Obamacare architect Rockefeller: It’s ‘beyond comprehension’ | WashingtonExaminer.com

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, one of the towering architects of Obamacare, on Tuesday openly criticized program managers for not moving quickly enough to build the system, warning that if it gets off to a bumpy start it will just get worse.

Decrying the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as way too complex, he warned the acting Medicare director that Obamacare is “so complicated and if it isn’t done right the first time, it will just simply get worse.”

The retiring senator also told Marilyn Tavenner at her Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing to be administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that Obamacare rivals tax reform in its capacity to confuse Americans.

via Obamacare architect Rockefeller: It’s ‘beyond comprehension’ | WashingtonExaminer.com.

Why We Should Be Optimistic about Repealing Obamacare and Fixing the Healthcare System | International Liberty

The enactment of Obamacare may have been good news.

Before sending a team of medical attendants to cart me off to a sanitarium, allow me to elaborate. I’m not saying Obamacare is good policy. After all, I’ve written over and over again that it is a budget-busting boondoggle that will exacerbate our real healthcare crisis of third-party payer.

What I am saying, though, is that Obamacare may turn out to be a major political mistake for the left, one that sets the stage for sweeping free market reforms.

via Why We Should Be Optimistic about Repealing Obamacare and Fixing the Healthcare System | International Liberty.

It’s time to delay Obamacare | AEIdeas

Opponents of the law should not relish the coming chaos because the damage it will do to our underlying health-care system will be lasting and significant. And supporters should not underestimate the damage that the coming fiasco will do to their credibility. This mutual dread at the law’s 2014 rollout should point to a mutually appealing response: Congress should delay the law’s implementation by at least a year.

via It’s time to delay Obamacare | AEIdeas.

GOP Iraq war damage: Can GOP reverse the damage done by Iraq? – OrlandoSentinel.com

But as a matter of politics, Obama’s overreach is real. For instance, every promise the White House made about the Affordable Care Act has turned out to be untrue, overblown or misleading. It borrows vast sums to make the health-care system more onerous, complicated and expensive while still leaving 30 million uninsured.

The press coverage of this unfolding train wreck remains timid in a way that coverage of the war wasn’t. The moment the mainstream media could get away with calling Iraq a “quagmire” it did. With Obamacare, much of the press is like Kevin Bacon trying to be a traffic cop in Animal House. It shouts “All is well!” even as it’s being trampled by the crowd.

via GOP Iraq war damage: Can GOP reverse the damage done by Iraq? – OrlandoSentinel.com.

The Secret Republican Plan to Repeal ‘Obamacare’ – NationalJournal.com

“We were prepared to do that had we had the votes to do it after the election. Well, the election didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to,” McConnell told National Journal in an interview. “The monstrosity has … begun to be implemented and we’re not giving up the fight.”

Indeed, when it comes to legislative strategy, McConnell plays long ball. Beginning in 2009, the Republican leader led the push to unify his colleagues against Democrats’ health care plans, an effort that almost derailed Obamacare. In 2010, Republicans, helped in part by public opposition to the law, won back the House and picked up seats in the Senate. Last year, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s embrace of the individual mandate while Massachusetts governor largely neutralized what had been a potent political issue.

via The Secret Republican Plan to Repeal ‘Obamacare’ – NationalJournal.com.

Year Four of the Obamacare Era – Avik Roy – National Review Online

But repeal is not the only possibility for a substantive and viable conservative health-care agenda. Indeed, replacing the Great Society with a cost-effective, means-tested, market-oriented insurance system would represent an even greater victory for limited government. All hope is not lost. Indeed, there is as much cause for optimism as ever.

via Year Four of the Obamacare Era – Avik Roy – National Review Online.

ObamaCare Illustrated | Galen Institute

A picture is worth a thousand words, and, Lord knows, we’ve written thousands – actually, hundreds of thousands – of words about ObamaCare.  So on this third anniversary of the passage of this destructive law, we have put together links to resources to help explain the bureaucratic scale of ObamaCare in another way.

via ObamaCare Illustrated | Galen Institute.

How Obamacare Could Come Back to Bite Democrats—Again—in 2014 – Alex Roarty & Beth Reinhard – The Atlantic

The ground is fertile, then, for the issue to reemerge in 2014, because the midterm battleground map will largely be fought where Obamacare is least popular. Deeply red states like West Virginia, South Dakota, and Montana will feature races next year. And several Democrats up for reelection, like Sens. Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, Mark Begich in Alaska, and Mark Pryor in Arkansas, are facing voters for the first time since voting for the legislation in 2010.

via How Obamacare Could Come Back to Bite Democrats—Again—in 2014 – Alex Roarty & Beth Reinhard – The Atlantic.

The Heart of Patient-Centered Care

This article examines the multiple aspirations and practices subsumed under the rubric “patient-centered care.” Clarifying the term’s meaning is essential to understanding its impact on policy discourse and health care.

via The Heart of Patient-Centered Care.

Carson Makes Conservatives Look to 2016 – NYTimes.com

Dr. Carson also advocates an alternative to the Affordable Care Act. Most people could pay most of their medical bills through health savings accounts, he said in his office. He would eliminate Medicaid and Medicare, and for the poor, government would make the contributions to their health accounts.

He estimated that the cost of his treatment of a child with cancer could run as high as $300,000 including hospital and chemotherapy costs. No individual could afford so much from a health savings account, he said, but the difference could be made up by catastrophic care insurance.

via Carson Makes Conservatives Look to 2016 – NYTimes.com.