Free Republic

Archimedes, one of the greatest mathematicians and scientists of all time understood the importance of the design of a system. Commenting on the incredible power of levers he noted, “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth.” With a properly designed system almost anything is possible; with a poor one, almost nothing.

If you want a quick guide to what is wrong with the debate over repealing and replacing Obamacare, just look to the ongoing fight over Medicaid. Democrats have dug in over any change to the current program, solemnly declaring that changing so much as a comma or semicolon in the ACA’s expansion of the program would immediately sentence millions of children to death. Meanwhile, Republicans, having been thoroughly cowed, are debating how best to pretend that they reformed Medicaid without actually reforming it. Not exactly inspiring. Still, in a debate almost completely dominated by politics and public relations rather...

People will die from this policy! We hear this charge thrown around in political debates that it has become cliché to the point of irony, but does it have any basis in reality for health-care policy? Former Medicare and Social Security trustee Charles Blahous offers his reasoned and measured analysis of the claim — and rejects it entirely. Blahous calls it “spurious,” based on a logical fallacy related to the fallacy of composition: These sensational claims rest on fallacious reasoning, which I’ll describe later in this piece. But first let’s acknowledge that neither I, you, nor anyone else has...

Former President Barack Obama is joining the demagogic slugfest against the GOP’s latest bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare. He claims the GOP bill would “ruin Medicaid.” He’s wrong. His health law ruined Medicaid. Now, half of all women who give birth in the United States are on Medicaid, a staggering figure. The Republican bill, awaiting Senate action, will reform Medicaid, restoring its original mission and ensuring its future. Medicaid was created in 1965 as a safety net for the poor. But ObamaCare distorted it, edging the US health-care system closer to a Medicaid-for-all or single-payer system. Swelling the Medicaid...

As of April, there were 74,531,002 people enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program as of April, according to the latest data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That is up 16,705,235 in the 49 states that reported their Medicaid/CHIP enrollment numbers for both the July-to-September period of 2013 (the last quarter before the Obamacare exchanges opened) and this April. The 74,531,002 enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP as of April includes the numbers for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In the 49 states that reported both before the Obamacare exchanges opened in 2013 and...

As for Medicaid, about two-thirds of enrollees nationwide are in privately managed plans and the states have turned to private contracting for the same reasons we did in Medicare: the private plans are cheaper and better. So on the evidence, it would appear that conservative Republicans don’t have much to lose by allowing a public option and they may have something to gain – allowing those currently enrolled in public programs to leave and enroll in better private sector alternatives. Here’s the catch. The competition must be on a level playing field. That means we can’t have private plans exposed...

In Nevada, we will know the difference between a moderate Republican and a Socialist by Friday Free enterprise has done more to reduce poverty than all the government programs dreamed up by Democrats.—Ronald Reagan In a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 24 states have a majority of births financed by Medicaid. In other words, a majority of births in nearly half of our nation are born into poverty. This is progress according to Progressives Socialists, the champions of big government (not the little guy) and the architects of the disaster known as Obamacare. So why would Socialists double...

Stimulus program to incentivize using electronic health records 'vulnerable to abuse' An Obama administration program to encourage the use of electronic health records made over $729 million in erroneous payments, according to a new audit. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also paid dead doctors for enrolling in its program, the audit, released by the agency's inspector general Monday, revealed. "From May 2011 through June 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services paid an estimated $729 million in Medicare electronic health record incentive payments to eligible professionals who did not comply with Federal requirements," the inspector general said....

Last week, President Trump proposed massive spending increases for Medicaid. Of course, most of the media didn't report it that way. They reported that the president's proposal "slashes spending." That he wants to cut "at least $610 billion" from Medicaid. That "Trump's Budget Cuts Deeply Into Medicaid." And so on. That might be vaguely true in the Washington sense. It's not at all true in the real-world sense. Here's the difference. If you look at the actual White House budget proposal, you'll note that it includes tables for "baseline" spending and "proposed" spending. Baseline spending is spending that would occur...

Nancy Godinez ... lost her job... her unemployment checks had run out and her job search had proved fruitless. One thing she still had was health insurance... But unless she finds a new job, Godinez, 55, could be at risk of losing her insurance, too. ... Republican governors hoping to impose a work requirement on Medicaid recipients... believe that extending Medicaid to millions of low-income adults without disabilities... gave them an incentive not to work. ...Medicaid has grown to ... 74 million people... work requirements and changes in how it is paid for, could make Medicaid much more limited, with...

UnitedHealth’s first-quarter profit soared 35 percent as the nation’s biggest health insurer slashed participation in Affordable Care Act exchanges but grew just about every other part of its business. The insurer also hiked its 2017 earnings forecast on Tuesday, and company shares started climbing shortly after it detailed results. Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans and the state- and federally funded Medicaid coverage both swelled for UnitedHealth, which also continued to grow an Optum segment that sells several services outside the company’s core health insurance. Operating earnings from that insurance businesses climbed 15 percent to $2.1 billion, even though UnitedHealth’s individual...

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more poorly designed program in the federal budget than Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income Americans. The costs are shared between the states and the feds, which means that the more money a state wastes under Medicaid, the bigger the check Washington writes to the state. No wonder the program costs keep spiraling out of control. Obamacare added nearly 20 million people to the Medicaid rolls, and the left considers that a policy victory. Federal and state budgets are swelling. Oh, to return to the days when taking people off of welfare --...

Lawmakers in Kansas on Monday failed to override Republican Governor Sam Brownback's veto of a bill expanding eligibility for Medicaid for the poor under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA). State lawmakers in the Republican-controlled senate voted in favor of the measure last week, just days after President Donald Trump's efforts to repeal and replace the ACA, also known as Obamacare, ended with the bill being pulled from a vote. The Republican-controlled House also voted in favor of the measure, but Brownback quickly vetoed the bill on Thursday. The House took up a debate on overriding the veto that day,...

In 24 of the nation’s 50 states at least half of the babies born during the latest year on record had their births paid for by Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. New Mexico led all states with 72 percent of the babies born there in 2015 having their births covered by Medicaid. Arkansas ranked second with 67 percent; Louisiana ranked third with 65 percent; and three states—Mississippi, Nevada and Wisconsin—tied for fourth place with 64 percent of babies born there covered by Medicaid.

(CNSNews.com) - In 24 of the nation’s 50 states at least half of the babies born during the latest year on record had their births paid for by Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. New Mexico led all states with 72 percent of the babies born there in 2015 having their births covered by Medicaid. Arkansas ranked second with 67 percent; Louisiana ranked third with 65 percent; and three states—Mississippi, Nevada and Wisconsin—tied for fourth place with 64 percent of babies born there covered by Medicaid. New Hampshire earned the distinction of having the smallest percentage of babies born...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida is among one of the nation’s top states in recovering money from health care providers suspected of Medicaid fraud. Data released earlier this month by the federal government shows that Florida’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit recovered more than $165 million during the 2016 federal fiscal year.

Nigerian welfare scam Jonn Lilyea | March 13, 2017 | 25 Comments Bobo sends a link to the story of an Arlington, Virginia woman, Helen Agbapuruonwu, who has been collecting welfare benefits for the last six years, while her husband, Fidelis Agbapuruonwu, was earning a seven figure income as a lawyer with the DC firm of Mayer Brown. She’s been arrested while folks believe that Fidelis, a Nigerian immigrant, has “fled the country and is somewhere in Africa.” Police say a six-month investigation into Helen Agbapuruonwu, 41, found that the mother of four had collected benefits like food stamps and...

As House Republicans hurtle toward shifting the nation's health-care system onto a more conservative path, nearly lost so far in the roiling debate over their plans is the profound impact they would have on insurance for the nation's poorest and most vulnerable residents. The proposed American Health Care Act would break with the government's half-century compact with states in helping to finance Medicaid, which covers 68 million low-income people, including children, pregnant women and those who are elderly or disabled.The House GOP's legislation would end the system in which the government pays each state a specific share of all its...

President Trump's administration is privately supporting an earlier rollback of ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion than what is outlined in GOP leadership's healthcare plan, CNN reported Thursday. A senior House conservative aide and two senior administration officials told the news source that the White House, while publicly supporting the House GOP bill, is privately backing a call from conservatives to reverse the expansion before the bill's 2020 phase-out date. According to the report, the administration is already urging several House Republican leaders to change the legislation for an earlier rollback.