Research

Under Obama, “The Uninsured Rate Has Been Increasing.” “More American adults lacked health insurance coverage last year than in any year since Gallup and Healthways started tracking it in 2008. The uninsured rate has been increasing since 2008, climbing to 17.1% in 2011.” (Elizabeth Mendes, “More Americans Uninsured In 2011,” Gallup, 1/24/12)

• The Uninsured Rate Increased To 17.7 Percent, “Tying July For The Highest On Record.” “The monthly percentage of uninsured adults increased to 17.7% in December 2011, tying July for the highest on record. The uninsured rate was 17% or higher in most months in 2011.” (Elizabeth Mendes, “More Americans Uninsured In 2011,” Gallup, 1/24/12)

“More Americans Lack Health Care Today Than Did Four Years Ago.” “The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index data reveal that more Americans lack health care today than did four years ago. Groups that were already among the least likely to have coverage -- Hispanics, low-income Americans, and blacks -- have ... more

In the Obama campaign’s second e-mail of the day to supporters, campaign officials once again are caught scrambling to try to defend Obama’s record of failed promises.

Here’s another failed promise that Obama staffer Stephanie Cutter gets completely wrong:

SHOT – Obama For America Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter: “The bottom line here is simple: This is a President who does what he says he's going to do. Other presidents and lawmakers tried for 70 years to pass health reform -- but this president took on the insurance industry and got it done.”(Obama For America, Campaign E-Mail, “Today's Republican Talking Points,” 1/3/12)

CHASER – Obama Cut Deals With Insurance Industry To Pass Obamacare.

Click To Watch How Obama Cut Deals With Insurance Industry

NARRATOR: “Rahm Emanuel engineered this strategy. Everyone remembered how special interests had sabotaged the Clinton plan.”

PETER BAKER: “They want to get people at the table. They don't want this to be, at first at least, a ... more

CFOs To Hear Treasury Secretary Geithner Today, But Will Geithner And The Obama Administration  Hear CFOs On Healthcare?

Geithner To Address CFOs From The World’s Largest Corporations At The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network To Be Held In Washington, D.C. On June 20-21, 2011.  “A conversation with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the Administration’s view on the economy, budget, debt and taxes.  Interviewed by Gerald Seib, Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief, The Wall Street Journal.” (“Program,” The Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network, Accessed 6/20/11)

A Survey Of 1,400 CFOs Found That Healthcare Costs Were The Most Pressing Concern Facing Their Company.  “To better define the concerns of today’s finance executives, Robert Half International conducted a survey of 1,400 from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with 20 or more employees.  We [Robert Half International] asked CFOs to rank the most pressing concerns facing their company.  Their top three issues were:  ... more

Obama Administration Decides It Doesn’t Want To Highlight ObamaCare’s Failures During Election

Since ObamaCare Was Signed Into Law, 1,433 Waivers Have Been Granted. “As of the end of May 2011, a total of 1,433 one-year waivers have been granted.  This update includes 62 new approvals.”  (Helping Americans Keep The Coverage They Have And Promoting Transparency,” HHS.gov, Accessed 6/20/11)

• “The Number Of Enrollees In Plans With Annual Limits Waivers Is 3.2 Million…” (Helping Americans Keep The Coverage They Have And Promoting Transparency,” HHS.gov, Accessed 6/20/11)

Obama Administration To Stop Granting New Waivers To ObamaCare In September.  “The Obama administration on Friday said it would stop granting new waivers to the health-care overhaul in September following sharp opposition from Republicans who cited the waivers in their bit to undermine the law.” (Janet Adamy, “No New Health-Law Waivers To Be Given”, The  Wall Street Journal, 6/18/11)

By Ending Waivers, Obama ... more

New Study Finds That 30% of Employers Will Stop Offering Health Insurance Once Obamacare Kicks In

"For patients, [Obama] made a sweeping pledge that 'no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.'" (Mary Lu Carnevale, "Obama: 'If You Like Your Doctor, You Can Keep Your Doctor'," The Wall Street Journal's “Washington Wire,” 6/15/09)

• RESULT:  Study Finds Employers to Stop Offering Health Insurance.  “A report by McKinsey & Co. has found that 30% of employers are likely to stop offering workers health insurance after the bulk of the Obama administration’s health overhaul takes effect in 2014.  The findings come as a growing number of employers are seeking waivers from an early provision in the overhaul that requires them to enrich their benefits this year.” (Janet ... more
  
  

As new information is constantly coming to light about the unintended consequences of the Democrats’ new government-run health care law, more implementation problems caused by perverse incentives are being discovered. It turns out that sick people with very high insurance costs are caught in a Catch 22. They can sign up for new high-risk pools, but only if they have been uninsured for the past 6 months! So either they stay in their currently unaffordable plans, or they just go without insurance for the next 6 months to wait for new coverage. From the AP:

Suppose your cancer is in remission. You had to quit your job while you were having chemotherapy, and your employer coverage ran out. You can't find a private insurer who'll take you, but you're lucky to live in a state that has its own high-risk pool. Still, you have to struggle to pay the premiums, well above standard insurance because sicker people are in the group. Yet as the federal program is designed, you wouldn't be able to ... more

Republicans are often wrongly attacked as the Party of No because we don’t present our own solutions. Former Governor George Pataki (R-NY) was on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and was hit with that same charge. He gave a great response by promoting the GOP’s vision for common-sense reform that reduces costs with medical liability reform, expands access with increased inter-state competition, and promotes choice with health savings accounts. Take a look:

It’s been less than a month since the Democrats rammed through their government-run health care experiment, and they’re already plotting the next steps on their march to a single-payer system. For example, insurance companies are raising premium rates to match the growth of medical costs because ObamaCare does nothing to stop or slow them. So, to respond to angry voters who were promised relief from high prices, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) are introducing legislation to institute top-down, government price controls on the insurance industry. In other words, they didn’t listen to the chorus of voices telling them their bill would increase costs, passed it anyway and now need to close this unforeseen “loophole” with additional big government activism.

Public outrage over double-digit rate hikes for health insurance may have helped push President Obama's healthcare overhaul across the finish line, but the new law does not give regulators the power to ... more

As part of their desperate search for revenue to pay for their $2.5 trillion government-run health care experiment, Democrats will tax anything and everything. In particular, a group they consistently promise they have avoided: the middle class. On Saturday, Obama bragged about keeping his promise not to tax families making less than $250,000 per year. Today, a story from The Hill on a Joint Committee On Taxation report proves that claim to be just another one of his lies.

Taxpayers earning less than $200,000 a year will pay roughly $3.9 billion more in taxes -- in 2019 alone -- because of healthcare reform, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress' official scorekeeper for legislation. The new law raises $15.2 billion over 10 years by limiting the medical expense deduction, a provision widely used by taxpayers who either have a serious illness or are older. Taxpayers can currently deduct medical expenses in excess of 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income. ... more

Democrats are desperate to hide the facts of their government-run health care experiment. At a recent town hall meeting, liberal Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz went so far as to pretend that the individual mandate, which requires people to buy government-approved health insurance or pay a tax is just a choice: “We actually have not required in this law that you carry health insurance.” Watch her spin furiously.

We’d really like to know if the Congressman also thinks that it’s a requirement to pay your income tax at all? By the same crazy logic, is there no requirement to refrain from murder, theft, or anything at all?

For those who actually care about reality, the text of the legislation that Rep. Wasserman Schultz voted for clearly states the following:

SEC. 1501. REQUIREMENT TO MAINTAIN MINIMUM ESSENTIAL COVERAGE… REQUIREMENT TO MAINTAIN MINIMUM ESSENTIAL COVERAGE.— An applicable individual shall for each month beginning after 2013 ensure that the individual, and ... more