Affordable Care Act

Premiums on the rise for Illinoisans under ObamaCare

By Bobby Shaw
06/27/2014
President Obama came into office promising to reduce health-care costs. Instead of delivering on that promise – to reduce health insurance premiums by $2,500 per year for the average family – premiums have actually increased an average of 30 percent over the last year alone. That’s on top of the broken promises that you could...

Halbig v. Sebelius ruling could be first step in ObamaCare’s undoing

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
06/24/2014
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s imminent decision in Halbig v. Sebelius could be an important step in toppling ObamaCare. The central issue in Halbig v. Sebelius is whether the Internal Revenue Service can provide tax credits to individuals, as well as impose penalties on employers, in states that did not establish...

Chart of the Week: What ObamaCare grant paid state’s Democrat insiders

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
06/18/2014
If you have any doubt that political cronyism isn’t alive and well in Illinois, look no further than an ObamaCare scandal that broke late last week. Investigations by the Associated Press and Crain’s found that a subcontractor to a $33 million ObamaCare grant was billing at $282 per hour. Turns out the subcontractor is owned...

TAGS: cronyism, Lisa Madigan, Mike Madigan, Pat Quinn, Richard Daley

Political insiders receive multi-million-dollar contract to promote ObamaCare in Illinois

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
06/13/2014
Get Covered Illinois has been hit by two scandals in as many days. A recent Associated Press (AP) investigation into a $33 million federal grant to promote ObamaCare in Illinois revealed that “More than 90 people, including executives from the firm and its subcontractors, billed at least $270 an hour for salary and overhead during...

The left and the right agree: Scrap ObamaCare’s employer mandate

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
06/13/2014
The drumbeat for eliminating the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate is getting louder. And it is under attack from both sides of the political aisle, according to The Washington Post. The real question is, especially given new opposition from the law’s own supporters: Can it survive? A briefing paper released by the Urban Institute and...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act, Barack Obama, health care, health insurance

2014 legislative victories

By Matt Paprocki
06/05/2014
The driving goal of the Illinois Policy Institute is to transform liberty principles into marketable policies that become law. The ultimate sign of success is when free market ideas are enacted into laws that change Illinoisans’ lives for the better. Illinois Policy Action’s 2014 legislative agenda emphasized the importance of a financially responsible and limited...

What D.C. lawmakers aren’t asking about ObamaCare

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
06/03/2014
The House Energy and Commerce Committee wants answers. According to a June 3 letter from committee leaders to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, lawmakers are seeking details on how and why several state-run health care exchanges have failed. They want to know why the administration awarded more than $1 billion...

Chart of the week: One-quarter of Americans hurt by ObamaCare

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
06/02/2014
According to the most recent Gallup survey, almost one-quarter of Americans believe that the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, has directly harmed them or their family. But that is only part of the story. A scant 14 percent believe that the law has helped them. These results might have important implications for bolstering political support...

ObamaCare Navigator Grants in Illinois

By Bobby Shaw
05/31/2014
Perhaps there is good reason that Illinoisans don’t place much confidence and trust in their elected officials. A nonbinding resolution that would have called for oversight of federal ObamaCare Navigator funds being spent by the state couldn’t muster enough support to make it out of committee this month. State Rep. Darlene Senger’s resolution, House Resolution...

Illinois paid more than $12 million in health costs for dead people

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
05/30/2014
Rather than push for true Medicaid reform that might ensure patient access to high quality care and protect taxpayer dollars, Gov. Pat Quinn is about to sign legislation that will further prop up this failing system. As evidence of just how dysfunctional the system is, Auditor General William Holland reported that the state paid $12 million for dead...