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August 27, 2008

We Need a National Market for Health Insurance

Health Insurance

Much to our surprise, the Census Bureau reported yesterday that the number of people in the U.S. with health insurance actually increased by 3.6 million last year. That's the good news. The bad news is that nearly three million of them got their coverage through government programs. The slide toward a government-dominated, taxpayer-supported health sector will continue unless the 45.7 million Americans who don't have insurance now are given more opportunities to buy private coverage.



August 26, 2008

New Census Numbers Show Health Insurance Shift Toward Government Programs

Health Insurance

It sounds promising that the number of uninsured decreased last year to 45.7 million, according to the latest Census Bureau report. Unfortunately, that’s not the whole story. Of the 3.6 million who gained health insurance, nearly 3 million of them got coverage through a government program – taking America in the wrong direction. Unless we reverse this slide and modernize private insurance, more people will rely on their fellow taxpayers for coverage.



May 20, 2008

It's Hard to See Doctors Favoring Less Pay, Care, More Paperwork

Health InsuranceNearly six in ten U.S. doctors say they now favor legislation to establish national health insurance, according to a new survey, but doctors may be a bit less enthusiastic if they knew more about where such a system would take us. Touted as the “largest survey ever conducted among doctors on the issue of health care financing reform,” the results were published in the prestigious Annals of Internal Medicine and have since garnered a great deal of media attention.

 



May 13, 2008

Hidden Health Costs

Health InsuranceThe Times' lead article, "Even the Insured Feel the Strain of Health Costs" (May 4), perpetuates the myth that employers are largely paying for their workers' health insurance. This benefit is actually part of a worker's overall compensation package, but if the employer writes the check, it doesn't show up as taxable income to the employee (courtesy of Section 106 of the Internal Revenue Code).

 



February 14, 2008

Require Freedom, Not Health Benefits

Health Insurance

Imagine if the government passed a law requiring that any automobile sold in the United States had to be outfitted with a GPS navigation system, satellite radio, heated leather seats and a gasoline-electric hybrid engine. Such a scenario would mean that only the wealthy would be able to afford cars.



February 2, 2008

What Happened to Your New Year's Raise?

Health Insurance

January is the time we pay our bills after the holidays, and Americans, it seems, are not feeling very merry.  Consumer confidence is plummeting, and a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that only 1 in 5 Americans feel they are getting ahead financially.



January 22, 2008

Statement by Grace-Marie Turner in response to Sen. Clinton's health reform plan

Health Insurance

Sen. Clinton's new health reform plan incorporates many of the ideas being explored by the states today, and like the plan Mrs. Clinton offered 14 years ago, it still involves a heavy dose of government control.



October 18, 2007

The Tax Code and Health Insurance Coverage

Health Insurance

While the favored tax treatment of health insurance has provided a stable source of health coverage for hundreds of millions of American workers over the last half century or more, it also is clear that it is leading to many of the problems that...



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