Health Care

Medicare: Expand, Reform, or Eliminate?

by Laurence M. Vance December 13, 2024

Although the nuances of the beliefs of Democrats, liberals, and progressives may be obscure, there is one thing that they all agree on: the expansion of Medicare. Medicare is a government health-insurance program for people age 65 or older, people under age 65 with certain disabilities, people of all ages with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or ...

The Social Security and Medicare Scams

by Laurence M. Vance March 19, 2024

Charlotte Cowles is a financial advice columnist for The Cut, “a New York Magazine site dedicated to women’s lives and interests, including politics, work, money, relationships, style, and parenting.” She recently lost $50,000 when she fell for a scam, put that amount in cash in a shoe box, and handed it over to ...

Johnsoncare, Bushcare, Obamacare, and Trumpcare

by Laurence M. Vance February 16, 2024

Former president Donald Trump has vowed to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) with his own plan. Because “Obamacare is too expensive, and otherwise, not good healthcare,” he vowed: I will come up with a much better, and less expensive, alternative! People will be happy, not sad! I don’t want to terminate Obamacare, I want to ...

Medicare & You

by Laurence M. Vance February 1, 2024

Although I am not quite old enough to qualify for Medicare, I recently received in the mail a 131-page large-size book titled Medicare & You 2024: The Official U.S. Government Medicare Handbook, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Turns out that the book was intended for a previous owner ...

To Cure Healthcare, We Need to Kill Government Involvement

by Robert E. Wright August 1, 2023

Most Americans need not have seen the recent headline announcing that Connecticut healthcare insurers seek to raise premiums by over 20 percent to realize that America’s healthcare system is badly broken -- overly expensive and insufficiently healthful. What they have yet to fully grasp is that it’s almost entirely the government’s fault. Instead, many applaud socialized medicine, ...

Thank Joe Biden for Your COVID-Positive Nurse

by James Bovard September 1, 2022

If you pick up a COVID infection during your next visit to a hospital or medical office, maybe send a thank-you card to President Biden. His COVID vaccine mandate was one of the most perverse public-health edicts in modern times. Vaccination status went from being a proxy for health to being a substitute for sane healthcare policy. Last September, Biden ...

Healthcare Whack-a-Mole

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2021

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of libertarians and conservatives have played an extensive game of Whack-a-Mole. That’s the Japanese game in which plastic moles pop up at random on a board and a person whacks each mole as it appears. In Healthcare Whack-a-Mole, governmental assaults on liberty have continuously popped up during the course of the pandemic. As ...

Trump’s New and Improved Obamacare

by Laurence M. Vance October 8, 2020

At an appearance in Charlotte, North Carolina, last month, President Trump unveiled his replacement for Obamacare that “puts patients first, families first, and — perhaps most importantly for all of us — America first.” The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as the PPACA, ACA, or Obamacare, was signed into law on March 23, ...

Hands Off My Cadillac!

by Laurence M. Vance October 21, 2019

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA), better known as Obamacare, was signed into law by Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. It was one of the most partisan pieces of legislation in history. Not a single Republican in the House or the Senate voted in favor of the bill (H.R. 3590, ...

We Already Have Socialized Medicine

by Laurence M. Vance July 30, 2019

The record number of candidates seeking to be the Democrat to go up against Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 election all have one thing in common: because they believe that health care is a right, they want to see universal health care in America — they just vary on how to get there. The Democratic candidates’ plans range from ...

3 Big Questions That Are Not Being Asked about “Medicare for All”

by Laurence M. Vance May 8, 2019

Congress recently held its first hearing on “Medicare for All” legislation that would eliminate most private insurance, phase out Medicare and Medicaid, and institute universal socialized medicine. The House Rules Committee heard six hours of testimony on the Medicare for All Act of 2019 (H.R.1384). Introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) on ...

A Massive Transfer of Wealth

by Laurence M. Vance April 10, 2019

Even though the Republicans had majorities in the House and Senate during the first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency, they failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, or to “repeal and replace” it with something better. President Trump recently announced that he is backing off plans to introduce a Republican ...