The Week: Most Recent Health Care

The Catholic contraception-mandate mega-lawsuit: A guide

The Week — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:15:00 -0400

On Monday, 43 Catholic organizations filed 12 federal lawsuits seeking to overturn the Obama administration's recent mandate that most employer-provided health insurance cover birth control and sterilization. The plaintiffs include several dioceses, social services providers, and educational institutions, but the biggest surprise was the participation of the University of Notre Dame, one of America's top Catholic colleges. What's this mega-lawsuit about? Here, a brief guide:

Who exactly is participating in the lawsuit?
Along with Notre Dame, parties to the 12 suits include 13 dioceses &mdash...

Are Democrats abandoning ObamaCare?

The Week — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:03:00 -0400

With the election looming, many politicians are renewing their attacks on President Obama's health-care reform plan. But it's not just Republicans lashing out. Some of the most stinging rebukes are coming from high-profile, retiring Democrats, including Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia. The complaints echo Republican criticism — Frank says Obama should have tackled economic matters first, and Webb says the president should have led more forcefully and pushed a smaller bill. After botching the health-care debate, Webb said, the president has "had a difficult...

Do Republicans have an alternative to ObamaCare?

The Week — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:30:00 -0400

Republicans charged into the 2010 midterm elections with the battle cry: "Repeal and replace" the Democrats' massive health care reform law. The GOP rode that promise to a landslide victory, but once conservatives took control of the House and were strengthened in the Senate, the "replace" part of the equation sort of disappeared. With the Supreme Court seemingly on the cusp of striking down or neutering ObamaCare, effectively carrying out the "repeal" part of the GOP promise, there's a new urgency regarding what, if anything, would take the law's place to fix America's broken health care...

Would an ObamaCare defeat pave the way for single-payer?

The Week — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:52:00 -0400

President Obama is officially optimistic that the Supreme Court will uphold his health-care reform law as constitutional, but many supporters of ObamaCare are less sanguine. Attempting to find a silver lining in the possibility of defeat, some are asking if a "no" decision would pave the way for a single-payer system in which everyone would get insurance through a vastly enlarged version of Medicare. While it would literally mean a government takeover of the health insurance system, a single-payer system does have the benefit of being clearly constitutional. Would a defeat for ObamaCare make single...

The skyrocketing cost of U.S. health care: By the numbers

The Week — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:14:00 -0400

No matter what the Supreme Court decides regarding the constitutionality of President Obama's health-care overhaul, this much is clear: Health-care costs are rising, and will keep rising, so Americans aren't getting much bang for their health care buck. Health consulting firm Milliman Inc. expects 2012 to be the fifth year in a row that U.S. health-care costs will jump about 7 or 8 percent, and while people who pay out of pocket generally are the hardest hit, even Americans with employer-sponsored plans have increasingly seen the costs eat up their salaries. Here, a numerical guide to how...

The Supreme Court sours on ObamaCare: How did legal experts get it so wrong?

The Week — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:31:00 -0400

A week ago, supporters of the Affordable Care Act and legal scholars seemed certain that the Supreme Court would find the law constitutional, by a 6-3 or even a 7-2 vote. But after three days of contentious hearings this week, such forecasts seem presumptuous: The five members of the court's conservative majority all apparently doubt whether Congress has the authority to force (nearly) every American to buy health insurance (the "individual mandate"), an essential provision of President Obama's health-care overhaul. How did so many people get their predictions so wrong? Here, four theories:

1....

The individual mandate's Republican roots: A guide

The Week — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:25:00 -0400

The future of President Obama's health-care overhaul now rests in the hands of the Supreme Court. And many legal experts predict that the court's conservative majority will kill the Affordable Care Act by declaring its linchpin, the individual mandate (the requirement that virtually all Americans buy health insurance), unconstitutional. Liberals find that prospect galling, especially since, as they assert, the mandate was "originally a conservative idea." Is that true? Here's what you should know:

Who came up with the idea?
Conservative economists developed the concept in the late 1980s, when...

ObamaCare on trial: 5 takeaways from day 3

The Week — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:24:00 -0400

It was another "worrisome" day for President Obama's expansive health-care law. Supreme Court justices debated whether the entire law should be struck down if the individual mandate — which requires most Americans to purchase health insurance, and is considered the linchpin that holds together ObamaCare's numerous moving parts — is found to be unconstitutional. (The court's conservative justices have already expressed deep skepticism about the mandate's constitutionality.) Justices also discussed a provision that would make Medicaid, the federal health-insurance program for the poor...

Does Obama lose even if ObamaCare is upheld?

The Week — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:45:00 -0400

President Obama has a lot riding on whether the Supreme Court upholds or rejects his overhaul of the U.S. health care system. If ObamaCare is struck down, it would negate the president's top domestic achievement, his opponents would win an argument that has divided the country for years, and Republicans would enter the November elections with a head of steam. But ObamaCare also remains deeply unpopular and, arguably, a decision to uphold the law might not benefit Obama particularly. Has ObamaCare become a "lose-lose issue" for the president?

ObamaCare is a political albatross: The "public...

Can ObamaCare survive without the individual mandate?

The Week — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:25:00 -0400

President Obama's health care overhaul had a rough day before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with the conservative majority signaling that it's leaning toward striking down the law's key individual mandate. On Wednesday, the last of three days of the high court's ObamaCare arguments, justices will once again focus on the mandate that nearly all Americans obtain health insurance. They'll weigh the issue of "severability" — essentially, if the court throws out the mandate, can the rest of the law stand? The conventional wisdom has long been that ObamaCare needs the mandate, since it would be...

ObamaCare on trial: Is the individual mandate doomed?

The Week — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:30:00 -0400

Tuesday wasn't a good day for "ObamaCare." In the second day of landmark arguments over President Obama's health care reform law, the Supreme Court focused on the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty. The law's defenders say the mandate is vital to health care reform, since it would be impossible to cover the costs of everyone's health insurance unless everyone is forced to enroll. But on Tuesday, the court's conservative justices aggressively went after the mandate, peppering the government's top lawyer, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli...

The 5 possible fates of 'ObamaCare'

The Week — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:50:00 -0400

After almost three years of debate, analysis, and legal action, the dominant political issue of the Barack Obama presidency has finally made its way to the highest level of the third branch of government. On Monday, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), better known by its colloquial name, ObamaCare. The court has scheduled a nearly unprecedented amount of time to hear a number of issues, clearly planning to take a comprehensive look at the disputes over the constitutionality of the bill.

This leaves the political players with little...

Why is ObamaCare so unpopular? 4 theories

The Week — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:40:00 -0400

As the Supreme Court holds hearings this week on the fate of President Obama's health-care overhaul, polls indicate that two-thirds of Americans hope the justices will overturn at least parts of the law. And in a New York Times/CBS News poll, 47 percent of respondents say they oppose the law, while just 36 percent approve. (The rest had no opinion.) Why is there such resistance to "ObamaCare"? Here, four theories:

1. The individual mandate is poison
The American people want to see Obama's health care reforms "wiped from the books," says Peter Suderman at Reason, and the main reason is the...

Why Obama is finally embracing the 'ObamaCare' label: 4 theories

The Week — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:45:00 -0400

Critics of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have long used the name "ObamaCare" as a pejorative to belittle the major health care overhaul. But now, as the Supreme Court weighs the constitutionality of the law, President Obama and his allies are throwing their arms around the "ObamaCare" label, too. "Hell, yeah, I'm for ObamaCare," Obama strategist David Axelrod said in an email to supporters last week. White House senior adviser David Plouffe predicted on Sunday that by the end of the decade, the GOP will regret ever coining the name ObamaCare, since it will become more popular as...

Premium support is the only way to fix America's Medicare mess

The Week — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 06:30:00 -0400

Nothing is scarier than losing your health.

A close second, however, is getting sick and not being able to afford the care you need. For seniors, Medicare has been the entitlement program that for 47 years has dependably provided health security and peace of mind.

But today, demographics are shifting. Fewer workers are contributing to the pay-as-you-go system that by 2030 will cover double the number of beneficiaries it does now. Those reaching 65 this year, on average, will take out in services more than twice what they paid in over their lifetime. That is simply unsustainable. Medicare cannot...

'ObamaCare' on trial: 4 takeaways from Day 1

The Week — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:07:00 -0400

In one of the most closely watched and politically charged cases in recent memory, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments over the constitutionality of President Obama's health-care reform law on Monday. The court heard 90 minutes of oral arguments focusing on whether it's premature for the 26 states challenging the law to sue, and will hear another four-and-a-half hours of debate over the course of the next two days. The main attraction comes Tuesday, when the court will train its eye on the law's most contentious provision, the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to buy...