JHPPL Review | Foreign Remedies: What the Experience of Other Nations Can Tell Us about Next Steps in Reforming U.S. Health Care

David A. Rochefort and Kevin P. Donnelly. Foreign Remedies: What the Experience of Other Nations Can Tell Us about Next Steps in Reforming U.S. Health Care. New York: Rutledge, 2012. 106 pp. $9.95 paper.

Rochefort and Donnelly have produced a concise guide to the policy process for health reform using the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act of 2012 (PPACA) as their entrée into that sometimes enigmatic and often frustrating world of health policy and politics. The book is part of a series dedicated to framing disparate social issues and presenting them in accessible, debatable, and ultimately teachable formats. The series is targeted at undergraduates and, in this case, novices in health policy. But Rochefort and Donnelly contend that Foreign Remedies will be of interest to anyone new to health policy issues. They substantiate this contention in three ways.

First, their writing is clear, direct, and well organized.

Second, they provide a largely nonbiased presentation of health policy, politics, and health care reform. Third, they offer realistic and usable endof-chapter questions for discussion and debate. Foreign Remedies provides a solid foundation for understanding health policy and politics.

More at Review.

Moore: No stopping universal health care now | Times 247

It has been five years since the release of Michael Moore’s documentary “SiCKO,” which portrayed the American health-care system as being in shambles while lauding the systems in Europe and Cuba.

And in the wake of Thursday’s Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare, Moore now believes the United States is on track to catch up with those systems. …

“OK, we’ve got this piece of it,” Moore declared. “Now let’s move forward and get the next piece and the next piece. There’s no going back, though. This — we’re on the path that — of leading toward this universal health care.”

via Moore: No stopping universal health care now | Times 247.

When Touting Obamacare, Obama Prefers to Spend Taxpayers’ Money | The Weekly Standard

As the Los Angeles Times reports, for every $1 that President Obama’s campaign has spent in support of Obamacare, his administration has spent another $65 in taxpayers’ money.  The Times writes that the Obama administration has spent $46 million of taxpayers’ money in support of Obama’s centerpiece legislation, while the Obama campaign has spent only $703,000.  That’s a 65-to-1 ratio of matching funds, with taxpayers doing the matching.

via When Touting Obamacare, Obama Prefers to Spend Taxpayers’ Money | The Weekly Standard.

Opposing view: Romneycare is the right vision – Health – AEI

Today, federal policy distorts decision-making. The government confers a large tax benefit on employer-sponsored health insurance but not on insurance bought directly by individuals. This makes it nearly impossible for a vibrant insurance market to emerge for those outside job-based plans, contributing to the uninsured problem.

The tax break grows with the expense of plans offered by employers, undermining the incentive for less expensive coverage. Nearly all economists agree this is a key reason costs are so high. The government also inflates costs through the design of the Medicare program, which encourages high-volume instead of high-value care.

Gov. Romney would begin to level the playing field for insurance purchased directly by individuals. He would also encourage a national marketplace for insurance to foster more intense competition; implement serious medical malpractice reform to help control costs; reform both Medicare and Medicaid so that they reinforce, rather than undermine, market discipline; and work with states to ensure that those with expensive health conditions have secure insurance.

President Obama’s plan is to shift enormous power and control in the health sector to the federal government. That’s a recipe for inefficiency and low-quality care. Gov. Romney wants to harness the power of the marketplace to deliver better care at lower cost to all Americans. That’s the choice in 2012.

via Opposing view: Romneycare is the right vision – Health – AEI.

Rove: Obama’s Health-Care Opportunity – WSJ.com

The president appears willing to lacerate the court if it rules against ObamaCare, just as he did after its 2010 ruling in Citizens United that the First Amendment allowed independent political expenditures by corporations and unions.

If the Supreme Court strikes down the president’s signature domestic achievement, it will deepen the impression that the president is simply not up to the job and that the health-care debate that dominated so much of his first term was a colossal (and unconstitutional) waste of time.

via Rove: Obama’s Health-Care Opportunity – WSJ.com.

Election 2012: The Health Care Conundrum – YouTube

Professor Donald H. Taylor Jr. says repeal of the health care reform act would be an initial blow to President Obama, but could spell long-term trouble for Republicans. Learn more at http://sanford.duke.edu and http://sites.duke.edu/donaldhtaylorjr.

via Election 2012: The Health Care Conundrum – YouTube.

Chicago Politics: White House Will Politicize Potential Supreme Court Ruling Against Obamacare; Has No ‘Plan B’

In a piece in the New Yorker about what the Obama administration’s agenda in a potential second term would be, reporter Ryan Lizza quotes a former Obama aide who reveals to him how the White House intends to politicize Obamacare should the Supreme Court find it, or parts of it, to be unconstitutional:

Whether the Supreme Court overturns the law in part or in full, the White House will need to respond publicly. “The strategy is to just go on the offensive and say, ‘Look at Citizens United, look at the health-care decision, look at Bush v. Gore,” the former aide said. “We have an out-of-control activist court, and Romney will make it worse. That’s Plan A. Plan B is nothing.”

via Chicago Politics: White House Will Politicize Potential Supreme Court Ruling Against Obamacare; Has No ‘Plan B’.

Romney’s Transition Leader Favors Implementing Obamacare – Ricochet.com

One of the few Republicans in the country who’s been tirelessly pushing for the implementation of Obamacare at the state level has been tapped to head Mitt Romney’s transition team, should he become president.

Former HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, and his consulting group Leavitt Partners, are the primary advocates within Republican circles for implementation of Obamacare’s exchanges. It just so happens that his consultancy is one of the major beneficiaries of the taxpayer funded gold mine of hundreds of millions of dollars in exchange implementation grants.

via Romney’s Transition Leader Favors Implementing Obamacare – Ricochet.com.

Obama Tells Donors Health-Care Fight May Loom After Court Rules – Bloomberg

President Barack Obama is confiding to Democratic donors that he may have to revisit the health-care issue in a second term, a position at odds with his publicly expressed confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold the Affordable Care Act, according to three Democratic activists.As he previewed his agenda for donors at a May 14 fundraiser, Obama said he may be forced to try to revise parts of his health-care plan, depending on how the court rules later this month, said one activist, who requested anonymity to discuss the president’s comments. Guests at the $35,800-a-plate dinner in the Manhattan apartment of Blackstone Group LP BX President Tony James were asked to check their smart phones and BlackBerries at the door.

via Obama Tells Donors Health-Care Fight May Loom After Court Rules – Bloomberg.

Romney’s Plan For Health Care: Undo Decades Of Progress By Undermining Medicare, Medicaid, The Affordable Care Act, And Employer-based Insurance | The New Republic

After looking at the economic platform of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, this installment of our series on his policy plans examines the details of his health care agenda.

via Romney’s Plan For Health Care: Undo Decades Of Progress By Undermining Medicare, Medicaid, The Affordable Care Act, And Employer-based Insurance | The New Republic.