Tag: ACA

The truth about the Affordable Care Act

November 26, 2013 at 8:42 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Veteran analyst and activist Pat McCoy of Action NC authored an excellent essay about the Affordable Care Act for today’s edition of Raleigh’s News & Observer. To quote:

“The political frenzy over the Affordable Care Act is an object lesson in what is wrong with American politics. Rhetoric equating the reform law with socialism, and even slavery, has abounded and belies its moderate scope and concessions to the market-based insurance system that had left almost 1 in 5 Americans uninsured. Read More…

McCrory administration report contradicts past claims about benefits of Medicaid expansion

November 6, 2013 at 8:43 amCategory:Uncategorized

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McCrory contradictionsAs reported in this morning’s edition of the Weekly Briefing, a new report issued by the McCrory administration yesterday appears to directly contradict earlier statements by the administration and its supporters about the benefits of Medicaid expansion for the state.

The new report, “The Impact of the Military on North Carolina,” finds that federal military spending produces enormous economic benefits for North Carolina. According to a press release issued from the Governor’s office touting the report:

“The military supports 540,000 jobs, including 340,000 in the private sector, according to a new report released today by the N.C. Department of Commerce. The report also found the military boosts the state’s personal income by more than $30 billion.
 
The study, released by the Labor & Economic Analysis Division, concludes the military accounts for nearly 10 percent of all economic activity in North Carolina.”

According to the press release (and the report itself) these findings were calculated by a private research group known as Regional Economic Models Inc. (REMI) which made use of its complex economic modeling system known as “Policy Insight-Plus” or “PI+” to develop its findings.    

Interestingly, however, the administration has demonstrated outright hostility to the use of the REMI PI+ model when it comes to the benefits of Medicaid expansion. Read More…

McCrory would do well to follow lead of native state’s conservative guv

October 29, 2013 at 11:20 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Like a lot of 21st Century North Carolinians, Gov. Pat McCrory is a not a native of the state. He was actually born in Ohio and moved here as a kid. And while it’s hard to imagine him ever discussing this matter much in public, here’s at least one instance in which he might do well to highlight that connection and, indeed, follow the lead of his native state and its conservative Republican governor.

As Talking Points Memo pointed out this morning, the challenges of actually governing appear to be having a positive impact on John Kasich — the one-time fire-breathing conservative congressman and now, suddenly, reasonable Governor of the Buckeye state: Read More…

The end of cheapo, fly-by-night health insurance and its impact on costs and coverage

October 29, 2013 at 10:41 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Igor Volsky has a great post this morning at Think Progress that sheds a lot of very helpful light on the issue of people getting notices about cancellations and price hikes for what were lousy but cheap health insurance policies: 

“Many young and healthy beneficiaries who are currently receiving cancellation notices from individual insurers are understandably upset that they have to change policies. They like the individual plan they currently have but only because they rarely use the coverage they purchase at those attractively low premium rates. But past experience shows that the policy you think you like because you’re healthy today won’t be there when you become sick tomorrow. You may be paying a low monthly premium, but the out-of-pocket health care costs you incur after falling ill could send you into bankruptcy.

Under reform, Read More…

Editorial highlights McCrory’s shortsigtedness on Medicaid expansion

October 29, 2013 at 8:39 amCategory:Uncategorized

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In case you missed it, this Fayetteville Observer editorial helps explain the remarkable blindness of the Pope/Tillis/Berger/McCrory decision to deny health insurance to a half-million North Carolinians by refusing to allow the expansion of Medicaid at a comparatively tiny cost to the state. After documenting the disastrous impact the decision is having on poorer, rural hospitals like Southeastern Regional Medical Center in Lumberton, the editorial concludes this way:

“The rationale for the legislature’s decision was that Medicaid is “broken” because its cost rose as more people sought assistance while recovery from a record recession lagged.

The illogic of that position must be drawing some political heat. This week Senate and House leaders took to filming a protest and doing head counts of protesters and journalists – small-bore politics.

‘An expansion of Medicaid would cost North Carolina taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars through 2021,’ they said in a joint release.

Probably so. But not expanding Medicaid is going to cost us billions, much sooner. If it leaves a landscape strewn with closed, underfunded or understaffed hospitals, that will be the heaviest cost of all.”

Read the entire editorial by clicking here.