Millions may lose coverage next year if Congress does not repeal Obamacare.
That’s not what this week’s Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis says, but it is reality. CBO’s estimating models seem impervious to reality.
In the real world, the Obamacare exchanges are in crisis, millions of uninsured people willingly pay or avoid IRS penalties, and consumers struggle with rising premiums and cost-sharing requirements. Read more on National Review Online.
House Republicans are expected to roll out their highly anticipated bill to repeal and replace Obamacare this week, but a more obscure measure introduced by Rand Paul (R‑KY) is gaining attention and should not escape notice.
Paul, who has positioned himself as a leading conservative critic of the forthcoming GOP proposal, has sponsored a measure that would leave untouched both Obamacare’s $1 trillion in taxes and its Medicaid expansion.
Stranger still, though Paul has characterized Republican plans for an age-related refundable tax credit as “Obamacare Lite,” his bill does the unthinkable: It retains the Obamacare income-related refundable tax credits. Read more on Forbes.
During the early 1970s, students at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology carried out what is reputed to be the first e‑commerce transaction: the sale of an undetermined quantity of marijuana.
This year, global online retail sales are projected to exceed $2.4 trillion. By 2020, e‑commerce will account for 14.6 percent of all retail purchases, nearly doubling its market share in just five years. Consumers shop online for everything from cars to car insurance.
Which raises the question: Do we really need HealthCare.gov? Read more on The Hill.
Although it came late as a campaign issue, Obamacare was on the ballot again on Tuesday. And it lost big. Read more on Forbes.
Obamacare’s fourth open enrollment period will begin November 1. For the Internal Revenue Service, it will be open season on uninsured taxpayers. Read more on NRO.
When is a government program not a government program?
When the insurance industry says it isn’t.
In its effort to keep billions in unlawful Obamacare corporate subsidies flowing, the industry is trying to persuade Congress that it receives no federal funds through the federal “reinsurance” program. Good luck with that. Read more.
![Congress and the courts are losing patience with the government's lawless implementation of Obamacare, which involves unlawful expenditures to subsidize insurance companies. [Credit:forbes.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.dougsbriefcase.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/feature_image_052316_3.jpeg)
Obamacare’s survival depends on government handouts to insurers. [Credit:forbes.com]
Senior Obama administration officials took a series of decisions beginning in late 2013 that ranged from the reckless to the illegal in an effort to keep insurers participating in health insurance exchanges. Read more.
Congress and the courts are losing patience with the government’s lawless implementation of Obamacare, which involves the diversion of billions in taxpayer dollars from Treasury to insurers. [Credit:forbes.com]
That is the conclusion reached in a legal opinion letter written to the Galen Institute by former Ambassador and White House Counsel Boyden Gray. Read more on Forbes.com.
Here’s some bad news for the insurance industry: Unexpectedly generous corporate subsidies didn’t save companies selling Obamacare policies from bleeding red ink.
The worse news: Those subsidies are set to expire in 2017, meaning that insurers will have to make ends meet without billions in handouts. Read more at National Review Online.
You can also read the Mercatus Center study that Brian Blase, Ed Haislmaier and I wrote here.