Our Health Policy Matters

A single health policy issue will decide who controls Congress after the 2014 election.  Here’s why. You may have noticed the relative dearth of partisanship emanating from Washington over the past couple of months.  Congress approved a budget with little fanfare and passed a debt ceiling increase with no hint of strings attached. There is a reason for this newfound spirit of bipartisanship, and it is not what you think.  Congress isn’t suddenly taking to heart its relentlessly low approval ratings in 2013.  And it hasn’t just become aware of how unproductive it has been. Barring an unforeseen catastrophe like 9/11, Katrina, or Sandy, it’s just that members of Congress already know which issue will swing the upcoming election.  And they are not interested in muddying the waters at this relatively late date.  The Democrats know that they have an advantage in the improving economy, their stand on women’s issues, and their strong su...

A single health policy issue will decide who controls Congress after the 2014 election.  Here’s why. You may have noticed the relative dearth of partisanship emanating from Washington over the past couple of months.  Congress approved a budget with little fanfare and passed a debt ceiling increase with no hint of strings attached. There is a reason for this newfound spirit of bipartisanship, and it is not what you think.  Congress isn’t suddenly taking to heart its relentlessly low approval ratings in 2013.  And it hasn’t just become aware of how unproductive it has been. Barring an unforeseen catastrophe like 9/11, Katrina, or Sandy, it’s just that members of Congress already know which issue will swing the upcoming election.  And they are not interested in muddying the waters at this relatively late date.  The Democrats know that they have an advantage in the improving economy, their stand on women’s issues, and their strong su...

Last week, I was talking with a new acquaintance about health and mental health policy. He was a successful businessperson, smart, very well educated, and well-informed about public policy.  Like most of us, he follows the news about Obamacare closely.  And he has strong opinions about it.  But I realized as we talked that there were things he thought he knew about Obamacare that were not actually true.  But we both had heard them many times before. So here are five often-repeated “facts” about Obamacare that you, too, have probably heard, and happen to be wrong. 1.  The Affordable Care Act was supposed to reduce health care costs significantly.  Untrue – when the Affordable Care Act was passed, the Congressional Budget Office projected that it would cost more than $1.2 trillion over ten years.  After the Supreme Court decision in 2012, CBO lowered its projection to under $1.2 trillion.  (When these numbers were updated ...

Last week, I was talking with a new acquaintance about health and mental health policy. He was a successful businessperson, smart, very well educated, and well-informed about public policy.  Like most of us, he follows the news about Obamacare closely.  And he has strong opinions about it.  But I realized as we talked that there were things he thought he knew about Obamacare that were not actually true.  But we both had heard them many times before. So here are five often-repeated “facts” about Obamacare that you, too, have probably heard, and happen to be wrong. 1.  The Affordable Care Act was supposed to reduce health care costs significantly.  Untrue – when the Affordable Care Act was passed, the Congressional Budget Office projected that it would cost more than $1.2 trillion over ten years.  After the Supreme Court decision in 2012, CBO lowered its projection to under $1.2 trillion.  (When these numbers were updated ...