The private market can’t solve the nation’s health care problem.

Well, that’s a provocative headline. Is it true? It’s today fashionable to think the Supreme Court will rule that the feds can’t force a person to buy health insurance (or broccoli – and I like broccoli). There are some interesting takeaways:

Why health insurance subsidizes the elderly

Over at the Speaking of Actuaries blog, SOA President Brad Miller puzzles over why Obamacare has younger buyers subsidizing older ones: I discussed this with someone who works on Capitol Hill. I told him I understood the criteria for the first three but was struggling to understand the reason for the young to old age [...]

Obama pulls the plug on long-term care

With the story, The Washington Post. Back when I blogged a lot about health care reform, I pegged the CLASS Act as a stinker. Looks like the White House figured it out: An actuarial review that Health and Human Services has just released confirms [. . .] the administration could not design a long-term care [...]

Attention, sports fans: COBRA, Obamacare could aid locked-out footballers

Via Insurance Journal: Most agents are now talking frequently about COBRA coverage, which one agent estimates will cost players $800 to $900 per month to cover their families. Some are advising clients to take out additional medical policies or disability insurance. Agent Brian Mackler, who represents Jets linebacker David Harris, said most of his clients [...]

The hidden subsidy in health care reform

I want to show how Obamacare includes a hidden subsidy for the middle class. It’s a feature of any insurance system with an individual mandate and government subsidies. The government pays full freight for the poor person’s insurance, but some of that subsidy ends up lowering costs for wealthier people. Here’s an example of how [...]

Actuary of the Year: The winner is . . . .

. . . . David Axene, whose firm, well, here’s a piece of the CA DOI press release (at David Axene’s web site): Based upon a thorough review of Anthem’s calculations, Axene found numerous errors in the methodology used by Anthem to project total lifetime loss ratios. Correcting these errors resulted in lower lifetime loss [...]

Is “Obamacare” pejorative?

Via Megan McArdle, and James Joyner defend their use of Obamacare, which I gather some call “wingnut terminology.” Interesting. I use the term and I have never meant to demean the program. I think it is a good American-style private/public approach to a real public health problem. I think the program has a good chance [...]

Insurance and the Commerce Clause

I leave it to others to debate Monday’s federal court ruling that says the federal government can’t require a person to buy health insurance. I just find it interesting that this isn’t the first time that insurance, the Commerce Clause of the Constitution and the state of Virginia have met at a crossroads. Last time, [...]

Obamacare: The fix is in

Megan McArdle says all the right things about the doc fix. Recall one of Obamacare’s key assumptions was that it would start paying doctors at something called the Sustainable Growth Rate. The SGR was cooked up a few years ago to index doctor and hospital payments, but every year the medical lobby has successfully staved [...]

Health agents keep on fighting

Health insurance agents were probably the notable losers in the debate over Obamacare’s rules on the medical loss ratios. Their last minute plea to exempt their commissions from the definition of premium failed. But all is not lost. Late last month, the NAIC announced a special task force to “address potential adverse impacts on the [...]