What Will ‘Obamacare’ Mean for You?

THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT IS ABOUT TO BE A BIG PART OF YOUR WORLD The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, has already begun to take effect on the nation’s taxpayers and economy. Over the next year, as The Nerve reports today, South Carolina employers will be faced with serious – and […]

ObamaCare by the Back Door?

MANY SOUTH CAROLINA POLITICIANS HAVE SPOKEN OUT STRONGLY AGAINST OBAMACARE. THEIR ACTIONS TELL A DIFFERENT STORY. In March, Governor Nikki Haley publicly stated that “as long as [she is] the governor of South Carolina, we will not expand Medicaid on President Obama’s watch.” Also in March, House Speaker Bobby Harrell lauded the House budget vote […]

The Health Care Debate in South Carolina

A SNAPSHOT OF WHERE WE ARE Obamacare by Another Means While the governor and Speaker of the House are promoting what they call an “alternative” to Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid, the truth is that their plan amounts to virtually the same thing. It’s true that the House recently objected to outright Medicaid expansion via the […]

ObamaCare Light?

  THE HOUSE GOP ‘ALTERNATIVE’ TO OBAMACARE AND THE WINNERS & LOSERS OF SOUTH CAROLINA’S HEALTH CARE DEBATE  We recently reported that House Republicans introduced an alternative plan to ObamaCare in a Ways and Means budget hearing. Our initial analysis concluded the alternative was little more than a reactionary spending plan that benefited hospitals much more than people. Some […]

“Alternative” Plan to Medicaid Expansion?

  “ALTERNATIVE” TO GOVERNMENT SPENDING PLAN TURNS OUT TO BE LESS AMBITIOUS GOVERNMENT SPENDING PLAN. IS THERE A PLAN C? Yesterday the House Republican Caucus met with reporters about a plan to pass an “alternative” to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion by means of the state budget. Rather than making the plan available to the public and […]

Is Medicaid a Job Creator?

  INCREASED FEDERAL HANDOUTS AS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT … HAVEN’T WE TRIED THAT BEFORE? Through the heated national and state debates over health care policy and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), perhaps the one thing that all parties involved can agree on is that the overall health of Americans has been on the […]

Medicaid Expansion: Who pays?

WHY DO HOSPITALS WANT TO EXPAND MEDICAID? (HINT: IT’S NOT BECAUSE THEY’RE JUST NICE PEOPLE) Hospitals in South Carolina, both individually and under the auspices of the South Carolina Hospital Association, are pushing hard for an expansion of Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act popularly known as “Obamacare.” Just how expensive would this expansion […]

Protecting South Carolina from Obamacare

HOW THE STATES CAN DO MORE THAN YOU THINK . . .  As the 120th session of the South Carolina General Assembly kicks off, the decisions to implement (or not implement) portions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, will be at the forefront of debate in the Statehouse. Just one […]

The Facts on Medicaid Expansion

WHAT ARE SOUTH CAROLINA’S OPTIONS? Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (widely known as Obamacare) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that the law is constitutional, there has been quite a bit of confusion over what states can and cannot control. The High Court’s opinion gave states the option not to expand their […]

Push Back: How South Carolina Can Respond to “Obamacare”

THE PROBLEM: The new federal health care takeover will add trillions to the nation’s debt, raise taxes by $669 billion, heap burdensome regulations on South Carolina businesses, and spark sharp increases in insurance rates for consumers.