could Reduce Mass Shootings ] [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] In an article in National Review, the Treatment Advocacy Center’s executive director, John Snook, writes about how dramatic the move to deinstitutionalization has been: From its historic peak in 1955 to 2016, the number of state psychiatric-hospital beds in the United States plummeted almost 97 percent, in a trend known as ‘deinstitutionalization.’ There are now fewer beds per capita in the United States than there were in 1850. An analysis of the broader system of both inpatient and other 24-hour residential-treatment beds similarly found a 77.4 percent decrease from 1970 to 2014. This change is having serious repercussions for the country. A recent Heritage Foundation…

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Trump Is Following Through On His Pledge To Lower Drug Prices, Here’s The Plan

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by Steve Birr   The Trump administration released its blueprint for lowering skyrocketing prescription drug prices Friday, a strategy that has already saved patients nearly $9 billion. President Donald Trump, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, outlined their four-pronged approach to making medications more affordable during an afternoon press conference. Their approach includes: expanding access to generic drugs of more expensive brand names, sweeping Medicare reforms that allow better price negotiation, removing incentives for high list prices and drastically reducing the out-of-pocket expenses of America’s seniors. “President Trump and his Administration are already delivering on the promise to lower drug prices for American patients,” Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “In the past year we have been very successful increasing competition and curbing high drug prices and are pleased to report that FDA’s 2017 generic drug approvals in 2017 saved prescription drug buyers in America nearly $9 billion.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration set a record in 2017 for approving the most generic drugs in the history of the regulatory agency. A sharp increase in drug approvals coupled with new FDA guidance that helps companies complete the generic drug approval process faster led to $8.8 billion…

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Commentary: The Deadly Incompetence of the FDA

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by Dan Mitchell   I routinely grouse about the heavy economic cost of red tape. I’ve also highlighted agencies (such as the EEOC) that seem especially prone to senseless regulations. And I’ve explained why private regulation actually is a very effective way of promoting health and safety. Today, let’s get specific and look at the Food and Drug Administration. This bureaucracy ostensibly is supposed to protect us by making sure drugs and medical devices are safe and effective before getting approval, which seems like it might be a reasonable role for government. But the FDA routinely does really foolish things that undermine public health. The likely reason is that the bureaucracy has a bad incentive structure. As Professor Alex Tabarrok has explained. …the FDA has an incentive to delay the introduction of new drugs because approving a bad drug (Type I error) has more severe consequences for the FDA than does failing to approve a good drug (Type II error). In the former case at least some victims are identifiable and the New York Times writes stories about them and how they died because the FDA failed. In the latter case, when the FDA fails to approve a good drug, people die but the bodies are buried in an invisible…

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Report: Obamacare Made Insurance Companies Stock Prices Soar ‘272 Percent’

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Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion program and subsidies have made major health insurance companies extremely profitable, according to a White House economic report released Wednesday morning. The White House Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) report that insurers’ financial health, a measure the group says is reflected in their stock prices, improved markedly after Obamacare took full effect Jan.…

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Advocates Cheer Trump Boost of ‘Right to Try’ Experimental Medical Treatments

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Advocates of the “Right to Try” movement hope a State of the Union shoutout by President Donald Trump this will build momentum for legislation to let dying patents bypass government red tape to use experimental drugs in the U.S. Naomi Lopez Bauman, director of health care policy at the libertarian Goldwater Institute, said the president’s endorsement during his Tuesday address to the nation will help.

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Study: Weight Loss Can Cure Type 2 Diabetes

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Type 2 diabetes can be reversed with weight loss, according to new findings by researchers in the U.K., challenging conventional wisdom that the acquired disorder requires lifelong management. Almost half of the 306 participants recruited went into remission, which varied with the amount of weight loss, but the highest rates of remission being achieved in the group that lost the most weight.

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Commentary: The Scandalous Truth About Obamacare Is Laid Bare

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by Jeffery A. Tucker   It’s not just that Obamacare is financially unsustainable. More seriously, it is intellectually unsustainable, even though this truth has been slow to emerge. This has come to an end with President Trump’s executive order. What does it do? It cuts subsidies to failing providers, yes. It also redefines the meaning of “short term” policies from one year to 90 days. But more importantly–and this is what has the pundit class in total meltdown–it liberalizes the rules for providers to serve health-coverage consumers. In the words of USA Today: the executive order permits a greater range of choice “by allowing more consumers to buy health insurance through association health plans across state lines.” The key word here is “allowing” – not forcing, not compelling, not coercing. Allowing. Why would this be a problem? Because allowing choice defeats the core feature of Obamacare, which is about forcing risk pools to exist that the market would otherwise never have chosen. If you were to summarize the change in a phrase it is this: it allows more freedom. The tenor of the critics’ comments on this move is that it is some sort of despotic act. But let’s be…

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